Clipper, Vol. 3, No. 24, October 1, 1945

              10th YEAR PACIFIC-ALASKA DIVISION
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PACIFIC-ALASKA DIVISION
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17th Year Pan American World Airways
VOL. 3, No. 24
PUBLISHED BY THE EMPLOYES OF PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS
OCTOBER 1, 1945
WAKE-GUAM INTERNEES HOME AT LAST
Pan American Orders Constellation Fleet
Announcement was recently made by PAA of a $17,000,00 order which has been placed with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation for a fleet of 23 Constellations.
This cut-away of the Constellation shows the aircraft set up for accomodations for 48 pasengers. A different seating version provides accommodations for 64 passengers.
21 of these planes are earmarked for PAA’s Pacific, Alaska and Atlantic services and for the trunk air routes across the Carribbean and down the East Coast of South America. The other two planes will go to Panagra for operations between Balboa in the Canal Zone and Buenos Aires.
Of great interest to the employees of the Company is the fact that these planes will all be delivered to the Company during November and December.
Although Constellations are now the largest and fastest landplane transports now available, they are regarded by Com-(Continued on Page Eight)
WAR CHEST DRIVE OPENS
The San Mateo County Community and War Chest will receive contributions at 1211 Burlingame Ave. during the drive which begins October 1 and lasts through October 15. Pan American personnel may leave their donations at the Administration Building lobby desk or in the Cashier’s Office in the Shop Building.
Remember:
60 per cent of the fund goes to the home front; 30 per cent of the fund goes to the military front; 10 per cent of the fund goes to the needy and suffering peoples of the Allied Nations.
PAN AMERICAN'S PRISONERS OF WAR ARRIVE AT S. F. AIRPORT
SEPTEMBER 25
Tuesday, Septebmer 25, 1945 is a day that will go down in immortality in the lives on an even dozen Pan American employees—and their families. At exactly ten o’clock on the morning of that day the Honolulu Clipper, carrying twelve Panam exinternees, arrived at dock number two at Pan American’s San Francisco Airport. The men, captured at Wake and Guam in December of 1941, were home at last—after nearly four years’ internment in Shanghai and Japan.
---------------------------------♦ First off the plane was J. O. Thomas
of Malad City Idaho, closely followed by Max Brodofsky of San Francisco. Gathered at the end of the dock above the seaplane docking float were about thirty relatives and friends, straining for the first glimpses of loved ones. Jim Thomas neared the end of the gangplank, looked up, smiled broadly—then started for the top of the dock. Max Brodofsky spotted his wife, Ethel, in the crowd and waved, but just then a news photographer stopped both Thomas and Brodofsky. “Hold it, I want a group picture.’’
For what must have seemed like hours to the men (actually about 30 seconds) they posed for the newsmen, then the men were off and into the waiting arms of wives, sweethearts and parents. The meeting was surprisingly quiet. There were tears of joy in the eyes of nearly everyone on the dock as long-separated families tried in the space of a few minutes to wipe out the vacuum of the past (Continued on Page Three)
This is the man who stayed on Wake Island after the Jap attack in 1941 in order to drive wounded Chamorro boys to the hospital—Waldo Raugust, shown here (left) talking over his long imprisonment with Airways Superintendent Frank McKenzie. Mr. Raugust’s sacrifice is one of the great stories of heroism to come out of World War II. His decision to stay to help his wounded fellow-workers caused him to miss the departing Clipper by 10 minutes—the 10 minutes that sentenced Mr. Raugust to nearly four years’ imprisonment in China and Japan.
CLIPPER SYSTEM ROUTE MILEAGE-103,425 MILES
A recent summary of PAA System routes flown discloses that Company routes operated and suspended total 103,-425 miles, 28,652 miles of which are temporarily suspended. Current mileages for all PAA Divisions and affiliates total 74,-773 miles.
FIRST VACATION AIR TOUR STARTED
The first postwar conducted vacation air tour of Central America left New Orleans September 7 by Pan American Clipper for a four-week journey through Mexico and Guatemala.
First off the Honolulu Clipper after his long internment in Japan is Jim Thomas of Operations. He is closely followed by Max Brodofsky of Maintenance. Herb Montoya, Chief of Beaching, is at the gangplank.