Vinalhaven High School - Exile Yearbook (Vinalhaven, ME)

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THE EXILE THE CHARM BRACELET Jen looked down at the floor xx here she had just dropped her bracelet She reached under the bureau and plcked It up As she placed lt on the bureau she notlced lt xx as broken the llttle sllver charms were falllng onto the dresser She plcked them up one bx one and thoughts came to her memor1es George had glven her the bracelet IH hlgh school It was the nlght thev had graduated They had recelved thelr dlplomas the dance was over and they were alone on the library steps He had told her that he was leaxlng for college IH a xx eek and had sllpped the bracelet on her wrlst The week after he had left she had bought a llttle sllver charm ishe looked doxxn at It as she placed lt on the braceletj a tlny book to remem ber the llbrarv and George Three vears went quickly wlth George at college and she at normal school and wlth vacatlons xxonder ful vacatlons when thex xx ere togeth She remembered the dax when he came home from college the dav when he gave her the engagement rlng She held her hand so the d1a mond sparkled brlghtlx 1n the sun llght Then she replaced the next charm on the bracelet a mmlature Church where thev had been mar ned txxo months later The next charms she put on the bracelet xxere three tmx storks One for George Jr iShe laughed as she remembered how she had xx anted to name the babv Thornton and George xx as sure he should be named Sldnex after some 11ch uncle How surprlsed and proud he was when she had told him the name she had selected J The other txxo were for the txxms Carole and Jox ce born two xears later She had added the next tlnx Ol na ment a httle llght bulb when George had been made a VICQ presldent ln the Electrlc Company She added two more charms both a l1ttle brlde and groom for the xxeddmgs of her two daughters onlv SIX months apart As she sllpped the next charm on the bracelet her eves molstened wlth tears It was an alrplane the alrplane she had added to her collectlon when her son George had Jolned the a1r force It had been onlx fifteen days later xx hen she had recelved the tele gram from th War Department That xx as txx entv s1x years ago She put the last charm on the bracelet the charm she had recelved thls mormng from George It was a slmple charm a charm w1th an en graved fifty fiftv vears thev had been marrled fiftx wonderful vears A xolce brought her back to the present George was calllng from the bottom of the stairs Carole and Ioxce are here wlth thelr children Other people xxlll be comlng soon oo She looked at the blacelet ln her hand lNo lt wasn t broken She snap ped the clasp and sllpped It onto her xx r1st softlx closed the bedroom door and hu1r1ed doxx n the stalrs Warren Loveless 54 SEABEES ONT GL ADALCANAL It IS sald that lf lt is a hard thlng to do the Armx xxlll do It and lf It ls a xx et 1ob the Navx xx 1ll do It and lf lt 19 almost lmposslble the Mar mes xxlll do lt and lf It cant pos slblx be done the Seab es wlll do lt Well plcture xourself on a submar me 400 below the surface llstenlng to the Seabee lleutenant gxvlng the brief on landlng lnstructlons fo1 0900 No xou are not nervous or anx thmg llke that but xou stop to thlnk xxhx clld xou xolunteer fox this Job' A , - . , V V Y I Y ' . ' L9 . . v . v v ' ' ' n, N 4 u A . L w - . . Y u A L . .l L A . , ' ' ' v 9 . L , v . . ' 4. a , A . , - Y 1. ' t , , . . . . I y . N . 1 7 . . . . x - . . . . 1 . ' Q n . V ' - y N . . xy y 7 . Lu Y A n , n 1 V K ' ' v ' L , ' ' ' u Vu , A , . . v - - .1 V ' . K . . V Y . . v L u ' - . . , ' u . 1 - Y' I -7 v s . 1 . . v 9 . . 99 , Y , t . ' v K1 . . Y v - . . ' Y ' , Y er. - v , 3 ' 1 y v . v . Y ' ,i 9 . 1 . ' 7 , . . Y s n ' 1 ' , ' . 1 1 V ' ' Q- V A . . f . . . . , . . . Y . ' V Y '. . . . . . . -. , y ' v y v. u 9 -9 L - ' . . 9 . 1 A r K K , - I . ' . . I . . l , - ' 7 . K ' . . A H 1 y 1 Q v . . . 1 u , A l C . . 4 Q. 7 ' . V w l - . t x , K . I . , V . . . . . , l . . . . . . V Y Y, . l . . . Q ,, . . V Y .Y v .V ' - ' ' ' 1 - ' - ' . v Q 1 . ' . , ' v . K v ' ' , Q v ' - v - ' ' ' v ' v . . ' '

