| VOL. I | 5 APRIL, 1942 | NO. IXL |
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One of the best known in this country is the practice of decorating eggs. At one time, the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent and therefore they were brought to the table on Easter morning, brightly colored and decorated, to symbolize the Easter joy. The Easter Rabbit lays eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or basket. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility. Many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter and were gradually transformed to have another symbolic meaning.
In the northern part of England the men parade the streets on Easter Sunday and claim the privilege of lifting every woman from the ground three times, receiving in payment a kiss or sixpence. The same is done by the women to the men on the next day.
In France, handball playing was one of the Easter amusements. The ball may represent the sun, which was believed to take three leaps in rising on Easter morning.
In certain countries on the eve of Easter the homes are blessed in memory of the passing of the angel in Egypt and the signing of the doorposts with the blood of the paschal lamb.
The Greeks and the Russians made Easter a day of popular sports after the long and rigorous days of Lent. Formerly in Russia, anyone could enter the belfries on Easter and ring the bells, a privilege of which many persons availed themselves.
These and many other customs typify the joy of the Easter season, brought about by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead and reawakening of nature during the early days of spring.
Examinations for advancement in rating will be held Tuesday, April 7, 1942. All nominations of candidates to be in Executive Officer's Office prior to 1600 April 6, 1942.
"And on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared.
"And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulchre.
"And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
"And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel.
"And as they were afraid, and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, they said unto them, 'Why seek you the living with the dead?'
"He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you, when he was yet in Galilee,
"Saying: "The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."
"And they remembered his words.
"And going back from the sepulchre, they told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest."
THE CHAPLAINS at Fort Myer, Virginia, and the Presidio of San Fransisco, California, will serve the personnel of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the Coast Guard by decorating the graves of such of their deceased relatives and friends as are interred, respectively, in Arlington National Cemetary and in the Presidio of San Fransisco National Cemetery, on Memorial Day, May 30, 1942.
It is believed that undoubtedly many officers and enlisted men, and their families, who cannot personally attend to it, will desire to avail themselves of this opportunity to have the graves of their loved ones cared for on this occasion.
The plan is to provide a standard floral emblem in the form of a wreath carrying a large bunch of flowers for the sum of $2.00. To facilitate the handling of funds and the ordering of floral pieces it is desired that the standard emblem be used so far as it will be acceptable. However, if some wish to spend larger sums on flowers, special floral emblems of proportionately larger size and value will be purchased. Such decorations as are sent direct to either Chaplain, or which are delivered to him by florists, will be placed upon the designated graves as soon as received.
All correspondence and remittances pertaining to the decoration of graves should be addressed to:
The Chaplain, Fort Myer, Virginia (for Arlington)
The Chaplain, Presidio of San Fransisco, California.
and should be in his hands by May 25, 1942. It will not be possible to fill orders after that date. Requests should indicate, THE NAME, RANK and ORGANIZATION of the deceased, and if possible, THE GRAVE or LOT NUMBER WITH SECTION in which the deceased is buried.
Easter as we all know is a religious festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In addition to its primary religious significance, there is an ideal lesson for us in the Easter Spirit. That ideal is that "Out of death comes life, out of defeat comes victory." Nowhere is this lesson better exemplified, than in the lives of great Naval Commanders. John Paul Jones in the face of obvious defeat said, "I have just begun to fight." He did not know defeat.
This lesson is particularly appropriate at this season of the year, when all nature is testifying to the fact that out of death of winter comes the exurberance of spring. Nature never knows defeat, but goes her way, illustrating that old lesson, "Out of death comes life, out of defeat comes victory."
How call you utilize this lesson? Do you suppose that any man ever achieved great success without first having tasted many bitter defeats? Remember the greater the obstacles the greater the success. The lives of all great men are full of reverses, but their greatness was caused by overcoming these handicaps. Theodore Roosevelt was so unhealthy as a boy that he was not expected to live. His whole life was in the beginning a fight against ill health but in the end he won a glorious victory. Franklin D. Roosevelt overcame the handicap of infantile paralysis and became President.
All life is made up of little defeats and little victories. Remember that the little defeats, if properly used, make great victories. This is particularly true in athletcis. A team may lose at first, but by study of its defeats finds itself. The best advice to every sailor is get the sporting spirit, play the game, overcome your defeats, and find yourself a winner.
