Hide Article Text (OCR)
AN EDITORIAL _ We have been at war a year. Your editor has asked me_ for some observations on Volunteer Spe cial Services of the American Red Crass during that period. First, may I express my pride in the volunteers working in the Red ross, my pride in the spirit which they have shown, my pride in the sacrifices they have so willingly made, my pride in the caliber of their work and my special pride in their steadfastness of purpose. In every chapter, small or large, our roster of volunteers has more than doubled in the last year. Accord ing to our June 30, 1942 report, we are now a mighty army of 2,719,581 We are a cross section of Amer ican womanhood. Our members represent every field of endeavor and activity. If there is any chapter or branch where this is not true, then that chapter or branch is completely out of step with this great army of women. Our contribution to victory in this war will be no mean one, but the more truly representative we are of every section of Amer ican life, the greater that con tribution will be. We have gone forward. We will continue to go forward. We have been trained by the Red Cross and we know that because of that we have a definite obligation, not only to the Red Cross but to our local communities, to give the benefit of our knowledge, however, we may be called upon in the hard days of reconstruction which will face this country. The time may be close when many of us will be called upon to give another kind of service. The young women in this country may be conscripted. That means they no longer will be allowed to choose whether they want to work a little or whether they want to work long. Our armed forces, our in dustries, our factories will ab sorb many of those who are now volunteering. When that day comes, I know that the women who have been exempt because of age, physical limitations or family obligations gladly will redouble their efforts to take the places of those who will leave our ranks. But what I am wondering is, should you strong Red Cross volun teers wait for that time to come? Should they wait to be drafted?— Pauline Sabin Davis, National Di rector, Volunteer Special Services, “The Volunteer,” November, 1942. HOPE And the stars shall come and build a bridge of fire For the moon to cross the bound less sea, with never a fear of sinking. They shall teach me of the magic things of life never to tire. And how to renew, when it is low, the lamp of my desire— And how to hope, in the darkest deeps of thinking. —Cale Young Rice LADIES IN BLUE Many have asked the origin of the verses of the song which H. A. Shaw sang at the recent graduation exercises of the Nurse’s Aides. The words to “We Are the Ladies In Blue” appeared in the April Volun teer in the report of Mrs. Walter Lippman, assistant director, Volun teer Nurse’s Aide Corps. She gives, that report, the following descrip ion: “During the last month I have had the pleasure of attending a few Nurse's Aide graduation ceremonies There is one whom I particularly re member. It was an evening cere mony. Snow was falling as the aides, their relatives, the nurses and the general public came into the auditorium, T watched with interest as a row of husbands and a row of children, ranging from three to 17 years, began to form in the audience. And when the graduation class filed on to the platform and received the pins from the superintendents of nurses in the hospitals where they had worked, and their caps from me, it was from these two rows that the loudest applause came. When the aides reached their seats again, they stood and sang to the audience to the tune of Alice Blue Gown, a song composed by one of them. I quote a stanza from it, for although it was written in fun, I think it has in it the real spirit of the Red Cross Nurse's Aide. ‘Oh, we are the ladies in blue Our watchword is comfort for you We wash and we scrub, and your back we will rub. And cheerful we'll be in the face of a snub. Oh, we are the ladies in blue Our watchword is comfort to you Give your bell a tinkle We'll smooth every wrinkle For we are the ladies in blue. We are sorry that Mrs. Lippman did not give the name of the chap ter responsible for the ditty, so we could pass it on to you. However, why not add some verses of our own composition to the stanza above? We feel sure that with all the talent in our own Nurse's Aide Corps, we ought to have several stanzas of original verse to add to the one above. Let's be a singing chapter, LADIES IN GRAY “At one of the large federal hos pitals, a member of the younger generation not long out of college uttered the following,’ writes Jean Tomlinson, assistant to the national director in charge of publications, in a recent volunteer: 'I don’t hap pen to know an awful lot about the American Red Cross, but I’m learn ing more every day of that Volun teer outfit of women, and I surely do appreciate these Gray Ladies. “you see when I was in college, I believed in peace, and not in war, but now this job's got to be done, ugly as it is, Gray Ladies sort of represent peace. They don’t get mixed up in the bloody side of the business, I hope, and can keep the peace we're fighting for in their hearts. My Dad was in the last war, and he says that of all Red Cross, there's nobody finer than a Gray Lady. Believe it or not, I'm not a sentimentalist. This handsome six foot aviator was propped up in a wheel chair He had given up football and prom trotting for a flying career, but un fortunately a parachute had failed to open and the result was hospital ization. We left him in his wheel chair playing a smashing game of ping-pong with a Gray Lady who was a real match for him. _. . Gray ladies are doing their part in helping win the war. The Amer ican Red Cross was able to depend upon Gray Ladies in 1918, and they can depend upon them now, 1942.” LADIES IN YELLOW If we become a singing chapter, we probably will have to call mem bers of the staff assistance corps “Little Buttercups,” and adopt the song from Gilbert and Sullivan's H. M. S. Pinafore as our very own! Seriously speaking, the ladies in yellow do look like flowers in their fresh, crisp uniforms, and they are rays of sunshine wherever they (CONTINUED ON PAGE 15)
Newspaper Details
Amarillo Sunday News Globe
Amarillo, Texas, US
Sun, Dec 20, 1942
Page 30
Full Page
Clipped by
Claudia S.
TX, USA 25 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo Daily News
Amarillo Globe Times
Amarillo Sunday News Globe
Amarillo Globe
Amarillo Globe News
