‘A Guy Named Gribble’ (Editor’s note: The follow ing article entitled “A Guy Named Gribble” appeared in a recent issue of The Nebraska Farmer magazine. It was writ ten by Carroll W. (Cal) Stew art, editor of The Frontier. It is reproduced here because Mr. Gribble is a former Holt coun tyan.) Harry LeRoy Gribble “of Ne braska," with his five feet 11 inches, 180 pounds, and twink ling blue-green eyes, is'back again after four years abroad. When asked by his friends where he has been, he shrugs his shoulders and accounts for his absence simply enough: “War work.” Civilian Gribble, who had gone to Britain in early 1942 as a representative of an Amer ican aircraft manufacturer, was making his initial visit to Lon don in May, 1943.' The city was grim with its “blitz” dam age, its blackout, and its fog. Furthermore, the war seemed perfectly capable of going on forever. In his hand were the neces sary papers for a passport back to the United States, but in his mind grew an idea that per haps, as a veteran of World War I, he might be of some use around the old town, and it was plain to see that London would become increasingly im portant to the Americans in a fight against the Axis that had barely begun. Harry Gribble, a man who had been born in Dakota coun ty, reared in Holt county, and in the prewar days peddled hundreds of automobiles from Omaha and Lincoln to Timbuc too, walked into the American Red Cross headquarters in Grosvenor Square and edged up to a desk where a disting uished-looking gentleman was buried in paper work. The man raised his grey-tufted eye brows, gave the intruder a quick once-over, and asked hopefully, “Are you an Ameri can?” “What do you think?” replied Gribble. “You’re hired!” snapped the voice. Thus, Harry Gribble was ap pointed to the ARC’s welfare The Columbia, formerly the swank Connaught club for bus , incssmcn, staged dances regu larly. The American soldiers p British girls there in super vised recreation. Occasionally a GI would marry the girl. Mr. Gribble managed the American Red Cross Columbia club in London where several thousand GI guests were enter tained daily. Costume balls (such as the one pictured above) helped relieve the grimness of war. staff and he was "commission ed” to help make “a home away from home” for the thousands of American troops that were massing for the big push. The step ultimately led to the di rectorship of the largest troop hostel in the world—the ARC’S Columbia Club near the Marble Arch in London. The Columbia had been the Connaught Club, a smart men’s retreat in the Mayfair district. It was the second of its kind to be taken over by the American Red Cross and transformed in to a giant dormitory to house and feed American troops on pass or furlough in London. During its peak period, be fore D-Day in 1944, the Colum bia’s 2,635 bunks and beds (with fresh linen, a treat in it self) were filled nightly. Be sides the main building, the sol dier-guests overflowed into 34 neighboring buildings in the Marble Arch vicinty. Gribble supervised 780 British civilian employees of which 30 percent were unpaid volunteer work ers, and some of whom were titled women representing fash ionable London society. Fifteen thousand snacks and meals were served daily in the large dining room where se date business and professional men wined and dined not many months before. Procurement of food was a big and thorny problem, because the ARC had : to comply with the strict Brit ish rationing system. Jam and peanut butter, for example, were purchased by the ton (when stocks were available) and stored in the larder. The diet was long on vegetables and short on meat and dairy products. The Army insisted that the ARC charge the GIs for both food and lodging, but Harry L. Gnbble (above) . . . reared in Holt county . . . turned in a unique war job. the fee was nominal. You could live “first-class” with the ARC for the equivalent of $1.50 per day, but to have patronized the London hotels (a feat which bordered on the impossible) would cost at least $10 per day. Harry’s responsibilities var ied. One morning he helped with the reception of the King and Queen, who had dropped in for a chat with the Yanks. Before day’s end he had per sonally engaged two chimney