RADM Ellis Makes Radio Speech Marking Fire Prevention Week This is Fire Prevention Week. Appropriately, it falls on the anniver- sary of the great Chicago Fire of 1871. This is' the time for all of us to stop and think of the manifold destruction that has been wrought by one of mankind's best friends and also one of its worst enemies. At Guantanamo Bay, we could easily be lulled into a false sense of COVERS GTMO LIKE THE SUNSHINE security ,sensing the fact that we have a very active and efficient Fire fighting force, but fire prevention is an "all hands" job. It is a 6th U. S. Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba sense that we must keep activated during all of our waking and sleeping hours. Saturday. 12 October 1957 Volume VIII, No. 41 We all know this to be true, but our approach to this ever present menace must be active. We must be prepared to remedy any and all fire hazards by taking such action as may be necessary without any delay. CAPT Herman L. Ray Reports As Fire Prevention Week puts a special emphasis on the necessity property. Keep your homes and for all us to take a physical in- shops clean and free from trash. Watch for and Naval Air Station's New C. 0. ventory of our homes and our shops report any faulty wiring. Familiarize yourselves with to search for and destroy the po- the fundamentals of fire tential time bomb that may be and fire- lurking almost anywhere to de- fighting. Support your Fire De- stroy our homes, our families, our partment's aims and poliices to make you and your personal property, or government loved ones safe property that we paid for. by effective fire prevention activ- Lest these be hollow words to iites. any of you, let me strike close I shall now knock on wood as to home. Most of us have children I tell you that we have just passed and other loved ones. Suppose your the first quarter of fiscal 1958 child were permanently disfigured, with no damage reported by fire attributable to negligence of no throughout the Base. With your one but you. Suppose your wife concientious assistance it is just or husband, or your shipmates in possible that we can go for an the barracks were to be gruesomely entire year with a completely un- engulfed in flames simply because blemished record. you had been careless with a ciga- rette, or because you had failed to pick up some fire hazardous SecDef Orders New trash. How then would you feel? Tragedies such as this are not Armed Forces Cut simply a remote possibility. The Secretary of Defense has In the United States, more than ordered the Armed Forces to cut 100,000 people have lost their lives an additional 100,000 men to bring in uncontrolled fires in the last force levels down to 2.6 million ten years. Every year, the stat- shortly after July 1, 1958. isticians tells us, approximately The new military personnel cut- 11,500 people will die by fire and back, approved by President Eisen- twice as many more will be severely hower, follows by only two months burned or disfigured for life. Re- the July 16 edict to trim a similar grettably, the majority of the vic- number from the rolls by Dec. 31. tims are older people and young Added reductions ordered in the children. They could be ours. new September 19 directive are: Fifty-one years ago at least 500 Army 50,000; Navy 15,000; Ma- people in San Francisco were claim- rine Corps 10,000; and Air Force ed by fire. The Coconut Grove Night 25,000. Club disaster that occurred in It is important that Boston in 1942 snuffed out these re- Captain Herman L. Ray, USN Commanding Officer, U. S. Naval Air another 500 lives within the ductions be made "as promptly as Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reported aboard on 29 September 1957 small confines of that building. A high percent- possible," the Secretary said in a and assumed command from acting Commanding Officer, Commander R. L. memorandum to the service sec- Abbott, on 2 October 1957. age were serviceman. Fourteen years retaries. Before coming to NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Captain Ray was in ago there were Strength ceilings fixed for next the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations where he served as Director 55,000 souls lost to fire in Hamburg, June 30, and end of fiscal year of Aviation Training Division at Germany. These are the spectac- ular fires. 