Verhovayak Lapja, 1944 (27. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)

1944 / Verhovay Journal

Page 6

LET TRUTH BE UNCONFINED

Verhovay Journal

for the first time in a long time! And this happens to be in a large house which the Germans occupied before they were driven back. It feels very good to have a roof over my head—since it reminds me of my room at home —back in the Windy City—with Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm. It is a table and lamp. And we even the real allegory of the tale of Orpheus; it moves had electric lights, but have to stones and charms brutes. It is the genius of cover the windows at night. Alsincerity, and truth accomplishes no victories though it isn’t bad, there is no without it. —Bulwer place like home and the good

NOTE TO VERHOV AY BRANCH Anyway, it keeps up the morale °ld U'S'A” Thanks a m‘lhon>

O « /1W1S »«nr«««.—---------October 26, 1944

THE FERRET SEZH

CHICAGO BRANCH 503

my

RACINE, WISCONSIN From Sgt. Joseph J. Firtko we

have received a letter from somewhere in the Pacific. Excerpts of Joe’s letter follow: “There is a lot to narrate concerning myself, and it would take quite a bit of time. I will tell briefly what I can. Tonite I am in charge of a detail destined to unload boats through the nite. I’ll let you in on a little secret: Most of the boys are delighted that I am in charge because, unlike the usual fireball sergeants, I don’t drive them ... so I have about an hour and a half in which to answer correspondence.

“I was a volunteer in March of 1941. After a week at Camp Grant, I was sent to Camp Roberts, California, for basic training. When I completed the course,

I was assigned to the 41st Division at Fort Lewis, Washington. From there I was shipped to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for artillery mechanic training, which I enjoyed very much ... and I’m doing the same thing now.

I was shipped overseas eventually and have been out of the country for 2Vn years. Our forces landed in Australia and then went to New Guinea. My first encounter with the Nips came at Salamaua. Believe me, it was rough, especially when we were shelled for three hours at a stretch. I also experienced bombings by the ‘Sons of Heaven’—one land ing about 25 yards from me and my favorite friend Mr. Foxhole I’ve had quite a bit of experience in various battles. Then we returned to Australia for a very brief rest, during which I received the only seven day leave in three years. It must have broken the army’s dear little heart to get so generous. But, then, 7 days is better than six. The rest that I was to have, or whatever you might call it, was one that

of the people back home, know- Johnny’ for the souvenirs. Many ing that there is an occasional Branch 503 memberS wlU get to meeting of a fortunate soldier see them’ for our thoughts are who had the lucky number. constantly with you and the other

‘In spite of the miseries and 503 boys who are servmg °ld hardships, I’m not complaining Glory in a11 corners^of the world, because the Good Lord has kept , , ...

me while a number of my com- We have received ‘the Brst rades will never return. So, all letter from “somewhere ,n Ger‘ in all, I have something to be many" irom Pvt Ju““ *agy> grateful for of Detroit, with the 803rd Tank

“My brother Steve was wound- Destroyer Battalion. Writes he in ed at the Battle of Cherbourg Part on September 22nd: As yet on July 4th, but is back on duty 1 haven’t seen anything around again. I sure miss him; he’s a here that 18 any to° g°od’ °f great guy” all the countries Scotland, Eng-Thanks a million for your note, land’ France’ Belgium’ Holland’

Joe. We know that Verhovay and Germany—Belgium was the I talk of the town. So many things

Since all articles by contributors must be confined to Verhovay stuff (or stuff of general

interest), will endeavor to carry out the assignment according to rules...

It won’t be difficult this time, for Branch 429 of Dearborn,

Mich., is made of 100% Verhovay stuff and the event for which this tiny branch is preparing,

should put our branch into the Verhovay limelight. This branch, which is much too small for the big ideas it has for fomenting

fraternalism, has plugged along, against great odds, in the belief that it has something to offer to the entire organization, and we hope that the coming event will serve as a sample of what we have

In January, 1945, the branch will be Ten Years old and we plan on an Anniversary Jubilee the like of which will be the

members will enjoy reading it, best of them aU- The cities arld

I got tired resting. In fact I was sent on detached service to the ordnance where I worked about three months overhauling our cannons. Then again to New Guinea. And since I returned, I have been in two more battles but am not permitted to mention either of them, or our present location. I am still in the combat zone, although this battle has Officially closed. Captured Nips are still being brought in by our patrols.

