WIN THE WARIN '44

VOLUME 24, NO. 5

THE

Sand lioxBeing Filled Weekly

BY WALLACE IRWIN

To my way of thinking Mr. Tom:

Preston of 1795 Dorchester Road,

Brooklyn, N. Y? is the real Sandhill

Sandy Claus. His gift came on thedot, Christmas morning when I wassaying to myself, listlessly, "Irwin,

you are a fool for holidays. And ifyou don't write your column this

week the 1-2 Pint Club will say it'sjust another hangover."

No such thing. On Christmas eve jI went to bed comparatively early. !True, I was singing "Adeste Fideles"in my worst hog Latin, but thatmeans nothing. Except that I hadrallied round a tree so bright andhappy and generously laden that it imade us war-parents almost forget- jbut never ouite forget that we |were waiting for the merriestChristmas of all, when our boysjcome home.

Where was I? . . . Oh. yes. Iawoke sluggishly, as is my custom,

on the morning of December 25th.The railroad strike was still hanging lfire, and the thought came floating!in: "The Brotherhood of Trainmen iseem to be putting national brother-,hood on the blink". I lay there, cook- jing up a bad, black rhyme like this:Railroad man, you stop the machin-

ery,Go to the beanery,Gaze at the scenery,While Hitler heils, "Their war's in

the deanery!God bless the engineers!"But such a thought is morbid, quiteout of step with the holiday spirit,

I reflected. Yo-hum. What shouldI put in the Sand Box? Maybe 1should just write "Happy NewYear!" and go back to sleep.

Then the mail came, manna fromheaven, answer to prayer. For itcontained Mr. Tom Preston's con-tribution, as follows:

Consider a moment Wallace I,Standing there with his head held

high,

A man of stature, a man of means,And a man with cash in his rumpled

jeans.(Thanks to the Pilot's generous

handHe draws a cool two smackers

and?!).

The kids in town are plenty awed,The women sigh as he strolls up

Broad,For a chap who coins such lavish

salaryRates a smile from the ladies' gal-

ery.(Wally grins as he cops his fee

And gallops off to the A. B. C.Sandhills men take pains to hide

The bitter envy felt inside,And a troublesome group by the

Seaboard stationLoudly hints that it means inflation.

("My secret?" he whispers, sniff-ing the pine,

"John L. Lewis' a pal of mine!")Mr. Preston tops this off with a

message which is all too modest forone with so sharp a pen, eventhough he aims it at me. He says,"Please excuse the downright slop-piness of this communique. It's arough and hurried effort". It doesn'tsound any more sloppy, rough andhut tied than what I am deliveringweekly (at fixed salary) to Mrs.Bessie Cameron Smith, the presenteditor of my literary being. The onlydifference between Mr. Preston andine, professionally speaking, is thathe isn't on the Pilot's payroll.

Happy New Year, as I was aboutto say. Thank you, Mr. Preston, es-pecially for your closing wish,"Keep up the good work on yourSand Box." I feel better about 1944.

EPIPHANY SERVICE

The traditional Epiphany Ser-vice of Lights will be held inEmmanuel Episcopal ChurchSunday, January 2. at 6:30 p.m. The public is cordially invit-ed to participate. This Serviceof Lights is of especial interestto children.

ANN RICHARDSON

Capt. Eveleth Richardson of CampJackson, S. C., and Mrs. Richardsonannounce the birth of a daughter,Ann, at - Moore County HospitalThursday! Dec. 30. Mrs. Richardsonwas formerly Miss Etta McH. Cam-eron of Manly.

T H Jp^^plPlLOTSouthern Pines, North Carolina Friday, December 31, 1943

Capt. limes-Taylor Trains Soldiers inRockies for Service in Arctic Regions

Trainees Are Taught To *

Meet Problems ResultingFrom Arctic Air Travel

Capt. Alan Innes-Taylor, a formerSouthern Pines (resident, is com-manding what has been termed "oneof the most interesting soldier-training projects in the entireworld," a "training in arctic living"branch of courses conducted by thearmy air forces training commandat Echo Lake Camp. This projecthas been developed within the lastfive months in the region aboutMount Evans, near Denver, Col.

