May 18, 1946

Dear Guys:

You'll have to forgive the paper on which this letter is written. Due to the coal strike, we have been unable to get our regular shipment and must of necessity use the odds and sods we have on hand. However, it contains all the news, so I'm sure you won't mind the stationery.

Plans for the reunion are progressing. We do, however need the cooperation and support of each of you to make it a huge success. If you know of any AFSer who has not given Headuarters his address (we have lost some of the guys because they have moved around and not advised us) do ask him to send u his mailing address and also advise him of the reunion. The date, as you know, is September 6th, 1946 --- the place the Waldorf-Astoria, New York. We do want to have a good get together. The memorial service on Sunday in St. Thomas's Church will be a special tribute to all members of the American Field Service who gave their lives while with the AFS or in the Armed Forces of the country. The business meeting will be of vital interest to all of you who believe in the future of the AFS. Many suggestions have been made about what the organization should do in the postwar world, but, as it is your organization, you should have a voice in the policy of the future. This policy must be based upon the concensus of all, and not be just the opinion of a few. The best time to formulate plans will be at the reunion as we hope most of you will be present.

Funds for the Endowment Fund and the AFS Clubhouse continue to come in. Letters have been sent to all members of the An 1914-1917 --- and the response has been very good. Before too long, Mr. Galatti will write to all AFSers 1939-1945 --- and we hope that you won't let the old war AFSers outdo you, To date, we have raised for the two projects almost l6,000.00. These funds have been invested in U.S. Certificates of Indebtedness and the interest on the money will be reinvested. However, we still need a great deal more if the plans are to become a reality. If you will all just save your pennies you will be surprised at how they mount up. From the penny jar in GHQ, we have, to date, gleaned some $45.00 and one of the AFSers, who put a box in his living room, collected $12.50 from friends who dropped in from time to time. It's an easy way of making your contribution to the AFS.

AWARDS --- Daniel Adams was Mentioned in Dispatches and Thomas Marshall posthumously received this award. Joseph Wohlandler, Ed Davis and Philip Mayer awarded the Croix de Guerre --- Bob Dodds the B.E.M.

It is with great regret we announce the death of Bill Brougham. He was killed in an automobile crash outside of Marion, Indiana, on the night of April 17th. We also regret to announce the deaths of the following members of the Service who served in World War I --- Addison L. Winship, Sylvester Whiton, John Warren Crawford, and Joseph Bigelow. Mr. Bigelow was one of three brothers who served in the last war with the AFS. Mr. Crawford is the father of Robert Webb Crawford who was in the AFS In this war.

Reginald A.F. Williams, who was the Assistant British Military Attache, and who "fathered" the AFS during the war, recently sailed for England. His wife and child will follow in a short time. "Reggie" can be reached at the Conservative Club, St. James Street, London, S.W.1, and he wants any of you who go to London to be sure to look him up. He is a very great friend and admirer of the AFS.

Just before he sailed Mr. Galatti and the Executive Committee gave a small cocktail party at the AFS House. Sir Francis and Lady Evans attended. Sir Francis Evans is the British Consul in New York, who gave such a wonderful party to the AFS at the Plaza Hotel last March.

Bundles from Heaven Department --- Cecelia Jacqueline Carotenuto born April 1st; Judith Anne Nierenberg puts in her appearance on May 4th; Thomas Whitney Rodd arrives March 21st. It's a girl at the Mort Wrights.

Britishers heard from --- J.A. Harvey, "Ellibister", Rendall, Kirkwall, Orknay, Scotland; Patrick Murray, still in Army, now with Group 29 in Germany,. Sends his best to the "lads" in 567 Coy, Would like to hear from you. His home address is 64, Kelso Gardens, Leeds, 2, England.

