Page 69 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

lived in was a former hospital during World War II. There was a theater in one section
of the building about 100 yards down the corridor from my quarters. Fortunately, it had
an organ where I could practice playing hymns. I discovered there was another section
of the building that had a chapel, but no services were being held. I decided to place a
notice on the bulletin board that I would conduct services on Sunday at 11 AM. I also
had the service announced on the radio. Around 25 airmen showed up. I started the
service playing a few hymns and leading singing. I then went up to the pulpit, read a
short passage of scripture, and gave a brief talk, hardly a sermon. After the service, one
of the men said that it was just like “being back home”, and that I must be Baptist or
Presbyterian.

A month later, I met Chaplain Vance N. Clark, who had come to conduct a service in
the chapel. Afterwards, he said that he would be gone the next Sunday and asked if I
would handle the service in his absence. The organist, Louis Willand, who came with
him stayed, and the next Sunday we played an organ and piano duet. Being self-taught,
I could mainly just pick out the melody. While I stayed at Shemya, there were many
Sundays when both the Chaplain and the organist were gone. On those days, I managed
to play the organ, direct the singing, and deliver a message after reading from the
scriptures.

I had now read my RSV Bible through Exodus Chapter 13. I thought it was a lot easier
to read than the King James version. We had just had a good meal for Christmas. We
had roast beef. The vegetables weren’t so good, but I liked the peas, the rye bread, and
ice cream. The next day, I received 16 letters and two packages. One package was
candy from a girl in Stillwater and the other was candy, cookies and a cake from home.
I took the cake to the weather station and all the guys were crazy about it. Some of the
men weren’t there for the cake, but when they came I gave them a box of chocolate
covered cherries that I had set outside to cool. They said they really tasted good.

I played bingo the next evening, and guess what I won? A box of chocolates!
Afterwards, I walked back to the barracks under a bright full moon. It was shining on a
fresh clean snow and on a few white clouds. The mountain peaks eight miles away
could easily be seen. That night the temperature dropped to 21 degrees, only 3 degrees
from the coldest Shemya ever had. The winds were light so it felt no colder than usual.
In the daytime, we could see the mountains of Attu, 40 miles away, as clear as Agattu’s
8 miles away.
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