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THE EXILE PBS man Class Fiont Row C Polk M Jameson, la Gray B Kelwlck D Woodcock D Nash Back Row: J. Robinson, P. Williams, I. Peterson, E. Gilchrist, E. Dyer

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THE EXILE You really don t know vou just vol unteered As the lleutenant finished hls brlef mg and asked lf there were am ques tlons I looked around the compart ment a group of fifteen men and w hat to do Thls group of men were to land on a Jap held beach and cross the hot stlckx Jungle to start an alr field Sounds kmd of funny doesnt lt Well lts not The sub surfaced and all fifteen men climbed out on the wet dark deck of the sub The lleutenant llned us up and checked all our gear The llttle band of Seabees had one fifty callbre machlne gun Sprlngfield tommy guns and five hand grenades each I know vou are wondering where e equipment was for clearlng out e field Now that s one detall that dldnt know anythlng about All 'e knew was that the equlpment would be there We got to the shore IH rubber boats and everything was golng fine We got all of our equlpment out on the beach and destroyed the rubber boats Oh ves we had more gear than Just our firearms K ratlons two walkle talkles medical equlpment and a supply of clothmg fWe took turns carrvlng the stuff J We started through the iungle t1ll we came to a small brlck bulldlng crawllng wlth the enemy One of the men set up the machlne gun and we were all set to fire when two of our dlve bombers took over We quletls moved out of there and fast' On our wav through the lungle we came upon a blg open field cover ed wlth low grass The lleutenant de bated about golng around the field but declded to cross It A stroke of good and bad luck h1t us then We were about half wav across the field when a Japanese bellv tanked zero came at us full speed We w eren t exactly terrlfied but We h1t the dirt' The plane naturally strafed us and a qulck th1nk1ng corporal turned h1s tommv gun on hlm and wlth a luckx h1t shattered the bellv tank and the plane blew up IH mldalr That was the stroke of good luck We Journexed on through the hot Jungle agam Hot? Sure It was hot and growmg hotter all the tlme The lleutenant figured that we w ere about four mlles from the place where we w ere to set up the field Then we came to a wooden bridge and crossed lt A couple of prlvates destroved lt w1th hand grenades We ventured on We were about two and one half mlles from the so called place and so far we had not run lnto any serious trouble And then we ran Into an enemy platoon ten men and all heav llv armed' Thev dldn t see us but we saw them' So agaln we debated about golng around xt or shootmg It out But before we could declde we found out we had no choice a Jap soldler caught a gllmpse of one of us and they all opened fire Bullets flew through the alr llke mad wlth our machxne guns steadxlv bearlng down on the enemy Suddenlv I saw a terrlfylng slght a hand grenade comlng dlrectly at us The lleuten ant s1tt1ng bv mv side calmly picked It up and threw it back lnto the brush There w as a deafemng exploslon and then sllence' The Jungle was as stlll as death even the birds dld not squawk or smg One of our men sald all the enemv were elther killed Ol wounded So we packed up and struck out agaln We travelled for two hours w lthout anv further trou ble and finally reached the appolnted place Sure enough all the equlpment w as there' What You are wondering how fif teen men are gomg to start an a1r field? Simple All the equipment IS power bull dozer tractor grader and all the other equlpment for startmg an a1r field You hase got to admlt the Seabees do a thorough Job' James Arex 54 ONIE 'VIYSTERIOUS EVENING We were huddled at the foot of the stalrs l1sten1ng to the nolse above The house was dark except for the street llght which peeked through lo , 7 Y ' ' v . . Y y - . v Y Y - Y v v v ' . v . . . . . . Y , . . , . . . , v V . , . . . Y . Y . v . , ' , . . , v - . ' . J ' Y v . ' v , . . . V , . th v ' ' V . L . . e . , . v . . . vt 7 . . . V . y I V v ' ' .fv v . . 1 n ,V , In L .. - , in . Y A K ' v r K s x c V 1 - Y . . . v ' sf ' ' Y v . ' 7 Y . . . 1' s . ' ' 1' v - . L , L 9 v 1 ' 1 ' ' v v 1 . . t - ' v V . v ' Y ' 1 1 . . v u L - ' r 1 9 9 , A . . y . , v , 9 , . . . . . A A , . v. v Y x a 7