In Response to August & October articles

Dear Ms.Fast, Janet, if I may:

     I would like to comment on the issue of Chesapeake Style and its articles.

     In the Aug. 2001 issue, page 4, by Ms Brooks—I seem to remember a different time other than what she does. I remember when wages were 10 cents per hour up until I went to work in 1939 on the Baltimore Merchants & Miners Steamship Co. for $15 per month. Then in early 1942 worked in Baltimore, Crown Cork & Seal Co. for 40 cents per hour. Then I went to the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard for 70 1/2 cents per hour in April 1942. I worked my way up to $ 1.28 per hour. 

     I went in the Army and for $50 per month. I worked up to $158 per month with overseas & other credits. I came back from Okinawa & to Walter Reed Hospital to work at 55 cents per hour. In1955 I went to Potomac Supply for 75 cents per hour. 

     So, Janet, you can see I never got up to (the average wage of $1 as stated) until possibly in the mid 60s These figures can be verified. Also wheels on vehicles are normally (chocked, rather than choke them). The article was very good.

     In your article in the Oct. 2001 issue you say your Father said his job was to praise the Lord and pass the ammunition on Okinawa. That is why we have to thank your father & others for that. For without them we would have had no ammo to forward to the ruin of that part of the Rising Sun. I too paid a visit to Guam, Iwo Jima & Okinawa. I, too, will agree with your Father—at Pearl Harbor we knew who to finger & where they were. With this disgrace we only think we know who is responsible and what part of the world he has been in.

     But Only God Knows The Outcome of this Horror. Also in this Oct. 2001 issue of the Style, Mr. Beauchamp mentions the Kamikaze pilot—yes, he could be referred to as this type of pilot—with one big difference—he possibly did not have the ceremonial wine to drink before takeoff. The WW II pilot did not have the unwilling audience inside the plane that this pilot at the Pentagon had.

     In closing may I say keep up the good work Janet & crew. 

John, 
Northern Neck
 

Janet,

     The ad is beautiful...The October issue was wonderfully uplifting. Thank you for doing it as a tribute to America.

Jean Keating
Astra Publishers, Williamsburg
 

Dear Ms. Jan,

     Thank you very much for the invitation to share some thoughts about the September tragedy (October Chesapeake Style). As I spent 38 years of my life in downtown New York on lower Broadway, working in the World Trade Center for 10 years, starting in 1973, the news came home to me just as if it happened right here in Mathews.

     As a writer and storyteller I wondered what I might do to help those who suffered the major loss of loved ones, and I thought especially about the children and young adults. It seemed they might somehow receive some encouragement from a vision of what I thought I could see as the first tower crumbled to the ground. 

     Whether you publish it or not I do hope that you will enjoy my little story, as it appeared in our church bulletin. (see God Bless America)

Sincerely,
Geoff Rogers, 
Susan, Va.