Engagements and marriages --- Herb Reinhardsen marrying Bunny Jenkins; Margaret Eaton becomes Mrs. John Gulick; Bill Hooton to wed Barbara Caytin; Evelyne McCracken marries Bob Gudder; Robert Hope Crawford engaged to May Taylor; Bob Brewer marries Jane deForest and is now working in his father's business in Owensboro, N.Y. Doris Burkhart announces engagement to John North; Dick Williams marries Dorothy Downs. Ruth Magor becomes Mrs. Pierre Bourdelle; Frank Curto engaged to Connie Rogers; Hoppe de la Plante marrles Grace Ramacher; Cameron MacLeod to wed Beatrice Endicott. Matt Dick, who interviewed a good many of you prior to your enlistment in the AFS, came into GHQ the other day with his bride, who was the former Angela Grayson Dominquez.

News and doings of other AFSers --- Don Gibson on way to Tokyo with USO in show called 'Patsy'. He recently married Elsbeth Hofmann. Mort Belshaw still photo-editing for AP in Italy, the Balkans and Mediterranean Area; Maurice Binford, working for Metropolitan Printing Co. in Portland, Oregon, recently married Ada Knudsen; Ed Meyers with U.S. Army, expecting to ship overseas soon. "Bugs" Baer now in Philippines with Texas Oil Co. Charlie Rector working for Dun and Bradstreet in Ashville, North Carolina; Fred Bath, working at Hyde Park as Historian in Roosevelt Memorial Library; Brook Cuddy and Bill DuVal with Caltex Corporation, will set off for India in next few months. Bob Humphrey now in California. John Upson with Thomas Cook & Son in Los Angeles, California. Dick VonGlatz back at Halbran Hospital. Expects to be operated on in the near future. His address is Building 21, Halbran Hospital, Staten Island, New York, Don Hennie on way back from India. Expects the home trip will take about ten months he must be on a sail boat. Henry Noel and George Holton soon to shove off for France with the American Relief for France. Cecil Clark with Maps and Surveys Division of the TWA in Chattanooga; Frank Wood back on Seattle Times as a General Assignment and Police Reporter; Pieter VanderVliet working for Colonial Trust Company in Rockefeller Plaza, expects to marry Betty Bowen in October, Peter Stewart arrives from India. Still in British Army, but hopes to get out soon. Harold Null with International Cultural Relations for the State Department, now at U.S. Embassy, Lima, Peru. Dayton Mitchell sailing for Eire May 24th. Hopes to be back sometime in early September. Howard Taylor in Graduate student course of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh; Jack Lane with C.A.R.E., the organization which is devoting itself to getting food parcels overseas. John Bulman in Seattle, studying for bar examinations; Walt Brethauer working for a forest management concern deep in the heart of Dixie. Hugh Swafford rounding out first year as staff writer on the Milwaukee Sentinel. Jim Matheny attending National Business College at Roanoke, Virginia; Len Guttman and Mrs. Guttman just back from Florida vacation; Chick Fischer, plans to go into business for himself in Boston before too long; Charlie LaFlamme, Personnel Manager and Purchasing Agent for Marion Electrical Co., Manchester, N.H. Bob Scott with Bureau of Reclamation Library in Denver. Tod Canavello to start as Sales Representative for MGM the first of July. Warren Fugitt oft to France for the summer, Doug Cann working as manager of a radio and record shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut; John Himmel in McCreery's in New York. Charles Lipsky on a 2,000 acre plantation in Florida in charge of packing and marketing flowers and vegetables raised thereon.

