WAR BONDS

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Peterson, marine machinist leadman and machinist helper in the tool room, have made a notable war bond record among . Kaiser employees, having invested $500 a month between them in war bonds for the past twelve month period.

The Petersons' bond campaign began 12 months ago when their two sons entered the service. Incidentally, these two boys, Ben R. Peterson, now hospitalized in a. U. S. Army hospital overseas, and Seaman Earl A. Peterson, stationed in the South Pacific, maintain the family tradition by each purchasing a $100 bond a month through the service payroll savings plan.

Oregon Ship, employees are now buying bonds on the payroll savings plan to the extent of $235,000 a week, and workers recently received a congratulatory telegram from Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury. These purchases now amount to 11.99 per cent of the payroll.

SMALLEST CHECK

Charley Yee Kay, Chinese painter on the swing shift, at Oregon Ship, is shown proudly displaying a recent pay check of his - a total of 4c for a full week's work! The explanation is that Charley put almost every cent of that week's salary into war bonds, in a recent war bond contest conducted by the employees of the paint department. According to the pay master office, this is one of the lowest pay checks ever issued to cover a full week's salary.

PIPE SHOP RANGERS

If you hear the familiar strains of "The Arkansas Traveler" or "Turkey in the Straw" down near craneway 7 some day around noon, you'll probably run into a crowd of lunchers listening to the Pipe Department Rangers cutting a rug with a good old-fashioned "hoe-down." This string ensemble is made up of three pipefitters who harmonize on good old American hillbilly tunes, and all three are oldtimers in the field. Marc Tennant, guitar and violin, has played with the Arizona Wranglers and , other hillbilly bands. Arthur LaPeer, who also plays the fiddle and guitar, did his early practicing on the cattle ranges of Montana. Charles McCarthey has followed rodeos all over the west as a wandering cowboy minstrel.

FIVE STAR MOTHER

Leona Kuhl, shipwright helper on the Outfitting dock at Oregon Ship, is backing up her five fighting sons in the armed forces, by helping to build ships.

Her oldest son, Clarence, 32, is with the tank destroyer division somewhere overseas. Everett, 28, is a PFC in the coast artillery, while Ervin, 25, and Arnold, 22, are in the infantry. Mrs. Kuhl came to Oregon Ship in February, 1943. She says she likes her job, but after the war will go back to the farm near Newberg which she and her husband own.

LOFT LADY

Honor of being the first full-fledged loftsman in any Kaiser shipyard goes to Ruth Freidel, who received her promotion on December 3, according to A. C. Barnett, superintendent of the mold loft.

A housewife for many years, Mrs. Freidel went to a shipfitting school and did so well in the course that she was urged to try a course in loft training. After one day's work in the mold loft, she decided she needed more training, and went back to Vancouver High School for another defense course. With 200 hours of training behind her, she again began work in the mold loft. Barnett assigned her to the office for some time, checking hull detail prints with structural changes. Once back in the mold loft, she showed such exceptional ability that her promotion followed.

Officials say that it is almost unheard of for a woman to become a loftsman?and that by actual count, not one woman in a thousand has become interested enough in mechanical craftsmanship to equal Mrs. Freidel in ability.

CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS

Who says there's a shortage of Christmas tree ornaments this year? When girls in the Vancouver Bond department started trimming their office tree, and had some difficulty in finding the usual ornaments, they hit upon the bright idea of using war bonds. And, they point out, these bond ornaments will not only be good for the next ten years, but have a "cash-in" value - which is more than can be said of the glittery tinsel variety! Seated (left to right) Myrtle Neusus, Betty Manary, Nancy Morris. Standing (left to right) Jo Jensen, Bobbie Parks, Virginia Fair, Sybil Howe and Margaret Cloater.

LINGUIST

Murray Rose of the invoice audit department at Swan Island is not only an accomplished linguist who speaks Turkish, Russian, Greek, French, German and Italian with equal fluency, but he is also an authority on international trade. Rose left Russia; his birthplace, at the age of 3, and though he has been a world traveler, he claims America for his home.

Basing hits belief an a considerable knowledge of foreign conditions, he expects Germany to crack this summer and is a strong advocate of unlimited trade between America and the near East.