Kearns Dust Problem is Settled

Dust will no longer be a discomforting problem at Kearns! It is settled for all time. The announcement came last week from Col. Converse R. Lewis, post commander. After consulting Capt. John T. Cassady, assistant post police officer.

Pioneers at this post need little urging to tell of the dust storms last summer. How they spoiled their meals and interrupted their sleep. The source of the trouble was a 100-acre tract adjoining the post to the south. It was plowed three times last season for weed control and serious wind erosion resulted.

A board of officers was appointed by Colonel Lewis to solve the problem and arrangements were made to lease the tract this year. This spring, under Capt. Cassady’s direction it was planted in cereal barley. The barley grew but dry weather threatened to kill it off. Then last week the rains came. Now there is a “bumper crop” of barley assured and the grain will hold the topsoil in place.

Little did they know that the sand would still blow, and sick rooms apart from the hospital went up through out the base. When the weather changed all the beds at the hospital were full with ill men with lung and eye problems. Trees were then planted and the dirt road were watered down every hour to thirty minutes trying to keep the dirt from blowing about.

There were some men that decided to take advantage of this great reward of the wind blown dust. When the hospital became overwhelmed and full of sick men, sick bay was then opened. Thus it created another major problem; men sick enough to be in the hospital were not allowed to be for the mere fact of no beds. Three more overflow areas were then opened, housing those too sick for duty.

In the first week of June a memorandum went out to the entire base warning of the consequences that would arise to anyone caught faking sick. It again was posted in the weekly newspaper - The Kearns Post Review on page 12.

Men who would feign physical sickness to gain a discharge or to “goldbrick” probably are guilty of malingering and as such are subject to a trail by courts martial under the 96^th Article of War, a recent post memorandum warned. All officers and non-commissioned officers were asked to watch for such men, and medical officers were asked to take special cognizance of suspected men, reporting them to post headquarters for initiation of investigations.

Some men “are not physically or mentally fit to serve their country as a soldier,” the memorandum stated, “and are to be pitied by capable soldiers. Those not to be pitied are the “goldbricks,” the intentional ‘sick book riders,’ and those men with no pride who exaggerate or feign physical or mental conditions in a completely selfish effort to disqualify themselves in the service of their country and in the eyes of decent fellow men.”Life in those days were not fun and games, the men were taught to kill or be killed themselves. With the added stress that Kearns was now an oversea’s replacement center added to the daily worries of the young men. It was no longer a matter of if they would go to war but when. Now it was time to mark the first anniversary.

Headlines from the Kearns Post Review a weekly newspaper for the soldiers was- Post Celebrates First Anniversary. First WAC arrives; Others due. 39 New Nurses Report for Hospital Duty. New Home Being Constructed for Post Bank. Post largest Cafeteria opens to all.

Kearns Post Review

Vol.1 No.32 BTC (No.5) AAFTC, Kearns Utah July21, 1943 Free to servicemen

*VFW Present Banner at Ceremonies

With hundreds of Utah Citizens present to witness the colorful martial ceremonies, the Army Air Forces basic training enter Saturday celebrated its first anniversary, marking a year of progress in the preparation of soldiers for combat on the world battlefronts.

Several thousand troops were massed on the parade grounds as a large banner in Air Force blue and gold was presented to the post by Sugarhouse Post 3586, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

C. Ed. Lewis made the presentation, department commander of the organization and the post commander Col. Commander Col. Converse R. Lewis accepted the new post color.

Col. Lewis noted a parallel between the Kearns anniversary and the July 24 observance of the opening of the Salt Lake Valley by the pioneers.

“Our hardships at this post are of comparatively short duration” he said, “while theirs covered many years of privation, toll and thrift.

In our case one necessary condition imposed upon us was speed of accomplishment, which I feel we have fulfilled. However, in both cases it had taken the combined efforts and sacrifices of those people to whom the task has been delegated and

the results are most gratifying.

He also gratefully acknowledged the presentation of a combination phonograph and radio by the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce, for use in the station hospital.

The Colonel expressed “a feeling of great thankfulness for all that has been done, and a great determination that during our second year we shall exceed the accomplishments of the first.”