(In honor of the "cans" we have served
in or have seen pitching alongside
battleships and cruisers.)
There's a roll and pitch and a heave
and hitch
To the nautical gait they take
For they're used to the cant of the
decks aslant
As the white-toothed combers break
On the plates that thrum like a beaten
drum
To the thrill of the turbines might,
As the knife bow leaps through the
yeasty deeps
With the speed of a shell in flight.
Oh, their scorn is quick for the crews
that stick
To the battleship's steady floor,
For they love the lurch of their own
frail perch
At thirty-five knots or more.
They don't get much of the drill and
such
That the battleship jackies do,
But sail the seas in their dungarees,
A grimy destroyer's crew.
They needn't climb at their sleeping
time
To a hammock that sways and
bumps,
They leap, kerplunk, in a cozy bunk
That quivers and bucks and jumps,
They hear the sound of the seas that
pound
On the half-inch plates of steel,
And close their eyes to the lullabies
Of the creaking sides and keel.
They're a husky crowd who are vastly
proud
Of the slim grey craft they drive,
Of the roaring flues and the humming
screws
Which make her a thing alive,
They love the lunge of her surging
plunge
And the murk of her smoke screen,
too,
As they sail the seas in their dungarees,
A grimy destroyer's crew.
God hath sent his angels to the earth
again,
Bringing joyful tidings to the sons of
men;
They who first, at Christmas, thronged
the heavenly way,
Now beside the tomb-door, sit on
Easter Day.
Angels sing his triumph, as you sang
his birth,
"Christ, the Lord, is risen. Peace,
Good-will on earth."
God has still his angels, helping, at
his word,
All his faithful children, like their
faithful Lord;
Soothing them in sorrow, arming them
in strife,
Opening wide the tomb-doors, leading
into life.
Angels sing his triumph, as you sang
his birth,
"Christ, the Lord, is risen. Peace,
Good-will on earth."
The lessons of sea power are written plain for all to read on the pages of history. It was sea power of the ancient Greeks, rising under the menace of the Persian Empire, that broke their enemies and established the security of their home territories and their colonies across the seas. Salamis is one of the great names. Sea power won for the Romans their long war with Carthage; and sea power for centuries maintained the peace of Rome around the known world. Behind the galleys came the legions, and behind the legions, the traders; and while Rome continued vigorous enough to maintain her land forces and her sea forces, she ruled the earth, and laid the foundations of the modern world. In the middle ages, it was sea power that set up the Spanish colonies, and brought the Plate fleets safe to Spanish harbors, laden with gold and silver ingots out of Peru and Mexico; and it was a new sea power, emerging from the fierce energies of Elizabethan England, that planted in the new world the colonies out of which our nation sprang.
By sea power we won our independence. Lacking the naval adventures of John Paul Jones, and the very substantial contribution of DeGrasse and the French fleet off the Virginia capes, all of Washington's wisdom and fortitude and valor would not have prevailed. And it is by sea power that we must maintain that herd won independence.
Sea power is susceptible of more than one definition. Its meaning has changed with the times, through the centuries. Once it meant, mastery of the seas. Once it meant the freedom of the seas. What it means to us is the right, for ourselves and for our descendants, to pursue our affairs at home in security, and to move unmolested abroad upon our lawful occasions. Without sea power when war breaks upon the world, the latter right disappears and the first is fatally compromised.
There are two principal reasons for maintaining. a navy, both of which are expressed in the fundamental Naval Policy of the United States. These are:
"To support the national policies and commerce;" and "To guard the continental and overseas possessions of the United States."
War is a bad thing. It is perhaps the most terrible of all national experiences except one--and that one more terrible thing is, to have the will of an alien people imposed upon you, the heel of the conqueror upon your neck, as it were. We have our own national character, national aspirations, and national institutions. They may be open to criticism; but they are ours, and we like them. In the past we have been willing to fight for them; and we are going to protect them whenever necessary. In this war our Navy is playing a most important part in seeing to it that the Cause to which America, consecrates itself may be victorious.
