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

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HE'LL WEAR A PAIR OF SILVER WINGS Whefher he is a privaTe, sergeanT. or general I am sure we are all proud oT our broThers in The service. I Tor one am cerTainly proud oT mine, SergeanT VincenT James DePaIo. Jimmy enlisTed in The Air Force on OcTober 20, I94l and was assigned Tor his basic Training as a gunner To Shepherd Field in Texas. ATTer Tinishing his basic Training and gunnery schooling, he was TransTerred To Lakeland. Florida. where he prepared Tor overseas duTy. Arriving aT his Toreign base. he was assigned To The Chug-A-Lug TogeTher wiTh nine oTher men. His plane Took parT in many combaT missions, aTTer 200 hours oT which all The crew members were awarded The DisTinguished Flying Cross. An addiTional one hundred hours oT combaT Tlying Time broughT Them The added disTincTion oT being awarded The Air Medal wiTh The Cak LeaT ClusTer. FourTeen monThs as a waisT gunner on The Chug-A-Lug and my broTher was on his way back To The STaTes once again. This Time To begin his Training as a piloT in The AviaTion CadeTs. He's working hard aT his sTudies aT The STaTe Teachers College in Iowa where he's sTaTioned aT The presenT Time . . . I guess he Tigures. and righTly so, ThaT The The harder he sTudies, The sooner he will win his wings. ThaT's The only way he can geT back To Tinish his iob and avenge his Triends who didn'T have a chance To come back Tor Their wings. ' ANNA DE pAl-QI QB4 MY COUSIN IN SERVICE The Tire swepT ocean didn'T exacTI look inviTing To a person on The side oT a huge ship. The boaT wasn'T The nicesT pllace To have a picnic, so he lumped. As he hiT The waTer, he began To kick. He'was Trying To push The Tire-coaTed waTer away Trom himselT. He Then dove deeply inTo The waTer. They didn'T see him unTil a Tew minuTes IaTer. Then aT lasT someThing broke The surTace. All was quieT Tor a second ThaT seemed like eTerniTy. Then a hoarse cry oT, God, he came up Too soon. He'Il be burnT To deaTh. BUT The man didn'T die Tor he is sTill alive aT leasT as Tar as I know. This man who mighr be dead excepT Tor his sTalwarT courage is my cousin. I remember beTore he wenT away The Time he said These words ThaT are sTill ringing in my ears, I Think This is going To be my lasT one. Well iT almosT was. Tor even now he has scars on his body To help him remem- ber ThaT nighT. I hope wiTh all my hearT ThaT This Terrible war will soon be over. I'm sure ThaT wiTh The millions oT oTher boys TighTing aT his side and wiTh one hundred and ThirTy million men and women on The home TronT, we'll soon have a iusT and Fading peace- NORMAN RASMUSSEN. QBR MY COUSIN IN THE SERVICE My cousin has been in The Navy Tor Two years. His job is manning an anTi- aircraTT gun. He always had good aim in shooTing and Throwing. I sTill remember Those snow balls. I We used To call him Banny because he liked bananas, buT now ThaT he is grown up, married. in TacT. we call him by his real name, MarTin. f MarTin has spenT mosT oT his liTe in WashingTon, D.C. We very seldom saw each oTher exce T when my aunT came in during a holiday or when we wenT To WashingTon in Tliie summer. Each Time we meT Them, iT would always come as a surprise To realize ThaT we had real SouTherners, accenT and all, in our family. MarTin is very Tall, very dark. and very handsome. I have always liked him a greaT deal. I was a liTTIe sorry when he goT married. Lindy, his wife, is very nice. Though. MarTin enlisTed in The Navy. and. while we were all sorry To see him go, we were also very proud oT him. He likes The Navy and says iT's a wonderTuI ou'ITiT, buT he can'T waiT unTil The war is over so ThaT he can come home again. BLANCHE SALTZ. 9BR