“In spite of our being in the combat zone, we participate in athletics. We have a division league and my team is in second place. The past Sunday (this letter is written Sept. 19th) we beat the champions of Guadalcanal 4 to 2 in a very good ball game. By the way, they are a colored outfit. I am still able to play although my fielding hasn’t been up to par, even after a difficult time at the plate in the first several games.

“Believe me, I am simply existing out here in the tropical heat and jungle... have to confine myself to it for the time being. Boy, how I’d like to start living again. I suppose the idea of rotation is for home consumption, because at the rate they’ve been going out it will take another 15 months before I can get home.

and we hope you will send us towns are mo ern‘ e^n. ?aw some of those pictures and an- a *ew e^ecbdc cal s' e e glanS other story from out there. God abä0 gave us a veiy *g we comebless you, Sergeant, and keep Eacb one oi us *boug we were firing away! running for office! The Belgians

The Firtko family lives at 1313 iumPed on our tanks’ klssiag u,? Albert Street, Racine, Wisconsin, whether we liked i oi no .

Mrs. Firtko sent us a newspaper we could do was *"e a* an enl0^ clipping concerning her son, Sgt. In a certam e gian ci y w Stephen J. Firtko, from the local reaby d*d get a lg come' newspaper. It reads: “Wounded *ew tbe people cou spea a Engineer Recovers, Back on Duty. Engbsb an a ma e

Recovered from wounds received things better. I wen o severa

in action in France, Sgt. Stephen homes and the peop e *ew a

J. Firtko, 24, an army engineer, Pai'ty tor me. I was e a“c

son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Firt- shaved; they íeal y a a eau i

ko, has returned to duty, accord- tul home. I wal e own some ing to a telegram received by streets before any 0 er me^ his parents from the war depart- ican soldier, and i ge m() ment bed! As we went through the

Sgt. Firtko is a former em- c'hy> they gave us truits, flowers ploye of the Western Printing an<t what-not! I forgo ow many and Lithographing Company and bottles of beer an goo íquor is a graduate of William Horlick we £ot • • • but .tor a w *e high school. The wounded son thought of opening up a íquor has sent the Purple Heart home store- Tbe Belgian peop e a ways to his mother.” Thus, another wanted to give us some in . brief story of Verhovay heroes France it was vice versa. ... u from Racine, Wisconsin. We can don’t forget that war is e an feel assured that they are giving must still pay its pi e a

a good account of themselves. our headaches too. s n°

* * * digging holes to sleep in- Some-Several letters were received times we used *° d*g from Engineer Johnny Huziany, f°ur a day- * foun ou i pay somewhere in France. Amidst a t° make them strong ® wea , lot of work, he has found a is usually damp an c 1 y’ . a little time to send us a box of with three blankets I keep fairly souvenirs, gotten mostly through warm... Holland was an° the towns his outfit passes. At 2°od country. Now emg IP least that’s what we think, for many a guy can t a re c we received a host of post-cards with anybody. P. . 1S 1S

from him, all sent in the package man ink and paper. our e *

from somewhere in France. He is very interesting, u ius, a must have collected some while 1 hope you- will wri e us soo in England. From the French agam- The Lord be wit i you, cities, there are cards from soldier!

Lille, Saint-Thegonnec, Rennes, and several humorous French cards (portraying Hitler, Goebbels and Goering—Le Trio des Gangsters and Valse d’Amour) that were sent in 1940 from somewhere in Metz to a Monsieur in Rennes. The booklet of cards of Rennes was apparently given by a Claude Voisin, FFI, member of the French Forces of the Interior, whose signature appears therein. Along with this he sent a German military belt, a German Captain’s shoulder strap, German tobacco, German, French and English coin money, etc. It almost knocked us out when the stuff came—passed by Mr. Censor. Writes Jack in part: “Have read the Verhovay Journal you sent me and my buddy Nagy will get it next. I have seen some beautiful towns—or I should say which were towns at one time! Oh, boy, guess what! I am sleeping in a bed with a mattress |

THE SRIBE OF KŐSZEGSaturday, October 14, 1944.

TO THE CONTRIBUTORS

The English Section is pub lished the SECOND and LAST Thursday of every month, and the Thursdays preceding them are the final dates.

Contributions intended for the November 9 issue should be in before or on Nov. 2.

Contributions should be typewritten. Use one side of paper only, and double space.

Since the Journal cannot be enlarged at present, the Board of Directors ordered that contributions be confined to TWO COLUMNS each, that is 1200 words, or 6000 letters.

