1 defeat the Nazis—
Wetheir own boys home.

the

oe never belonged to

lela!
evel before he joined up,
jug mee never had a steady

Smyf™S©28, he read a lot of
ny M7Spapers supplied~free
agae>, and a lot of tripe

Is fide unions in the ubi-.

the Readers Digest. Now
“is home he intends to

ak wise he’ll join a trade

Sug br his own advance-

mn ‘d protection, and to
# ships, guns, munitions
@ pment rolling across
§ SBic—to his 30,000 com-

a fo are going to sink
la Px sun and knock the
ca iis for a loop. Joe was
~~ the army—and he’ll

re -1 0n at home. Already
nid the Canadian Le-
nite @ protect his interests

1 <-serviceman, and he
ane application to take
- £8 in welding under the

ay at’s vocatienal train-
'd raz am for veterans. Team
ed the job overseas, and
© fas Joe fits into the
{=m at home he will

tie there are ‘stinkers’
= -—men who used pull
LE ut of the army—and
f,. men who preferred
a) .bies rather than risk
a *ks in the fight for
.W2n1t there were stinkers
“se platoon. The civilian
8 Jed butter, or bought
ee the black market—
* be matched by the
in che-varmy = who: dodge
si e of fatigues, sell ra-
E jewellery from star-
 Xpeans for a song or
» th all-gotten currency.
+ hard facts—but they

Ee

S 8]

~@ d be just as easy for
‘’f,ans to pick out rot-
Fie army as for Joe to
4 mn out on the home
-t in neither case do
<8 vy exceptions tell the

2 -y of heroism, hard

. lf sacrifice and con-

= achievement.

Gd ime, apparent callous-

is ot peculiar to Canada
Ap, t is true of the USA
S ain, and was true of
&, before the invasion.
= ritain for imstance:
“0% ldiers who were sta-
@ 1 Brighton during the
{i Sars of reverse and un-
are now amazed at
gti ge. Trains arrive every
m ates, to disgorge thou-
_@ of passengers. The
h@ pubs, cafes, fish and
stls, cinemas, dance halls

Eaters are jammed to
dG on. When the Cana-
ws=ere there the beaches
> osed off, and heavily
a and Brighton was a
sida city. How, a lot of our
3:0 go back there seem
“ee out of place, because
I ‘© no longer the main
ron a small stage—but
m a larger stage. They
-alize that most of the
= in Brighton are Lon-
#swho went through five
AS blitz, blackout and
iding, and that a big per-
Z= of them carry, beneath
= appy exteriors, a men-
fwature of one or more who

aes

rver come back. This is §

irst earefree holiday in
A EADVOCATE—PAGE 11

‘When G. I. Joe Comes Home

Continued

years, and they -are out=to
make the most of it.

Then, many of these same va-
cationers have been separated

“from their loved ones for four

thoughts are with them rather
than with strangers. Others
have men in the far east, and
a holiday at the beach, even
if only for a day, makes it
easier to cary the load of an-
xiety for their safety.

@
get back to our Joe. He'll

O
T soon find a lot of changes.
Dad, mother and sister. have

- got along quite well -without

him. Dad dug up his old tools
and broke his retirement by
going to work as a carpenter.
Sis went to work on the swing
shift at an aireraft plant and
became a union leader. Joe was
surprised to find out that his
shy, sensitive sister had be-
come a popular organizer and
a Well-known platform figure.
Just before Joe got back she
joined the Labor Progressive
Party, and she wants him to
join—but Joe wants to wait and
look around. ‘I know we need
a change, Sis—but if it’s as
good as you say it is—really
working for the people at
home and forthe _soldiers—
then I’m sure to join it!”

Then the kid brother. He
was just starting High School
when Joe left. Now he’s work-
ing-as his: dad’s -helper,.; and
pulling down big money—but
he ean hardly wait till he’s old
enough to go active—having
to content himself with being
in the Reserve Army.

And then there’s Mom, dear
old Mom. She’s busier than ever
now, with three members of
the family working and with
Joe just looking around and
getting used to civvy street.
Meals have to be cooked and
lunches made. Day and night,
some one is always coming in
or going out. Shopping is more
of a chore than it ever was and

SGT. JACK PHILLIPS

there always seems to be an-
other wash to do.

On Sundays, the car sits in
the garage for lack of gasoline
—no more trips to Mom’s sis-
ter in the country.

