 This evening the Cattle Cade of America brings you the story of the Minutemen of the Air, the 60,000 licensed amateur radio operators who have given so freely of their time and effort in local and national emergencies. When other means of communication have failed, these amateur operators have done yeoman service in handling the orders of relief organizations, news dispatches and personal messages. Many of them are playing heroic roles in the present flood emergency. One of them is here with us this evening. We will hear from him later on in the program. Their timeless study and experimentation in shortwave communication are akin to the work of the army of research chemists who are devoting their lives to the fulfillment of the DuPont pledge, better things for better living through chemistry. As an overture, Don Vorreys and the Cattle Cade Orchestra bring us a special setting of Irving Berlin's ever-popular soft lights and sweet music. As they call themselves, is the history of the American Radio Relay League, which was founded by Hiram Percy Maxim, famous engineer and inventor. Mr. Maxim became interested in amateur radio in 1907 through the activities of his son. Father and son together developed one of the most dominant amateur stations in their part of the country. In those days, amateurs talked to each other in dobson dashes. Actual voice communication was to come later. One evening in 1914, Hiram Maxim sits at the key of his transmitter at his amateur station in Hartford, Connecticut. In Springfield, I hear he has an audio tube per sale. We need one. It's too bad the tubes are so scarce, they ought to make more of them. Wait, I'm going to try them again. He isn't listening, I guess. We've been covering 100 miles regularly with this transmitter. Springfield is only 30 miles away. Well, it's just that some peculiar local condition makes it impossible to get through to Springfield from Hartford as a dead spot area in between. I was talking about that dead spot after a meeting at the radio club last week. It was a hand down from Windsor Locks. His station is about halfway between ours here and one in Springfield. He can work with both. Windsor Locks say there's an idea. You know his call letters. Yeah, sure. Sit down here and call him. Here. Take the earphones. All right. Well, what could we do? He won't be able to tell us anything magical so we can get through to Springfield. Go ahead and call him. Then I'll tell you my idea. All right. You know, when a ship at sea can't get through to another ship, they relay their messages. Ships which happen to be in between take the messages and send them on. And you want to try the same thing on land. That sounds like a good idea. Oh, wait. I'm getting them on the earphones. Yeah. There he is. That's Windsor Locks. Tell him who you are and what you are. Ask him to get hold of Springfield. Here's the chap's call letters. Have him ask Springfield if he'll sell his audience to you. Get a reply from Springfield to Windsor Locks. That's it. That's a great idea. Here goes. That relay of radio messages gave Hiram Percy Maxim the idea of founding the American Radio Relay League. Maxim realized that such an organization could accomplish a great deal for amateur radio. He presented the idea to the Hartford Radio Club. It was enthusiastically received and the American Radio Relay League was founded. Perhaps you wonder how a young man or girl becomes an amateur radio operator. Suppose we take a typical case in a small city we shall call Middle Port. Our story is based upon fact, although the names are fictitious. Thomas Nichols, an ex-telegram operator who now runs an electrical supply store, is in his shop in the rear of his place of business. It's early evening. Hey, Monk. Come on in, fellas. OK. Hey, watch out for the boxes by the counters you come in. We've got radio tubes in them. Hello, Monk. Hi, Nick. Hello, Eddie. Hi. I'm glad you all got around. Sit down. Hey, now listen, Nick. What's the idea? Yeah. Why call us all in here? You mean from the party of some kind? Yeah. Yeah. The place doesn't look like a party to me. Maybe it's the kind of party nobody but an old bachelor like me would think of, Monk. Well, with all this junk around? Say, take a slam at this setup. You've got some radio station here, Nick. Oh, I've seen better. Worse. Have much luck calling other stations? Works out pretty well, Eddie. I was talking with a fella in Boston last night. Yeah. Boston? Yeah. Get out farther than that sometimes. You couldn't locate a good-looking day my no one watch has to cook. Sure. Good to you, Nick. I'm not lovely. I'm not lovely. Sure. Good to you, Nick. I'm not lovely. Sure. What