Address contributions to VERHOVAY JOURNAL, ENGLISH SECTION, 345 Fourth Ave., Pittsburgh 22, Pa.

which are still in the embryonic stages are revolutionary to begin with, and before we finish, we hope to set precedents which will be followed by other English speaking branches. If you branch managers and members desire, follow this column closely for new ideas, and watch our struggle to make this the most outstanding Jubilee in the V.F.I.A.

Of course, the first thing to settle on is a date. Here came our first revolutionary trick. In this neck of the woods, all ban quets are celebrated on a Sun day afternoon, and revolve around long, dry, drawn-out speeches which leave the visitors feeling as though their seats were full of needles and pins. We hope to put an end to that by having our Banquet on a Saturday night, January 20, 1945 and to begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. That will give us plenty of time to put on our original and humorous entertainment acts, to finish bountiful meal at leisure, listening to gypsy music, and scintillating conversation, and witty speeches by a select group.

IF, we make enuf money on a scheme which was suggested by my partner on the Auditing Committee, Ernest Kunstadt, we hope to enliven the party with TWO orchestras, supplying gypsy music for our elders, and boogiewoogie or sweet music, for the younger generation. IF, we don’t have too much of the green stuff to play with, we’ll manage somehow to secure an orchestra which will do justice to both kinds of music. At any rate, MUSIC, DIN ING, DANCING AND CLEAN FUN, will be the keynote of the evening, and we hope that it will be of sufficent interest to give you all the time of your lives.

Now, then, date is set, where do we get the dough for the layout? We look at our books, and the treasury sum is like a drop in the bucket! So I pull out Kunstadt’s scheme, which before we are half-way through discussing has been changed so that even I don’t recognize it any more. The original idea was a small Anniversary Booklet, in which ads from various stores, firms, branches of the V.F.I.A., etc., etc., would be printed at set prices. However, our witty member, Nicholas Xavier Horvath, gave the committee head a booklet, which also had plenty of ads; but the ads were of so humorous a nature that one reads the entire ad and then looks twice at the name of the firm

mamgimi

By

Mrs. Jolán Lucas|\^

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over which the wisecracks were written. '‘H’Hm” thinks the Committee Head, “That’s just what we want... nothing too revolutionary, but something which would be appreciated by a public who have been over-fed by too much dry conservatism.

So a committee is appointed (every branch has a close-knit nucleus of V. members who love to do the job for the sake of being in on all the fun) ... Marie Gallovich, Nicholas Xavier Horvath, Daniel Robb, Mrs. Mary Horvath, Malcolm MacLeod, Mrs. Anna Horvath, the Fishers, Rose Horvath, Mary Kuritar and yours truly. (Those Horvaths are from three different family groups, so don’t get too excited!) Sample copies of the Anniversary Booklet are handed out to the committee members and we go to work. Two letters are written to the V. branches; one in Hungarian and one in English, asking for co-operation and ads. Our wonderful Supreme Officers are also co-operating in various ways; mimeographing our letters, giving us addresses of branches, giving us our first fullpage ad, and also the assurance of Supreme Officers to attend our Banquet.

Mr. Alexander Gyulay, Supreme Organizer, has consented to be our Master of Ceremonies, since Mr. Gyulay and Branch 429 are both celebrating Tenth Anniversaries within a few months of each other. In fact, Branch 429 takes the honor of being the first branch organized by Mr. Gyulay, in co-operation with Mr, Stephen Horvath, Sr., who has always been, and always will be, regarded as the Father of the Branch, in spite of the fact that he has been gone from us for several years.

So we have that much started. The Committee for securing ads, Kitchen Committee, Entertainment Committees, etc. are all appointed, and the job begins in earnest.

We roll up our sleeves, and ideas start pouring in.

The Entertainment Committee wants to put on a short One- Act Play during the Banquet. A parody or satire, is being written by the literary heads of the branch, and will be acted out in two languages. (The translation into Hungarian will be attempted by two American-born members and we hope it’ll be the WOW it sounds at the present writing!)

These are all preliminaries, and suggestions and co-operation will be welcome like the first leaves of spring. Mr. Richard Phillips, Director, is sitting in with us on committee and branch meetings and is giving us an unlimited supply of good tips. Whenever we become too exuberant, he brings us down to earth with his practical ideas; whenever we have the urge to try something different, but lack the courage, Phillips bolster us with the tip, “you wanted it to be different, here’s your opportunity.”

For the time being, then, we’ll leave these ideas to linger in your minds. If anyone out there in the Verhovay organization has some new stunt they’d like to try out, let us in on it, and we’ll do the experimenting.