The West News (West, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 1944 Page: 1 of 8
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i
WASTE PAPER DRIVE
EVERY FRIDAY
®h£ Ufest S&feuiB
FIFTY-FIFTH
YEAR OF SEE VIC*
* $1.50 PER YEAR
WEST TF\»S KRI11 av DECEMBER 8, 1941
VO LI.'ME 56, NO. »
City Dads Award Contract for Drilling of Well
'*
Incomplete Reports Show West’s Quota
In War Bond Drive Is $133,000.00 Short
Minus the reports of the various committees of business men
Aiid minus the reports from the rumored big sates to a few firms in
West, West's effort to raise $188,000.00 during the Sixth War Loan, as
Judged by the number of sales of bonds recorded by late Wednesday,
Is “Just" $133,000.00 short. Only $49,870.00 worth of bonds were sold
during the first three weeks of the drive here.
-----—---* Although the local Ichalrmen—
S-Sgt. John J.Kaska Awarded Bronze Medal
For Heroic Deed in Combat in France
Far heroic achievement ia
combat in France on September
29, 1944, John J. Kssku, ton <*$
Mr. and Mrs. Chas J. Kasha of
West, was awarded the Bronze
Star medal and promoted to the
rank ol staff sergeant from ser-
geant.
The citation with the award
read: “As a leader of a section
of machine guns, Sgt. Kaska
was assigned the mission of sup-
porting the assualt elements of
____ ______ __________ , his company in an attack throu-
condltimis oeotle of this communi- series E bondii 10 data- aC.ct^dil?g, gh a densely wooded area. When
the nation are to reports of the two local bnan^“j the enemy opened fire with ma-
chin guns and rifles and increa-
C^Walker* buy" and mail their about half of the quota.
C. wancer to ouy ^ ^ ^ chairmen believe that the
reason for the slow sale of these
Mail Your Xmas
Packages Early
Eddie Walla, Geo. Kacir and Aug.
J. Morris—are not worried about
the sale of C, G. F. and treasury
bonds, they are expressing anxiety
ever the small sale of E bonds to
Due lo the extraordinary wartime individuals. The total sale of the |
UUP ID vile “Aii j ® t/i rtttfp apron
onditions, people of
ty as well as all oyer and ^ office stands at $24,700.00,
urged by Postmaster General Frank a
Christmas packages as
"I not pleasing to us to have b°nds is due to the fact that many
u u not p „ *« mgii Westonians were expecting volun-
to ask the American p op salesmen to approach them as
packages so far in advance of the ^
delivery date. We do so only be
they did in the past. The various i
bandoned during this drive.
sed the intensity of artillery and
mortar shelling, Sgt. Kaska es-
timated that the chief source of
resistance was on the right flank.
Acting on his own initiative, he
courageously led his machine
gun crews through the h?avy
enemy barrage to a position
from which he could direct ef-
fective fire on the hostile em-
we
given sound reasons
cooperate magnificently.
“Unprecedented shortages of
man power and transportation fa-
cilities growing out of the war com-
pel early mailing. The Postal Serv-
ice has given 50.000 experienced
employees to the armed forces and
300 000 railroad workers have gone
to war.
“In a great number of our 43,000
All the farmers and Westonians
who have been waiting for volun-
teer salesmen to approach them,
are urged not to wait any longer
but to go to the local banks or the
post office and buy their bonds Im-
mediately. Unless they do so, the
committeemen report, West will
never attain the quota.
The various members of the com-
post offices the man Power situa^ mlttees canvassing the business dis
tlon is critical. The 200.000 extra
workers whom we normally recruit-
ed to handle the swollen Christ-
mas volume of mail were able to
work long hours of overtime and to
do heavy work. This cannot be ex-
pected from the women and high
school boys and girls to whom In
large part we must look this year
to meet the situation.
“We urge everyone to buy now,
mail Immediately, and mark gifts
•Do Not Open Until Christmas’.”
-o-
trict are as follows: North block,
W. A. Zatopek and Raymond Hru-
ska; Middle block; R. Wendorf and
IChas. Harris; South block; Louis
E. Garrison and D. T. Adams; West
block, Joe Svaoek and Frank Busby.
Complete reports from these com-
mittees will not be available until
late this week or early next week, j
-o-
Lt. Simcik, Listed
Missing, Is War ,
ALBERT T. VANZLRA PriSO^r Of HlMlS
DECADES HENCE, when some I First Lieutenant John C. Simcik,,
bu:>y-body will be examining the 23, reported missing in action since |
minutes of the meeting of the city August 28. 1944 in France, is a
commission on the night of Dec. 5,1 prisoner of the Germans, the war j
194-i. it will dawn on him that this I department notified his parents,
me ting was one of the milestones 1 Mr. and Mrs. John Simcik of 916
in the history of this c jmmunity, j North 27th St., Waco, Texas.
