The Sentinel from Carlisle, Pennsylvania • 77

Saturday, February 23, 1991, The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa. J3 Women answered ibew country's call, too By Michaela Pyle Sentinel correspondent Reida Longanecker during war, left, and today Dot Bloom during war, left and today suggestion of their parents, and met regularly thereafter. They were married Feb. 26, 1945 in Walter Reed Chapel, Washington, just before Bob was reassigned to San Diego. Ens.

Stuart's request to transfer to the est coast to be with her new husband was granted "provided 1 could find someone in that office who wanted to come to Washington." One telephone call later the exchange was agreed upon. When the Blooms were discharged from service in 1945, they returned to the east coast where Bob had been a high school history teacher prior to the war. He took a job at Monmouth Junior College N. and began work on a Ph.D. at Columbia University.

They moved to Gettysburg in 1949 where Bob took a job in the history department at Gettysburg College and Dortie became editor of the Gettysburg College Bulletin. She later became a news reporter for the Hanover Sun and Bob was named chairman of the History Department at the College. They have three sons. Only weeks before his death three months ago, Dr. Bloom had completed a new History of Adams County for the Adams County Historical Society.

Dottie has just fin- ished the final editing and proofing the work for the printer. teriel rolling off assembly lines and onto freighters bound for foreign fronts. It was not until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, that American women became "fighting mad." Modern Molly Pitchers, they were illing to shoulder muskets, dig trenches, move into the front lines of combat in their determination to "do something." And as men disappeared from factory lines to answer Uncle Sam's call, women left their typewriters and switchboards and cash registers for what they felt were essential war-time jobs. Mothers and grandmothers joined the public work force to keep the wheels turning and employers soon admitted that women were at least as capable as men at most jobs.

In the spring of 1942, by Executive Order, the U. S. Army created the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) to replace and release for combat service enlisted men who would otherwise perform certain noncombatant duties. Euring World War II nearly 140,000 women served in the WACs, both in the U. S.

and in all overseas theaters of operation'. At about the same time, Congress authorized the establishment of the WASPS (Women's Air Service Pilots), and the WAVES, Volunteer Emergency Service of the Navy. ber of her friends in Worcester had either enlisted or had been called up in the draft and she felt "there must be something I could do." She grew up in the Philippines where her father, Dr. Harlan Stuart, was chief administrator of a missionary school in Ho Ho, Panay, and was fluent in at least one of the 67 dialects of the Islands, a talent she thought could be used if she joined the serv ice. She reported for her physical with ehickenpox, she recalls, but had recovered from the disease by March, 1 943, when she had orders to report to Officer Candidate School at ML Holyoke College.

Three months later she was commissioned a Lieutenant, Junior Grade, and sent to Washington, where she was assigned to the Office of Censorship, directed by Byron Price, which was responsible for monitoring all messages in and out of the country. "The work of the censorship office was so secret," she says, that she still is not able to talk about it, except to say that she was no longer bored. Meanwhile, her future husband, whose parents had been missionaries and were close friends of Dot-tie's parents, had returned from two years service in the army stationed in Sardinia and later in Italy. The two met in Springfield, at the As the winds of war swept across Europe in 1938-39 and the U. S.

Selective Sen ice Act was thrown into gear by a number drawn from a large fish bowl in Washington, American women began giving serious thought to what they could do to help stop Hitler's inv asion of central Europe. War was not new to nurses and 20th century Florence Nightingales and Clara Bartons flooded recruiting offices for assignments to the armed services for active duty. Others those with less accepted specialized skills became more and more indignant and angry at reports of Nazi terrorism and were impatient to "do something." Within weeks of the first draft in September, 1940, for which 16 million men had registered, American industries initiated plans to train women replacements for jobs in factories machinists, electricians, assembly-line workers and a new classification soon to be popularized on juke boxes from coast to coast, "Rosie the Riveter." Armies of young women filed through factory gates around the clock in coveralls, safety-toed shoes, hard hats and goggles to keep essential war ma Reida Longanecker, a 40-Year-old English teacher at the Mechan-icsburg High School, joined the WACs in December, 1942, after three of her 17-year-old students enlisted in the army. "I decided right then and there if those young boys could go to war I could, too, and I went down to the recruiting office to see if I could qualify," she recalls. She was accepted and within weeks was on her way to Florida for basic training, then to OCS (Officers Candidate School) in Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where she remained in the News and Information Division for four years.

She had two brief tours of duty abroad one in France and another in Italy, and after the war made six trips to England on the Queen Mary to bring Gl brides and babies to America. Several years after she was discharged from service, Capt. Longanecker was approached in Gettysburg, here she was director of the Red Cross Chapter, by a young woman with a British accent who said she remembered her from "the Queen Mary." Capt. Longanecker retired from teaching in 1966 and has been a resident of the Lutheran Retirement Home in Gettysburg since 1986. Dorothy Stuart Bloom, whose late husband, Robert L.

