Newspaper Page Text
USO—
(Continued from page 1)
tion Desert Shield would
be stopping for overnight
rest at Fort Gillem.
A Coca-Cola machine
supplied cooling Cokes
right inside the door. Other
soft drinks cooled in ice-
filled vats. Hostesses at a
small table offered pizzas,
hoagies, croissant sand
wiches, donuts, cookies,
candies, fried chicken,
popcorn, oranges.
During the early evening
hours, soldiers straggled
into the small room where
the good stuff to eat was
available. Volunteers, from
the experience of the first
two nights, knew the lines
would lengthen as the
night wore on.
“Most of those who
come through are surprised
that all this food is free,”
Mrs. Austin said,
She is impressed with
the soldiers moving
through Fort Gillem on
their way to the dangers in
Saudi Arabia. Most are in
their early 20s, many of
them young fathers.
‘ ‘They are very commit
ted, very professional,”
Mrs. Austin said. “They
know this is what they
have trained for. Most
don’t want to go but real
ize they have to.”
All of them are quick to
express their gratitude for
the outpouring of support
encountered along the
convoy route. It is encour
aging to see so many
people cheering them
along the highway and at
the gate of Fort Gillem as
they enter, they said.
Some parents are among
the flag-waving supporters
waiting at the gate, Mrs.
Austin said. They came,
hopefully, to catch glimp
ses of their sons and
daughters. Many ask the
USO people to post letters
to them.
A chaplain with the
division came through on
Saturday night, Aug. 18, to
see the soldiers, and both
Catholic and Protestant
services were held at 6
a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 19.
Mrs. Austin’s husband,
Richard, a retired Army
colonel, came down to say
“hello” to her on Sunday
afternoon, she joked. Her
husband and son, Rick,
going into the second
grade at St. Jude’s School,
| hadn’t seen much of her
1 since the military began
| rolling in on Aug. 15.
* With her volunteers,
Mrs. Austin closed down
the unit at Fort Gillem on
Sunday night, Aug. 19,
after the last of the Fort
Campbell division came
through.
The USO, Mrs. Austin
said, is funded through the
COKE AND PIZZA - Thirsty soldier from the
101st Airborne Division gulps down a cold Coke,
in photo above. Below, USO volunteer Amy
Kuehnemund hands a slice of pizza to another
member of the unit.
PAGE 9 - The Georgia Bulletin, August 23,1990
HAVE SOME - A young soldier, center, offers pizza to the colonel as
Mary Lou Austin, USO director, looks on. The two were newly arrived at
Fort Gillem for an overnight rest stop.
United Way and through
contributions by individu
als, groups and corpora
tions. It depends mainly
upon volunteers. For this
reason, she is planning an
orientation and training
session for new volunteers
on Sept. 11. Anyone inter
ested in attending is asked
to call 761-8061.
In addition to the main
unit at Hartsfield, the USO
operates at the Military
Entering Processing Sta
tion in downtown Atlanta,
at Warner Robins, Savan
nah and will be reactivat
ing the unit at Kings Bay.
Units are always in need
of monetary contributions,
coffee and baked goods,
she said. Year-round and
especially during the holi
days, personnel from sev
eral military installations
pass through the busy
airport Many seek the
services of the USO.
Mrs. Austin, a member
of St. Jude the Apostle in
Sandy Springs, has been a
USO staff member for 20
years. She met her hus
band while serving in
Germany and the couple
came to Atlanta in 1977.
The USO has been
serving men and women in
uniform since 1941, pro
viding for their spiritual,
social and recreational
welfare around the world.
It was founded when Pres
ident Franklin Delano
Roosevelt called together
representatives of the three
major faiths and three
service agencies to form
the United Services Organ
ization. Under the auspices
of the National Catholic
Welfare Conference, the
National Catholic Commu
nity Service was formed to
represent the Catholic
faith. While now operating
independently of its found
ing organizations, those
agencies are still represent
ed on the governing board.
Monsignor R. Donald
Kieman, pastor of All
Saints in Dunwoody,
serves on the state board,
while Donald R. Keough,
chief executive officer of
Coca Cola, has served on
die international board.
CATCHING UP - Cokes, candy, cookies and
the daily paper are collected by two soldiers
stopping by the USO room at the Fort Gillem
recreation center.
Arab-Americans-
(Continued from page 1)
Sam Yono, head of the Chaldean Federation of Michi
gan, said the U.S. might have acted "too fast" to Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait.
Although there was a general feeling that Hussein
would make a try for his wealthy little neighbor on the
Persian Gulf, Yono said, it seemed unlikely that he would
try to invade Saudi Arabia.
The Chaldeans are Iraqi Christian, mostly Eastern-rite
Catholics. Detroit has one of the largest Chaldean-Ame-
rican communities in the United States.
Yono said that when he was still living in Iraq "there
always was a feeling that Kuwait was part of Iraq." That
it would be annexed was certain, he said, but the hope was
for a "peaceful takeover."
Yono said he hopes for a peaceful setdement between
his native land and his adopted country. He said he is
waiting to see some high-level negotiating toward that
end.
George Irani, an author and scholar of Middle East
issues, said that the standoff at the Saudi-Iraqi border
ripples throughout the culture, psychology and history of
the Arab world.
Irani, a Lebanese-American who teaches at Indiana’s
Franklin College, listed as of central importance these
factors:
- Efforts since the 1950s by Arabs to control their own
resources.
- A history of political and economic domination by
outside powers going back hundreds of years.
- A thus-far-frustrated dream of a unified Arab world.
- A region made up not of Western-style states, but of
a "conglomeration of tribes who have come to power
thanks mainly to their connections with former colonial
powers."
- A view of Israel as "an external body imposed upon
the Arabs" as a channel of continued control from the
West.
Palestinian-American Bashar Masri said he and many
others saw Iraq as "defending the Arab world against Iran
for the past eight years.”
Hussein is a power in the region and "we want a power
on our side," Masri, a Muslim married to a Catholic, said.
But Masri said thought it was "very bad of Saddam" to
annex Kuwait as he did.
On the other hand, he said, President Bush has "exag
gerated the situation tremendously."
"I’m definitely not in support of having troops there,"
Masri said.
But how could Bush have dealt better with events?
"That’s a hard question to answer," Masri said.