During the month, the following hare been advanced in rating:
The following is an address made by Captain Thomas Truxtun to his ship's company in the U. S. S. CONSTELLATION on 19 June, 1799:
"The President of the United States has commanded me, thro' the Secretary of the Navy, to return his thanks to all those brave officers, and men of every discription, who served under my command, in the action and capture of the French National frigate INSURGENTE; and he indulges the pleasing hope, that those now engaged, will deserve a similar return from him, should an occasion occur. This reward to merit and bravery, ought, and I am sure it will, excite an emulation in every honest breast, to deserve well of his country; and I have no doubt in my mind, but I shall find my present ship's company as well disposed, and ready to meet the enemy on every occasion, as I have the satisfaction to say I did my former.
To be brave, humane, and generous, Gentlemen and Fellow Seamen, is no less your duty than it is satisfaction of a. grateful, and insulted country to reward you with its approbation, when you have proved so. Be ever gallant then, and never let it be said, that the CONSTELLATION (America's pride that shines as conspicuously brilliant, as the planetary: system) was otherwise than victorious.
On the ocean is our field; to reap-fresh laurels; let the capstan then be well manned, trip cheerfully our anchor, spread the sails, give three cheers, and away to hunt up our enemies, as we have done before, until we find them. In your various stations, be always alert, obedient to your superior officers, and conduct yourselves like men, and you shall ever be certain of the strictest justice from me -- but: as good order and regular discipline is what can only insure success in every enterprise, and do honor to the service, I shall with a watchful eye, discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving, and if any of the latter should be discovered on board this ship which I hope and trust will not be the case, they must, Painful as it will be to me, abide all the consequences set forth in the articles of war, established by Congress for the regulation of the naval service, which has been read to: you.
I shall, therefore, now concIude with commanding the strictest attention at at all times to order; and that a decent deportment be observed on board by every one, and that there be no noise, or any confusion made on any occasion by any person."
The foregoing address by Captain Truxtun expresses the sentiments and high principles of the American Navy as much today as it did when it was delivered one hundred and forty-two years ago, and it will be just as applicable one hundred years from now as it is today.
Captain Truxtun was one of our early naval heroes who helped to establish the naval traditions of which our service is justly proud. In his address he refers to those qualities of courage, a high sense of duty, justice, aind' well regulated discipline which have always been and always will be necessary parts in the composition of a member of the naval service.
A recent transfer to officers' country was that of R. W. Watkins.
Mr. Watkins has twenty-one years of service behind him in the Navy. After one year with the 12th Cavalry, he enlisted in the Navy at St. Louis, Mo. and went aboard the U.S.S. Graham. Since then he has served on a number of ships in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Asiatic Fleets. He has been to China with the U. S. S. Barker, to England aboard the U.S.S. New York for the Coronation in 1937, and on the transport Henderson which took President Harding to Alaska. Mr. Watkins played baseball with several ship's team's and pulled second stroke on two championship whale boat crews. He is married and has a. boy fifteen months old.
First class letter mail may be sent by members of the United States Military or Naval Forces on active duty free of postage anywhere within the United States Mail Service. This includes ordinary letters and postcards, but does not include air mail and packages or parcels.
Letters sent postage free must have inscribed in the upper left hand corner the name, rank or rate, and U.S. Navy. In the upper right hand corner the word "FREE" shall be clearly written or printed.
This privilege does not apply to any matter sent to members of forces by persons not members thereof.
Here's to the Land of the Rising Sun, We won't give up 'till their time has come, The time when they lay down their arms and say, You've won this war the American way. The Americans again will cross the line, For freedom and liberty's right this time, To secure the foundation of Stars and Stripes, And rid the world of dictatorial types. It may be long, and it may be hard, But in the end we'll deal the card, We'll trump the trick of a madman's dream, And America still will be supreme. So again to the Land of the Rising Sun, We'll sing the song of a battle won, Under God's protection our Flag shall wave, For the land of the free, and the home of the brave. --Harry R. Whitney, Y3c, N Div.
I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist.
Trustees exclaimed, "He never
bungles !"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."
--Ogden Nash.
A 16" gun is suspended 16 feet above the ground and pointing horizontal with the earth, shoots a shell weighing. one ton at a velocity of 3,000 feet per second.
Question -- How far does the shell travel in eight seconds?
Answer -- 3,000 feet.
Why? -- Gravity.
If all the cola vending machines were placed end to end they'd still be empty on a hot day.
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