A Little USO In The Center Of The Big USA
USO Booklet Cover
Note: The Booklet is available for viewing at the Pratt County Historical Museum.
Transcriptions were made by Milt Martin July, 2007.
Foreward
The occasion for this booklet is the presentation, on Feb. 4th, 1946, of awards to Senior and Junior Hostesses of the USO at Pratt and to those organizations in the city and county which have aided so materially in helping the USO do its job.
The decision to issue this pamplet was not made in time for the USO office to check its hostess lists as carefully as it would like to have done. Because of the rush in arranging lists of those who helped there may be errors of omission. It is hoped these will be few.
The compiler of this data is indebted to the Pratt Daily Tribune for the use of its files and for other assistance graciously given.
Alar Mawdsley
Chairman USO Council
USO Inside Cover
Please select a chapter to read the entire item:
Frank Adams Director
Without a doubt Frank Adams, director of the USO the past two years, is the service man's man. Practically every GI with whom he has come in contact will support this statement. He likes them; they like him. When he first took over his job, and perhaps before, he was dubbed "Pop" and his name has stuck. Probably a lot of GIs wouldn't know who you were talking about if you mentioned "Frank" Adams. But not so "Pop".
To USO Volunteers
To USO Volunteers, 25 January 1946
As our sojourn among you draws to an end,and as you make plans for terminating your activities, we would like to express a small part of our appreciation of one of the most important community and military activities, the Pratt USO.
To You Who Did The Job
After three years we are about to dissolve one of the finest organizations that came out of the war period. The work you have done the past three years in the USO will go down in history as one of its brightest pages.
The Period Of Indecision
Early in 1942 it likely had not occurred to the citizens of Pratt that soon they would be giving up their spare bedrooms, making apartments in their basements or debating on whether to give up their jobs in town for probably better paying ones at the base.
PAAF Bomb Groups Attain Distinction
This scene at Pratt field shows one of mighty B-29s which played so great a part in humbling the Axis. Taken from inside tunnel of a second B-29.
War Dads Represent Masculine Element
Approximately 99.65 percent of volunteer assistants of the USO were feminine.
USO Gets 4-Star Rating
The USO presented this scene of activity night after night, month after month. The small archway to the rear of the singers is one of two entrances to the game room and director's office. To their right is the exceedingly popular snack bar.
We Think They're Swell Says Tailwind
This photo of a number of Senior Hostesses was taken in the USO rooms in the winter of 1945.
Standing (left to right): Mesdames George Barrett, Helen Garst, Roy J. Grover, Roy Skelton, Lydia Staehlin, Maude Doan, C.E. Troutman, L.B. Mathews, Robert Brockman, J.C. Eubank, Anna Slief, Emma Hiskett, Edwin Schaefer, (Miss) Edith Brandt, Ray Earlywine, Pearl Richardson and Leslie Hull. Seated (left to right): Mesdames Ben F. Henry, Frank Curtis, E.L. Hilliard, Sophia Shackelford, Gretchen Walcup, C.C. Scott, Earl Frost, Jack Goertz, Oscar Norby and Jerry Harrel.
Junior Hostesses Add Color And Life To USO
The local USO feels greatly indebted to nearby Preston, Kingman, St. John, Stafford and other towns, and to the parents of Pratt, for so generously contributing the flower of their young womanhood to the USO as Junior Hostesses. And sympathizes with the few remaining eligible swains of those towns who probably didn't approve of the girls spending so many evenings in Pratt.
Organizations Of County Contribute Generously
There likely is hardly an organization in the county which has not contributed in some manner to the USO. A Large number have contributed a great deal. They are the organizations listed below which are receiving certificates of merit from the National USO in recognition of their service.