The Mercury from Pottstown, Pennsylvania • Page 17

World War Civilians Scream, Cry and Kiss (EDITOR'S recalls the exciUment of 25 years ago when President Truman announced to the tcorld that Japan had surrendered. William Peifer, now a member of The Mercury staff, was at that time the piccolo player in the hand at Valley Forge Hospital, Phoenixville. Here he relates the feelings and actions of his generation when the joyous news came.) By WILLIAM PEIFER Mercury Staff Writer The thing all of us wanted most was meant out of the Army and it had become an obseesion with all of us long before this VJ Day in 1945. Mos't everyone was pretty gung-ho during the war years about beating Hitler, which feat was accomplished three months earlier, but perseverance in seeking total victory in the Pacific Theater started to wane. Several but not all of my compatriots in the 603rd Army Band at Valley Hospital, Phoenixville, were all for making a deal with the Emperor, ending the thing and getting Had the war been prolonged, sentiment in America might well have taken the course that it has in the case of Vietnam.

This was before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of course. We know anything about an atomic bomb, and if such a term had been used, the average GI probably would have asked, The only thing we could envision was a long, tedioujs, bloody trek by MacArthur up the and then a massive invasion of uncomprehensive proportions of the Japanese mainland. It looked like 10 years. Seeing kids our own age being brought into the hospital every day with their faces andl limbs blown away the blind ones, the pathetic psycho cases in Ward 25 exactly whet our appetites for 10 more years of war. I deny, though, that our viewpoint also was selfish.

Each one of us had a reason for wanting to get married, to go back to college, to take over an aging business, and so on. One of the fellows from Kansas, Dave Olney, already married a Phoenixville girl and he and his wife still live at Nutt Road. Most everyone had confidence in President Roosevelt as a war leader, but we known this new President by the name of Truman. death left a shocking void that President Truman begun to fill. Then Truman said, the What later generations must find difficult to understand is that even after the news of Hiroshima, most of us failed to appreciate the magnitude of what was happening.

The Pottstown Mercury on Aug. 7, 1945, indicates this with a headline that read, Atomic Bomb May emphasis on the word Of course, it dam well did just that, but we know of the terror we had struck in the heart of every Japanese. We thought of the A-bomb as just another superweapon that had been put to use, but that the end of the still had to be accomplished by troops. We wanted So these were the feelings at 7 p.m. Aug.

14, 1945, when President Truman announced on national radio hookup that the enemy of the Pacific agreed to Allied terms. I guess every American in the world left out a yelp and then fell into an interlude of utter dismay. All the things thisi would mean paraded through the mind no more whiskey ration slips, no more gasoline rationing, no more retread tires, no more gas mask drills. why think of these things when going to get It was under these circumstances that I found myself at 7:30 p.m. standing on the golf course in front of a high fence that had to be scaled.

Many in my group already were in Phoenixville, but the commanding officer in his infinite wisdom decreed that no others would be allowed to leave the base. Here was the event we had been dreaming of celebrating for almost four years and he was throwing a wrench in the works. Being not much more than a kid, it too much effort to scale the fence, but then I found myself in a patch of brambles with no idea of which direction to go. More than two decades later I was to become quite familiar with the surrounding geography as editor of a weekly newspaper in the area. But in those days the only thing I knew was the main gate of VFH, the Fountain Inn on Route 23 and the Victory Bar on Bridge Street in that order.

The only way to describe Phoenixville that night was one big racket everybody screaming, horns blowing, sirens wailing, musical instruments blaring all over, bells rmging. On the streets there was a blanket of shredded bits of paper, improvised confetti. Everyone was running around like wild people. I the only GI who kissed every pretty girl he saw, and a few who so pretty. The USO canteen on the southwest corner of Bridge and Main streets was the hub of excitement, but the entire business district was in an uproar.

Every bar was filled. The celebration lasted a year. More and more civies became apparent in place of uniforms. Wide garish neckties became the style. You could tell by looking at a guy whether he served in the Army or Navy.

