The Frontline, March 1, 2001 Page: 1 of 14
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Life & Times
Medieval Times
offers a step
back to the
middle ages.Sports
Fort Stewart team
sweeps GRPA
tourney**~. ~'h
All'High 64*
Low 460I
High 660
Low
52
Hagh 641
Low 50*THE
March 1, 2001I
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Proud, Professional,
Trained, Ready
Bulk U.S. Postage Paid,
permitno. 43,
Hinesville, Ga. 31314Serving the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), the Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield communities
Midway School re-zoning to affect Stewart studentsBy Spc. Melinda Dezern
Editor
Next school year, many Fort Stewart and
Hinesville children will be the first to "open the
doors" of Liberty County's newest school -
Midway Middle.
Midway is replacing Hinesville Middle
School, which will close after this current
school year.
When Liberty County School system lost
funding for any type of renovations at
Hinesville Middle, their best bet was to shut it
down and build a new one, according to Dr.
Caroline Tunkel, assistant superintendent for
Liberty County schools.
Hinesville Middle is over 50 years old. "It's
just old - its structure is ancient," said Liberty
County School Superintendent Dr. Don
O'Neil.
Once a school reaches a certain age, Tunkel
said, the state no longer provides money for
upgrades. The two other middle schools,
Snelson-Golden and Lewis Frasier, are less
than eight years old.
The actual construction of Midway Middle
began at the end of last year, and it's set for
completion in June. Officials decided on
Midway, Tunkel said, to even out the geo-
graphics of the schools - one in the western
part the county, one in the eastern and one in
between.
The biggest issue with the new school wasPhoto by Spo.Adam Nuelken
Midway Middle School is set for completion in June. When Hinesville Middle School
closes at the end of this school year, Fort Stewart students will attend the new school.rezoning, Tunkel said.
"We started on the east side
because that is where [Midway]
our way toward town," she said.of the county
is and workedEssentially, they calculated the number of
students as they moved down the road in order
to reach a total of 900.
Officials spent months determining whovouid go to which school. Children being
"uprooted to another school" was inevitable,
Tunkel said, but they tried their best to keep as
many students in place as possible.
"They tried to keep the neighborhoods
intact. They didn't want one street going to one
school while the next street over went to anoth-
er school. And they didn't want students who
were in walking distance of one school to be
bused to another school," said Dave Smith, Fort
Stewart's school liaison officer.
Determining who went where was a long;
well-thought-out process, according to Tunkel.
All of Fort Stewart's middle school students
will be attending Midway next year. In the past,
Fort Stewart children were split, O'Neil said.
This plan gives them the opportunity to stay
together.
The concern among Fort Stewart parents.
according to Smith, is travel time. The fact that
the school is more than 10 miles away, depend-
ing on where you are on the installation, is not
the biggest issue.
Whether or not the bus that picks them up
will have to pick up other children along the
way is what concerns many Fort Stewart par-
ents, he said.
Smith said the county is aware of this issue,
and they have promised to minimize travel time
as much they possibly can. Not just for Stewart
children, though. Children from other partsof
the county would have just as much, if no
See School, page 5AFemale i aviator to return : Stewart after 6
Compiled by Dina McKain
Public Affairs Specialist
Helen Wyatt Snapp, veteran of World War II
and member of the Women's Airforce Service
Pilots, comes to Fort Stewart March 6, to be the
featured speaker at the Women's History
Month luncheon.
The luncheon is at Club
Stewart 11:30 a.m. to I
p.m. Snapp will also Women'
donate her flying uniform Month L
to the Fort Stewart muse- tickets
um.
Snapp is not a stranger Tickets for theI
to Fort Stewart. During her available from ea
service she flew out of opportunity advis
Liberty Field, now Wright opportunity repress
Army Airfield. more information
At outbreak of World tion of women ve
War II Sna wasrattendin http://www.va.gov,
pp a click on "WomenV
Mary Washington College Proud Heritage."
in Fredericksburg, Va.
After three years she left
college to accept a government position and
begin her civilian flight training. She partici-
pated in a federal training program called
Civilian Pilot Training, a program initiated by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt prior to the
outbreak of World War II to encourage interest
in aviation and to create a pool of partially
trained personnel, which the military could
recruit from in case of war.
After completing Civilian Pilot Training,
Snapp applied and was accepted into the
WASP program.
She attended Air cadet training at Avenger
Field, Sweetwater, Texas, as part of class 43-4.When she completed this training in February
of 1943 Snapp and her classmates received the
equivalent of a civilian commercial pilots
license and were qualified to fly military air-
craft.
After graduation, Snapp and others of her
class reported to Camp Davis, N. C. They
received training in target towing for anti-air-
craft live fire. After complet-
ing her training she reported
History to Liberty (now Wright)
ncheon Field, Camp Stewart, Ga.
