CATSKILL MOUNTAIN NEWS B e r i n g the OomimiidtleB of ADabeo* Andes, Arena, Aiftidne^ Beneajrre, Big Indian, Denevr, Dry Brook, Dnnraven, FIdsGhmanns, Grand Gorg^ OOoott Center, B^doottville, Hlglmioant, Kelly Comers, Blaurgaretville, N e w Kingston, Ollverea, Phoenicia, Pine Hill, Boxbory, Shandafren, Shavertown, Union Grove and Vega

VoL 82. No. 45. Established in 186S. MABGABETVnXE, N E W YORK, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1945 Per Tear

lieuL Kapitko Makes Record Repairing Tanks

His Outfit Helped Patton in Drive Across France.

Landed in August

Worked Under Fire Cares for Vehicles Called Unfit, Heljsed Concentrate

Firepower A recent Army bulletin contains

the following of the combat record of a Margaretville lieutenant.

First Lt. Stephen Kapitko of Margaretville is a member of an ordnance heavy maintenance com-pany which achieved an excellent combat record in France, Luxem-bourg and Belgium in support of the 7th Armored Division.

The company "is one of the units formed in West Virginia through affiliation with the National Auto-mobile Dealers' association.

Col. F. J. Atwood, chief of the Rodiester Ordnance district, said he had received word from Col. C. Wingate Reed, the ordnance department's director of personnel, which revealed that Lt. JCapitko's company had been highly com-mended for its work in repairing and retrieving tanks and other types of automotive equipment during Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's historic drive across France.

Lt. Kapitko's unit landed in France in August, 1944, and was assigned to the maintenance' of the automotive equipment of the 7th Armored Division and accom-panied the division in its success-ful offensive. It subsequently carried on operations in the Ver-dun, Luxembourg and Metz areas.

Worked'Under Fire Lt. Kapitko's company recov-

ered tanks which had been dam-aged by enemy action and evacuated tanks to the rear that could not be repaired on the spot. These duties were many times per-fonned in the front lines and'at times when tanks, and vehicles were under direct fire of the enemy. In addition to these duties, the ordnancemen removed and replaced tank engines, loaded and unloaded vital ordnance sup-plies, and transported ammunition to the battlefront.

Personnel of Lt. Kapitko's com-pany are on duty at all hours of the day and night, and the normal working day was 16 to 20 hours for periods of two weeks at a time.

Lt. Kapitko's unit is quite proud of the fact that it made repairs on many vehicles that were previous-ly classified as unfit for service. The fact that these vehicles were reclaimed and put back into com-bat use was a valuable mainte-nance adiievement.

In addition to automotive main-tenance, Lt. Kapitko's outfit also repaired artillery pieces, small arms and fire control instruments. This work was frequently done on the firing line, thus making it pos-sible for American troops to con-centrate the maximum firepower <m the enemy at all times.

Went Overseas in '44 Men from the automotive in-

dustxy, taken into army ordnance under the affiliated unit program, can now be found in every theatre

(OoQtinued an page 4)

Lt. Neff Cited When He Hits Island First

Lt. Donald F. Neff has won honors in the Pacific. He was the first man to set foot on the island of Tinian in the Pacific when it was captured by American forces some time ago. He is the first American to have been on the island in 30 years. Leaping from an assault craft he won a swim-ming race with his comrades in arms to be the first ashore on the island. Lt. Neff was physical in-structor at the Margaretville central school when he enlisted.

For this act he was one of seven Marine officers to be cited and awarded the Silver Star medal. The citation reads "for performing particularly perilous and hazard-ous missions ahead of the front lines which contributed to the success of the Marianas cam-paign."

Boy Shoves Little Girl In Front of Truck

Irene Decker, small daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Decker, had an exciting experience last Friday whije on her way from school. Walking with other children one of the boys pushed her out in the road in front of a trudc. The driver saw he could not avoid hitting her. He stopped as soon he he could and took her to her home. She was taken to Margaretville hos-pital for first aid and x-ray. Her leg was badly bruised but no bones were broken. A few hours later she was brought home and is rest-ing as comfortably as can be ex-pected. The driver was not held. —^Arkville Cor.

Work Most All Night To Dig Out Snowplow

Loren H. Hubbell, who is em-ployed on the town of Middletown snowplow, is busy. Last Wednes-day night he was unable to get home, arriving about 11 Thursday morning. He was marooned on the snowplow which was stuck in a snowbank in the a remote sec-tion of the town. The men worked nearly all night to dig out the plow. This has been a winter of hard work for the snowplows and crews. They deserve a word of commendation for the heroic ef-forts they have put forth to make the roads passable in this severe winter.—^Halcottville Cor.

