[Reading-hall-of-fame] Sticht Christmas Message

[Thomas Sticht]

Christmas Greeting 						 November 28,  2004

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

During World War II, over a quarter million young men learned to read in
Special Training Units in the Army. One of the resources used to teach
reading was a newspaper, Our War, which was published monthly from June
1942 through September 1945. Each issue of Our War included a cartoon
strip about Private Pete and his buddy, Daffy. The December 1943 issue
discussed Christmas.  It has a message pertinent to today’s times and
circumstances. Following is a synopsis of the strip.

Our War    December 1943 				Christmas in Camp

The strip opens with a panel showing Private Pete placing a star at the
top of a Christmas tree outside a barracks on an Army Camp. A group of
soldier’s are standing around and one says, "Sure looks great, Pete!"
Another says, "Too bad Daffy has KP."

The next panel in the cartoon strip shows Daffy on a stool with tears
coming out of his eyes as he works on peeling onions and he says aloud,
"Why do they have to put onions in dressing?"  Then in the next panel
Daffy looks at three Army cooks walking by with turkey, cranberry sauce,
and a big bowl of food and he says, "O-O-O Boy! Oh Boy!!"

Then the following panel shows Daffy that evening after KP and he is
getting dressed and says, "Now for the party!" and the next panel shows a
bunch of soldiers at the party singing "Jingle Bells!  Jingle Bells!" And
then there is a picture in the next panel showing the troops at services
in the chapel on Christmas Eve. The first page of the strip ends with a
panel showing a moon lit night with pine trees, the church and some
troops, all in silhouette, walking down a snow covered hill and the words
"Merry Christmas to All" are written in white across a dark sky.

The next page of the strip has panels with troops opening gifts from home,
then eating with officers at the mess hall, and then giving gifts to
wounded men in the camp hospital.
At the bottom of the page are three panels. In the first Private Pete and
Daffy are walking along and Pete says, "I hope the folks at home had as
good a day as we did."  Daffy replies, "Let’s write them and tell them
about it."

Next there is a picture of Pete’s letter home saying:

"Dec. 25, 43

Dear Folks,
Thanks for the presents. We had a grand day. Our dinner was as good as Mom
could make. Then we took presents to the men in the hospital. Hope you had
a good day too. Did you like your presents?
Pete"

In the final panel Pete and Daffy are in silhouette again and Pete says,
"Let’s hurry up and win the war. Then everybody can have a good
Christmas." To which Daffy replies, "That is what we are fighting for."

This year of Christmas 2004, the words of the fictional Private Pete and
Daffy, written over a half century ago, speak for hundreds of thousands of
military service members who are away from home and loved ones. Aboard
ships, in airplanes, and on the ground in dangerous places, these sailors,
airmen, soldiers and marines have gone into harm’s way to protect our
safety and freedom at home and to bring freedom to oppressed peoples
around the world.

Today, as with Private Pete and Daffy, millions of adults here in the
United States are in classrooms across the nation learning to read, write,
and speak English. And no doubt many of them will celebrate Christmas Day
this year.  We need to give them and their instructors special recognition
for their work to help keep America free through the power of adult
literacy.

Like those tens of thousands of adult literacy teachers who have taught
hundreds of thousands of military troops to read and write in military
literacy classrooms from the Revolutionary War to the present, and like
those teachers who work in the thousands of literacy classrooms across
America today, we must all bear in mind that for preserving freedom and
democracy, literacy is our first line of defense!

Merry Christmas, and many thanks  to each and every one of you!

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net