The work has been carried on inthe greatest secrecy, with every ap-proach to the area closed to the pub-lic and guarded day and night. Mensent there for training did not leavethe area for a single night.

Two weeks ago reporters and pho-tographers were allowed to visit thearea for the first time and interest-ing pictures and stories have beenreleased. We are reprinting a partof the detailed story which appearedin the Denver Post, feeling that itwill be of unusual interest to Capt.Innes-Taylor's many local friends:

"At the start of the war, armyheads realized the shortest routesfrom the United States to warzones, both east and west, lie acrossthe arctic. An incalculable amountiof air-borne traffic is now passingover the arctic wastes ?in tempera- |lures of 60 degrees or more belowzero This arctic air-travel presentsstaggering problems?weather fore-casting, supply bases, mechanicalservicing, unusual physical training,rescue technic, medical attention;>nd the like.

"Out of this need came the arctictraining school at Echo lake?a

\ branch ot Buckley field's arctitftraining division.Trainees Live In Portable Houses"Young soldiers of exceptional phy-

sical hardihood and an expressedliking for cold weather outdoor ser-vice are picked for this arctic train-ing. They go to the base-camp at

, Echo lake in groups?each of which| receives five or six weeks red-blood-ied training, which begins every

j morning at 5:45 o'clock, in pitchI darkness, and often does not end

j until well into the night,j "The trainees live mostly in James

i portable houses?structures resem-l bling half a huge hogshead, withiiounding roofs that shed snow,

j These houses are made of synthetic

i material?a dark brown layer on

the outside, and a gray layer on theI inside. Between these two layers isI a mat of spun-glass, two and one-

j half inches thick, which gives per-fect insulation. Four men occupy ahouse.

I "In charge of the training of thesej young soldiers is a group of experts;on arctic living whose personal ex-

I periences are even more fascinat-| ing than the work they do. Theicamp is in charge of Capt. C. A. KInnes-Taylor, a Canadian veteran ofWorld war 1, who has been with ex-peditions to the arctic, as well as

with Admiral Byrd's expeditions tothe antarctic.

"Working with Captain Innes-Tay-lor is Bel more Brown, 63, veteran ofAlaskan trails and north Canadianwinter living, who was in the firstparty to conquer Mount McKinleyin Alaska, North America's highestpeak.

Taught To Handle Emergencies"Also giving their experience to

the project?altho they are not pres-ent personally all the time?are suchnoted explorers as Dr. ViljalmurStefansson, Sir Hubert Wilkins andCol. Ashley McKinley.

"At Echo lake the officers live inthe same kind of quarters as theenlisted men. They all eat in thesame mess-hall. There is never aninkling of 'brasshat' formality. Allshare the rugged, hard work.

"The thing these trainees are be-ing taught is how to take care ofthemselves? and of wounded com-rades?in case their airplanes arewrecked or grounded on inacces-sible glaciers or bad mountain ter-rain in the heart of the arctic, howto 'live off the country', how to givefirst aid, «nd how to get woundedmen hack to civilization.

"Part of this training applies tothe servicing of alr-

I pUives in «*o3«dingly low tempera-

tures, of aisptone. reconnaissance inthe search for missing men, the sig-naling systems such lost men would

HEADS SPECIAL WORK**r>

9; "iSfe:

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CAPT. ALAN INNES-TAYLOR

use in communicating with air-1searchers, and the delivery of food |and medical supplies*to injured men. I

"Army doctors are trained to par-1achute from airplanes to glaciers or

heavily-wooded mountainsides. IThere are folding sleds, called "pul-ikas," which can be parachuted, i? jalong with the doctor, from a plane.

Even big dog sleds can be folded forparachute delivery.

"Every group that goes over arc-tic terrain is equipped with signal-ing-banners of fluroescent cloth, invivid colors. The fluorescence makesthese banners visible from an air-plane even 20,000 feet above theground. The designs in which thebanners are spread on the groundform code letters.