1958, are: Army 900,000: Washington, D. C. His duties there sacola Fla., where he received his They are not the fires Navy that 645,000; Marine Corps 188,000, were to advise, supervise and co- wings as a Naval Aviator in 1931. occur every day, unnecessarily and collecting Air Force 875,000 for a total of ordinate all matters pertaining to Captain Ray has had the normal human life one by one. 2 million, 608 thousand. Although flight and ground training Fire Chief Pinckard and his as- of avia- variety of assignments in both sur- the Marine Corps will be tion personnel. face ships and aviation squadrons. sociates, Messrs Rose, Bill, Clark required and Richards, and Inspectors Lopez to drop 10,000 more men to a level At the outbreak Captain Ray was born in Pon- of World War and Sutton have earned a WELL of 180,000 as least, 8,000 of the II he was Executive Officer totoc, Mississippi on 12 December of DONE for their energetic pursuits latest reduction in force will be Patrol Squadron 43, operating 1907 and attended public schools off to make the Guantanamo Bay Fire delayed until early Fiscal Year the West Coast and, there in preparation for his ap- after the Department superior to that of 1959. Dutch Harbor attack, in the Aleu- pointment to the U. S. Naval Acad- any other government installation. According to August 31 reports, tian Islands. Subsequently, he was emy. He was graduated from the Their achievements are reflected estimated strength by service was: transferred to command the USS Naval Academy in 1929 and com- by a fire loss of only $325.00 for Army 990,000; Navy 678,000; Air GILLIS (AVD-11), a seaplane missioned an Ensign, subsequently the past two years. A remarkably Force 922,200, and Marine Corps tender, operating in the Aleutians. being advanced in rank to that of low figure for a Base of this size, 199,500. In June 1943, he was ordered Captain on 30 March 1945. but still a high figure if had been This means that between to the Aviation Plans Division of now your personal property. and June 30, His first duty was aboard the the Deputy Chief of Naval Oper- 1958, the Army will I enjoin each and every one of lose 90,000 men, old battleship USS WYOMING, ations for Air, and served there the Navy 33,000, you listening tonight to take in- the Air Force 47,200, and Marine after which he was ordered to Pen- (Continued on Page Five) ventory of yourselves and your Corps 2,000. 9 9 Page Two THE INDIAN Saturday, 12 October 1957 Page Two THE INDIAN Saturday, 12 October 1957 #g7a'dianL. The INDIAN's mission to inform and The Chaplain's Corner WELL DONE; Scout entertain all hands; to serve as a positive factor in promoting the efficiency, welfare Circus Chairman and contentment of personnel. HAPPINESS The INDIAN is published weekly at the I wish to express my sincere It is the peculiar genius of our race to be able to make mistakes. Naval Base in accordance with NavExos thanks to all Girl, Boy, Explorer, P35, Revised Nov. 1945, and financed with And that genius has been exhausted in the attempt to determine the Cub and Brownie Scouts; leaders; non-appropriated funds. object the possession of which will mean happiness for us. THE COMMAND Circus Committee Members; par- RADM Robert B. Ellis, USN Men have placed their chips on every number that the universe offers COMNAVBASE, GTMO BAY, CUBA in the gamble for happiness, and they have always been wrong. ents residents of Guantnamo Bay; CAPT J. B. Williams As a matter of fact only two classes of mistakes were possible: placing and Cuban Scouts and their leaders Chief of Staff CAPT B. P. Field ,Jr. all chance for happiness in some external, particular good, or on some for the outstanding cooperation in Commanding Officer good within the nature of man himself, whether of body or of soul. making the 1957 Guantanamo Bay U. S. Naval Station Of the external seducers, riches have played a leading GTMO BAY, CUBA role, but their Scout Circus the greatest success EDITORIAL STAFF beauty has been an illusion produced by make-up and a spotlight. ever in both quality and quantity. LCDR Kenneth S. Dick For the ultimate goal of man cannot exist for anything else; because Special thanks extended to Com- Officer-Adviser it is ultimate it is desired for itself. It is NavBase and distinguished guests Lawrence S. Craft, JOC never a step but always that Editorial Adviser in attendance; the Naval Base Band EDITOR for their part in the march and Tom Price, JO3 in getting the circus off to a lively Feature Editor start; Special Services, NavSta for Dick Graddick, JO1 Armed Forces Press Service (AFPS) may their excellent cooperation in sup- not be reprinted without the written per- plying horses, constructing horse mission of Armed Forces Press Service.