To the man or woman who has once tasted the ecstacies of life in the deep woods of northern Maine, the "call of the wild" is simply irresistible. To them no summons is sweeter, or more welcome, or more delightful to obey; and though it comes, clear and penetrating, with every recurring vacation season, yet it comes ever to gladly receptive ears and finds an instant response in the heart of the erstwhile vacationist.
There comes a time in many a man's life when the tired mind, wearied with the hurly-burly of modern business, steals away from the tasks in hand and refreshes itself with sweet memory pictures of the deep Maine woods. And what pictures they are! Exquisite paintings which no hand but nature's could originate and no thought but one's own produce; entrancing scenes with the supreme delights of camp and its environments in the foreground, and ideal woods and water settings at the back. It is no ordinary vacation trip that one makes when he wends his way into the forest fastnesses of Maine's great wilderness.
When early man went off on a vacation he invariably "took to the woods " -- because he had no other place to go to. He hunted, he fished, he roamed the forests with such delight as can come only to a true lover of the woods; and it is possible that, "just for fun," he may have worked a log into the waters of some winding stream and, sitting astride of it, have been borne along with the gliding current, enthusing all the while over the sylvan splendors which spread out in panoramic magnificence on every side. Today, the vacationist "takes to the woods" from choice; and if his route leads him into the depths of the great Maine forests where the woods are well-nigh primeval and where the lakes and rivers and lesser waterways lave the same shores they have known for centuries, then his cup of joy becomes filled to the very brim.
It was more than half a century ago when Thoreau, plunging deep into the wilderness of the Katahdin country, got his first taste of the ecstasies of existence in the great Maine woods. We have his own enthusiastic account of the trip -- of endless windings up river, lake and stream; of panoramic splendors by green -- girt shores and forest-covered ridges; and of life ideal in silent sylvan fastnesses. He went to seek a wilderness; he found a mammoth park of nature's most picturesque making, where naught but great green forests covered hill and dale as far as eye could see and where sinuous waterways offered the only path by which the traveler could get in touch with this wildly rugged land of beauty.
Kipling has told us much about the tangled jungles of the far East; Stanley has sent out glowing accounts of jungle life in Darkest Africa; now why not turn for a while to jungles nearer home -- to the greatest sporting and recreation ground in all America -- the widespread pine-tree jungles of northern Maine? Here is sport unbounded; fisherman and huntsman are equally blessed, and bountifully. Or, if one comes merely for the good which an untrammelled forest existence can do him, he gets rejuvenation and health in fullest measure, and in a most delightful way. Should the reader wonder what there can be about the Maine woods that is so universally attractive, he can best satisfy his curiosity by an actual visit to this sylvan paradise. Let him join the great army of autumnal sojourners who slip away annually from the cares and problems of city life and dive deep into the great Maine forests.
Provides extensive details about the Victory Loan Dance to be held at Bangor City Hall on Friday, December 21; has a photograph of four engineers (Bernie Noden and his son Richard Noden, Frank Clark, Jim Cunningham, and Herb Willey) after a successful bear hunt near Cherryfield; and features "civilian chit-chat" from Cecilia Riley, Dorothy Bates, Marion Dickson, Theresa O'Brien, and Marie Pecorelli.
Promotes a Friday, December 21st Victory Dance at Bangor City Hall; Janet M. Reid provides the newest gossip among the civilian personnel; the landing of a B-29 is heralded; and Celilia Riley gives us the scoop on the aircraft maintenance department's activities on base and off.
Tells of 1st LT. Robert Gross, the personnel officer of the 13th AACS Squadron, who had traveled to Greenland on the Arctic schooner, the Effie Morrissey; shows a captioned photograph of a group of workers of the visiting plane the Hag of Hardwyck; and reveals that civilian employees had began to outnumber military personnel on base.
S/SGT Bob Senser, PFC Andrew Misthos, T/SGT Harold Benenson, SGT Harry Morris, T/SGT Byron Hutchinson, SGT Adolph Diers, and S/SGT C.J. Pelezynski reveal their post-war plans; Joe Axelson spent a weekend at his hunting lodge in Glenburn; Hollis Parker and Forrest Clancy share notes about their newborns; Genevieve Marcus sold her house trailer; and Estelle Cassell, Gerry Williard, and Eleanor Savoy await the return of their husbands from overseas.
