USA > New York > Bronx County > Navy service : a short history of the United States Naval Training School (WR) Bronx, New York > Part 7
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Well over a thousand different items are carried in the store, ranging in variety from adhesive plaster to wallets, greeting cards, fountain pens, girdles, tennis balls and most popular books of the day. These items have been carefully selected by the officer buyer and Ship's Company crew over a period of time with an eye to their usefulness, their morale building aspects, and in some cases downright appeal.
The Laundry which is managed by Boatswain's Mate 1c Arthur Donaldson, who has had laundry experience in the Navy ashore and afloat, turns out 40,000 pounds of laundry a week and 3,000 pounds of dry clean- ing. Male crew, according to Naval tradition, get the best prices as far as laundry goes. They get uniform laundry done rough dry at the flat rate of 50 cents a month. Women's Reserve crew also get the benefit of reasonable reductions. The Laundry does barracks laundry, gym uniforms, towels and bathing suits. In addition, the Laundry does barracks linen for Manhattan Towers, THIRD Naval District Waves barracks at 76th Street and Broadway.
Although Wave seamen hats are cleaned and blocked in the Hat Block- ing Service, it is the officers' hats that steal the limelight. Ship's Service is the only place in the country equipped to block officers' hats. Consequently, these pour in constantly from California, Florida, Oklahoma, Kansas, etc.
The Beauty Shop, operated by the Navy since February, 1944, is managed by a civilian and a Wave, Seaman 1c Duncan. The Beauty Shop does everything except hair bleaching and dyeing, and is staffed with civilian employees. It can handle about 200 appointments a day and is equipped to turn out 20 permanents. Shampoo and set is reasonably priced at 75 cents. A hair cut is 25 cents.
The Cobbler Shop has been run by the Navy since 1 June 1944, and managed by the Saso brothers. It is always a beehive of activity. Many hundreds of new soles and heels are put on the shoes of recruits who have worn them thin in drill, marching from activity to activity, and passing in
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review each Saturday. Here the "boots" can have a tight shoe stretched, the tongues padded and the heels lined. Repairs to luggage are also made in this shop. Cobbler Shop personnel work early and late to make the comfort- able Navy black oxfords like new.
Traditional to the station are the employees of the Coffee Shop who are almost entirely the civilians who worked in the Hunter College faculty cafeteria. Mr. Joseph Hogue runs the Coffee Shop and since 1 May 1944, when the Navy took ownership he has been assisted by Specialist (S) 2c Vera Lombardi. Major charm of the Coffee Shops in Davis and the Officers' Lounge in Gillet are the doughnuts that come sizzling out of the doughnut machine at the rate of 720 a day. Fruit juices, the usual beverages, ice cream, sandwiches, salad plates, coffee cakes, layer cakes and pies are dispensed.
Newest acquisition (1 June 1944) of Ship's Service is the Photo Studio which does personal portraiture, section pictures, review shots, station shots, apartment group photos, and special events. A section picture sells for 25 cents, group photos for 50 cents. There is a dark room, developing room, studio drying and assorting room, all fully equipped with the most modern apparatus. One company of 240 often orders over 500 prints of its section picture. The Photo Studio manager, Photographer's Mate 2c McGettrick, works his crew early and late to turn out this large volume of work.
Vending machines of cigarettes, "cokes" and candy, are primarily for the benefit of the civilian employees who cannot be served in the store.
With concern for the welfare of the "boots," the Captain late last summer, 1943, ordered the opening of the Building L annex to Ship's Service. Six days a week from 1900 to 2100 except Sunday several hundred recruits file through this self-service store which was started primarily so that re- cruits could purchase ice cream. Although candy, cigarettes, and emergency necessities have been added to Building L store, 10-cent "dixie cups" are sold at the rate of 1200 a night. The demand is still greater than the supply.
American Express Travelers' checks are sold to all station personnel. This counter is especially popular on the day a regiment of "boots" is paid its uniform gratuity, since Brigade officers stress the security of funds as a necessity. On one of these days, the total value of checks purchased runs as high as $40,000. The checks are also much used by officers and enlisted alike when going on leave or when taking a draft of recruits to their next station.
Although electric shoe shines are now free, they always have been a much patronized enterprise. Mr. Frank Taylor and his assistants are kept very busy when the weather is fair, before review and inspection, and before
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a regiment leaves. This corner is quite a social gathering place and its purpose in keeping with the solid Navy tradition of being at all times "shipshape and seamanlike."