I'm shooting for is why Nick called us all in here. Yeah, Nick. What's a big idea? Well, I'll tell you before long. One more fella coming. I want to wait until he gets here. I got a date, Nick. Where, Monk? What a priceless pool parlor. Me and Red Moony are playing for the championship. Red will wait for you, Woony. Yeah, but hanging around here don't make me a nickel. No. That's right. Well, what's the answer? Well, he's here, Monk. Dolly Blinds? Yeah. Come on out. What'll he bring to a party? He's blind. Don't worry about him. Are you making it, Tommy? Yeah, sure. I am, Nick. He's just a Nick. Are you cuckoo? I don't know where Tommy's concerned. Hey, somebody help him around those boxes. All right. Hello, Tommy. Well, welcome, Tommy. Hello, Nick. Hiya, Tommy. I'm fine, Eddie. Hello, Tom. Oh, Monk. Gee, it's well-being here with all you guys. I don't know. We'll get down to business. Now, give me that hand, Monk. Okay. Here you are. Meeting, please come to order. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Don't worry about it. Oh, OK. I'll be fine. Some of you are running around the streets at night, first thing you know, one of you, we're all of you, getting to trouble. Oh, so that's why we're in here re-form League, huh? You have? You're my friends, Monk. Here's what I'd like to do. Form a radio club. I'll make amateur radio operators out of every one of you. The club here will be your station. Well... Gee, that's something. Boy. And pretty soon, you'll be building stations of your own. I can get you the parts and I'll help you so you can pass examinations and get operating licenses. How does that sound to me? Oh, it's pretty wonderful, Dick. See, I can talk to that girl in life after every night. Yeah. Well, how does it sound to the rest of you fellas? Oh, that's a great story. That'll work. I, uh, don't hear anything from you, Monk. Well, maybe I'm a sapnik. Maybe this radio stuff will be more fun and shooting pool. But anyhow, I'll give it a whirl. And that's it. Now we'll meet here next Tuesday and start doing things. Now, clear out of here, gang. I gotta get home. Meet you again. Nick. Well, Tommy, what's on your mind? You're an awful good friend, Nick. Well, we'll have all kinds of fun with that radio club, won't we? We? Of course. You'll be with us. It's nice of you to ask me, Nick. If I wouldn't be any help, I can't do things the way the rest of the fellas can. What do you mean, you can't? How can a blind person... Well, what's been blind got to do with it. You'll learn to handle the key. You'll be the best operator of the whole crowd. Nick, do you think I could do it? Really? I don't think I know, Tommy. Come on, old man. We'll walk home. And that is how more than one amateur radio club has started. And many of the important developments in shortwave communication are due to such amateurs. They were assigned wavelengths below 200 meters, which would not interfere with commercial radio traffic. They took it and liked it. But let's go back to the Middleport Radio Club six months after its formation. The regular weekly meeting is over and the boys are paired up practicing code with buzzer sets. Hey, Nick. Well, man? You said you had some news for us. I sure have. Oh, hey, wait a minute, will you fellas? Boys, you're all taking a trip on Monday. To take the examinations for your licenses, Tommy. Oh, dog, get ready to stand by right there. I hope she doesn't disappoint you, Eddie. But just remember this, fellas. It's pretty tough waiting for signals. I'm not getting it. You know, a New Zealand amateur had an experience like that once? Where was he, Nick? He was in a lighthouse, Tommy, in New Zealand. You see, he stuck up a talking acquaintance with a chap named Clyde de Vinne in Alaska. Boy, they were so far enough apart. Yes, sir, on the opposite sides of the world, Tommy. This Clyde de Vinne was the movie cameraman who made the African scenes for the picture Trader Horn. He had a portable transmitter with him all the time he was out there. Well, later on, he went to Alaska to take scenes for the picture Eskimo. Yeah, I remember that one. De Vinne set up his Alaskan radio station in a shack on a lonely, deserted island near the town of Tella. It was bitter cold. The wind was blowing agale, but he hiked down to his shack and took a look at the stuffing and the cracks and windows, and, you know, to make certain he was keeping as much air as possible, and he lighted his stove. You see, the night before, he talked with the New Zealander. He told him the exact time he would call again, and he knew the New Zealander would be waiting for it. Don't they get together? Yeah. They chatted away for