Niles Junior High School - Milestones Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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THE SADDEST DAY OF MY LIFE The saddesT and yeT The happiesT clay oT rn ThirTeen years was The day my TaTher came home Trom overseas. I was ever so glad To have him home again. buT iT you had only seen whaT I did, you would also Teel The same as I did. Pain. Yes. a pain in my hearT Tor someone I love dearly. I Dad is in The MerchanT Marine and had made TwenTy-Tour Trips. Usually The Trips were shorT. buT The one I am going To Tell you abouT Took one year and Two monThs. One evening as I was doing The dishes and when I was iusT abouT Tinished washing a plaTe. The door bell rang. I opened The door and a sailor Trom The MerchanT Marine asked if my name was UrquharT, I said. Yes. He said ThaT he' had-a surprise Tor me and he had. He Then helped my TaTher inTo The house. My TaTher looked one hundred years old. There were puffs under his eyes and his gray beard wenT down To his chesT. When we saw Dad before he leTT on his Iasj' Trip his hair was piTch black. buT now iT was gray on The Top and aT The Temples. He hobbled in Tor he had been hurT. I didn'T know him aT TirsT. Then I realized WGS my TaTher. THE ADVENTURES OF A MERCHANT SEAMAN ON A TRIP Five and a half monThs ago. my TaTher, a LieuTenanT Commander. leTT The STaTes Tor some unknown desTinaTion. IT was raining ThaT day which made iT all The drearier. My moTher implored my TaTher To Take his winTer uniTorm Thinking ThaT when he came back iT would be winTer. buT as you will learn. he reTurned in The spring. Where was he? you ask, and ThaT, Tellow sTudenTs, I will aTTempT To answer. Leaving New York. his ship Tormed a convoy wiTh oTher ships and seT sail across The ATIanTic. All was peaceTul and quieT. ATTer abouT one monTh. They reached GibralTar. You may wonder aT The IengTh oT Time iT Took, buT This is war and The ships had To do loTs oT zigzagging. One clay aTTer They IeTT GibraITar They were aTTacked by airplanes. Luckily only one ship was IosT. MosT oT The men on iT were saved. Though Tour oT our ships Took a ToTaI oT Three aircraTT, which seTTled The score. All was eaceful again. unTiI They reached Bone, Algeria, and deposiTed Their wares. They Then proceeded on Their journey To Naples. No sooner had They IeTT Bone when They were aTTacked again by aircraTT. This Time no ships were IosT and we Took one of Their planes. A day before They reached Naples They were aTTacked by whaT seemed To be an enemy U boaT . buT The sub was an American. This was The IasT episode- because our ships Then reached Naples and The journey back was noT dangerous. So They ThoughT-buT Things weren'T as peaceful as They seemed. Tor in Naples They were aTTacked again and again by Nazi planes buT our deTense baTTeries were Too sTrong Tor The MasTer Race . They were deTeaTed. So will we also deTeaT and deTeaT The enemies oT our democracy. BuT in order To do This. our soldiers musT have supplies and as my TaTher says. The only way They'Il geT ThaT is by your and my buying more War Bonds and STamps. ' U ROBERT POYDASHEFF, QA: SCIENCE OUIPS 9BR having been sTudying heaTing sysTems, was asked a quesTion by Mrs. Gourin. WhaT causes knocking in radiaTors? She asked. Why answered George Murray brillianTIy, The lady upsTairs. STudying on The reproducTion oT a Tish, Mrs. Gourin was Telling us ThaT shad- roe was considered a greaT delicacy. UVVI'I6'I'?H said -10-

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Z'q'i 1 T .gewee ' . 1. is i 'O 02 X ff 'X fii' ' 5' aff by - YQJ I T ik 1- xv la ' T MOST of us have relafives in The service oT our counfry. On The following pages you will read abouf some of our own heroes. THE WAR AND DAD lT was The day before Thanksgiving and we were sTanding around him wiTh Tears in our eyes. ln his hand he held a card sTaTing ThaT OTTO Brummer had passed his h sical examinafion and was Thus qualified for service in The U.S. Army. IT also saijfhal' he was To re1oorT aT The inducTion cenTer on November 25. l942, and proceed wiTh a body of men To Grand Cenfral STaTion. Now The Time had come when my faTher would have To leave us for how long we did noT know. buT if iT was his wish To go who were we To sTop him. AfTer saying goodbye. he deparTed. leaving us for The firsT Time. The days following were noT very pleasanT. The whole family missed Dad Terribly and iT seemed ThaT everyThing we did reminded us of him. Then aT lasT a long awaiTed leTTer arrived. Anxiously. my mofher Tore o en The envelope and read aloud Tha+ he was in Camp Dix very homesick. buT oTEerwise all righT. ThaT was grand news To us and we felT like Telling The world. From Then on we received mail regularly and everyfhing wenT along fine. The younger fellows called him Pop because he was The oldesT privaTe There. One ChrisTmas Eve he goT a Thirfy-six hour pass and came home iusT in Time To Tix The Tree. We saw him once more and Then he was shipped To Cam Roberis. California, which is near San Francisco. Daddy wroTe ThaT he preferred 5aliTornia's sunshine To New Jerse 's cold and snow. WhiTe aT Camp RoberTs he gained TwenTy- five pounds which fillfed him ouT beauTifully. AT RoberTs he was in The Field Arfillery. He won quiTe a few medals for shooTing and afTer being in for a year, he received a medal for good conducT. LaTer he was senT To San Diego and soon privaTe became corporal. They also made him mail clerk for The five surrounding baTTalions. He said he enioyed This work buT iT kepT him busy especially around The holida s. Then one day in November we received The Tolibwing Telegram: EvacuaTe Navy and Marines. The Army is Taking over. Arrive Pen STaTion 3:30 P.M. 