The virtuousness of Bangor's women are extolled (combatting a poor reputation brought on by the book and movie "The Strange Woman"); Captain Robert S. DuBois, CPL Neal E. Johns, CPL John L. Jonking, CPL Colin A. Williams, and Millie Allen are commended for their work processing passengers at U.S. Customs on base; and Forrest Clancy is congratulated on the birth of his baby girl.
Soldiers and base personnel mentioned in this scaled-back issue of the Observer include: Henry Law; Keith Googin; Harris Mower; Kermit Clements; John Spinney & Gertrude Wood -- they were wed; Winfred Lane; Dick Rall; Irving Hoisey; and Irving S. Blau.
LT COL Edward J. Soulliere, the new director of Supply and Service, is profiled and pictured on Page One; T/SGT A.L. Thurston, S/SGT James Volz, CPL Victor Branca, SGT Harold B. Bender, and SGT Arthur Hennessey talk about their post war plans; Mrs. Alyce Connor and LT Joseph J. Marshall are shown in photographs at the base library; and Captain Robert C. Dubose looks quite sharp in his military uniform.
Six Dow Fielders reenlist: T/SGT Charles F. White, S/SGT Leo F. Kamler, M/SGT William F. Brockman, S/SGT Robert R. Whisler, PFC Charles E. Johnson, and SGT Ronald J. Brady. The question "What do you regard as the cause or causes of the recent sharp increase in the number of automobile accidents?" is answered by Mrs. Frances Copolino, CPL John M. Skube, CPL James C. Cowles, Mrs. E. Earle Brown, and V.W. Lenfest. We see a photo of barber CPL Joseph Camuto and a photograph of 1st LT Edward J. Bartlett, a participant in the first daylight raid on Berlin.
SGT Jack Ross, PVT Bill McGaughey, PVT Clarence Dyer, PFC Ardayo, and PFC Hilford Daveer are shown mowing the grass at Dow Field; First LT Edward J. Bartlett replaces LT Frank Obermeyer as Post Exchange Officer (Bartlett and his wife, the former Miss Marie Boutin, live on Ohio Street in Bangor at this time); Louie Belliveau serves as the only barber on base; and we see a photograph of LT Helen V. Price, LT Marjorie Raynor, LT Florence F. Foy, CPL Eleanor Krasnopolska, CPL Lillian Lenore, acting 1st SGT Idelia Schleusner; PFC Mary O'Brien, PFC Mary Dingley, PFC Minnie Baumann, PFC Frances Savage, PFC Frances Dickerson, and PFC Linn Hill.
Barbara Magee of base Air Supply anxiously awaits the return of her husband T/SGT Thomas E. Magee; Eleanor Bradeen, of the PX restaurant branch, and her daughter Sue Bradeen are pictured; and a large group of Dow Field soldiers, civilians, and WACS visited Quebec -- those on the trip included (and photographyed): S.J. Westock; John Plesnarski; John Crawford; Inez Campbell; Idelia Schleusner; Mary L. O'Brien; Phyllis Stappler; Kathleen Conlon; Eileen O'Reilly; Ruth Alger; George Anthony; Ruth Miller; Euleta Lake; Ernestine Stem; Gunrun Jacobson; Doris Singleton; Esther Swanson; Carrol Kasey; Margaret Scholz; Joseph J. Marshall, Herbert Huebner; and John McNaught.
Three members, pictured and profiled, of the 135th AACS Squadron return to Dow Field after 14 months in Arctic. Each man had acquired an Eskimo name during his stay at the weather station on Baffin Island. The men were: T/SGT Allen R. Tepe, known as Oowukalak, translated as "Big Jowls"; CPL Aloysius B. Griffin, known as Polywatth i.e. "Big Ears"; and CPL James E. Kramer, Eegothwola, i.e. "Small Man with Glasses." CPL William Zander is shown serving Rusty the dog a perhaps not dietetically appropriate Coca-Cola. CPL John Dura, SGT Mario Sirabella, SGT Lowell E. Dahlberg, CPL Beatrice C. Vizena, and SGT Joseph C. Cooper weigh in on processing changes to the Dow Field Observer. And dozens of civilian Dow Field workers are shown in a group photo.