"At. Echo Lake, Capt. Innes-Tay-lor gets a group of trainees togetherin his office each night. He says:

'"Boys, here is your problem: The-oretically, an airplane has beenwrecked on a glacier at latitude'such' and longitude 'so'. Airplaneshave tried to parachute food andmedical supplies to the survivors, butthe 'chutes drifted away. Some ofthe men are badly injured. Go bringthem in.'

Experts Teach Use Of Skiis"The trainees already have been

taught 'ground navigation'?bycompass. They have learned the useof skiis?from expert instructors.They have been taught the use ofsnowshoes?by an old Alaskan sourdoughs'. And they know how tohandle Eskimo dog teams. There aremany dog teams at the Mount Evansproject.

"The spot they have to vsach tofind the 'lost airplane crew' usuallyrequires a round-about journey of100 miles or more?up and down the

slopes of Mount Evans (or maybeto the mountain's summit); thruheavy timber; up and down sheercliffs?all exceedingly difficult ter-rain. The round trip may take a

week."But the 'rescue party' loads its

dog sleds with medicines, food, sleep-ing bags, trail tents and dog food(mostly frozen horsemeat), and setsout?regardless of weather. Profes-sional instructors go along to checktheir 'navigation' and their work.

"The 'rescue party' sleeps out on

the trail at night?building hurriedYukon 'leantos,' if in a timber coun-try, or regular Eskimo snow igloos,if above timberline; or just rolling upin sleeping bags in trail tents attimes.

"They are taught how to fish thruthe ice of lakes or streams, how to

(Continued on Page 3)

! GYMKHANA SUNDAY

The gymkhana scheduled for lastSunday at the Southern Pines Coun-try Club horse show grounds waspostponed until Sunday, January 2,on account of the rain. The programwill be carried out as previously an-nounced, with six classes of events,the weather permitting. The Eques-trian Committee hopes to have a mil-itary band from Camp Mackall.

INJURED IN FALL

Ed Starnes, well known business'man of Southern Pines, slipped onthe ice Christmas morning and fell,breaking bones in both his hands.Both injured members are incasts.

Dr. T. A. CheathamPraises Service ofSandhill Kiwanians

Club Speaker Talks onKiwanis and lis Motto;

Poole Is New Member

"Kiwanis and Its Motto: 'ToBuild'" was the subject o f Dr. Cheat-ham of Pinehurst when he addressed

the Sandhills Kiwanis Club at itsmeeting Wednesday at the Pine-

hurst Country Club.Dr. Cheatham stated that the Club

had not only g'.asped many of thepublic problems in this county dur-ing its twenty-one years of service,but had seen them through to a finalfinish. He described a good citizenas one who does his own part andin addition helps his fellowman. Hepredicted that Kiwanis has much tolook forward to in the future andwarned that we must prepare our-selves to meet with many of the fun-damental problems that will ariseafter the war.

"It is not so much what we do,but how we do it," the speaker de-clared, stressing the importance ofour "accepting our problems withthe spirit of serving our communityand making it a better place inwhich to live."

Dr. Cheatham was presented byCharles W. Picquet.

O. Leon Seymour of Aberdeenwelcomed Representative J. HawleyPoole into Club membership.

Local USO Is Scene

of Holiday ActivityMany Soldiers and WivesEnjoy Christmas Parties;New Year Plans Announced

Christn.as at the Southern PinesU. S. O. Club was a happy occasion,with more people in attendance thanhad ever visited the Club on anyprevious day. Thanks to the Amer-ican Red Cross, which presented theU. S. O. with a check for the pur-pose, there were Christmas presentsfor all soldiers.

Mrs. J. A. McPherson of Camerondonated a lovely tree and SouthernPines residents gave quantities ofdelicious home-baked goods, soman" soldiers were able to enjoy areally home-like Christmas. The U.S. O. is also very grateful to thosewho invited soldiers into their homesfor Christmas dinner.

A bingo party was held ChristmasEve, with prizes of long distancetelephone calls home for soldiers andpresents for lucky army wives.

New Year's FestivitiesAnother bingo party is planned

tor New Year's Eve, with prizes thesame as above, and on Saturday

night, Jan. 1, a dance will be held,to which all servicemen and theirwives are cordially invited. Therewill be a good orchestra and refresh-ments will be served.

