"OUR JOB"
CONT. FROM PAGE ONE
to begin at once to reorganize itself on a
sound basis and to consolidate its forces.
We are informed by the National office
of the Friends that they are recommending
to those City Committees where local
rehabilitation costs are now very low, that
they continue their support of the veterans
through transforming themselves into
some form of auxiliary of the local
Veterans' Post. Such auxiliaries should be
composed of the local Friends Committee,
families who have lost a son or father in
Spain and the wives and parents of the
veterans. We owe a real debt to these
friends who have given us to much
financial help in the past. We can honor
them by inviting them to join our
auxiliaries as a recognition of their
services. We are certain they will continue
to support us as long as a single veterans
requires assistance. But the main
preliminary step in this direction is the
strengthening of the Veterans' Posts and
their assumption of part of the burden
today borne by the Friends.
What kind of a Veterans' organization do
we want to build? We want an
organization that will help us satisfy our
needs. Our first need is to help the
disabled and ill. Our second is to obtain
employment and a means of livelihood. As
organized veterans we can do much to
help the disabled and to insure each
veteran a job. A further need is for a
method to help our comrades still in Le
Havre, Cuba and Mexico and in Franco
Spain, as well as the several thousand
Internationals of other nationalities still in
French camps.
In addition to all this as veterans we
shall want to get together once or twice a
year for a reunion or celebration on some
significant anniversary where we may
renew our fraternal fellowship established
in Spain. However, veterans' organization
to fulfill these needs does not require
weekly nor bi-weekly meetings. If we
have strong officers and a good executive
committee with perhaps a good
commission on help for disabled and no
jobs, our Posts can function well with only
occasional membership meetings.
.
Milt Wolff and a number of other vets are
working at the World's Fair. Eugene
Poling was just elected State Organizer of
the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union in
Oklahoma... We don't know where Jim
Bourne has gotten to. Does anyone?...
Robbie is still chasing around the New
York Waterfront... Fred Keller, who is also
working at the World's Fair, was the
national Delegate to the Youth Congress...
Marty Hourihan left town for the West
Coast. Now we hear that he told the girl
friends he was going to South America. If
you see him go by, let us know what
direction he's heading... Lenny Lamb is
working down on Staten Island... Bill
Hunter has a job with the NYA in
Maryland... Carl Bradley is doing a mighty
good job in a tough spot, at the Friends'
office in Baltimore... Rollin Dart is
manager of one of the displays at the
World's Fair. Bob Colodny is still on the
West Coast... Sheldon Jones is up in
Maine. He recently got married, but he's
keeping his
hundred of us came back. It was a really
staggering job to provide return fare,
medical treatment, rest, clothing and a bit
of help until we got on our feet again. All
they had to depend on were the
contributions of working men and women
-- those defenders of democracy who were
not fooled by the fascist "neutrality
slogans. But the Friends carried out the
job.
For those who needed them and there
were some 160 seriously wounded men -
the Friends provided the wherewithal for
complicated and expensive operations,
wooden legs, steel arms, and glass eyes.
They are still taking care of those who
need it. Rehabilitation payments in New
York alone still total $1000 a month. And
the Friends wish they could be even more
generous.
One of the toughest and
chin up... Archie Brown is out West, too -
in San Francisco. If Sam Wren will come
out of hiding long enough to know we're
looking for him, he'll find out there have
been many inquiries for him. Not the G-
men -- friends of his... Thomas Collado
has got his new leg and is threatening to
enter the Olympics, so he can compete
against Pat Roosevelt... Steve Nelson has
recently gone out to the West Coast, to
become a big politician... Walter Garland
has proved to be a mighty fine book
salesman, and he's shining in the New
York youth movement... Harold Smith
says he's just coming out of the daze, now
that his wife makes him work for a living.
Yes, he went and did it, too... Bob Raven,
who's to become a father shortly, is in
New York... Joe Vaughan is still in New
York and still under treatment.
(If you'll tell us what you're doing we'll
be glad to let all the vets know. If you
want to know about someone else, ask us
and we'll do our best to find out.)
most recent jobs they undertook was to
support those foreign-born American
veterans who were held in Le Havre
because the United States government
refused to grant them entrance visas. Even
though the defeat in Spain has meant a
dropping off in the contributions to the
FALB these men were maintained for
months at a cost of $1 a day per man. Over
a hundred of them were at the Parc de la
Heve in Le Havre at one time, all brought
out of the concentration camps in southern
France, where other veterans of different
nationalities are still confined. Between
twenty and twenty-five thousand dollars
were sent for their maintenance there
while every effort was made to obtain the
necessary documents and affidavits to
permit their entrance to the United States.
LOW DOWN
THEY'VE BEEN REAL FRIENDS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