quite a while. The New Zealander began to notice that De Vinne's signals were getting slower. Then in the middle of a sentence, De Vinne stopped sending. Golly, Nick, what was the matter? That's what the New Zealander wanted to know. Well, he kept calling De Vinne and calling him without any luck. And then he had a hunch. He called another Alaskan amateur who had a station near Tella, and he asked him to go down to De Vinne's shack. And what did he find? De Vinne unconscious from the fumes of the stove. Oh, my God. This fellow dragged him out in the air and finally brought him round. But if he'd been half an hour later, it would have been just too bad. Gosh. You mean a man in New Zealand saved the life of a man in Alaska? That's right, Tommy. And every word of that story is true, too. Boy, Nick, that's some story. That's our honey. Well, that winds up tonight's meeting. Time you fellas went home. Okay, Nick. Good night. Good night. Good night, Tommy. And keep working on your code, fellas. You gotta be in shape for those examinations, you know. All right. Good night. There is well a bunch of fellas. Nick. Yes, Tommy. What is it? You don't know what all this means to me, Nick. Yes, Tommy. I think I do. A year passes. The Middleport Club is now a regularly established unit in the American Radio Relay League. It is evening. Tommy and Monk are on duty. It's now possible to talk and hear voices on the club station, as well as send and receive code messages. Nick, his chair tilted back against the wall, sits watching Tommy at the instruments. Find anything real, Tommy? Well, I picked up Fred Abbott and Williamsburg about 10 seconds ago. Yeah. Yeah. Signals were all jumbled. I guess he's bothered with the antenna trouble again. It blows us all into trouble. Yeah. They're quiet. Someone's calling the station. Boy, he isn't fooling either. Sounds as if it might be Charlie Endicott up in Hillsdale. Sure knows his business. 50 miles off and he sounds to be just around the corner. You know, one of these days we ought to have Charlie Downey to see us, Nick. Put him on the loud speaker, Tommy. All right. Endicott in Hillsdale, Charlie Endicott in Hillsdale. Come in, please. All right, Tommy. Let him have it. This is Tommy Burns, Charlie. Knew your voice the second I heard it. Coming over like a million dollars. Those new tubes that you spoke about are doing a great job. You give it back to him, Tommy. All right. Come in, Charlie. Listen, Tommy. The damn five miles above here has started to give way. What's he saying? Billy Haworth was up here 15 minutes ago. He says the water be coming this way any minute. Folks are leaving town. They'll be an honest to goodness flood here any minute. Good night. Relay League headquarters has news of the flood. They're in touch with the Red Cross and the Army. I'm to be sent for Relay Station for this section. You see, I'm on high ground here. Sure, I'm glad I live in a good supply of batteries the other day. Take it over so I can be sure you got me. We got all you said, Charlie. We'll be standing by all night. Give a call when you got any news. Goodbye for the present. Sweet spot that kid's in. Mom, notify the club members. Yeah, sure. The station's got to be clear for any relay messages that come through. We'll need help. Call them on the telephone in my office. Yeah, I will, Nick. Tell them we'll have to stand shift. Stay in night to keep the station open till the danger's over. I'll get them. And now tell me I'll take over. Oh, I'm not tired. You've been working for more than two hours, old man. I'd like to stick with it, Nick. Okay. Gosh, think of Charlie with that water and all the people. Wait, Harry's again. Calling Middleport. Calling Middleport. This is Charlie again. It's come, Tommy. The dam's gone out. Water's hitting the whole town. We're going to need all kinds of help before this mess is cleaned up. Bill Howell has just left here, and he says the telephone and telegraph wires are down. We're the only way of getting news to the outside. Relay this through to Pittsburgh, to the Red Cross there. North Road is still open, but all the other roads are under water, and it's rising by the minute. The whole town's a blamed river. I'll call again. Stand by to go to work. Calling all stations in Western Pennsylvania. Calling all stations in Western Pennsylvania. Clear this way, please. Through the town of Hillsdale, where Charlie sat at his radio set, he could hear terrified women in the street below him. The shouts of men struggling to bring order out of chaos. Above it all, he could hear the roar of the flood as it reached for its victims. It is five o'clock in the morning. A tense group