If he was wearing a blue suit, he had been in the Army. If he had a brown suit, he had been in the Navy. Old school chums were seeing each other again after a long time, and it was one big talkathon and laughathon for a whole year. It took several months after victory to process everyone through the discharge centers, but VJ Day was the signal of the beginning a day to remember. It was the day we knew we were going to get Feature Page Feature Page Pottstown, Friday, August 14, 1970 Page Seventeen Two Stranded Youths Learn Bitter Lesson HOMEMADE CHALLENGE Matlack, right, who engineered and built this miniature golf course for picnic and recreation room playing, shows others how to lower their scores on the first nine, modeled after the Twin Ponds golf course.

Others, left to right, are Donald Hoffman, owner of Twin Ponds; wife, Betty, and wife, Shirley. The club house is at the far end on the right and new ranch style home is to the left. Popsicle sticks are used as clubs and bbs are the makeshift golf balls. Matlack started work on the course in January so the entertainment would be ready for his annual ice'cream festival in August. (Mercury Staff Photo) Two 8-year-old Pottstown youngsters learned hard way Thursday afternoon that best to listen to mother or trouble may be in store.

The two were given a bitter and profound illustration of this lesson after they found themselves stranded on a concrete island in the middle of Manatawny Creek, with only sharp and rushing water around them. The children were Pam Weikel, daughter of Mrs. Shirley Weikel, 101 N. Warren and Kenneth Weber, son of Mr. and Mrs.

Paul S. Weber, 109 N. Warren St. Pam finally made her way to safety through the rocks and water. BOY FALLS Kenneth, however, previously slipped and fell suffering severe scratches on his back.

The fall was enough to convince him he better try to make he remained on the island. The island is a concrete pad supporting one of the piers holding the Reading railroad bridge as it crosses the creek near Kiwi Polish just south of High Street. Employes of the polish firm saw the plight of the children and called police, who in turn called Good Will Fire Co. By the time police and a Good Will rescue truck arrived Pam was safely ashore. Kenneth, crying, scratched and remained on the island.

Manpower arriving for the Ice Cream Festival Melts Into Comedy By DOLLIE SMITH Mercury Staff Writer Some people grab a nap and fall off their chairs. Others sit idly by watching as though mesmerized while eating handsfull of peanuts. A few are behind a serving countcr and at least one is preparing to show a cartton. Saturday night at the movies? No indeed, although it might be apropos of the situation if the movie was a comedy. This is a party ice cream festival as it has come to be Pottstown View known because despite the antics, jokes, tricks and surprises, ice cream really is served.

And this in itself is special because homemade. a man in charge here and rather unique too. Ernie Matlack, 66 Arrowhead Boyertown, and his helper is his wife Betty. A Firestone employe, he sold insurance not too long ago and a do-it-yourself hobbiest, an interest which applies not only to inventions and woodworking but parties as well. I93W tv Inc.

8 14 'They must have finished that rock garden they were building. They haven't been back The guest list generally carries the same names, those of 20 couples who play in the regular Saturday night and late Sunday afternoon scat games at Twin Ponds Golf Course that stretches along both sides of Halfway House Road in Douglass (Montgomery) Township. The scat rules are quite simple. If one has a vague idea of how to hold a golf club, he can play. This necessarily mean the ball has to be hit but it helps.

Four persons form a team and there are bets at a few cents hole. Money also is paid for birds and totals. But under no circumstances are a husband and wife assigned to the same team. PAINFUL RESULTS This group discovered that the results can be as painful as a husband teaching his wife to drive. His hands are free and an irresistable urge to wring a neck.

Even with this obstacle out of the way, an occasional putter is thrown into a pond when tempers wear thin but the camaraderie that begins with the first whiff (golfing term for missing the ball and feeling foolish) accompanies the group to the grove off the third green for the annual ice cream festival. Here even the golf widow is welcomed and amused. Matlack have it any other way. The king of entertainers earned his title by supplying such items as trick golf balls, an obstacle course, fishing pond, a waiter in formal attire and even mystery guests. Each year the plans become more elaborate.

For this event earlier this month, he built a gold course, a replica of the first nine holes at Twin Ponds. The size and height of a pool table, it was hauled to the grove in a van and unveiled in the pavilion. HAULED IN VAN The players, the same people who played in the scat game earlier, spent the next several hours following the course with clubs made from popsicle sticks. The balls were bb pellets. The holes on the greens were formed with the cores of shotgun shells and were so tiny, magnets had to be used to recover the once they were sunk.