Andes Children Flirt With Passing Autos

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Children have amused them-selves by skating on the highway in the village and, to add to the thrill, catching on passing cars, l i i is is a practice that shoidd be discontinued. Letting go of'a car it would be possible to get on front of cars coming in the opposite jli-rection. We like to see the chil-dren have fun but hate to see any injured.—Andes Cor.

No Fnel, No Services There was no church service at

the Halcott church Sunday nor will there be this week due to the lack of proper fuel and diffi-cult traveling. We hope that these difficulties will be over come another week or so. — Halcott Center Cor.

Ice Causes Damage Ice and snow x>n roofs have

caused some damage about the. village. Thisjis a general com-plaint in many places.—Andes Cor.

Passed Junct ion Examlnatifms Arnold and Louis Banker went

to S a ^ e r t i e s last week for pre-induction examinations. Both boys passed.->-I>ry Brorfc Cor.

Corbett Soldier Awarded DSC For Routing 23 Enemy PFC William Francisco Has

Posthumous Honor for Bravery in Action

Remained at Post Aggressiveness and Courage

Reflect Traditions of Armed Forces

PFC William D. Francisco of Corbett recently was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross post-himiously for extraordinary hero-ism in action on the Fifth Army front in Italy, His mother, Mrs. Sarah Francisco, lives in Corbett.

Francisco, a machinegunner in the 37th Infantry Regiment, 85th "Custer" DiviiSon, accounted for 23 Germans and two enemy ma-chine guns during an attack.

When the leading platoon of his outfit, Co. L, was held up by in-tense German* machine gun and mortar fire, Francisco moved his gun to a dominating position and neutralized a German machine gun position manned by three enemy soldiers. He then moved his gun 100 yards through the intense enemy fire to another position and, from there, knocked out a second machine gun nest and forced 20 Germans to flee in disorder.

He was mortally wotmded but refused to leave his post until as-sured he had enabled his outfit to resume its advance and take the objective.

"His aggressiveness and courage under fire," the citation stated, "reflect the highest traditions of the armed forces."

Margaretville Soldier Takes Bride in England

Miss Dorothy Warner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Warner of Petersborough, England, and PFC Robert C. Terry, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ira E. Terry of 1022 Park avenue, Utica, formerly of Mar-garetville, were married in the Baptist church of Petersborough on Saturday, Jan. 13. After a church wedding a reception was held at the bride's home. PFC Terry has been overseas for more than a year.

Harvest Ice From Pond Covered With Deep Snow

The ice harvest for the Sheffield Farms company creamery started last Thursday with a force of men removing the snow. This is a tre-mendous job as the snow is deep. This week will find the harvest in full swing. Andrew Dibble of Bloomville is the contractor.— Halcottville Cor.

~ Appointed to New Board Mrs. Helen S. Faulkner has been

appointed one of the nine members of liie newly-established. Vocation-al, Educational and Extension board of Delaware county, which was recently created by the Dela-ware county board of supervisot«. —^New Kingston Cor.

Several Plead Guilty At Delhi Monday

Thirteen cases were presented to the gran4 jury at Delhi last week by Acting District Attorney Layman Snyder. Four of these indicte^d pleaded guilty on Monday of this week and at least one of them wiir be tried the Feb. 27 ter mof court' at Delhi.

George Barley of Fleischmanns, indicted for grand larceny in thf alleged theft of an automobile, pleaded innocent.

Gerald Marshall, Margaretville, was sentenced to Elmira reforma-tory when he pleaded guilty to forgery, second degree, in connec-tion with the passing of several small checks in this village re-cently.

John Gorsch, also of this village, pleaded guilty to petit larceny for the theft of $83 from the Harris department store Jan. 15. The case was adjourned until Monday when sentence will be pronounced. Gorsch also is charged with a vio-lation of probation.

Wilber Pogue, Stamford, plead-ed guilty to carnal abuse of a child and sentencing was deferred pending a report on an examina-tion of the defendant'ik mental condition.

Demmon "Petey" VerNooy Jr., Downsville, pleaded guilty to pos-session of a dangerous weapon and imposition oi sentence was deferred imtil March 19. It is expected that by then he may be iji the armed forces.