sweeps, with their traditional stove-pipe hats and formal coats. Both items were special on that day’s agenda. English girls, 350 of them, were designated as hostesses for dances that were conduct ed four nights per week in the ballroom. These were compa rable with the USO-sponsored dances in the United States. Two tours of London originat ed daily at the Columbia’s front door. One of the best guides was Grant Forbes, the circula tion manager of The Daily Tel egraph, who volunteered his services. Forbes was also one of Harry’s closest friends. Af ter each tour Forbes would write a personal letter to the parents of the GIs whom he had escorted from Buckingham Palace to the Tower of Lon don. So ambitious was the Colum bia’s entertainment depart ment, headed by a specially tained staff of American young women, that a sign-painting staff did nothing but prepare attractive displays. The Air Force used the Col umbia club for receiving air men who were being returned to duty after having been forced down over Europe and successful in reaching England via the underground system. A captain at headquarters, issu ing such terse statements as, “We have 17 coming in today,” ! or “There’ll be 32 arriving to | morrow.” “Never did meet that captain personally,” Gribble recounts, “though the Lord only knows how. many returnees ha sent us to take care of.” When Harry Gribble helped | onen the Columbia, he was the first to sign in the State Book, in which GIs scrawled their names, home addresses, and the dates on which they had visited the club. This information was recorded according to states. By consulting the book, a sol dier could quickly discover if any friends from the home town had been around, and, if so, when. The Nebraska sec tion of the Columbia’s book col lected upwards of 500 names, and many of these visitors con tacted Gribble because he was “of Nebraska.” Comparing rotes with him the Nebraska GIs invariably discovered that there were persons, at least places, in the state that they knew in common. With several thousand sol dier-guests in the club daily, situations frequently arose when soldiers needed financial help badly, and extenuating circumstances sometimes made it impossible for the GIs to ob tain cash through normal ARC facilities. “Uncle Harry” often loaned money from his own pocket, though this practice was expressly forbidden by ARC. “Never lost a sixpence,” he says, “in helping the kids out. They were fine bunch.” The Columbia went into a slump during V-bomb season, but when the launching sites on the opposite side of the' English Channel were finally “neutral ized,” as Harry terms it, bor rowing from the British mili tary vernacular, the club filled right up again. Nine of the Columbia’s 35 buildings were damaged by V bombs. Harry’s closest call came one night while he was in his private room in the club. A V-2 rocket screamed down and exploded 200 yards away, scoring a direct hit on a pub (public house, or tavern) ad joining the big Selfridge de partment store. Hails of shrap nel and debris filled the air, and chunks of window glass plunked into Harry’s lap, but he was uninjured In the eyes of the military, Gribble held the “assimilated” rank of an Army officer, but with the GIs it was simply “Harry” or “Uncle Harry” and seldom “Mr. Gribble,” which the protocol called for. This Nebraskan’s experiences j with the American Red Cross I reveal artially the magnitude of a single phase of the ARC’S wartime operations in only one of many foreign countries. Cit izen Gribble could talk volubly of„his unique experiences as a key man in the recreational program for GIs in Euorpe. But Gribble is now confronted with "reconversion” problems of his own, having recently entered the trailer-manufacturing busi ness at Fremont. During the recent American Red Cross drive, Gribble was induced to appear on a radio program and be interviewed by Omaha’s ' Mayor Charles Leehman. Said Gribble, in one of his rare cat egorical statements: “Without the American Red Cross, the plight of the American soldier on pass or furlough in the Eu ropean theater would, have been deplorable. I believe that most GIs will agree.” Proceedings of the Holt County Supervisors — (Continued from an earlier