RED CROSS MERCY MISSION USES DOG TEAMS
AND BUSH PILOT TO REACH NOORVIK FAMILY
A Red Cross mercy mission—
Alaska version — utilized dog
teams and bush pilots in a week
long attempt to reach the parents
of a critically injured soldier-son,
was reported by Virginia Wood,
administrative assistant to the
director of Red Cross in Alaska.
The mission was successful.
By then, however, good news
awaited Mr. and Mrs. Wilber Mil
ton. Their son, Private Mathew
Milton, in basic training at Fort
Ord., Calif., had passed the crit
ical stage and was convalescing
from injuries in an auto accident.
The Miltons live in the Eskimo
village of Noorvik, about 65 miles
northeast of Kotzebue. The vil
lage has no facilities for wire,
radio or telephone.
On Nov. 23, the Red Cross of
fice at Nome received word from
Fort Ord that Milton had sus
tained serious head injuries and
was not expected to live. Could
the family be picked up and
flown to California immediately?
The first problem was to get
the message to the Miltons. A
copy was given to a bush pilot
in Kotzebue who flew it to Noor
vik. Weather wouldn’t allow him
to land, so the message was drop
ped, playing on the possibility of
a villager picking it up and de
livering it.
Still no word came, and an ap
peal went out to the U.S. Army,
Alaska Red Cross office at Fort
Richardson for assistance.
Frank Littlebury, director of
the USARAL office suggested
that it be sent out on “mukluk
radio,” a special message-send
ing program on station KICY at
Nome.
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This too, brought no results.
The Nome Chapter, on Little
bury’s suggestion, hired a dog
team to deliver the message to
Noorvik, so that on the following
day when a bush pilot landed at
the village, the Miltons were
ready to leave.
The family was brought to Kot
zebue and was to be flown to
Fairbanks by Wien Airlines. From
there, Military A i r Transport
Service was to fly them to Mc
Chord Air Force Base, Wash., and
On to Travis Air Force Base,
Calif. The final 110 miles to Fort
Ord would be made by automo
bile. All arrangements were made
by Stan Morgan, Red Cross Home
Service Chairman at Nome.
The information that the fam
ily was located was being re
layed by Littlebury to Miss Lor
raine Johnson, hospital case
worker at Fort Ord when the
doctor came in and notified Miss
Johnson that the crisis was passed
and Milton would recover. It
was pointed out, however, that
he would be going through a per
iod of convalescing for the next
four to six months, and it would
be better if the family came at
a later date.
The information was relayed
to Nome, and in turn sent to Kot
zebue. Weather had held up the
flight to Fairbanks, so the family
was still in Kotzebue when they
received word that their son
would recover.
A bush pilot flew the Miltons
back to Noorvik, and arrange
ments will be made to pick them
up at a later date and send them
to Fort Ord for a visit.
It was a grand effort for all
concerned. Even though it had
been an extremely hard summer
for the villagers, a collection was
taken and $20 was contributed to
ward travel expenses.
As for the Red Cross?
“We hadn’t exhausted all re
sources,” stated Littlebury. “We
could have sent a messenger to
Noorvik on skis or snowshoes.”
The ordinary man doesn’t know
who invented the alarm clock,
and if he did know he wouldn’t
chip in a wooden nickle to raise
a monument to his memory.
Death Takes Wyoming
GOP Senator-Elect
! CODY, Wyo. (J1) — Republican
Keith Thomson died apparently
of a heart attack Friday, a month
and a day after he became the
first U. S. Representative from
Wyoming ever to be elected to
i the Senate.
The seizure at the home of a
i friend ended a meteoric career for
I the 41-year-old war hero, lawyer
and three-term congressman.
Former Gov. iMilward Simpson,
a fellow Republican and towns
man of Thomson, termed him
“Mr. Wyoming.”
In Cheyenne, Democratic Gov.
Joe Hickey sent a message of
sympathy to^ Thomson’s widow
and three sons.
Hickey refused to speculate on
a candidate to serve the first two
years of the six-year Senate term
to which Thomson was elected
Nov. 8. The successor will serve
until the next general election.
DOG BITES THE WRONG MAN
CHALINDREY, France tfi —
Carles Ruiz was strolling in the
street when a barking dog ran
after him and suddenly lunged
at his ankles. There was a terrify
ing howl . . from the dog.
Ruiz, who lost his leg, wears
one of aluminum.
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1961 Poster Child for March of Dimes
Is Victim of Two Grave Birth Defects
This likeness of Linda Breese appears on millions of posters and coin collectors
Linda Gail Breese, a pic
torial and high-spirited
young lady of four, who
lives in Columbus, Ohio,
was named this week as the
1961 New March of Dimes
National Poster Child.
Selection of the vivacious
child, a victim of the grave
birth defects of an open spine
and excess fluid on the brain,
was announced by Basil O’Con
nor, president of The National
Foundation, parent body of the
New March of Dimes. Study
and patient aid in birth de
fects and arthritis, together
with continued work in polio,
embody the expanded program
of the health organization.
In January, during which
the New March of Dimes will
oe held throughout the nation,
Linda will probably feel she is
facing mirrors everywhere she
travels. That’s because millions
of posters will bear her like
ness which, in drawings and
photographs, will also be pub
lished in thousands of news
papers and magazines. The
blonde and blue-eyed child will
aim appear on network tcle
virlc;,.
Lin-'a's p~ rents are Mr. and
Mrs. Dean II. Li e-so. ller fa,her
is an industrial engineer. Her
mother. Dorothy Lohr Breese,
m addition to Linda has an
other daughter, Susan, 14, and
two sons, Konnie, 12, and Terry,
six. Tragically, since there is
handicapped Linda among the
Breese children, Ronnie is a
victim of cerebral palsy but his
general physical condition is
described as good.
Mrs. Breese has been a Moth
ers’ Marcher for the annual
March of Dimes.
“My husband and I are deep
ly grateful that at last some
thing constructive is being
done about birth defects,” she
says. “We pray that The
National Foundation which,
through public contributions to
the March of Dimes, financed
the development of the Salk
polio vaccine, will in time also
solve the puzzle of birth de
fects, which are the largest
unmet childhood medical prob
lem in our country today.”
Emphasizing the enormity of
the problem, Mrs. Breese cit
ed statistics showing that 250,
000 infants in the United
States are born annually with
significant birth defects. Also,
! because of these congenital
malformations, 34,000 babies a
j year in the nation are stillborn
or die in the first four weeks
I of life.
| Linda underwent surgery to
1 close her spine when she was
i less than a day old. The opera
tion was performed at Chil
dren's Hospital, Columbus,
where The National Foundation
with March of Dimes funds
1 established the nation’s first
Birth Dcsfccts SUvlv Center a
j few months ago. Nine months
Linda Breese
later, she again had surgery
for excess fluid on the brain,
and the little girl today wears
a “shunt” tube to drain off
this liquid. Linda also uses
crutches but has been able to
discard her leg braces. >
Recently, while lie’; ng her
mother wash dishes, she took
three steps without her crutch
es—a memorable and hopeful
event.