'Love and kisses for my Three girls. Dad. . ATTer a few hours The doorbell rang Three Times and in sTepped Pop looking beTTer Than he had looked in his whole life. We kepT him busy'visiTing friends and relafives and before we knew iT, a week had passed. He would have To leave us again buT This Time we knew he was well and had no cause for worry. He refurned To San Diego and resumed his job of mail man. A few weeks ago he Took his overseas physical exam wiTh flying colors. RecenTly he was Transferred To ForT Bliss, Texas. for overseas Training. Like all The resT, he is anxious To go over buT in his case There is The liTTle maTTer of age. The work is Tough and The hours long, buT for a man wiTh spiriT and endurance ThaT means noThing. We all hope and pray ThaT This conflicT will soon end so ThaT my Tafher and all your Tafhers. sons, broThers. and sweeThearTs can come home To enioy lasTing peace in This. our America. JUNE BRUMMERI 954 -9-

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A TRIBUTE TO A BIG BROTHER Mark was an auThor. Oh no! noT an ordinary aufhor. Novels. poems, sTories. all of Them iusT came ouT of his head wiTh ease. And good ones. Too. He wasn'T famous: he didn'T even have an office. He iusT saT down aT his desk afTer a hard day aT work and pecked away aT his second hand TypewriTer, for he knew success would be his some day. He was a goodlooking fellow. He wenT To parTies and had many daTes. buf always his work came firsT. ReiecTion slips were an everyday maTTer To him. Every morning his kid sisTer. and number one Tan walked in wiTh The mail.- Well. any luck? BuT alas. noT a single one was accepTed. STill he worked on for ambiTion was like a flame burning wiThin him. Then The war came. Pearl Harbor. Guadalcanal. The noise and rush of bond rallies. The uniforms flooding The sTreeTs were all Too much for him. So. doing as any red lolooded American boy would do. Mark enlisTed in The Army Air Force. Well, Today Thai' 'boy has had his dreams come True. For. alThough he was only a buck privaTe and alThough he was sTaTioned aT a field a liTTle off nowhere in The midsT oT a deserT. Mark worked on Towards his goal. He knew The only way To succeed was Through work. work, and sTilI more work. One day. his big chance came. There was a shorT sTory conTesT aT The Tield and Mark's sTory won TirsT prize. So he received a conTracT To wriTe shorT sfories for The base publicaTion Flying Time . Mark was sTill noT conTenT and he worked unTil he finally became guesT ediTor of The magazine. Upon hearing ThaT a radio sTaTion was To be esTablished aT This Tield, Mark wracked his brains and wroTe whaT he ThoughT a preTTy good scripT. Yes. his C.O'. accepTed iT and every Friday nighT his show was heard on a five hundred mile frequency sTaTion. RoberT Sferling, Ann SouThern and oTher noTed sfars soon became his guesTs. Before long, Mark received oTFers from Hollywood. f He's sTill aT Pecos Field now, waiTing Tor The war To end for his big chance in Hollywood. AT presenT he's sTaying in The UniTed STaTes. a buck privaTe working for The morale of his buddies. This mighT seem To you an ordinary -ccess sTory of a poor boy ThaT made good. buT To me iT's more Than Thaf. lT's The sTory of my adored big brofher who has found happiness aT lasT. Imagine all you would be auThors of II8. he's one of us who has succeeded because as you may have guessed. he wenT To The lI8 of old lP.S. 57l. RUTH sci-HNDLER, asia MY BROTHERS IN SERVICE Can you recall ThaT dreadful day in December, when, wiTh The shriek of a bomb, America was awakened To war? Thousands of young men rapidly began To enlisT in The armed services oT our counTry. TT was Then ThaT my Two broThers decided upon Their TuTure. The scene now was Pennsylvania STaTion. IT was morning. Alfhough eople came and wenT. The crowd remained dense. The noise ouTside our circa was TurbulenT buf we were all calm. Tears became visible in my moTher's eyes. We waiTed Tor whaT seemed like hours alThough iT was iusT a few momenTs. The order To line up was given and soon my broThers were ouT of sighf. My broThers are now serving overseas. The oldesT in The Air Corps. and my so called kid broTher in The CoasT ArTillery. Home will never be quiTe The same unTil ThaT blessed day oT VicTory, when my broThers and all our dear ones are Y' . ANNE ser. 9BR reTurned safel -in-A