Thursday, November 2, 1944
Our Army and Navy Boys
Private Paul Conrad Friel, husband of Mrs. Bertha Friel and son of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Friel, of Green Bank, died of wounds received in action in France October 5, 1944, thus giving his life in the service of his country. “Greater Love Hath No Man.”
Paul was born October 29, 1911 at Green Bank and was graduated from high school there in 1930. He was a member of the Liberty Presbyterian Church…
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William Perry was up from Renick on Monday. His son, William S., was woun-ded on July 11 in the invasion of France. He is still in a hospital in England, but writes encouraging letters home.
Leo Davis, who is participating in campaigns in Western Europe as Assistant Squad Leader, has recently been promoted from Private to Sergeant. His wife is Mrs. Clytie A. Davis, of Marlinton.
Lieutenant Charles C. LaRue is now stationed in India. He was with Lieutenant Harry Lynn Sheets there for a day and a half before he left for the States.
Lieutenant Alfred McElwee and Sergeant Charles Edward McElwee, sons of Mr. and Mrs. June McElwee, were recently fortunate enough to meet and spend the night together in France.
LETTER
Mr. and Mrs. Arnot McNeill sends in the following letter from their son, Cpl. Gerald McNeill, who is somewhere in Holland.
September 26, 1944
Hi Mom:
Well it looks as if I have done it again, for here I am in Holland. Don’t worry about me, for there isn’t much doing around where I am located.
I suppose you are wondering about Manuel. Well, he is here. He came in today in a truck. I saw him but he didn’t see me. He was lucky that he didn’t have to come when I did.
There isn’t much that I can tell you about the country. It has pine and beech trees and small hills like West Virginia. Also, plenty of apples, pears, etc.
The people here are so friendly that they get in your way. The first day they celebrated by singing in the streets and so on. They fed us and hot food was plenty good to get.
Well, Mom, you weren’t wrong when you guessed that Manual and I were here when you heard Gabriel Heater, for we were. However, both of us are doing fine or at least I am. I have seen him go by three times in a truck, but have never had the chance to talk with him, as he came in a week later than I did.
It looks like rain today, but I have a pretty dry “dug out” with about 1 1/2 foot of dirt over it and straw in the bottom, so it will have to rain pretty hard to get me wet.
Well, time to sign off. Tell everyone hello. Tell Dad I didn’t get his letter.
Answer soon.
With lots of love,
Jerry
P. S. I just saw J. B., and he is okay.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gay, of Marlinton, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Lambert, of Cass, a daughter, Linda Carol.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Dean, of Dunmore, a son.
NEWSPAPER ABERATION WILLYUM’S LETTERS
In Clarksburg Exponent
Mr. R. H. Pritchard, Editor, Etc.
Weston, W.Va.
Dear Bob;
It’s high time you or somebody else with sufficient animosity took adequate steps to reform at least part of the weekly press in West Virginia for it’s getting me a little jittery. I heard Ed Blake has left the paper down at Ronceverte flat on its back and gone to Charles Town to join the stable of that bird, R. J. Funkhouser, to help get out that rag called The Jefferson Republican.
I’ll admit “R. J.” needs a lot of help if he’s ever going to publish a paper fit for polite society, and I’m assuming here that all the issues are like a couple I’ve seen, for there certainly was room for improvement which was about the only direction in which it was possible to make a change.
And also, Bob, to show you the depths to which some weeklies have descended, Dr. Calvin Price printed a letter to the editor in which a subscriber bawled him out for filling up The Pocahontas Times with soldiers’ letters and not printing news and editorials for which he has gained a certain kind of fame. The subscriber didn’t object to printing information, but he thought all the intimate family affairs should be eliminated. Of course, to understand what this subscriber had in mind, a guy has to read one of Cal’s issues.
Answering “Subscriber,” Cal said he never knew what was best to print and what to leave out and likely never would and that he didn’t have time to set the type and write editorials too.
What worries Cal, though, is that the less he writes, the faster his circulation grows, which is enough to stagger any editor who has a good opinion of himself.
Now, do you see what I mean, Bob, and why I am solicitous about this weekly press?
WILLYUM