For it will be on that aight that j a member of the Army engineers,
the city commission awarded the! Lt. Simcik has been overseas since
contract to build a new water well March, 1944. He
for the city. In a city this size, the
building of a well is THE occasion.
In the eyes of a Scotsman, lt realiy
was something to croak about, for
it meant the expenditure of some
$20,000.00.
red effective support to the as-
sault elements of his company
and enabled them to attain their
objectives.”
S/Sgt. Kaska was one of 29
soldiers to receive the award
from his commanding officer,
John E. Dahlquist. The only
other Texan was Capt. Wiley W.
Stem of Waco, who is a member
of the 143rd Infantry Regt. Sgt,
Kaska belongs to the 142nd.
S/Sgt. Kaska has been with
the 142nd Infantry, a unit of the
S/SGT. John J. Kaska
36th Division, since the landing
at Salerno, Italy. Shortly after
the landing on Sept. 14 he re-
ceived shrapnel wounds in the
stomach and side. For this he
was awarded the Purple Heart
decoration.
S/Sgt. Kaska entered the ser-
vice on January 23, 1941, and
after several months of training
was shipped to North Africa In
April, 1943. Prior to that time
he attended the elementary
schools in this community and
helped his parents with their
farm work.
His brother, Pvt. Edward W.
Kaska, is stationed at the Waco
Army Flying School.
Work on Water Well
Begins Within Month
Months of weary planning, fact-finding, analyzing, and doflar-
Juggling ended at the City Hall Tuesday night when the members of the
City Commission—Mayor Geo. E. Kacir, and Oommiasionere Frank Bushy
and Rud. Stanislav—decided definitely to have a new water well drilled
in West at the present time, and awarded the contract for the drllltn*
to D. L. and R. F. Myers of Dallas.
Work on the new well will begin within thirty days and will be
completed within thirty to forty-five days from the starting date, the
members of the commission stated. The final cost of the drilling, the
casings for the new well and the new submersible pump will not exceed
--* $18,350.00. This Is from five to fil-
McCloskey Patients ! SS firssjir “* ?
_ nr n ! The news t0 the citlaenB 01
l.pf y/(in /K N rom West is the fact that no new bond*
UCL •pL.VU.I O I 1 "111 or warrants will be Issued nor wtli
f l n C’i fi the prices for water be increased,
Local Benefit Dance n°r wu uxer »* ^The cu?
Dads have managed to save appro-
At least $206.75 worth of Christ- ximately $17,000.00 of that amount
mas gifts wil be on hand for the and have made arrangement to
patients of McCloskey Hospital on borrow the balance at a low rate
; Christmas Eve, because of the re- 0f interest from local sources,
j cent "benefit dance" given by one The blds for the drillillg Qf the
l of the local lodges of the 8.P.J.3.T., well and the furnlshtng and fn-
Jaromir, No. 54. stalling of the new casings, and the
The dance was given at the local bids for the new submersible pump
hall on Thanksgiving night. The were opened at the meeting. D. L.
i total receipts, Including the $10.00 and R. F. Myers were awarded the
' donated by the members of Kohut’s contract for the drilling of the well
Orchestra, amounted to $206.75. No and for the casings because their
I money was deducted for federal bid of $15,750.00 was $3,606.00 un-
I taxes, as the lodge paid that sum der the bid of $19,356.00 of the
from their regular entertainment other bidder, the Layne-Texaa Co.
fund. The San Antonio Machine 6c Supply
Representatives of the McCloskey Company was awarded the contract
Hospital, all local men who are pa- to supply the new pump, even
tients or members of the staff, were though their price was a little high-
present at the dance. They were er. The City Dads figured that their
TO THOSE who attended the
meeting Tuesday night it was a
time for rejoicing. The members of
the commission and their staff
John Kuballa, Fred Plsek and Josh
King—were all happy that the
months of investigating, planning
and dollar-juggling had ended.
Mayor Kacir probably expressed
the sentiment of all of them when
he said: Now we will be able to sleep
for a change. One of the Meyer
brothers, who received the con-
entered the Army-
on March 25,
1943. After train-
ing at Ft. Leonard
Wood, Mo., for a
I number of mon-
I ths, he was sent
to the officei
candidate school
at Ft. Belvoir, Va.,
where he was
commissioned a
second lieutenant on October 14,j
1942. He trained at Ft. Reiley, Kan-
sas, for several more months be-
fore being sent to Ireland. England
and France.
» One brother, Pvt. Ernest R. Sim- :
cik, is with the anti-tank company j
Memorial Services Will Be Held Here
Sunday for Pfc. William A. Winkle
Memorial services for Pfc. Wil-
liam A. Winkle, who died from
wounds received in action, will
be held at the First Baptist
Church in West Sunday after-
noon, December 10, 3 o’clock.