Tennis ShoesSince tennis is practically a year-

round pastime here, there is needfor more tennis shoes for the use ofservicemen. The Club has racquets,balls and some tennis shoes, butgifts of additional new or used shoeswould be very much appreciated.Donations will be called for if donorswill telephone 8932.

MOORE COUNTY REDCROSS OFFICE MOVES

The Moore County Red' Cross of-fice which has for the past thirteenmonths been located in the BarnumBuilding, Southern Pines, is movingto the Welch Building on SouthWest Broad Street, Southern Pines,in the office formerly occupied bythe Postal Telegraph Company, fromwhich address it will start function-ing January Ist, 1944.

Leon Seymour of Aberdeen hasconsented to serve as Chairman ofthe War Fund Drive for 1944 andhis headquarters will be at the aboveaddress.

Mrs. William J. Kennedy of Sou-thern Pines will assume the officeof director of Chapter activitiesMrs. Kennedy's duties will consistof coordinating all the activities inthe Chapter.

HEROES?HEROA,With all honor and respec.

to those who are fighting on faraway lands, in the air and underthe water, there are hearts justas brave as theirs in the homesof our land. Perhaps that ex-plains the valor of some of ourheroes. . . like Lt. Hugh Mc-Pherson. who is reported miss-ing in action over Burma afterhaving engaged in air missionswhich had won for him fourdecorations.

The day before ChristmasHugh's mother. Mrs. J. A. Mc-Pherson of Cameron, accompan-ied by her daughter, Doris, ap-

peared at the U. S. O. Club inSouthern Pines with a choiceChristmas tree, tall and perfect-ly shaped. Mrs. McPherson stat-

ed simply that her boy had beenmissing in action since Decem-ber 1 and she wanted to givethe Christmas tree to the Club,thinking some other boys wouldenjoy it.

Brave lad; egually bravemother. Both merit decorations.

And enjoy the tree the sol-diers certainly did, from thetime they began trimming it un-

til the last gift was removed.Mrs. McPherson will be glad to

know that it made Christmasmuch more home-like for hun-dreds of mothers' sons.

Christmas BasketsCheer Many Families

Relief Committee Express-es Thanks to All Who Help-ed Make the Work Possible

Many homes in the Sandhills were,made happier at the Christmas sea-son by the generosity of local indiv-

dualo :nd who con-tributed through the Committee forChristmas iiciicf of the SouthernPines Council of Social Agencies.

This Committee reports that 38baskets of food were given out,some with clothing and toys, and a

large donation of toys sent to theSanatorium.

Through THE PILOT the Commit-tee wishes to thank all who helped

to make this possible and to acknow-ledge the following cash contribu-tions: Miss Louise B. Baynes, $3;Miss Laura Jenks, $1; Miss Kather-ine Wiley, $5; Mrs. Charlie Picquet,$5; Red Cross Canteen Corps, $42;Miss Mary Blymeyer, sls; Miss MaryBishop, $6; Mrs. Ernest Ives, $10;Mrs. Edith W. Way, $10; Miss Har-riet Barnum, $5; Preston T. Kelsey,$5; Woman's Auxiliary of Emman-uel Episcopal Church, $10; Mrs. Mil-ler Gaffney, $10; Mrs. J. H. Andrews,$10; The Vandeveers, $2; Mrs. C. L.Hayes, $10; Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Lew-is, $3; Miss Vera Chase, $5; Mrs. D.H. Turner, $2; Southern PinesSchool, $10; Mrs. J. H. Tilghman, $2;Miss Edith Titus, $1; Mrs. W. E.Cox, $2. TOTAL, $154.

In addition several boxes of cloth-ing were left with no names. Mrs.Harold Fowler and Mrs. Reynoldsgave clothing; The Southern PinesSchool and The Ark gave food, cloth-ing and toys; the Town gave the useof a truck; the School gave the useof its station wagon; the grocers co-operated (Morris Johnson of Dorn'spacking all the food baskets); Mrs.E. V. Hughes, the Girl Scouts andthe Young People's Service Leagueof Emmanuel Episcopal Churchgave invaluable service in tying andpacking; Prof. Brown and one ofhis teachers, Miss Mary Hasty ofWest Southern Pines Schools, helpeddistribute toys and clothing. To eachof these the Committee is grateful.

