In outsize fatigue caps with an occasional canteen hanging about a tiny waist, the youngsters of typhoon ravaged Guam have added a new variation on a theme which goes: "From the halls of Montezuma... as the caissons go rolling along".
BLUE PLATE SPECIAL is served to one of the youngsters of Sinajana from the field
kitchen set up in the school. Working the line are (L - R) SP-4 Edward Black, SP-5 Charles Williams and
their mess cook number one.(ComNavMar Photo)
SATISFIED CUSTOMER is this Sinajana girl receiving dinner for her family from the
field kitchen there. The Army cooks are (L - R) Cpl Antonio Garrido and SP-4 Edward Black, SP-5 Charles
Williams, all of Headquarters 21st Artillery, USA.(ComNavMar Photo)
Strutting proudly in the steps of their village heroes, Guamanian kids throughout the island are emulating the soldier and Marine cooks who have recently become the center of attraction as all hands rediscovered, after the storm, that traveling on one's stomach is hardly restricted to the military.
Field kitchens for the feeding of local citizens have been established in all major population centers by the Marines to be manned by Army cooks with foodstuff and supplies financed by the American Red Cross. This highly successful team comes under the command of what the Corps refers to as U.S. Army Food Services, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines.
As integral a part of the lives of the villagers as the commissioner and parish priest, the commissarymen are filling some 500 to 1,000 plates, pots and cans twice and some times three times daily.
FILL'ER UP, PLEASE... Village youngsters of Sinajana line up for dinner at the
Army-Marine field kitchen, set up to feed the needy after Typhoon Karen demolished their homes and
stores.(ComNavMar Photo)
SP-5 Roy Snyder, USA, in charge at Yona--estimates that upward to 2,000 persons per meal will be served starting in a day or two when home inventories dwindle.
From Chalan Pago comes a report by Juan Serbia, SP-5 USA, that their evening meal is the favorite, drawing better than 750 regular patrons. In the same village, PFC Larry Mason tells of one satisfied lady "customer" who said that from Sunday, the night of the storm, until the cooks came Friday, she had been subsisting on nothing more than soda pop.
One of the most thriving and certainly high-spirited eateries these days is operated by SP-5 Charles Williams and his co-workers, SP-4 Edward Black and Cpl Antonio Garrido, all Headquarters, 21st Artillery, USA. The reason is their kitchen happens to be set up in the Sinajana Elementary School and the majority of their patrons are children, many of whom tote whole pots of "today's special" back to their homes for families to enjoy in the comfort of what remains of their own confines.
The kids love it, not only for the novelty and excitement but perhaps a bit more because the school is being used presently for other than what it was intended. Hooky, for a few days anyway, is legal so they're playing it with a passion, joyously swapping the three R's for KP.
Williams delights in the story of one of his five regular young mess cooks who, including his jury-rigged paper hat, fails to stand above three feet. The troops, it seems, considered the lad a mite small. But to give him a chance yet discourage him for fear he'd be more a nuisance than help, they fitted his hands to the duty swab which out-reached him by a good two feet. His mission: to mop the kitchen floor clean, fore and aft.
With confident smiles on their faces the cooks retired to relax over a cup of coffee. Time passed. Still the slosh and slap of water could be heard. More time passed until, finally, Williams' curiosity got the best of him. He edged his way 'round the partly open door and there, performing the Herculean task of wringing out the last drop of water from the floor into the bucket was the mighty mite. Needless to to say, he is now Mess Cook Number One in the regular serving line and may be found perched high atop his packing case platform, doling out fresh fruit to his young constituents at every meal.
Yes, the cooks have landed and have the situation well in hand; especially the one their newfound Guamanians are almost literally eating out of... as those caissons and "operation satiation" go rolling along.