Rev. Odell Lene will officiate.
The war department notified
Mrs. Mattile L. Winkle, his wife,
and Mr. and Airs. Robert A. Win-
kle, his parents, early in Novem-
ber that Pfc. Winkle was wound-
ed seriously in Germany. A few
days later came the report that
he had died in a hospital in
France.
Inducted into the army on De-
cember 2, 1943, Pfc. Winkle was
sent to Camp Fannin, Tyler, Tex-
as, where he trained until Au-
gust, 1944 before being sent to
France. His step-brother, Pvt.
Buck Kirkland, is in England
with the Eighth Air Force; his
uncle, Claude Winkle, is some-
where overseas; and his brother-
in-law, Louis J. Vrba, is with the
Navy in the Pacific area.
Other survivors are his two
Sgt. Leo Schroeder, Sgt. Joe Foit,
Pfc. Louis Gajdusek, Pvt. Wick De-
vers, Pvt. Geo. E. Ddem and Sgt.
Puckett.
Letters from two McCloskey Hos-
pital authorities were received this
week by Hugo Freund, member of
the entertainment committee of the
S.P.J.S.T. Capt. Faraon J. Moss
wrote: “I should like to thank the
S.P.J.S.T. Lodge, Jaromir 54, in be
pump was of a better quality; that
lt did not require the building of a
separate shed to house the pump;
and that it used less electricity.
The expense of the shed and
other miscellaneous expenses, they
calculated, would make the price
about $2,000 higher.
The location of the new well was
tentatively changed from the
north-east corner of the city hall
PFC. WILLIAM A. WINKLE
children, Mary Louise, aged 5,
and Bettie Jean, II months; bro-
ther and step-brother, Owen
Winkle of West and Tommie
Blankenship of Houston; and
three sisters, Mrs. Mildred Wood
of West, Mrs. Faye Ledenham of
McGregor and Mrs. Erma Vrba
of San Francisco, Cal.
Pfc. Willie T. Mrkos Was Wounded
In Action on Leyte on October 8
half of Brig. Gen. James A. Bethea, lawn to just a few feet west of the
our commanding general, and the ! stand pipe. Final plans will be made
convalescent patients at the hospi-' when the drilling crew arrives. Mov.
tal for your very generous gift of! ing the well to the new site, the
$206.75. It will do more good than j City Dads say, will save the taxpay-
you have any idea.” ers $1,000 to $1,200 dollars
Brig. Gen. James A. Bethea of i as « will not necessitate the pur-
McCloskey Hospital acknowledged chasing of several hundred feet of
the receipt of the money with the P‘Pe. Since it will not be necessary
following letter: "Your very gene-j use b°th wells at the same time,
I rous check for $206.75 has been re- the location will be satisfactory.
I ceived and very greatly appreciated, j The total cost of the new well,
j On behalf of all the patients at including the drilling, casings, me-
McClosksy, please let me express ters, valves, pump, and other mis-
our thanks and gratitude. It will; cellaneous expenses, will not be
go a long way toward making our. fully determined until the well is
patients happy. Your last donation completed since the depth of the
of $50.00 went for magazine sub- j well cannot be foretold. The pres-
scriptions.” ent specifications call for a 2100-ft.
o- well. If it Is necessary to drill the
well that deep, the cost will be a-
(See WATER WELL, page 4)
-o----------
Committeemen Here Four Auto Wreck
And Tokio, Dec. 12,13 Victims Released
From Hospital
Farmers Will Elect
In two meetings, one to be held in;
West and the other in Tokio, the j
1944 Triple A farm program will j
be discussed and local committee- ; Four of the nine Westonian., who
men will be elected, Henry Heit- were detained at a Hillsboro hospl-
miiler, local committeeman, said tal due to the seriousness of their
this week. injuries as a result of an auto accl-
The meeting in West will be held . dent, were released late Monday
—. — .„ wirn tne a.iu-iuii* W1UWII, ,■ Mr. and Mrs. Frank Mrkos of , was uninjured. Pfc. Mrkos was given , . ..