From a total personnel of two officers and several Waves, Ship's Service has expanded to a point where although there are still only two officers, 78 enlisted men and women and 50 civilians are needed to carry on the operations. This does not include 27 Outgoing Unit assigned every two weeks. Of the enlisted personnel, only 13 are male, the others being Waves who are either rated or Seamen 1c. The majority of those rated are Storekeepers, but there are also a Boatswain's Mate 1c, Photographer's Mate 2c, Specialist (S) 2c, and several Yeomen. Two factors peculiar to Waves in Ship's Service Departments account for the small number of rated personnel. There are few authorized Ship's Service ratings for Waves and this department is one in which it is possible to employ civilians. A fortunate compensation is the regulation which permits the paying of bonuses to Navy personnel in Ship's Service Departments because of the responsibilities beyond their rates which they assume and longer hours they work. Bonuses may go as high as $75 monthly, but the overall department average may not be higher than $50. Here bonuses have been set up on a basis of the position held.
The department is proud of its personnel, familiarly known as "plank- owners." These are the "old timers" who have been in the department since its inception. They have done much to set traditions for hard work, pleasant service and accuracy of detail, all of which has resulted in a feeling of unity and esprit de corps. Two of the original members of the Bookkeeping staff have gone into officer training and one of them is at the present time a Ship's Service Officer on another station. These "plank-owners" now occupy positions of heavy responsibility in the Department, such as Accounting Office Manager, Buyer for the store, Store Sales Manager, Cashiers for the funds of the Department, Manager of the department Coffee Shops and Fountains, and main office Yeoman. In the fall of 1943, more enlisted per- sonnel were added who greatly eased the pressure of detail for the "plank- owners," and made for greater efficiency and better service.
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Beauty Shop.
Cosmetics, Fountain.
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Photographic Service.
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Magazine Section.
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Cobbler's Shop.
Shoe Shine.
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Pressing Service.
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TOOTH PONDER TOUTE PHRANGE
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Ship's Service Storeroom.
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OFFICER OF THE DAY
W ITHOUT question, one of the busiest offices at the "U.S.S. Hunter," is that of the Officer of the Day whose function is to insure the maintenance of station routine, security, and correct muster reports. Under these general duties come a multitude of complex details that keep the Officer of the Day, Lieutenant (jg) Mildred Fitzgerald, a staff of Yeomen, messengers and drivers, and officers, standing the night Officer of the Day duty, constantly at work.
When this station was first established, the security and routine were in different hands. Three male Duty Officers, Lieutenant Howard Vierow, USNR, Lieutenant Burton Taylor, USNR, and Lieutenant Charles Freese, USNR, rotating the duty, represented the Commanding Officer. They were responsible for the station security, the keeping of the Log, the keys to the station wagons, and until the advent of Marine Major William Walter Buchanan as the first Provost Marshal in March, 1943, the keeping of prisoners.
Lieutenant (jg) Mary Rex, who was a Regimental Commander waiting for her first Regiment to come aboard, was the first Officer of the Day. The duties of the office, at that time, were distributing schedules, answering inquiries about seamen, answering all the questions on the routine of the station and notifying the buildings about any break in the schedule.
When Lieutenant (jg) Rex returned to her Regiment, Lieutenant Marie McDonnell, assisted by Lieutenant (jg) Emily Walters, became Officer of the Day. Other senior Women Reserve officers rotated the night duty between them, working in shifts from 1730-2400 and from 2400-0800. A number adequate for one in each barracks stood the duty, the senior member of that group taking the Officer of the Day duty in what is now the Provost Marshal's office.
In June, 1943, a new routine was established whereby three senior officers and four junior officers rotated the Officer of the Day duty. The Senior Officers were Lieutenant Marie McDonnell, Lieutenant Dorothy McClusky and Lieutenant (jg) Mary Louise Larmore.
This organization continued until the training school routine began to function smoothly. During the summer of 1943, the Duty Office was abolished and a Duty Commander took over in case of emergencies. The Officer of the Day assumed the Duty Officer's duties in regard to security (except those of the Provost Marshal), the rough log and the station wagons. The Distribution Office was set up separately to distribute schedules and the Brigade Duty Office* was established to handle inquiries regarding seamen.
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At the end of September, 1943, Lieutenant McDonnell was assigned to the Executive Officer's Office and Lieutenant (jg) Larmore took the 0800-1730 duty as Officer of the Day. At the same time, the Women Reserve officers who were heads of departments and offices rotated the night Officer of the Day duty.