of young men who have been on duty all night huddle in the room at the rear of Nick's store. Tommy hunched forward, waiting for Charlie's signal. Still sits at the board. Nick stands close behind him. Harry. Yeah, Nick? Here's some money. Go down to Bill's dog wagon, get some milk and sandwiches for the gang. All right, shall I get you some coffee, too? Yeah, please. All right, I'll be back another time. Good. Now, how are the rest of you fellas? All right, all right. Nick, it's the biggest evening I ever put in. We don't have to read about the flood in the papers this morning. We've been getting it firsthand. And what's more, we've been able to help too, haven't we? No, you sure have, Monk. You getting tired, Tom? No. All right, so you're kind of squirming around your chair. What's wrong? Well, I keep wondering why Charlie doesn't call us. That's all. Been almost an hour since we heard from him. More than likely he's busy. I wonder if he got a bad break. That's him now. There. Plug in that speaker. All right. All set. All right. Calling Middleport. Calling Middleport. Really, this one fast, Tommy. This water on the floor below me is getting sort of cold. Malworth managed to get up here and had some more news. We need medicine and food, lots of it. There isn't a thing left in the place. Everything cleaned up with the water. We need help. Get it fast. I'll be using cold from now on. Quicker and easier to work that way. I'll call back in 10 minutes. If I don't call, you call me. If you can't raise me, so long. Happy sending. If he don't answer it. Oh, gee. Betty, Eddie Omen. Sure, don't worry about me. I got to raise Pittsburgh. Now, Tommy, you ought to quit now. Ah, will you pull in your ears, muscle? You lick, Nick. He did. And let him alone, Uncle. And he's doing a swell job. He is in six longer nights. The members of the radio club performed the Omen service. They handled Red Cross dispatches like professionals. Scores of personal messages were received and relayed. Nick's store became a mecha for newspaper correspondence. It seemed as if an organization that had been created to help a crowd of boys had assumed national importance. Now the rush was all over. Flood waters had subsided. People had gone through with help to Hillsdale. Nick and Tommy are alone in the station. Tommy coming the country for something of interest. Having any luck, Tommy? Oh, I'm hearing things all right. They seem kind of tame now that the floods are all over. Yeah. Well, I guess we'd better cruise shop. All right. I am sort of tired. That isn't surprising you. Yeah, I wonder who that is. Is that you, Mom? Yeah, I got a visitor with me. He wants to meet you. This is Nick, Mr. Bryce. Nick? Proud. Yes. You know why before long. Is this Tommy Burns? Yeah. Tommy, I'm from the Red Cross. Son, you've done a great job. I was. Nick and the other fellas who did most of the work. It was like fun. You see, I'm blind, Mr. Bryce. That didn't stop you from keeping doubles and sometimes triple watches. Didn't even slow him down, did it, Nick? No, sir. He stood him all right, Monk. He worked like a trooper. Me? It was Charlie who did the real job. Mr. Bryce, Charlie Endicott up in Hillsdale. Oh, he went through plenty, I want to tell you. I know, Tommy. I've seen him. He told me what you did. We owe you a whole lot and you won't be forgotten. That's what I came to tell you. Goodbye, Tommy. Goodbye, sir. Goodbye, Nick. Goodbye, Mr. Bryce. Come on, Monk. I've got a hurry. I want to have a look at that radio station of yours. Yes, sir. It's a honeybees. Well, run along, Tommy? Charlie told him about me. After all, he'd been through. Hey, do you mind if I call him, Nick? Well, I thought you were tired. I'm going to use voice. Charlie'll be glad to hear it after all the code he's been handling. Sure. Go ahead. Calling Charlie Endicott in Hillsdale. Calling Charlie Endicott in Hillsdale. Gosh, he may be asleep, Nick. You might understand. I hear you. I am blamed near asleep, Tommy. I was going to turn in. Mr. Bryce has just been here. Yeah, he's one piece of a fella. We want you to visit us next. You can stay with Mother and me any time that you can make it. Well, you'd better come up here, Tommy. Oh, I can't travel so well, you see. I'm blind. You'll have to come to see me this time. All right, what if I could, Tommy, but I can't move? You see, I'm paralyzed from the waist down. Typical group of young men became amateur radio operators and saved their locality in a time of dire need. This broadcast was planned and written before the present flood catastrophe threatened. Last week, the newspapers told the story of Robert Gunderson, an 18-year-old boy blind