Snapp served at Liberty Field
~ai fable until December 1944 when
ncheon are the WASP program was
brigade equal deactivated.
or unit equal Upon the completion of
ntative. For her service, Snapp had over
the contribu- 1,000 hours flying time and
rans logon to had flown numerous target
omenvet and missions, towing targets for
terans - A live fire on Camp Stewart's
Anti-aircraft ranges.
Throughout their service
the WASP's were required to wear military
style uniforms and were subject to military dis-
cipline and the rules of the Uniform Code of
Military Justice. However, WASP's had served
as government service civilian employees and
were not considered military veterans. They
were not entitled to veterans' benefits, regard-
less of the dangerous and vital defense work
that they had performed.
After several years of political lobbying, the
WASP's were recognized as veterans by con-
gress in 1977. However, it was not until 1979
that the Air Force officially recognized their
veteran status. After this long fought battleU.S. Army photo
Helen Wyatt Snapp, female WWII aviator, 1944 Liberty Field, Camp Stewart, Ga. Snapp
will be the guest p 4 t r sican'a Wimpafna hiTsto- M4ionth Linches n aC CL b
Stewart March 6.members of the WASP's were awarded the
World War II Victory and the American
Defense Medals and full veteran's benefits for
their dedicated military service in time of
National emergency.
More than 1,000 WASP's served from Sept.
1942 to Dec. 1944, logging 60-million miles of
operational flights.
WASP's flew more than 9-million miles of
ferrying operations and were certified to fly 77types of airplanes. Thirty-seven were kides in
the line of duty.
Snapp's wartime service at Fort IeS.art 1s
not her only connection to the Marne Divisin,.
Her deceased husband was a 3rd Divise:
veteran of World War II. He served with the
3rd in North Africa and Italy. He was wounded
in Italy and after recovering from his wounds.
was assigned to the 29th Division and partici-
pated in the Normandy Landings.Joint Kuwait exercise commemorates Desert Storm
By Spc. Christopher Smith
14th Public Affairs Detachment
KUWAIT - U.S. and Kuwaiti soldiers,
along with members of the Air Force and the
British Royal Air Force, combined their lethal
assets in a live-fire exercise at Kuwait's Udari
Range Feb. 25.
The joint exercise fell on the 10th anniver-
sary of coalition forces liberating Kuwait from
Iraqi occupation and concluded more than two
weeks of recent coalition training between
Kuwaiti and American ground forces.
Former President George Bush, retired Gen.
Norman Schwarzkopf and Kuwaiti Defense
Minister Sheikh Jaber Mohammed Al-Sabah
joined exercise observers.
"The joint maneuvers were ... beautifully
run, beautifully executed," Bush said, adding
that if Saddam Hussein had been there, it might
have made him consider toning down his
rhetoric."...If he had any ideas he could fight again
and do anything different than get clobbered in
the sands of Kuwait, he would have changed
his mind," Bush said, "because it was a superb
operation."
The exercise
replicated a
defensive sce- Li erat 10
nario against an Un
attack. Coalition ,'1 t hn
forces entrenched 1 h A n
in a line of defen-
sive fighting posi- Fe b 2
tions.
The two
ground forces par-
ticipating in the attack were Task Force 2-5
Cavalry, from Fort Hood, Texas, and the
Kuwaiti 55th Mechanized Infantry Battalion.
The TF 2-5 commander, Lt. Col. James B.
Burton, said he was extremely pleased with the
exercise's effects.I
nBurton said the exercise was accomplished
through an intense period of training with the
Kuwaiti soldiers.
"It just serves to reinforce our efforts here,
and reinforce the fact that there's a bond of
brotherhood that
exists between
f Kuw a i i ~ all warriors who
01 1 1W ~A are joined for a
common pur-
ilve rsa ry pose," Burton
said. "We have
5 1991 strengthened the
bond of the U.S.
and Kuwaiti
allies here in the
theater because of (the training."
"I'm very pleased with how my soldiers
did," said Lt. Col. Abdul Nassir, commander of
the 55th Mech. He also mentioned that the
massive display of firepower was a orv'-in-a-
lifetime onnnrtunitsBush and Schwarzkopf briefly met with the
troops after the exercise.
Bush chatted with 1st Lt. Jimmy Hathaway,
TF 2-5 adjutant. When Hathaway told the 41st
president he was from Fort Hood, Texas, Bush
presented his lighter side in saying, "I know
Fort Hood, still there and bigger than ever.
Holding the exercise on the 10th anniversary
carried special meaning to Burton. "What a
great honor it is to be able to reflect on what the
country looks like now," he said about Kuwait.
Burton himself was part of -the coalition
forces retaking Kuwait 10 years ago. Several
soldiers in his commrand slo took par in the
operation.
"They cen look and see the diferenc. ih y
see an Army committed to its own defense (the
Kuwaiti land forces), and they see a partnership
between both our forces and our coalition part
ners here that is focused on regional stability
ead the defense of Kuwait," Burton said.S
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The Frontline, March 1, 2001, newspaper, March 1, 2001; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth887973/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.