SLIGHTLY CONFUSEDA telephoned alarm of fire at 11:15

o'clock last Thursday night fromthe "Jones house on New Hamp-shire West Southern Pines"diverted one truck to that section ofSouthern Pines. The following truckbound west on the same call wasfortunately stopped in front of theJones cottage, number 27, NewHampshire Avenue, near PageStreet, where a fire in the livingroom was quelled by the firemenwith but slight damage to the furn-ishings of the room or to the effectsof the army family occupying thehouse.

%J)V/ I

TEN CENTS

blackouts WillBeHeld in SandhillsArea Jan. 5-6,6-7

Maneuvers Similar to

Receni Ones Will BeStaged by Air Forces

Blackouts called at the request ofthe Army will be held in severalcounties in and adjacent to the Sand-hills area on the nights of Jan. 5-6and Jan. 6-7, it has been announcedby R. L. McMillan, State directorof t\e Office of Civilian Defense, andR. Walker Martin, OCD's directorof civilian protection.

The blackouts were requested bythe Army as an aid in training tact-ical troops stationed at Camp Mack-all in night maneuver conditionsclosely approximating the condi-tions they will encounter in combat.

"Since a large/part of troop man-euvers in combat are under cover ofdarkness, it is absolutely essentialthat our specialized troops be train-ed for combat in completely blacked-out areas," the Army request said.

I Such maneuvers were held in thej Sandhills on two nights early in

I December. At that time, the cooper-j ation of OCD and other citizensdrew high praise from Col. WilliamS. Pritchaid of Fort Bragg, internalsecurity officer for North Carolina.Fliers who returned recently fromEurope said the blackout was "per-

fect".Blackouts on the designated nights

next week will cover Moore andj Montgomery counties and the sub-

j districts aircraft warning centers of! Southern Pines, Rockingham, Lau-

I rinburg and Hamlet. On each of thejtwo nights the blackout will last

| from 9 p. m. to 2 a. m.' Points of impact and greatest con-, gestion during the maneuver will bein the general vicinity of CampMackall and Aberdeen.

Many paratroopers and glider-borne troops will participate in themaneuver, and the Army has re-quested that all non-essential ped-estrian and motor travel be avoidedwithin the maneuver area duringthe designated nights.

The State Highway Patrol willclose ai highways leading into themaneuver area from 7 p. m. to 2 a.m. on the blackout nights The patrolwill maintain road blocks, and .traf-fic within the area will be control-led by military police.

The entire area will be open to alltravel during daylight throughoutthe entire period of the maneuvers.

Entire responsibility for the black-out has been placed on the OCD andlocal volunteers, Director McMillansaid, and he urged local protectionunits to cooperate fully with theArmy.

MEN IN THE SERVICITFATHER. SON IN ARMY

Major George C. Burns and a n,Pvt. Bob Burns, of Southern, Pinesare one of the few father-son com-binations from Moore County ir. theArmy, Major Burns, who is stati snedat Greensboro, has been in the ser-vice nearly two years. Pvt. Burnswas inducted at Fort Bragg Novem-ber 29th, and is now at KeeslerField, Miss. Mrs. 3urns, the wifeand mother, and a daughter, Su-zanne, reside at the Colonial Inn.

HERE FOR CHRISTMASPvt. Garland Pierce of Fort Bragg

spent Christmas with his wife andchildren in Southern Pines.

LT. SMITH AT HOMELt John Alex Smith, who recent-

ly completed his training at officercandidate school and received hiscommission, arrived in Vass Wed-nesday for a visit with his parents,

jMr. and Mrs. J. W. Smith, on Route2.

GREETINGS FROM FISHERChristmas greetings have been re-

ceived by friends in town from CoLBill Fisher of Southern Pines, whois attached to Gen. Chenault's out-fit at Kunming. Col Fisher is com-mander of the "Liberators of China"a B-24 heavy bomber group, and heha* led many missions against theJapanese.

PROMOTED

I Capt. Ahn«t Jerfcs ot Southern(Continued ?» Page S)