issue.) j A. B. Hubbard 150.00 j A. B. Hubbard .. _ 9.77 Dorothy Kratochvil 133.33 Ira H. Moss _ 183.41 Nora A. Mullen _ 133.33 Elja McCullough 8.20 i Elja McCullough 40.00 | Louis W. Reimer 5.30 Luella D. Rohe 38.13 ! Leonard A. Thomazin _ 23.20 Mary Wettlaufef 116.66 12:00 Noon. On motion the Board adjourned until 1:00 P.M. O’Neill, Neb., November 26, 1946. Holt County Board of Super visors met as per adjournment. All members present. Meeting called to order by the Chairman. Fritz Rokahr, Chairman, and Peter Thomassen, Co-ordinator, j of the North Central Nebraska Rural Power Association appear ed before the Board asking that Holt County establish the corn ers of the different sections, in the parts of the County where they are going to put in a Rural Power Line, at County expense. 2:00 P.M. This being the time set for the Hearing on the Road Petition of Ralph Ernst and oth ers. the Board discussed this pe tition. As no one appeared in re gard to it, and there being no protests or remonstrances against the petition, it was moved bv ; Clark, seconded by Stein that I this road be designated a Coun ty Road. Carried. Motion by Wulf, seconded bv Hubbard that the following Claims be allowred and warrents ordered drawn on the Bridge Fund in payment of same: Armeo Drainage & Metal Products $109.89 Island Supply Company 266.65 Oscar Keithlev 60.60 Jerry O’Connell 53.40 Standard Oil Co. 63.72 C. Thornton 10.00 Wheeler Lumber Bridge & Supply Co._ 498.18 Jos. Schollmever .__ 5.00 Harold Blain _ 4.50 Alfred Kazda ... 123.20 Ed J. Matousek _ 10.00 Thos. Slattery _ 10.73 J. C. Stein _25.00 Roy Thurlow _’_■ 74.40 W. E. Wulf 15.00 Motion by Collins, seconded by Wulf that the following Claims be allowed and warrants ordered drawn on the Road Fund in pay ment of same: Ed Alder _$ 17.00 Elmer Allyn_12.00 Archer Petroleum Co. _ 38.85 Ralph Bauman _156.00 Leon Beckwith _ 25.00 E. W. Brady . 5.25 LaVern Gadwallader_7.50 Arlin Caster 12.00 Central Supply Co. _ 53.06 Cal Allyn _ 12.00 James Allyn 12.00 George Barta _ 6.00 James Beck .. . 9.30 Boise Service Station _ 33.65 Lloyd Burgess .... _ 27.00 Emil Carlson . 24.70 Maurice Cavanaugh _ 183.00 Andy Clark _ 20.00 L. R. Cobb 16.00 Continental Oil Co. 144.00 Continental Oil Co. . 13.09 D. A. Lubricant Co. _ 37.62 Henry Dicrks _ 30.90 Ed Eneler ___ 12.00 F. H. Fundus _ „ 8.00 Wm. H. Fundus_ 28.00 B. G. Hanna _ 28.60 H. W. Hubbard_129.59 Inland Construction Co. 41.65 Island Supply Co. _ 78.08 Island Supply Co. _ 35.38 Interstate Oil Co. _ 67.20 Jarvis Oil Co. . 9.83 Leon L. Kaiser _ 49.89 Keating Imlement Co. _ 29.10 C. W. Kirkland 12.00 Bill Krysl _ 39.00 Lamason’s Garage _ 9.50 Marcellus Implement Co. _. 71.90 Wm. Meusch 86.00 A. L. Mitchell .. 38.00 H. A. Mitchell _ 18.00 Robert Mlinar _ 11.70 Moore-Noble Lbr. & Coal Co. . 4.30 Lyle McKim 156.00 Wm. Krotter Co. _ 50.79 Frank Noffke, Jr. _ 9.50 Orville Orr _ 51.00 R. M. Pease__ 83.75 George Post _ 32.75 Walter Puckett _ 135.00 Andrew Ramold _ 11.00 Shellhamer Service_32.50 John G. Slaymaker _ 8.45 Fred Stracke _ 31.00 Thos. Thompson _ 62.50 A. W. Tibbetts_23.85 Clede Trobough _ 38.35 C. E. Wintermote _______ 46.95 W. E. Wulf . 35.00 Continental Oil Co._34.65 Moore-Noble Lbr. & Coal Co. _ 9 46 O’Neill Auto Supply _ 5.75 J. C. Stein_25.00 Elmer Krueger _ 10.00 Missouri Valley Miach. Co.-21.07 Guy Cole _ 7.00 Continental Oil Co. -_ 74.59 D. E. Crandall _ 104.65 D. A. Lubricant Co._17.25 John C. Emerson __23.00 Fred Fundus _ 17.75 John Fundus _ 30.00 Harvey’s Body Shop_6.00 Highway Eqpt. & Supply Co.-2.04 Edw. Humpal _172.50 Island Supply Co. 11.38 Island Supply Co. 131.00 Interstate Oil Co. _ 9.25 Jarvis Oil Co._20.70 K. H. Jeffers 52.00 Keating Implement Co. 2.05 C. W. Kirkland _ 94.25 James Kirkland _ 70.85 Donald Krysl _ _ 17.50 | V. J. Krysl _39.00 Francis Luben _ 3.00 Ed J. Matousek 35.00 | W. J. Meusch _ 60.10 Berlin Mitchell _ 3.30 Joe Mlinar, Jr. _ 35.43 Moore-Noble Lbr. & Coal Co. _ 11.00 Chet McClenahan_97.50 George McNair _ _ 35.77 Claud Neal _ 90.00 Dan O’Connell_39.00 Page Oil Co. _ 52.00 1 Walter Pease_39.00 Dale Potts _ 149.50 ! Lewis Radcliff _ 11.06 Fred Richardson _ 6.00 j Thos. Slattery _ 4J4 Standard Oil Co..46.03 Bill Tenborg _ 64.00' Lloyd Thurlow _ 5.501 Leo S. Tom jack _ 138.05 Frank