from birth who sat at his homemade shortwave station for three days and nights relaying important messages from the Middle West to the Red Cross and other Eastern relief administrators. He is a student and a part-time instructor of radio at the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. He's here with us as a typical radio amateur who has done a good job under trying circumstances. We are happy to introduce the gentleman of the air, W2JIO, Robert Gunderson of Old Bridge, New Jersey. I feel that it is a privilege to represent the 60,000 licensed hands. Greetings to all of them, and especially to those who have assisted in the relay work for the flood areas. There are many fellows I have come to know as a result of this emergency. I know them only as their call letters, and at this time I wish to take the opportunity to congratulate some of those hands who have labored so tirelessly during the past 10 days and nights. W3FJU, Allentown, Pennsylvania, W1SZ, West Hartford, Connecticut, W8KQY, Portsmouth, Ohio, and W8YX of Cincinnati, Ohio. There are many others, too numerous to mention. Speaking for all the amateur radio operators of America, I want to assure the public that we shall always be on hand in time of emergency. Thank you, Mr. Gunderson, and all the other radio amateurs who are helping in relief work. In more than 40 major catastrophes, and in many minor ones during the past 20 years, the amateur operators of America have handled communication when all other means have failed. We are proud to salute this gallant army of boys and girls, men and women, the Minutemen of the Air. We welcome them and Hiram Percy-Maxson, who inspired them, to the heroic list of names in the Cavalcade of America. In every field of business, professional, and scientific activity, occasions arise which call for quick action. Chemistry, too, has its Minutemen. As a rule, research takes long and patient effort, but when emergencies arise, chemistry can and does throw all its facilities against the problem immediately. For example, not long ago the Japanese beetle suddenly appeared in the United States and threatened vegetation in many sections of the country. As this pest grew into a real menace, DuPont chemists and biologists went to work, searching for a way to control its ravages. This research has now produced results. DuPont has just announced a product that is too much for even the destructive appetite of the Japanese beetle. He won't eat anything that's properly sprayed with it. Here's how this new repellent was perfected. Thousands of Japanese beetles were confined in specially built glass boxes with temperature and humidity just right for their feeding habit. But they were given nothing whatever to eat, so they got hungry. Then the chemists gave them their favorite plant food, smart weed, sprayed with newly developed chemical compounds. One new spray after another was formulated in the attempt to keep them from eating ravenous leg. Finally, the hungry beetles refused to eat. They wouldn't touch their favorite food when it was sprayed with a certain new compound. That new compound is the new repellent for Japanese beetles. Incidents such as this are typical of a great many. Encountered by DuPont chemists engaged in a broad program of test control research that concerns everyone. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, shrubbery, and foliage of all kinds are constantly threatened by insects and fungus diseases. Chemistry helps keep these pests under control by providing a wide variety of insecticides and fungicides. This test control research is important to every family because if insect pests should get out of control, crops would be damaged and resulting shortages would mean higher prices and lower quality for many foods. In this work, we see one more illustration of how DuPont chemists make good their pledge. Better things for better living through chemistry. Before we conclude this broadcast, we'd like to ask you a question something only you can answer. You've just heard a typical cavalcade of America program and our type of informative commercial announcement. We would deeply appreciate it if you would sit down right now and send us a note or postal card answering this question. Do you want us to continue these cavalcade of America programs as we have for 68 weeks? Or would you prefer to have us sponsor some other type of radio entertainment? Simply address DuPont Wilmington Delaware. Thank you. And we hope you will tune in next Wednesday when we will present the story of an interesting American Peter Cooper, the man who refused to grow old. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.