The hills, sand traps, tees, and ponds also were evident and frustration reached a peak when one scored 31 on a hole and then gave up count. Matlack is a meticulous host which explains the schedule posted in the early part of the evening with somewhat primitive tools. A nail and a brick often suffice. FIRST ON LIST Among first items on the list was hors but they served in any ordinary manner. A large, new car pulled up to the pavilion and out stepped a man, a scat player, in a suit and tie and his wife in white lace.

They served the hors and platters of cold shrimp and then quietly returned to the car and disappeared for the time being. Later they returned to the party and miniature course in casual clothes. obstacle course last year was devised on Twin greens and Players had to hit the golf balls through pipes, around garden hoses, a number of other items and were forced to hit around a hole in a sand trap. Of course the quips and laughter are frequent. One man who claims he consistently does everything wrong was dubbed the All-American husband.

And the golf widow who had been asked to play with the group repeatedly answers that rather complain and she has better things to lie about. One of the women complained that her husband always falls asleep when he returns from the golf course. A physician who plays with the group gave her a seat belts for his favorite all part of making our weekends a bit more Matlack said modestly. What is he going to do next year? wish I knew. The only thing sure of it that it will be a surprise, probably as much to me as the tableau were John Martin, 1314 South St.

and Donald Yeager, 875 Chester Drive, North Coventry, both with the rescue unit, and Patrolmen Lynwood Youse and John Durkin, of the Pottstown Police Departmeni. LOWERING SLING Initial consideration was given to lowering a sling from the railroad bridge to haul the youth to safety. But this was 2 Local Youths, Adult Arrested On Drug Charge Two Pottstown juveniles and an adult were arrested early Wednesday in Schuylkill Haven on narcotics charges police disclosed Thursday. Robert Simpson, 23, 235 Henry Elliott C. Hutt, 16, 1028 Beech and Robert Brunner, 16, 428 King were arrested shortly after 2 a.m.

by Schuylkill Haven Police. Police Chief Lorin Honicker said a large quanity of narcotics and related drug paraphernalia was discovered in the Simpson car following a routine car stop in the borough. The three were charged with violation of tlie Pennsylvania Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. Simpson was released on bail Thursday. Montgomery County juvenile authorities were notified of the arrests and transported Hutt and Brunner to the county juvenile hall where they are being held pending further action by county juvenile officers.

Honicker said his department iS waiting for a report from the state police laboratory in Harrisburg to determine the identity of the items found in the car. ruled out because of the huge drop. Then Martin fully clothed waded through the was above his knees and over a precarious stone dam and over the rocks to the island. He picked Kenneth, a frail blonde boy, off the concrete island and returned to the shore via the same route, with the youth in his arms. The children then walked home.

Youse and Durkni said for some reason the youngsters were afraid to be driven home in the police car. The reason for the fear became evident when the policemen went to the homes as part of the foUow-up investigation. It was simple, said Durkin. They violated one parental rule and felt riding home in a police car would make their parents even angrier. The parents of both youths, policemen learned, told their children to go only to the playground on Chestnut Street between Franklin and Washington streets and nowhere else.

The playground is a long way from Manatawny Creek, The children failed to heed their instructions, police said, and peril ensued. In the company of the two when they made their unauthorized trip to the creek was Debbie Weber, 6-year-old sister. Even though she disobeyed the instruction not to leave the playground, Debbie quite ready to follow the older youths. She was afraid to walk through the water and rocks to the island. Consequently, she was safer, although maybe she have as much as her older brother and his companion.

ON THE Main Drag THOMAS MUNZ life among the tree tops. RICHARD CAHOON for the last half of the summer. RICHARD BRAY a captain by growing a mustache. MARLENE PUPEK to return a records. ORDEAL ENDS Pottstown Patrolman Lynwood Youse examines cuts and scratches on the back of Kenneth Weber following the rescue from a concrete island in the middle of Manatawny Creek Thursday afternoon.

Kenneth, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul S. Weber, 109 N. Warren became stranded while exploring the area with his younger sister and a friend.

(Mercury Stall Photo).