The Wilmington morning star. [volume], December 24, 1944, FINAL EDITION, Image 30

About The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990

Image provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

                
BRAZl REVERES
PIONEER AIRMAN
By VAUGHN BRYANT
AP Newsfeatnres
RIO DE JANEIRO. - Brazil
claims its own father of modern
aviation—Alberto Santos Dumont.
Fi'^m the time the little Brazil
ian f^w 60 meters in his bicycle
wheeled silk and bamboo plane
near Paris on Oct. 23, 1906, his
countrymen have considered him
the man who made the first suc
cessful plane.
Regardless of who was'first,
history bears out the contention
that Santos Dumont was a pioneer
of modern aviation and undisputed
inventor of the dirigible. On Oct.
19, 1901, Santos Dumont success
fully took off in a cigar-shaped
motor-driven balloon, circled Eif
fel tower and landed safely.
The flight won him the coveted
“Peutsch” prize and wrote a
successful conclusion to four years
of experiments in which this young
son of a wealthy Sao Paulo land
owner almost lost his life.
In 1897, he built the balloon
‘'Brasil" in Paris and. the fol
lowing year, mounted a gasoline
engine, a propeller and a rudder
$n a similar gasbag in an effort
to prove his theory that a balloon
could be managed and directed
in the air.
His first flight ended in a crash.
On his next attempt, he circled
the Eiffel tower, but was carried
wide by winds and crashed be
fore 'he could return to his point
of departure. It was with the
third balloon that he made his
successful round trip.
Santos Dumont set about build
ing a heavier-than-air machine.
After numerous delays, he made
the brief, but successful flight for
which he is honored. On landing,
he told the Paris press, “It wasn’t
the machine’s fault that I did not
fly farther, I still am not master
of its controls and was unable to
manage it today.”
Two weeks later he flew more
than 200 yards at heights esti
mated at a yard or more and a
speed of 18 to 21 miles an hour.
Returning to his homeland in
1928, Santos Dumont lived for a
time in the Brazilian summer
capital, Petropnlis, near Rie de
Janeiro before his death in 1932.
The one-room frame structure
perched on the side of a hill in
Petropolis is now a museum con
taining relics of his life.
-V
BRITISH ACCUMULATE BRICKS
LONDON.—UP)—There are now
1.000,000,000 bricks in stock in Brit
ain-enough to build 50.000 houess.
WARDROOM BECOMES SICK BAY IN SEA BATTLE
Flame-seared casualties of the second battle of the Philippine Sea sit about and lie on tables in the
wardroom of an escort carrier after the engagement had ended. Due to the emergency, medicine and
bandages replaced the usual tableware seen in this room. This is an official Navy photo. (International
Soundphoto.) ,
Yanks Find Odd Customs
■ At Christmas Overseas
By ARLENE WOLF
AP Newsfeatnres Writer
Americans overseas may have
some surprises at Christmas time
that have nothing to do with gifts
from Santa’s pack. For in other*
lands, the holiday season is not
all tinsel and evergreen, and
Yanks—if they can get time off
from fighting—will see such oddi
ties as wooden shoes replacing
stockings hung on the mantel. St.
Nick on a horse, and eels takin
the place if turkey for the holiday
feast.
Yanks stationed behind the lines
in Belgium and the Netherlands
got an early view of Santa making
his rounds on a white horse on St.
Nicholas Day. Dec. 6. Belgian chil
dren hang stockings filled with hay
for Santa’s horse, while Dutch
youngsters fill their wooden hoc
wit traw. pumpernickle and car
rots. In the Netherlands, Santa has
a Moorish helper, Zwarte Piet
(Black Peter) who leads the old
entleman’s horse, and obligiajrly
carries his pack. The Dutch Santa
wears red and white ecclesiastical
i.robes, and leaves a rod instead o
presents if the children have been
bad.
Americans in Italy will find San
ta and his presents do not arrive
until the Epiphany, Jan. 6, al
though Christmas itself is cele
brated as a religious day. Most
Italians attend midnight mass on
Christmas Eve, and go home to a
“veglione,” or long feast featur
ing roasted eels, lamb or sauce
made of hot olive oil, garlic and
anchovies. The bagpipers travel
from house to house, playing
Christmas songs.
G. I. Joe will find a hot, instead
of white, Christmas in both Aus
tralia and South Africa. Despite
the 100 degree temperature, the
people down under eat a middaf
meal of roast beef, turkey or ham,
plum pudding, mince pie and all
the trimmings. Bouquets for the
Australian hostess are likely to
consist of pure white Christmas
lilies, delphiniums, gladioli or hy
drangea, which replace poinset
tias and Jerusalem cherries.