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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

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MY DOG IN THE SERVICE Baron is a German Shepherd. noT on The Nazis side eiTher. whom I enlisTed in The Wags. Baron was an ordinary dog beTore he enTered The army. He loved To chase caTs'. TighT oTher dogs. bark aT sTrangers, chase aTTer sTicks. and so on. He also liked To play Hide and Seek wiTh us. When I was iT he'd help me Tind The oTher children buT I didn'T like iT. because he'd help The oTher children Tind me, also. Now Baron is Trained. He is erecT and ready To do his new masTer's every command. ATTer Tour monThs in The service. he wenT overseas wiTh The American Rangers lCommandosI. When The Rangers made Their aTTack, Baron was aT Their side. When his masTer was wounded. a Jap sneaked up aT him and was ready To kniTe him buT Baron aTTacked and bi+ The Jap in The neck. When The aTTack was over. his masTer wroTe home and Thanked us Tor enIisTing such a wonderTuI dog. So Tar Baron has one Jap To his crediT. .buT I'm willing To beT There'Il be many m0F9 I0 C0m6- GENEROSO MANGANELLI, '-PBR I-us LIFE WAS A SMALL PRICE Killed in acTion! SergeanT NaThan Gelber. 53 EasT I82nd STreeT, New York CiTy, was killed in acTion on March 27. This noTice appeared in The daily papers. ShorT and Terse iT conTinued in The usual manner. You may have noTiced iT, or do such news iTems hold no inTeresT Tor you? For who was SergeanT N. Gelber? WhaT manner oT man was he? In a IeTTer To my broTher he wroTe. I don'T Think I have much chance oT'coming home. My luck can'T hold ouT all The Time. He had been Through ThirTeen major engagemenTs. and was killed in The TourTeenTh. A poeT once wroTe The Tollowing, The boasT oT heraldry. The pomp oT pow'r And all ThaT beauTy. all ThaT wealTh e'er gave AwaiT alike The ineviTabIe hour, The paThs of glory lead buT To The grave. SergeanT N. Gelber ToughT noT Tor glory. No Trum eTs sounded. no pomp. The Znddcame suddenly, swiTTIy and when The baTTIe was cleared SergeanT Gelber was ea . He ioined The Army long beTore Pearl Harbor. He knew ThaT. soon America musT TighT To preserve iTs way oT liTe. WhaT is This American way oT life? IT is The way we live! The people hurrying To work each morning. The roar oT The subway. The liTTIe Church around The corner, This school, The very desk we siT aT: our Teacher who wiTh paTience and sympaTheTic undersTanding Teaches us This way oT liTe. SergeanT Gelber knew oT The danger ahead. He cheerTully accepTed whaTever TaTe mighT have in sTore Tor him. The price oT vicTory is high. This war will be and is being won by men like him. Much sweaT and Tears will be shed before Tinal vicTory is ours. Each oT us will give. and make whaTever sacriTices are necessary. SergeanT Gelber gave his all Tor vicTory and peace. In his lasT IeTTer To his parenTs. he wroTe This: Please, Mom. don'T Teel Too bad. Pa, I realize you Teel iusT as bad abouT The siTuaTion buT ou. as The man oT The house, have To keep The morale high. Pleaserealize ThaT you boTh are paying a very small price Tor The Treedom you have in America. We are The luckiesT people in The world. I say. Thank God I can TighT so my Tolks can sTiIl enioy ThaT life. Be proud ThaT you have Two sons ThaT can TighT Tor The U.S.A. Believe me, iT is worTh TighTing Tor. Be proud ThaT your children aren'T slackers. Be proud ThaT your children are Americans. SergeanT NaThan Gelber gave his parenTs someThing else To be proud of- a son who died wiTh TaiTh in his CounTry. His moTher was awarded The Purple HearT Tor The gaIIanTry of her son. MINNIE ROSEN-I-HAL 983