The Daily Bulletin

44 SOLDIERS IN SANITARY PLATOON GET BRONZE STARS

GUAM, Aug. 26 (ANP) -Forty-four seasoned soldiers with overseas records that date from the winter of 1943, members of a medical sanitary platoon somewhere on Guam, have been awarded the bronze service star for participation in the Western Pacific campaign. This honor bestows another laurel on an organization that has left behind it a brilliant trail of military achievement in both the central Pacific and the American theatre of war.

The men of this group come from New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and a dozen other states, but compositely, they represent a cross-section of the colored troops in the U. S. Army Medical corps. In carrying out their mission and their duties, they have shown themselves an integral part of the vital war program.

General orders were issued from the Island Command.on July 15 by Brig. Gen. O'Neill authorizing the award. To date this unit has no casualties. but because they are engaged in sanitation and disease-prevention work through the control of insects, they are contributing heavily, plus improving health conditions for the fighting men.

The menace of malaria, bubonic plague, and various tropical diseases has caused the demand for sanitariams to soar in the past two years.

With the award of this coveted bronze service star. 1st Lt. Lee Hill becomes one of the first Negroes in the newly established Western Pacific Base command to be so decorated.

The following officers and sergeants have been awarded the decoration which will be worn on their Asiatic-Pacific Campaign ribbon:

1st Lt. Leo Hill, MAC, commanding officer, Knoxville, Tenn.; S/Sgt. Marvin E. Pegg, acting 1st Sgt., New York; Sgt. Eugene Hudson, section sergeant, Hartford, Conn., and Sgt. William S. Nichols, in charge of rodent control program, Mascot, Tenn.