The holiday season for both Eng
land and France will be a bit
brighter this year. England will
have its first Christmas under
dim-out, rather than black-out reg
ulations, and lights will shine from
church windows for the first iime
in several years.
Inis will be France's first lib
erated Christmas. There it is a
day devoted mostly to religious ob
serfance, family get-togethers and
children. Midnight mass is one of
the most important features of the
celebration, and many churches
have a creche representing the
original manger. French children
place their shoes by the fireplace
before going to sleep, and find
them filled the next morning writh
gifts from le petit Noel—little Lord
Jesus. When the adults come home
from mass, they have a grand
feast known as “le reveillon.’’
In Luxembourg, servicemen will
see huge Christmas trees in all
public places, and will probably
accompany some local family to
the traditional mass at midnight,
or three or four in the morning.
Mass is followed by a Christmas
breakfast, the main dish of which
is a sausage.
The liberated town in, the Phil
ippines may have a chance to go
back to their traditional celebra
tions this year. Traditionally, on
Dec. 16 the people begin a nine
day attendance at a gay mass
sung to pastoral music and accom
Pnied by violins, tambourines nd
orgn. They fast from sunset until
after the midnight mass on Christ
mas eve, and break their fast with
a dinner of ham, cheese, stuffed
chicken and other delicacies.
The Chinese, who have watched
missionaries prepare for Christ
mas for years, are taking particu
lar pleasure in the holiday with
the arrival of the American G. I.
Firecrackers, of course, are a
main feature of the celebration,
and temporary toy shops blossom
in the city streets.
Iceland has arfrioH itc mim cno.
cial Christmas gremlin—the Will
O’ The Wisp—who leads people
astray between Christmas and
New Year’s. They find themselves
black dogs, and white rabbits hop
along under foot. All of this, of
course, leads to much merrymak
. ing, and a superstition that it is
''dangerous to walk abroad at night
during the holiday season.
In the Holy Land itself, service
men will have a chance to attend
the impressive services held on
the Latin Christmas. The Patri
arch comes from Jerusalem with
a troop of cavalry and Kavasses,
and the office lasts from 10 o’clock
on Christmas even until long after
midnight. After the reading of the
gospel, the clergy and many of
the conregation file down a fliht
of steps, alon a winding rock
hewn passage to the grotto of the
Nativity. A waxen image of the
Infant, wrapped in swaddling
clothes, is carried in the proces
sion, and laid on the site said. to
be that of the manger.
-V-—
JUST LIKE CHOW MEIN
SANTA ROSA, Calif., — (£>) —
Home from Italy where he served
as gunner on a B-24 bomber Ser
geant Willie Wong, Chinese-Ameri
can, says not to go to Italy for
“real, Italian spaghetti because it
doesn’t hold a candle to what you
can get in California
FRASER IS FOND
OF BIG WEAPONS
By JOHN A. MOROSO, 3rd
NEW YORK, Dec. 22. — (£>) —
Adm. Sir Bruce Austin Fraser, who
recently was placed in command
of British naval forces being as
sembled in the Pacific to help
America fight the Japanese, is a
pleasant bacneior whose interests
range from hard-hitting, long range
gunnery to gardening, riding and
golf.
He might have been a general
had he followed the career of his
late father, Gen. Sir Alexander
Fraser.
This ever-smiling 56-year-old
dapper but quiet-spoken man is
well qualified fcr his new job. He
went into the Royal Navy in 1902
as a midshipman at the age of 14
and his career since then and par
ticularly during World War II
has been a series of brilliant suc
cesses.
Stocky and of medium height,
he is an excellent conversational
ist who revels in salty tales and
battle stories Fellow officers and
ratings worship and respect him.
He is a difficult man to interview
because he has to follow the tra
ditional Royal Navy policy of
speaking rarely and guardedly for
oublication.
Favorite With Americans
Grey-haired and ruddy, he be
came a favorite among American
officers when U. S. fleet units
joined the British home fleet in
1942 and 1943.
P’raser immediately took it up
on himself o create good will
and unity between British and
American forces and he did much
to break down a certain feeling
nf stiffness that existed between
the two forces.
Fraser is an aviator himself—
he once commanded the carrier
Glorious—and he respects naval
aviation as much as he loves the
smoking long range naval guns.
When the battleship Warspite
smacked the Italian battleship
Giulio Cesare with a 15-inch shell
from a distance of more than 25
miles in 1940, officers credited
Fraser because of the training he
had given the gunners.