Fred Konstam (recently had name legally changed from Kohnstamm) a student in the Advertising Department of Westinghouse, at the Appliance Division in Mansfield, Ohio. Rippy Frazer about to set up an automobile agency in Chestnut Hill for Mercury and Lincoln cars; Dave Potter in U.S. Army, now at Camp Lee, Virginia; James Lovegrove, France '40, married and attached to the French Colonial Agency in the U.S., now stationed in New York at 111 Broadway; Ralph Paddock, assistant Personnel Manager and Plant Magazine Editor at the Flintkote Company's New Jersey plant; Bobby Hutchinson, France '40, on way to Holland with Dutch Airlines. Tug Barton now permanently located in New York at 34 East 38th Street; Duncan Rowe with State Department in Florence. Hopes to get back to states this summer with his wife and two children. Jack Leimbach in furniture business in Baltimore, with his father. Fred Kern in automobile business with his father. (Nope, he can't get you a new car --- can't get himself one yet), Wendell Hastings, France '40, with American Airlines, now on way to England; Dick Frazier wins a Gresson Scholarship at the Penn. Academy and plans to study in Europe next year; Jack Dunaway, France '40, Secretary to President of Johns-Manville Corporation in New York. Irving Kiesling working for Hormel Company in Pennsylvania; Jim Hill in Palmer Sanitoriuin in Springfield, Ill. Emmet Koehler, chemist at Socony-Vacuum Oil Company; William T. White just returned from Hunting trip in Mexico; Jerry Paine vacationing in Jamaica, B.W.I., John Wilson with W.B. Fonda Lumber Co. at St. Albans, Vermont. Don Fruchey attending Cleveland School of Art; Dave Cordon with his father in Istanbul; Jimmy Doolittle just arrived in Rio de Janeiro from Cairo, where he spent four months working for Shell Corporation. Norm Eddy on a farm in upstate New York; Johnny Harmon working for Hartwell Ayles Advertising in New York. Vic Pulis with TWA in Arizona. Hopes eventually to get into the overseas Advertising end of the business; George Kerr with Manati Packing Company in Manati, Puerto Rico; Ernest Downing with Caltex in New Delhi. Bill Schwab with Texas Corporation in Accra; Walter Dixon recently elected a Probate Judge; Wright Nodine recently changed jobs. He is now in an Advertising Agency in Pittsburgh; Malcolm Cowley, AFS 1914-1917, recently received a grant for the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Leslie Buswell, also old AFS, recently returned from Europe, where he served as a Lt. Colonel with the 8th & 9th Air Force; Rock Ferris with UNRRA in Rome; John Nichols, AFS 1914-l7, out of Navy now back at University of Idaho. Myron Lawrence in Paris in Diplomatic Service; Ned Kelley, resigned from Time Magasine, and is going to work his way from Europe to Mexico to study at the University there; Theodore Schirmer just back from a business trip to Paris. American Relief for France write Mr. Galatti that they are "more than ever delighted with the first three AFS boys who have started to work over here: Henry Chandler, Alan Potter and Steve Rowan". The three musketeers are now in France.

Maryland AFSers to meet the first week in June. Fred McCormack, Jack Leimbach, Frank Fenhagen, Bob Campbell, Gittings Boyce, Vince Neeson, Bill Wood, Knisely Smith and Mac Kerby working on this, For full information about the meeting, contact Vincent Neeson, Personnel Engineers, Baltimore, 2, Maryland.

AFSers at College --- DeWitt Widemire at Alabama Polytechnic; Dick Elberfeld, who recently married Mildred Walker, now at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Fred Feddeman at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, plans to many Alta Gray on June 15th, Jim McCord at University of Missouri; James Revard and Bernard Moen at University of California; William A. Weaver at Bucknell; Bob Sawhill at Lehigh; Dick Nelson at University of Wisconsin; Frank Hausermen and Tom Schick at Ann Arbor; Bob Benham and Bill Kinter at Swarthmore. Danny Adams at Williams; Fred Staples at Grove City College; Francis Foster at Black Mountain College, N.C.; Bill Schaeffer in Geology Department at Johns-Hopkins; Ted Alt at Ripon College, Wisconsin; Fielding Rogers a journalist major at University of Kentucky. Hopes to fly to Calcutta in the Fall to collect more material for book he is writing. Art Whitehouse at Santa Monica City College, taking commercial art course; "Tex" Gannon at University of Pennsylvania; Arthur Stratton teaching at Bowdoin; Hoyt Harmon at Hamilton; Arthur Howard and Peter Young at Trinity; George Bunker at Yale; Charlie MacDonald and Rick Yarnall at Colgate. At Cornell, about to graduate, are Ed Lannom, Skip Summerviile and Bob Yarnall. At Princeton, Howard Roberts, Terry Lukens, "Tex" Garrett, Mike Hall and Ed Steckler. Herman Baker at Williams; at Harvard, Al Davis, Henry Peltz, John Chipman, Jack Pemberton, Fairfield Hoban and Ken Howes who is married to Augusta Wolcott, Jim Brindley at Dartmouth. At University of Arizona, Chittendon Combs, John Ellinwood and Pat Henderson. At M.I.T., Jep Wade and Bill Harby.