Bloom, was a Carlisle High School athlete in his youth, joined the WAVEs in 1943 in Worcester, "out of boredom and patriotism." A graduate of Boston University, she was a secretary in a steel processing company in Worcester and, she says now, "bored stiff." A num Female WASPS flew warplanes r-tj r1 i 1942 had to be courageous, confident of their ability and full of a pioneer spirit. Elizabeth McGeorge had all of these qualities, inherited from her maternal grandmother, who ran a missionary A J' v. wealthy Canadian family. It was after her final retirement from education that she purchased a fruit farm in Adams County the orchard that Elizabeth still owns. It was the well-known woman flyer, Jacqueline Cochran, a contemporary of Amelia Earhart, who convinced Gen.

Arnold that women could perform school in Japan, where her grandfather was "hacked to death" by bandits as he Elizabeth McGeorge Sullivan had always wanted to fly. The opportunity presented itself shortly after she graduated from Wilson College in Chambersburg and took a secretarial job in Baltimore bank. The job provided the money she needed to take private flying iessons, and by the time Gen. "Hap" Arnold had agreed to permit women into the Army Air Force as service pilots she was ready. "You had to be between 21 and 35 years of age, in good health and with a private pilot's license and at least 500 hours of flight time," she recalls at her orchard home near Or-rtanna today.

Implied in her quiet recounte-nances is the fact that applicants to the Women's Air Force Service in and only 1,000 graduated. Subsequent classes were formed monthly for rigid training to fly "anything from single-cockpit Pipers to C--150s that took a crew of six to operate." WASPs were allowed to fly only on the North American continent because of the danger of possible capture by the enemy. "There were rumors that one got as far as Bermuda before she was! shipped back quickly. Another reportedly got to England, but we were never sure of that," Ms. sulli-van chuckles.

She delivered PT-19s to a training field in Winnipeg several times from Hagerstown (Fairchild) and brought PT-23s (closed cockpits) from a fleet facto- See WASPS, J8 tried to protect the Ms. Sullivan school's payroll. a vital service to the Air Force by ferrying planes from factory to training field as needed to relieve men for combat and other essential work. According to official records, 10,000 young women applied for admission to WASPs in the initial Her grandmother continued to run the school until her daughter (Elizabeth's mother) reached the age of seven the age at which white girls had to leave the country. But she returned to Japan a decade later (after her daughter had married and moved to Philadelphia) to run a Elizabeth Sullivan could fly most US planes.

school that had been founded by a recruitment; 3,000 were accepted CUBLAND RECYCLING, INC, 2r CARLISLE PREMIUM PRICES l. tjf -V 1-UlUHfc SERVICE TO INDUSTRY ALUMINUM-COPPER-BRASS STAINLESS-CARBIDE-LEAD ALSO BUYING: Computer Paper PC Boards Printers and Newsprint Film and Al. Litho Pick-up Service available for Large amounts 243-8781 BLENDING TALENT WITH ACHIEVEMENT Founded in 1978 and a division of Atlantic Dairy Cooperative, Holly Milk is a dynamic leader in the manufacture of specialized dairy products, rated among the best in its field. Our facility boasts the latest in sophisticated, state-of-the-art technology and equipment. As a premier producer of diversified dairy products, Holly Milk's commitment to excellence has earned the responsibility of servicing the most quality conscious customers in the food industry.

At the heart of our operation and beyond the state-of-the-art equipment lies the main resource of our company our people. Our strength and our success is directly related to the commitment of our employees to quality, innovation, and service to our customers. Our employees' uncompromising dedication to unending excellence continues to blend talent with achievement. For the past two consecutive years, our team was the recipient of the "MASTER BUTTERMAKER" award from Land O' Lakes. This award is representative of Land 'O Lakes reputation for producing the highest quality butter on the market.

Thanks to our Holly Milk achieved the recognition of producing the highest quality butter in the entire Land O' Lakes system throughout the United States. As we continue to promote professional growth through teamwork, we will enter the 21st century with a continued commitment to excellence to our dairy producers, employees and their families, customers, and our community. if i 4 Our people make it happen at Holly Milk R.L. SIMONS BROKER DEVELOPER DOING BUSINESS WITH THE TIMES As we begin the 90's, several new attributes have surfaced which play a major role in buying and selling of real estate. First, and perhaps foremost, is the curbing of inflation.

We can no longer count on appreciable gains as experienced in the 80's. Price and product must be synonymous in order to achieve proper balance, which ultimately attracts the interest of buyers and sellers. In addition, your Broker must be able to recognize market trends as well as interpret present market conditions in order to successfully market your property. The advent of new banking policies and procedures will likewise play a major role in securing adequate financing. A thorough understanding of the appraisal process will be required in order to achieve adequate financing.

Last, but not least, your Broker must be capable of negotiating a contract that addresses the needs of not only the buyer but the seller as well, particularly in such a complex and competitive market We, at R.L Simons and Associates, REALTOR, have recognized the overwhelming effect these issues will play throughout the coming decade. Our entire staff has continued to update their professional skills and knowledge to better serve you in order to do BUSINESS WITH THE TIMES. 23 It Together We Achieve" 325 South Hanover St. Carlisle, PA 17013 632 Park Drive, Carlisle, PA 17013 (717)486-7000 Trealtor vision of Atlantic Dairy Cooperative.