Soldiers and civilians written about and photographed in this issue include Captain Charles Horvath, Mr. Hobart H. Conover, First LT Merlin C. Benninger, CPL Jay C. Kemper, PFC Donna Purdie, SGT Lester F. Sorenson, PFC Odysseus A. Liakakes, Captain Claude M. Maer Jr., PFC Doris Ramer, and two-year old Sharon Lee Sherman, daughter of Aircraft Maintenance crew member A.C. Sherman.
Mary Jo Swan and PFC Peter Olander demonstrate a proper kissing stance; PVT Helen Ross is pictured with Geraldine, the skunk pet of SGT H.P. Puckett; LT Samuel L. Hinson gets promoted to Captain; three 1st SGTs, William Kelley, Grant F. Walsh, and Arthur G. Brickman get transferred off base; SGT Stanley Mikelk returns from Washington with valuable data; the 38th Aviation Squadron, a predominantly African American squadron, is featured on page 3, with over a dozen soldiers identified and photographed; and civilians Alice Conroy and Howard Graham are profiled on page 5.
Page One provides a photograph of LT COL Edward F. Tindell, Captain Richard Boyd, 1st LT Robert Craven, the parents of a flyer, 1st LT Donald L. Huff, who was killed in action, 1st LT Arthur E. Bowel, and Captain Melvin G. Caldwell. SGT Thomas J. Kelly, SGT Carroll Daugherty, SGT Joseph Jenyk, CPL William J. Murphy, and SGT Gerard Steltz discuss their post war plans. The softball champions from Squadron E are pictured. Soldiers are: T/SGT William Toles; CPL James Green, 1st LT Harold L. Little; PFC James Bright; 1st SGT Henry Trott; T/SGT Lester Grant; PFC Horace Cranford; PFC James Massey; S/SGT Clarence Riley; PFC Elmore Williams; S/SGT Joseph Brooks; CPL George McMullin; PFC Louis Brown; CPL Charles Monroe; PVT Charles Stuart; CPL William Mitchell; and PFC Orlando Hughes. Team members not pictured: PFC Fred Gaymond; PFC Harold Miller; PFC Forrest Harris, and PFC Edward Tedder.
Among the items in this packed issue are: S/SGT. Leslie Brogdon was elected new president of the NCO Club; First Lt. Helen V. Price became new commanding officer of WAC Squadron C; SGT. William Willis won at the Dow Field tennis courts; 2nd LT. Paul Hanley married Gladys Ryder at a base ceremony; and the base celebrated Japan's surrender.
"Victory!" reads the headline. The smaller print proclaims "Historic Week Quiet on Base." A parade and gigantic picnic are announced to celebrate the end of the war. In lesser news, LT. Robert W. Shannon and Captain Thomas M. Slamal are shown with trophies for winning the doubles tennis competition; and a story telling of the return of three buck sergeants, Joseph Johns, John Moore, and Francis Breyne to Dow Field after a 15 month stay at Labrador in the arctic.
Touts "an afternoon Tea Dance in the Pavilion at Branch Pond ... on Sunday of Camp Jordan for use by soldiers and their guests" (transport from base via hourly trucks and buses); features a story about PFC. Venerable McFarland and his invention; an extensive article, with numerous photographs, of the base's 58 firefighters; and details the promotion of Air Inspector Lewis W. Graham to major.
Dow Field gets two new chaplains, Chaplain Edward J. Morkowski and Chaplain Paul F. Ketchum; Thomas C. Nowdy, Oliver Cormier, Edmund J. Boucher, Lester V. Vasseur, and Guy Allen answer the question "What problems have confronted you since receiving your discharge?"; Major George F. Bryon is promoted to LT. COL; and we see pictures of Captain Earl R. Holm and Captain Willie Knutson.
Page 6 announces 40,000 attend Dow Field open house. LT COL Edward F. Tindell greeted the crowd. Soldiers mentioned in this issue include: Herbie Blinn, PFC William Fleming, CPL Leon Tarien, SGT Stanley Mikelk, SGT Carleton Cummings, S/SGT Millard Meier, PVT Doris Ramer, and CPL Myra Harris. 16 year old Bangor girl, Caliope Mourkas, won the grand prize of $1000 bond at the Open House raffle.