Walters _ 12.50 I. O. Wood _ 3.30 Geo. E. Collins 9K I Island Supply Co._124.80 Moore-Noble Lbr. & Coal Co. _ 7.72 Jos. Schollmeyer _ 30.00 United Wholesalers _ 102.00 Joe Schollmeyer, Jr. _ 75.00 Harvey Wahl _120.25 Motion made by Wulf, second ed by Collins that the following Claim be allowed and a warrant ordered drawn on the Road Bridge Fund in payment of same: Keating Implement Co. $ 24.75 Motion by Clarke seconded by Stein that following Claims be allowed and warrants ordered drawn on the Drag Fund in pay ment of same: Wm. A. Anderson _$ 16.80 Art Doolittle _ 14.00 Clarence N. Schrad 32.00 I R. D. Stevens_128.40 Wm. A. Anderson _ 43.40 Wm. Schmohr 92.20 Bert Shoemaker 39.00 John Warner 11.00 Mrs. Boucher and Mr. Bartle son appeared before the Board claiming that damage had been done to their property because of the construction of the new road in Dustin Precinct and by a dam made by the Big Sandy when the road was constructed. The Chairman of the Board re quested the Road and Bridge Committees to investigate this road, Wednesday, November 27, 1946. I 5:00 P.M. On motion the Board adjourned until November 29, , 1946, at 10:00 A. M. ED J. MATOUSEK, Chairman, t RUTH HOFFMAN, County Clerk. Silver Star 4-H Club in Christmas Parly — CHAMBERS — The Silver Star I 4-H club enjoyed a Christmas party at the home of one of the ! members, Marilyn Walter, on Saturday afternoon. Games were played and gifts were exchanged. The leader, Mrs. Lloyd Gleed, presented the smaller girls with bracelets and the older ones with pencils. Refreshments of hot rolls, chocolate, jello in the shape of Christmas trees, and walnut cake were served. Have you read THE FRON TIER classified ads? tf - - --—— a ' We sold YES! when everybody else said NOI During the depression end drouth, everybody else told farmers and ranchers “No, we aren’t making loans.” But the Land Bank Cooperative Credit System said "YES I WE ARE READY TO SERVE YOU IN BAD TIMES AS WELL AS IN GOOD TIMES." When vou need a farm or ranch oan. get it from the organization that has PROVED its ability to “stand by” you ALL THE TIME. Get your LAND BANK LOAN from your ELKHORN VALLEY National Farm Loan Assoiation LYLE P. DIERK8 Secretary-Treasurer O’Neill W0HEERSA30 TEARS AND STILL LEADING THE WAY ( WITH AMERICA S BEST FARM AND RANCH LOAN I 225 Head of High-Grade Hereford Breeding Cows SELL AT AUCTION Atkinson, Nebr. Tuesday, January 7th ALL NATIVE SANDHILLS COWS OF EXCELLENT QUALITY. A COMPLETE DISPERSAL, ALL ONE BRAND. AGES GOOD. EVERY COW HAD A CALF LAST YEAR AND ALL ARE BRED TO REGISTERED BULLS. WILL ALSO SELL 1000 HEAD OF OTHER CATTTE AT THIS SALE. IF YOU ARE WANTING BREEDING COWS. YOU WILL LIKE THESE. ATKINSON LIVESTOCK MARKET ERNIE WELLER, Manager Phone 89, Atkinson. Outlaw Stores ASIMUS BROS. O’NEILL Money-Raising Sale! BARGAINS OF ALL KINDS ! • We are invoicing and find that we are long on goods and short on money (as usual). So we are selling a lot of goods way below cost! Come and get your share of bargains. Canned Goods B-A-R-GA-I-N-S PINEAPPLE 1 QQ SWEET, Gal. Cans _ 1*07 Red CHERRIES 1 CQ APRICOTS 7Qr Gal. Cans __ f 7l* 2 Vi SIZE — PEACHES 9Qr Qt. Cans ... fc7s* MUSTARD — SARDINES 1Qr Large Oral Cans . I 71* ORANGE & GRAPEFRUIT- - JUICE 9Qr Vi - Gal. Cans_ fc7C MACKEREL 1Qr Large. Tall Cans 1__ I7v LARGE FANCY — DRY PRUNES QCr 2 Lbs. for __ Ovv FANCY — COFFEES 1-Lb. Cans_07C — Maxwell House — Atwood — Del Monte — Milady — Nash SWEET — APRICOTS 9nr 2Vi Size, Qt. Cans _ »7t PORK & BEANS 2 No. 2 Cans .. GOOD — ORANGES 0C Dozen .. * ** FANCY — DILL PICKLES OQr Qt. Glass Jars _ 2.000 POUNDS OF — FANCY CANDIES AND FANCY COOKIES * Chocolates * * Caramels * Creams * Etc. PER LB. Up from. CAMPBELL'S — Tomato SOUP 1(L Large Cans .. lift* CHINESE FOODS of All Kinds ! * Chop Suey * Bean Sprouts * Chow Mein * Noodles Make your own Chink dish es of food. FROZEN — Sweetened FRUIT — OF ALL KINDS I I -—————— —♦I Dry Goods Specials Men's and Boy's Good — Work & Leather Coats — At Less Than Cost ! Men's Fancy — MACKINAWS 7 7c Each .... ._ I i/v Boys' Sheeplined Leather — JACKETS Each_ Heavy Turkish — TOWELS 7Qr Large Size _ f Nice Huck — TOWELS OF Each _ Z3C Mens' Fancy Leather — COATS 19.50 Each _ IL Mens' Heavy Work _ JACKETS O nr All-Wool, Each . ¥