On top of all her other work,
Mom knits socks for the Red
Cross, collects clothes for Rus-
sia’s homeless millions’ and
minds the children of several
young neighbors who like to
go out together once in a’ while.
A great gal is old Mom! The
best, says Joe!

Of course, Joe’s girl friend
-comes over to help once in a
while, even though she is usu-
ally very tired after a long day
on her feet at the children’s
wear department. It wasn’t so
long ago that she and Joe were
exchanging rather bitter -let-
ters because she went to dances
once or twice a week, and be-
cause she allowed some of the
boys to take her home once in a
while, and invited them in for
eoffee. Now Joe realizes that
it was selfish of him to expect
any different, that she wait-
ed faithfully for him, and that
‘all he has to deo to be number

one man forever and a day is
apply himself.

As Joe gets around he finds
that many old faces are gone,
some -having passed away,
others having moved away.
Visiting the dance hall and the
pool room he sees few fami-
liar faces, but many new faces.
With a shock he realizes that
a new generation has risen—
the bobby sock’ generation.
While Joe has lived two lives,
civilian and military, they have
lived onfy one life. They have
literally grown up and ma-
tured in the hey-day of war-
time expansion and full em-
ployment.

Almost with envy, Joe re-
gards their well-cut clothes,
healthy features and joyous
zest for life.» .

“Just think,” he mutters,
“when I was their age I was
riding the freights, looking for
work.”’

a WON’T be long before Joe

realizes what a good job
these kids have done—what a
good job the entire home front
has done. Not only have they
provided the sinews of war for
Canada and the Allies, but they
have paid for the war as they
went along, paid in taxes and
in millions of dollars worth of
war bonds. . :

After Joe bought a couple of
pockets of cigarettes at 18 for
thirty-three cents, paid a 25.
per cent luxury tax on the
watch he bought for his girl
and found out what a big slice
the government took out of
dad’s, sister’s and the girl
friend’s income,
pals overseas:

“Don’t believe it’s all honey
and roses over here.
ain’t what it used to be. You
have to pay for the war—and
I do mean pay!”

Multiply Joe by several hun-
dreds of thousands and you have
the problem of rehabilitation in
a nutshell. Life at home will

°

\

he wrote his

A dollar.

of

feel different at first, but

they’ll soon fit in.

Gainful employment, oppor-
tunity, training, homes and
social security: here in a nut-°
shell is the solution to reha
bilitating our ex-servicement. ~

Gratuities, as welcome as
they are, don’t last very long.
Only in a prosperous nation
with thriving communities will
there be security for returning
servicemen. .

EIN THE army, from the very

advanced patrol to the hind-
most echelon, all work as one
team, with one objective: vie-
tory over Nazism.

Now that Nazism is crushed
in utter defeat, we have a
three-fold task to perform:

1. To give every material
and moral suport to our forces
in the Far East and in the army
of occupation.

2. To maintain our wartime
level of production, provide
employment for all able bodied
Canadians seeking employment
and give all the financial, vo-
cational and personal assist-
ance necessary to adjust our
new veterans to the way of life
in the new Canada.

3. To work for the strength-
ening of political and social de-
mocracy at’ home, to promote
the generous’ far-sighted ac-
ceptance by the nation of the
Teheran and Crimea concept
international relations and
to make Canada as great a na-°
tion in preserving the peace
and ‘building a prosperous
world as she was in winning
the war. _ 4 pests a

This is the only true road—
for the men and women return-
ing from the home front, and
for those who served so splen-
didly on the production front.
If we do not follow this road,

. then our dead will have died in

vain. Let us be on our way.
The highroad to progress is
long and has many hills—but

-as all soldiers know, a hike is

never too hard if you’re all in
step, and if you break the mon-
otony with a song. So let us
go singing on our: way all to-
gether—for a better Canada in
a world free from fear.

c

REMEMBER ~ TSURE I DO! YOURE ¥ GOOD MEMORY, Y | IM FINISHIN’ ITS BEEN YY.
p=aA ME, JONES? IPETE,THE RAT WHO JONES! I'M PAYIN’ YOU OFF, | TRIED BEFORE!
COME ON!

SPY-MOCB/

WAS ONE OF JUMBO'S / YOU OFF FOR

TURNING THE BOSS |
OVER TO THE
Ww F.B.IL!

Fe IFEDERATED PRESS -32-

P LOWER AWAY! IVE