Chester R. Lee, Binghamton, was indicted for grand larceny, second, degree. He is alleged to have passed a worthless check for 5200 at the First NatiMial bank at Grand Gorge and another for $226 on Elton LaRue, Roxbury.

Miss Lockwood Dies, Spent Entire Life Here

Miss Mary Augusta Lockwood died at her home in this village on Saturday, Feb. 10, after a short illness.

Miss Lockwood was the daugh-ter of Izelton Lockwood and wife, Isabelle C. Sanford. She was bom in Margaretville and spent her entire lif6 here. For a number of years, with her parents, she helped conduct a grocery and ice cream store on the site of the present Kelly hotel. The local telephone exchange was originated there. For 29 years she h ^ made her home with hef niece, Mrs. Herman Haddow.

Miss LockwOod was a member of the local Red Cross, Daughters of Union Veterans, WSCS of the Methodist church, and a devout member of the M. E. church in this village.

She is survived by her niece, Mrs. Haddow, of Margaretville, and an aunt, Mrs. AurriUa Hicks, of Washingtcm, D. C., also several cousins.

The funeral was held Tuesday at 2 p. m. in vthe M. E. church, Rev. Alfred Coons officiating. The body was placed in the vault in the Margaretville cemetery.

Snow Feet D e ^ Otis Whitney and a party of

men spent Sunday at his camp. After snow^oeing into the moun-tains, they reported 5% feet oi snow.—Dry BKX)k Cor.

Will So ld Caucus On Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.'m., a

Republican caucus will be held in the village hall for the piirpose of placing in nomination candi-dates for village election March 20. At the caucus a mayor for two years in place of Charles Griffin and trustee for two years in place of Conrad" Smith, ^ whose terms of office then expire, will be voted for.—Piire Hill Cor.

Gordon Ckndter IHes Gordon Coulter, 53, died at his

home in Delhi Monday. H e was b o m in B o v i n a C ^ t e r in 1891. He had lived in Delhi for 32 years.

Red Cross Seeks $28,300 To Ease

Burden Of War Fifteen Branches in Delhi ^

Chapter Expect Again to ^ Exceed Quotas g

Mach Home Service Hundreds More Delaware

County Boys in Service Over Last Year

Plans are nearing completion for raising $28,300 as Delhi chap-, ter's share in the annual American Red Cross drive. The quota is $200 smaller than 1944's which marked an all-time' high in the history of the chapter.

Clarke A. Sanford, Margaret-ville, chapter chairman for the drive, is confident that "we will go over the top again this yeaac as we always have in the past." Mr. Sanlord has headed the annual campaigns for the past few years during which the chapter has filled constantly increasing quotas.

Each year sees hundreds more Delaware county boys go into the armed forces. This means our personed stake in the Red Cross constantly grows. The demands for aid made of branch, chapter ^ d natioi^al organizations in-crease accordingly.

Attention is called to the record of accomplishments of Delhi chap-ter since Pearl Harbor. The list is imposing. Knitted articles sent to the Army and Navy total 2,433; garments for refugees, 4,686; knit-ted articles for refugees, 895; hos-pital garments for convalescent servicemen, 838; surgical dress-ings, about 2,000,000; kit bags filled for men embarking for for-eign duty, 3,496; draftee kits, 722. The Junior Red Cross members have made 1,045 articles for men in the service and 495 persons have donated blood.

An increasingly important de-partment in the chapter is home service. In 1944 €done the depart-ment helped 1,111 northern Dela-ware comty servicemen and their families with al Itypes of problems brought on or heightened by the war. Need for 252 emergency furloughs or extensions of fur-loughs due to emergency situations was verified and in almost every case the furlough or extension was granted by the military.

The department has made 131 investigations in order to send re-ports requested by Red Cross field directors concerning the health and welfare of parents, wives and children of servicemen. Eighty-One families have been aided with problems connected with obtaining family allowances, emergency ma-ternal and infant care, and other government benefits.

Discharged servicemen or de-pendents of deceased servicemen have been assisted in filing claims for disability pensions, hospitaliza-tion, death i)ensions, government insurance, etc- Thirty-seven servicemen and dependents and dependents of deceased servicemen havf been given finandal- aid. Loans and outright grants total $1,280.65 and the Red Cross is no Shylock in collecting loans. The loans were made to assist families of servicemen in basic mainte-nance while they awaited payment from thie government of family al-lowances or death pensions, to

(Cootinaed on pa^e $)