In presenting the banner, Mr. Lewis spoke of Kearns as “a monument of accomplishment to Colonel Lewis and his untiring labors,” and referring to Kearnsmen declared, “ we are behind them 100 per cent.”

Present at the parade ground ceremonies was Pat Pixton, Queen of Pioneer Days, Princess Marilyn Cullimore, Marva Collett and Cleone Pixton, attendants.

The queen presented the honor singing guidon to the 506^th Training Gp., Which had won singing, honors for the second straight week. She and her attendants then inspected the troops from a jeep.

The mew post color received a blessing from the post chaplain, 1^st. Lt. Hugh W. Glenn and Mrs. Edith Glenn of Salt Lake City, an employee of the post motor pool, sang the “Star Spangled Banner.” The troops then passed in review before Colonel Lewis and his staff. At noon a luncheon and entertainment were provided in the Officers Club for 75-honored guest of Colonel Lewis. Singing by Mrs. Glenn and a show by the entertainers of the Special Services department were included

Among the guest were Mr. Lewis and his wife; Bishop Marvin O. Ashton of the L.D.S. Church; Ab Jenkins mayor of Salt Lake City; George Albert Smith, member of the L.D.S. Church Council of the twelve; Ralph E. Bristol of the War Production Board, and

Mrs. Bristol; Julian Clawson, Salt Lake City realtor. And Mrs. Clawson; Col. E.B. Blanchard, commanding officer of the Deseret Chemical Warfare Depot; Capt. William J. Fitzpatrick, Special Services officer at the Depot, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick.

Guests of the post made visits during the afternoon to the various facilities and training areas, where the trainees resumed the “Soldier Business” of their drill periods.

“Honored guest, citizens of Utah, officers, men and civilian employees of Kearns. This has been designated the first official birthday of Kearns, so it is all the more filling that on this day the Veterans of Foreign War organization through the department commander, C. Ed Lewis have come to Kearns to present to us this magnificent symbol of their esteem. It is also a symbol of their devotion to the mighty republic of which we are all a part.

At this particular time the minds of you citizens of Utah revert to those early pioneers, who, braving the rigors of the trip across the plains, rivers and mountains, filed into this valley to establish this wonderful commonwealth which we now know and admire. You are celebrating that birth sate on July 24; we are celebrating the first birthday of our coming to Kearns, just one week earlier. I feel that these two anniversaries are somewhat parallel.

Our hardships at this post are of comparatively short duration, while theirs covered many years of privation toll and thrift. In our case one necessary condition imposed upon us was speed of accomplishment, which I feel we have fulfilled. However in both of these cases it has taken the combined efforts and sacrifices of those people to whom the task has been delegated and the results are most gratifying.

You Veterans of Foreign Wars, who have continued your loyalty and acts of patriotism in civilian life, just as you performed them while in the services of your country in years past, have handed on to us your torches to carry and your jobs to perform. We accept the obligation and spurred on by the inspiration of your

accomplishment, we shall exert every effort to bring about that full accomplishment of peace for which we all hope.

It would have been impossible for us to have accomplished the completion of this camp and its successful operation, which we now know, had it not been for your sons and daughters of those early pioneers who accomplishment you celebrate. You have done much for us; much more, in fact than could possibility be expected and each thing you have done has come to us as a most willing and gracious sacrifice on your part.

I was surprised most happily Thursday morning when Mr. Backman of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce called me desiring to know what you people of Salt Lake could give to us as a birthday gift. I told him that we were always short of a combination radio and victrola so you have given us one for use in our hospital and I can tell you that appreciation is nowhere greater than in the particular service to which this radio will be dedicated.

So on this anniversary of the beginning of this great institution, I the commanding officer, have a feeling of great thankfulness for all that has been done and a great determination that during our second year, we shall exceed the accomplishments of our first.

With this post color, the symbol of our organization, the cooperation of the men and women who have helped us so much in the past and the service of these loyal soldiers in and out of uniform, who are serving at Kearns we shall contribute our part in as great a way as we are permitted towards that cause for which we fight.”

In that same week there were three other events that took place showing the growth and the fast pace that things were developing during that time. Thirty- nine new nurses reported for duty at the station hospital the list was released and all thirty-nine of them were second lieutenants. Only blocks away the Post’s largest cafeteria opened. The headline and story read;