at ramii Butner North Carolina West. Route 1, were informed by the first aid and temporarily hospita- j at the city hall Wednesday night afternoon. Three of them, Louis
................ - , ; t tLk luend I war departing late Monday that lized. The injury, a fksh wound. December 13, beginning at 7:30 Sulak and Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Va-
beamed with Joy for a few minutes j B°rn Wac°’ Llj SUT* a their son P(c. Willie T. Mrkos, 22, was healing rapidly at that time, o’clock. The Tokio meeting will be nek were foreed to spend the night
and then exploded with gratitude, ed the Waco schools and was g - ^ slightly W0Unded in action on and he expected to be back in held at 7:30 o’clock December 12. wlth the fourth, Jerry Stanislav,
The editor of the News, who, of uated from Waco High sen October 8 on the island of Leyte, action before long. ! Mr. HeitmiUer states that a re- because of the weather which did
=S S *-.’T,r r», : SS
on the following day and written to enter the army, and trained as mgs to discuss all pnases oi in The four Westonians and their
on October 12. had the same infor- a cook and machine gunner at 1945 program. Too, he states many families—nine in all—were all ia-
! mation with a few aditional details. Camp Adair. Oregon. Camp White, farmers have complice w. e jured when Mr. Sulak’s autorao-
Pfc Mrkos and his buddie were in. Wash., three months on manue- program, Pot since t.-v a. bile was in collision with an auto
a foxhole, manning a machine gun. vers in Cal., and at Camp Bele, Cal. Jf?UainftThe driTOn by M’ F’ Leaveli 0# Dal!as
Japs were lobbying mortar and ar- He shipped for the Hawaiian Is- f^led to get their eann_ i * • Sunday night, November 26. near
! tillery shells over a hill among lands in June. 1944. Waco representative wm abb to Abbott
Light snow, which melted as it hit; them A mortar shell exploded near ! A brother. Pvt. Jerry J. Mrkos. Is discuss this phase of ti.e worn ui j Mrs. Sulak and her two children,
the ground, fell in West and this them and a fragment of the shell a members of the infantry at Campl them- Magdalena, 5, and Ervin, 8 months,
vicinity late Wendesday afternoon entered his shoulder. His buddie Butner, North Carolina. j Schedules of elections m oiner j ftnd Mrs Jerry Stanislav and her
v -ii i ness with his father,
we were all happy.
♦ ♦ | -o-
THE ECHOING of the rejoicing, p. , o ri
which hit a soft, pedal by Thurs-j Jj JJ*gJ 1101*6
day, will eresendo to a deafning,
sound when the taxpayers and citi-
zens of this community learn that
the new well will not cost “dem a
nary penny." Due to the thriftiness
of the members of the commission,
some $17,000.00 has have been saved
for the drilling of the new well. The
balance will be borrowed from local
sources at a low rate of Interest. In
other words, the taxpayers will not
have to pay higher taxes or higher
water rates, nor will they witness
the issuance of more bonds and
warrants.
* ♦
BONDS AND WARRANTS 111!
For the past twenty years the citi-
zens of this community have been
(See QUESTION MARK, page f
Fails to Stick
and night. Early Thursday a brisk
"norther’’ cleansed the skies of the :
clouds, raih and snow,* and old sol
once again became master.
The current cold spell, which
sent the barometer needle to the
mld-30’s, followed six cloudy, misty
and rainy days. A. J. Weinberger,
local weatherman, reported 2.48
inches of rain during the period.,
The precipitation Mon. and Tues- •
day, at 2.10 inches, was the heavi-
est.. Wednesday’s was .38 Inches.
Friendly Facts
By Rev. Roy L. Crawford
Hours can be cups of refresh-
ing water dipped from the stream
of time,
♦ ♦ ♦
The memory of real friends
is the fragrance of sweet perfume
distilled from the petals of the
flowers of our fellowship with
them.
Schedules of elections
, -o-- communities is as follows: j daughter, Jeanie. 2, were rel
THREE WEST LADS TO REPORT Gholson school house, Dec. 12, after belng gi?en first aid
TO DALLAS FOR INDUCTION 3 p m. Ross—Chalk Bluff at Ross -o_
Three local youths who turned school house, Dec. 11, 3 p. m.; Elm FUTURE FARMERS AND
18 will report to Dallas for physi- Mott school house, Dec. 11, 7:30 p. MAKERS TO GIVE BOX
cal examinations and possible In- m.; Leroy, Woodman Hall. Dec. 13, AT GYM TUESDAY
duction into some branch of the \ 3 p. m ; Tokio school house. Dec. The Future Farmers and the
! service Wednesday. They are: Dick! 12,7:30 p. m.; LaVega, school house. Home Makers of West High School
Hawkins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ro-: Dec. 13, 3, p. m.; Axtell, school are giving a box supper at the high
| ben Hawkins; Adolph Muska, son I house, Dec. 13, 7:30 p. m.; Elk, S.P.« school gymnasium Tuesday night.
! 0f Mr and Mrs. Adolph Muska, Sr- JJS.T. Hall. Dec. 12, 7:30 p. m.; and All students of the West schools
land August Barton, son of Mrs. Rlesel. school house, Dec. 12, 7:30, and from the surrounding schools
I j, c. Karlik. 1 p. m. are welcome.
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Vanzura, Albert T. The West News (West, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 1944, newspaper, December 8, 1944; West, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth590287/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting West Public Library.