In The Service Now-This Day In Norwood History-December 17, 1943

McLean Brothers Are At Same Camp

Two Norwood brothers, both members of the Army, who hadn’t seen each other in months had a happy reunion at Camp Butner, North Carolina, on Monday. Corporal Donald McLean and Private Kenneth McLean of Roosevelt Avenue were the brothers who met in the Southern training center with neither knowing that the other was within hundreds of miles.

Corporal Donald McLean has been stationed at the camp for several months and was agreeably surprised to see his brother, Private Kenneth McLean, whom he believed to be at Camp Devens, waving and shouting at him as he drove a Jeep along one of the camp roads. Kenneth was sent to Camp Butner from Devens and searched for his brother Donald for nearly two days in the vastness of the camp before they finally met.

Is Flight Officer

Raymond G. Pendergast, Jr, son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond G. Pendergast, 74 Railroad Avenue, Norwood, was graduated as a flight officer and received his silver wings at commencement exercises held recently at Freeman Army Air Field, two engine advanced pilot school, Seymour, Indiana.

Promoted To Sergeant

Corporal Shafie Boults has been promoted to Sergeant at Camp Backer, Alabama.

Gets Promotion

Word has been received that Corporal J. Wesley McManus has been promoted to tho rank of sergeant. Sgt. McManus recently spent a two weeks furlough at the home of his parents, 36 Everett Avenue.

Sgt. McManus, who recently attended the Savanna Ordnance School at Savanna, Illinois, had returned to his post at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He has since been transferred to a desert training center in Arizona.

Brothers Meet

Two Norwood brothers, one in the Navy and one in the Army, spent a happy three hours together recently when they met in California after a long separation. They are the sons of Mrs. Edna Payne of Nichols Street, Norwood.

Morse Payne, S 2/c, U.S.NJL, has been in the Navy six months. He looked up his brother, CpL William B. Payne’Stationed in California with an anti aircraft coast artillery outfit, when he hit the west mast. Bill who has been in the Army three years, was taken completely by surprise by the visit, having no idea Morse was in his neck of the wood’s.

V Mail Greetings

Novel Christmas cards are being received from overseas by the St. George’s Syrian Ladies Society which keeps close touch with its sons in the service and does many a nice thing for those away from home. The novel cards are on V mail forms and are sketches saying “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”

One from CpL Louis J. Elins shows a couple of medical battalion soldiers riding in a jeep over rough terrain with their hands raised in salute. Greetings from Britain are sent by Staff Sgt, Michael Triventi to his Norwood neighbors and caricatures Britishers in holiday mood and American soldiers opening their Christmas parcels.

Pfc. Acey. D. Thomas sends his greetings from Italy and the drawing is a fancy one of the Signal battalion’s insignia. The card lists where the boys have been, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy and an arrow points to Rome and Berlin, and adds this message “Rome By Christmas”.

Norwood Marine In Life Picture

Among pictures in last week’s LIFE magazine is one of two Marines on Tarawa escorting one of the few Jap(anese) prisoners taken in the bitter battle there. One of the Marines in the picture is Ted Barrett, son of Sgt. William Barrett, retired from the Norwood police department.

Barrett is one of five brothers In the service and has been with the Marines for a year now.

Fourth O’Brien Son Enters The Service

The fourth son of Mr. and Mrs. J . Leo O’Brien, 824 Washington Street, Dedham, formerly of Norwood, leaves for military service this week. He is Lawrence J O’Brien of Adams Street, Norwood, and is married to the former Elinor Podolski. They have a baby son, Lawrence, Jr ., who is 11 months old.

Two brothers, Corporal Leo ami Pfc. Raymond, are with the U. S. Marines. Leo has been in active service over three years and Raymond for 17 months, Leo has a baby son, Leo, Jr ., 16 months old, and is married to Gordie O’Brien, R. N., formerly associated with the Norwood Hospital. He is now in the Solomon Islands area,

Raymond earned his A. T of O. ribbon, while on duty with his company manning the big guns on board ship in the combat area. He is now at Camp Pendleton, California, where he played fullback on his company football team throughout the entire game Thanksgiving day and which his team won, 6-0 .

Raymond is head of his machine gun squad having graduated from gunnery school and judo at Camp Le Jeune. Both boys have the coveted sharpshooter and expert rifleman medals of the Marine Corps.