The responsibilities of the Officer of the Day in regard to station routine alone are too numerous to set down here in their entirety. Among the duties, however, are the instruction of the Color Guard, which changes every two weeks, six members of the senior Regiment being assigned to the duty, responsibility for ceremonies - making colors, retreat, seeing that flags are broken for Admirals and foreign dignitaries when they come aboard - instructing the seamen who make ship's bells, routing station wagons, checking on all personnel reporting on restriction, for duty, for transfer, discharge and detachment; security of found valuables over night, respon- sibility for confidential material kept in the safe, the keys of the station; personally interviewing all returned AOLs and AWOLs; making decisions on when to waive restrictions on recruits' guests. All these are regular day to day work for the Officer of the Day personnel.
The Officer of the Day must, in addition, eat in general mess and report on the quality and quantity of every meal. She logs out leaves, receives and records the reports of barracks security on the hour, checks on all personnel discharged from Sick Bay and the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, signs tem- porary orders on drafts and maintains a station wagon log. The night Officer of the Day makes a tour of duty after taps, testing the doors on all barracks.
The Officer of the Day's Office has an answer for every question. At an activity of this size, the questions are never ending.
* The Brigade Duty Office has been discontinued.
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Morning Colors.
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Officer of the Day's Office.
". .. It Is Approaching Eight Bells."
THE U.S.S. COM WASHINGTON LIGHT WE OF THE DISTRICT'S
NAVY
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Making Ship's Bell.
RED CROSS OFFICE
M ISS RUTH NEUMANN in her Red Cross uniform has been a very important cog in the machinery of the "U.S.S. Hunter" since it was commissioned 8 February 1943. She has been here to help service women just as she helped service men in Army camps for five years before she came aboard with the Navy.
Learning about the Navy, particularly the Women's Reserve, was an experience Miss Neumann will never forget. Women she has found to be more curious than men, never accepting a statement without wanting to know the reason. She has found, too, that women's varied emotional reac- tions make work with them more challenging.
Red Cross work in military service is actually liaison duty between the service man or woman and the local Red Cross unit doing home service work. It is through these units that Miss Neumann confirms illnesses and deaths in emergencies. When these and other emergencies are verified, funds, if needed, are advanced by the Red Cross.
Family problems adjusted at a distance are a major part of Miss Neumann's work: reassuring husbands and sweethearts who disapproved of their women entering the service; alleviating problems that arise after a woman has enlisted, such as illness in the family, lack of sufficient financial support. All these are confirmed and investigated by the Red Cross and proper procedures are then begun with Naval authorities to grant leave or discharge as the case may be.
In cases of under-age enlistments and medical discharges, Miss Neumann has special problems, the greatest of which is helping to adjust the young woman to her return to civilian life and perhaps locating her in a suitable job.
Since July, 1943, Miss Neumann has been assisted by Mrs. Pearl Rosenthal and Mrs. Jane Ives who handle discharge cases during the day. This service comes under the Mental Hygiene Unit established at that time.
In all her work, Miss Neumann cooperates closely with the Chaplain's Office.
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Red Cross and Chaplain Work Together.
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Problems at Home.
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WAR BOND AND INSURANCE OFFICE
LL purchases of War Bonds and Government Insurance, as well as allotments for them, are in charge of the War Bond and Insurance Officer, Ensign Lillian E. Cuff, who serves under the Supply Department. The office was formerly held by Lieutenant (jg) Lucretia Ulmer.
The War Bond and Insurance Officer gives an insurance lecture to all recruits going through the "U.S.S. Hunter," explaining in simplified terms what government insurance is and how an allotment may be made out. A similar lecture is given on War Bonds. Recruits may ask questions at the lectures and are given preliminary forms to fill out. The formal applications are typed up from these forms and are sent to the barracks for the recruits' signatures.
Approximately 83.4 per cent of the recruits take out insurance, averag- ing a $5,000 policy per person. Bond allotments are made by approximately 88.4 per cent of the "boots" mainly for a bond every three months.
War Bonds totalling $21,000 were bought by station personnel during the Pearl Harbor Day Bond Drive (7 December 1943) and $22,443.75 worth of bonds during the recent Independence Day Bond drive. Allotments for officers increased from 69 per cent during the Third War Loan drive to 89 per cent in the Fourth and Ship's Company increased from 53 to 63 per cent for the same period.
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The Commanding Officer Leads the Line for Bonds.
Filling Out Insurance Papers.
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Bond Show for Civilians.
A Yeoman and Musician Sing with the Band.
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