Commander Of Home Fleet
As commander of the British
home fleet ne directed the con
voying of thousands of tons of
supplies to 'he Russian port of
Murmansk. Midgett submarines
under his command sneaked into
a Norwegian fiord to torpedo and
^ wax teu- „
badly damage the Nazi battleship ij
rirpitz. •
When naval forces under his _
command sank the German bat- ,
tleship Scharnhorst in the Arctic j
darkness off the Norwegian coast, ,
Dec. 26, 1943, Fraser remembered .
grimly that his former command ;
the Glorious, had been sunk by ,
the Scharnhorst with a loss of <
1,200 British lives.
Fraser is equally at home off the •
quarterdock and in London. He is ,
regarded as an expert on Russian .
affairs and has served on several ;
Anglo-Soviet missions. His work ,
on the Murmansk run brought him
decorations from the Soviets and
a message from Stalin. <
He recently commanded the ;
British Far Eastern fleet using .
Ceylon as his base and warring j
against Japanese ships operating jj
in the Indian ocean. . •
To his new job he brings the
full backing of the British gov
ernment. friendship with Russia
and the respect of American nayal
officers, the latter being an im
portant asset in the vast naval
conflict being fought.
A Big Gun Man
He also brings the thumping
big guns of new and old British
battleships, carriers and cruisers.
He and his men remember the
sinking of the Repulse and Prince
of Wales and the sacking of Sing
apore. Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In his quiet, forceful way,
Fraser, ivearer of the Order of
the British Empire. Commander
of the Bath and Knight of the
Order of the British Empire,
should forge a powerful task force
in the ships under command of
Adm Chester W. Nimitz.
-V
KITCHEN MATCHES MAT EASE
SHORTAGE
NEW YORK.—(A1)—Sharp cur
tailment of book match production
will not create a match shortage, 1
but will force increased use of j
large kitchen matches, spokesmen j
for the match industry in the Unit
ed States say. ’
Production of all types of match- \
es in 1944 is running to 85 per cent j
of last year’s, which was 80 per ’
cent of 1942 production. Meanwhile i
paper book matches are disappear- j
ing with 35 per cent of production ,
going to the armed forces, and all ’
small safety-tpye box matches are i
earmarked for military use. j
reetings
CHRISTMAS I044
CAPE FEAR BARBER SHOP
Chas. P. Murphy
V
In on© window hangs the service
flag ... in another window hangs
the holly wreath . . . this Christ-j
mas ‘44. It is our most earnest wish
that in the year to follow loved
ones will be reunited—service
flogs wrapped away as memen
tos—and the green and red
berries in EVERY window pro.'
claim the joys of peace.
ft* T
^ We wish to thank you for
|!jf your patronage during the
if past year and look forward to
^ serving you again in 1945.
%$
in JOE ABEL TTarript AI^pI
I w. R. JONES j- W. Raney Balb™ site |
5S? ^Monroe Jones and Ezra Johnson, Truckmen
| Jones Furniture Company 1
-
| Merry Christmas ||
| ANDA |l
| Happy New Year g
|jjj TO ALL OUR PATRONS 1^
|| 129 PRINCESS ST.
[;
f
„ TO THE
r FRIENDS :
«® „ cnmaJ
We Will Be Closed i
Monday, Tuesday and Med :
nesday For the Holidays :
Sunshine Beauty Shop
MRS. P. J. WHITMAN, Owner ”
11 NORTH 7TH STREET i
m © ^ a
5 .«,* Our Christifiaj prayer th& ft
S , , , . , year is for a lasting peat* ft
m and the safe and early return of all our loved ones, ft
CAISON BROS. LAUNDRY 1
I 1219 DAWSON STREET |
| ^ - - " " - ~ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
A
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A
fi
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% On Christmas Eve, behold the sight; A
^ A single star is burning bright, §
With silver rays, to point the way. ^
iff To warmth and love on Christmas Dayv ft
I LARKIN'S CLOTHING STORE I
g 251 North Front St.
I
TO ALL OUR PRtENDS AND PATRONS $
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If £ CHRISTMAS—a season of joy and gladness—this year finds us working |
W /jl an<^ s^vln<3 to hasten the day of complete Victory. So, with memories alive jf
W. vivid recollections of Christmases past, our foremost wish is that peace will prevail ^
sj? soon on earth. May your families be happy and well and may your Yuletide prayers 5
&* or the swift return of your loved ones be answered. $
If We Will Close After Lunch Sunday and Remain Closed |
ijf Until Breakfast Tuesday Morning
\ Friendly Cafeteria - Restaurant f