Recent visitors to Headquarters were Ed Libber, just back from Iran. Hopes to go to China in the not too distant future; Dick Turk vacationing in New York; Dave and Rosaria Hodgdon, also vacationing in New York; Marvin Backer; Conrad Brown, Bill Clifford, Howard Sherman, Vince Bowditch, Fred Loughman, and Joe Ainsworth.

Ed Masbach and two other fellows started up what is now Chapter 20 Manhattan of the American Veterans' Committee, The Chapter is limited to enrolling "business or professional persons" who live or work in New York. This chapter would welcome some AFSers.

John Day, Unit 16, writes as follows: "I have just received a letter from Tony Douris who travelled from New York to Capetown on the M/S Selandia and from Capetown to Tewfik on the Niew Amsterdam. I'm sure all the guys in Unit 16 will remember him. He is the Greek veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who was being sent to Egypt by the British. Eventually they meant to send him on to Greece to fight in the underground. He is in Greece now and is in great need. He would like to hear from his friends in the AFS and I'm sure he would appreciate any help we are able to send him. He needs food and clothes and shoes and things like razor blades and shaving cream. His shoe size is 7-1/2 or 8. He said in his letter that Mike is gone, that he did his duty as a good fighter for liberty. Mike was also a Greek who was going back to Greece with Tony. Tony's address is care of G. Baros, Plomare, Mytilene, Greece ".

The Bill to incorporate the American Field Service by Act of Congress is now pending before a Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, of which the Chairman is Mr. Emanuel Celler of New York. This Bill is called HR.-4922 ---To Incorporate the AFS. In order to get it out of the Committee, we are asking each of you to write to as many members of the Judiciary Committee as you possibly can, but particularly to any members from your own District or State, and in any event to all of the members of the Subcommittee, whose names are starred herein. Although the home addresses of these members are given, you must address them as follows:

The following are members of the House Committee on the Judiciary; the members of the Sub-Committee, which now has the Bill are indicated by stars.

In your letter, you should say you served with the AFS, that you want to have a national organization to perpetuate the Field Service and to be ready for the sort of emergency which members of the Service have been called on to meet in two wars,

There is a book out on the New Zealand Forces, which may be of interest to AFS members, It is called "Unwilling Guests" and is written by J.D. Gerard of the 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade. It is published by A.H. & A.W. Reed, 162 Wakefield Street, Wellington, New Zealand, and is priced at 10/6.

The American Relief for France are looking for some men who would like to go overseas with their organization. If you are interested in this work, apply directly to Mrs. Lodge, American Relief for France, 39 East 36th St. N.Y. advising her that you are a member of the AFS.

Harvard University has included the AFS for eligibility to National Scholarships for veterans of this war. These are "for men of outstanding ability and promise, whose education was interrupted by war service."

We have now on hand the applications and information for sending food parcels to Europe. If you want any of these let us know. We would also be interested in having the names of needy families you might know in Europe, as many letters come in in each day from all over the country asking for such names.

This seems to be all from this end. Save your pennies, come to the reunion, and we'll be seeing you,

Sincerely, Lillian A. Gordon

P.S.
DURING JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST NEW YORK HEADQUARTERS WILL BE CLOSED ALL DAY SATURDAYS.

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