Robert entered the military service last May and is in college in Texas, studying aviation. He was formerly employed at the Boston Navy Yard.

All four boys graduated from Norwood High School and moved to Dedham six years ago with their parents when they purchased a home there.

Pvt. Agnes Bernier early Thru Course

Agnes M. Bernier of the U. S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, has nearly completed an intensive 16-week course in radio communication at the U . S . Navy T’nuoin* School at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Private Bernier, whose home at 382 Walpole Street, Norwood, was transferred to the Marine detachment at the school following indoctrination training as a member of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve.

The course she Is studying includes training in receiving and sending international Morse code, radio procedure, and radio wuV less theory. Women Reserves of the Marine Corps who complete the program are qualified radio operators, ready for assignment to Marine air stations and bases throughout the country.

A graduate of the Norwood High School, Private Bernier had two years of nurses’ training at St. Elizabeth’s hospital in Brighton. In high school, she won the John C. Lane medal for scholarship.

She is the fourth member of her family in service. A sister, Elizabeth, is a lieutenant in the WAC, a brother, Paul, is a Navy aviation cadet, and another brother, Francis, is a captain in the Amy.

Prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve she was a playground instructor for the town of Norwood and was a member of the Red Cross, Quest Club, Ladies’ Sodality and St. Catherine’s Alumnae.

Is Transferred

Corporal James F Folan has been transferred from Alamogordo, New Mexico, to a station at Charleston, South Carolina.

Seabee’s Greeting

A very special Christmas greeting came from Charles H. Heyn, SK 2fc, P. M. T„ Camp Perry, Virginia, this week. The card is a Seabees greeting for Christmas and the New Year.

Writes Seabee Heyn: “ I would like to take this opportunity to let you know how much enjoy my subscription to the Free Press. Naturally the service news about my hometown friends is the first thing I read. I’d like to hear from any Norwood servicemen or women located in Virginia or Washington and maybe we could get together sometime. It’s always a thrill to meet someone from the hometown.”

News From Hawaii

“The Christmas greeting Mafcon brings to far-away you

A special ‘hello’ and a big ‘howdy do.,

Some very glad memories of what used to be,

And many good wishes from faraway me”

So begins a letter received here this week from Pvt. John Kalisauskas (Kalis), now in Hawaii. He says he enjoyed the long trip out there and seeing the beautiful scenery of the different states going cross country. “In Hawaii two months are treated pretty well by the natives.”

On his first pass to Honolulu, John visited the biggest USO club in town where there was plenty of entertainment and amusements. Most interesting he found the radio broadcasting station on the upper floor, Station KGU, the melody roundup. On the lower floor, soldiers and sailors were playing basketball in the gymnasium, and around the corner was a swimming pool with palm trees and green grass. John hired a bathing suit and went in for a swim.

The boys were served sandwiches, coffee, cookies, and punch, and next John reports on “another good thing” the USO camp shows held in the open-air theatre. He saw a two-hour show put on by the dancer Ray Bolger and pianist Little Jack Little. On another occasion, he saw the Hollywood comedian Allen Jenkins who stars in the Puddle Jumper. Hawaiian natives staged a hula hula show with the girls wearing grass skirts and six ladies furnished the Hawaiian music. “The USO really puts on good shows to entertain servicemen everywhere,” John says.

On Thanksgiving day he writes there was plenty of turkey with all the trimmings to go with it and plenty of seconds. He says there is no need to mention the menu as “you know we had a big feed.”

Church services, John says, are held every evening at the open-air theatre and Sunday morning. Mail is called out twice a day and, says John, the letters from home come in handy to the men overseas. “ I know we all like to receive letters frequently so why not write to your friends and buddies?”, he adds.

At every mail call, he says, he looks forward to the Free Press and the issues come through regularly. The last copy he’d read was around September 10th. “Every serviceman enjoys reading his hometown paper which brings news of happenings to a guy so many thousands of miles from home,” says John, “Tell mother to keep the Free Press coming my way so I know what cooking back home.”

John closes with best regards “To all the people of Norwood” and adds a special mention for Rev. Stephen Kneixis.

Pfc. Kelly Visitor

Visitor in this office last Friday was Pfc. George Kelly of Nahatan Street who was home on furlough from the University of Pittsburgh where he is studying languages in an Army course. Previous to going to Pittsburgh, he was stationed in Texas.

(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)