Camp Adair Sentry
Thursday, April 15, 1943,
Page Three
Scoop! Enlisted Men, Not Officers, Read Best Books
Well-Stocked Shelves
And Soldiers Read There
That the writing rooms at the Service Club libraries are much and well-used as is indicated
by this intent portraiture of I’fc. J. M. Parrel, Pvt. V incent Chiello and Pvt. George Johnson writing
home for mon— (well, maybe they were writing home for Tuesday).
Now 10,000 Volumes
On Library Shelves
Reigns at No. 2
I
By Pvt. Harry Klissner
Photos by Pvt. Herbert Niemeth, U. S. Signal Corps
Did you know that:
1. Enlisted men read better books than officers?
2. Mathematics is the most popular subject among soldiers.
3. German is popular? And—
4. That Camp Adair has the largest camp library in the United
States with more than ten thousand books in Service Club Libraries
No. 1 and 2. The basic collection being rapidly filled, calls for seventeen
thousand. Each library, in addition, receives gift collections. So by
July the total will exceed twenty thousand books at Camp Adair.
It all adds up to some reading material!
Reference File
*
~
Especially good is the reference science diploma. She was em
ployed as a librarian in the city
file. At Library No. 2 is the Kip-
library
in Bellingham, Wash
linger Washington News, a confi
ington,
before she arrived at
dential report, sent only to business
men within the continental United Camp Adair.
Her assistants are June Powell,
States. The average person doesn’t
even to get to see it in civilian Pvt. John Stump, who was a li
brarian in a San Francisco library
life.
Most widely read fiction books in civilian life, Pvt. Don Bradley,
; are those written by Steinbeck and a mechanic from New York, and
Caldwell. Material on the war, es Pvt. John Hermanson, a farmer
pecially if it shows an aggressive from North Dakota.
spirit, is very popular. Most sol
Shumaker Travels
diers dislike pessimistic writing.
Miss Helen Shumaker, librarian
Rookies Read Better
at No. 2, wras born in the Sunshine
Strangely at first blush, rook State and there attended the Uni
ies and non-coms are reading versity of California at Berkeley,
better materia! than the < fficcr;-. Her childhood days were spent in
This is easy to explain. Er.li ted Minnesota.
men are attempting to get ahead.
Miss Shumaker’s main hobby is
I
(Ed. note: Not, of course, that i mountaineering, although she con-
officers aren’t.) Some want to go
fesses that the South Sister is the
to school to prepare for technical only mountain she has climbed.
ratings; others desire to become i Before coming to Camp Adair, she
officers. To do so, it is necessary
was for two years head librarian
to have a well-rounded education. at Oregon State College.
In the meantime, officers have
Her assistants are Pvt. Sid Rud-
already done a large stint of
ner who fought in the Spanish Civil i
intensive reading.
War and was a writer on PM; Pfc.1
It is their duty to work hard
Andrew Conway, former welfare
during the day instructing the men
worker from New’ York City, and
in soldiering. When the day’s work
Pvt. George Shaw, who was
is completed, it is only natural that
timekeeper in civilian life.
if they do any reading at all, the
Out-of-town Papers
material will be of a lighter type
Here are only part of the 10,000 total volumes which help
make the Camp Adair Libraries the finest boasted by any Army
Post in America. And here Pvt. Tony Baptiste and Librarian
June Powell (she also dances, see page one—or have you?), check
the expurgated shelf.
Librarian Fickel and Spectator
such as westerns, mysteries, and
Both libraries handle out-of-town
love stories.
newspapers and also phone book
from New York to San Francisco.
In using the Dewey classifica The phone books are here for the
tion system, the librarians com purpose of locating long distance
puted the following breakdown:
addresses and numbers. Writing-
Books read in one week are paper and envelopes are also handy.
philosophy
4, religion •?, science 61
The two libraries have made out
The service club's special rnouser, who has been nicknamed 1
,
(includes
mathematics),
ociology
113!)
cards to take out books for
Tobina. climbs atop the desk, possibly to gain a little library
I 30 (military tactics also under this service men at Camp Adair. An
knowledge from Miss Doris Fickel, librarian at Club 1.
section), useful art 13 (takes in average of 2,200 EM and officers
J such things as wood work, plumb visit the libraries during the week.
ing, and mechanics), fine art 5, Sunday is the biggest day.
history 56 (from ancient to con
temporary), biology 19 (all types), OSC Newspaper
literature 20, and languages 18.
Editor Is in Army
Over two hundred books are
It seems that eve i the civilian
checked out in the libraries on Sun
Can anybody in the house top guages, including Russian, Polish, day. Mathematics beads the field schools can’t get alm < without the
The most army. The editor of the “Barome
S-Sgt. Mordecai E. Schwartz, German, Hebrew, Yiddish", Arabic, among enlisted men.
and most Slavik languages.
popular languages are Spanish and ter,” Oregon State College news
from medical supply? He has
paper, has as its e< Tor Pvt. Glen
He has sailed the seven seas and German.
visited France, Italy, Yugoslavia. claims he has told women—includ
The Head Librarian at No. 1 is ►Schaeffer.
Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, ing an Egyptian mummy — “I love
Miss Doris Fickel. Born in Ever
Pvt. Schaeffer w.”s inducted at
Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Trans you” in all these places in their ett, Washington, she attended Fort Lewis, Wnahi gton, given a
jordan, Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Per- native tongues. On top of ail this, the State University there. Miss uniform, and allow ► d to return to
Mordecai holds a B.B.A. degree Fickel holds a Master's degree in Oregon State to complete his aca
sia, and Canada.
French as well as a library demic training.
He also speaks several )an- from New York City College.
¡
I
!
i We've Done It Too.At Albany, Salem,
i Corvallis, Monmouth, Dallas and Pedee J
Helen Shumaker
Texas A & M Grads
At Adair to Muster
Gen.z Mrs. Easley
Hosts at Conclave
For many years April 21. anni
versary of the battle of San Ja
cinto,
has
been
traditional
date
for the alumni of Texas Agricul
ture
and
Mechanics
College
to
meet, wherever they might he.
It is estimated tin t 1OMO0 men
will attend this year’s muster at
hundreds of meeting* held all over
the W’orld, including the many
fighting fronts.
X local survey hthat there
are 22 officer from X
M now
at Camp Adair. This • officers,
with their wives, have been in
vited to meet at the 9(»th I'iM-ion
• ii • ts of Brig
Officers Club a>
adier General and Mrs. Claudius
M. Easley.
The keynote of the meeting will
be in keeping with the* war spirit
of all true Texan». The muster
will be a tribute to the thousands
of A & M men in the armed ser
vices, to those who are missing
in action, and to those who will
not return.
At Corregidor
The tradition of the Annual
Muster was immortalized last
year when a heroic group of 30
A & M men met on the besieged
fortress of Corregidor. News of
that meeting, flashed to Ameri
ca by radio, thrilled the nation
and every A & M man.
The redemption of these men
and the exaction of a lasting retri
bution from the treacherous and
despicable Japs, is a pledge that
burns deep in the heart and soul
of all Texas Aggies.