Talk of the Town
Gulf Breeze Hospital celebrates volunteers

The Holiday luncheon for the Gulf Breeze Hospital Auxiliary and Volunteer Chaplains was held on Wednesday Dec. 12, at 11:30 a.m. at First Baptist Church on Fairpoint Drive.

The program was presented by Dale Duce, Pharmacy Manager at Gulf Breeze Hospital. Duce is a native of this area. He started to work at Gulf Breeze Hospital in 1985 about three months before the hospital opened. He brought with him four years of experience.

Duce related how his attitude toward volunteers had gone from "the pharmacy department is too busy for a volunteer" to the recognition that volunteers give a special gift. He demonstrated this change of feelings by relating his experiences with volunteers in the pharmacy.

"Over the years I have learned that life is just one big lesson after another," Duce said.

Duce feels that the volunteer's gift is given everyday at Gulf Breeze Hospital.

Glenn D Frazier: A True Hero

On Friday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. at Hurlburt's Sound Side Restaurant, Janis Fort, President of Emerald Coast Woman's Club (ECWC), will proudly introduce her father, Glen Frazier, as a true American hero and the speaker for the evening. Fellow combat veteran, Peter Loss, will join Frazier. The evening will be a reunion for the two WWII veterans that have not seen each other since the conclusion of the war. Tickets are $15 to ECWC members and their guests and $25 for non-members. There will be heavy hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. There are only 200 tickets available and they are expected sell fast.

Frazier joined the U.S. Army on July 3, 1941. He was assigned to the 75th Ordinance Company in Manila in The Philippine Islands. His job was to get ammo to and from the front lines at the Battle of the Points in January of 1942.

On his last trip to the front lines on April 9, 1942 17 yearold Frazier was captured in Bataan. The 60 mile Bataan Death March took place in the Philippines in 1942 after the three-month Battle of Bataan during World War II. The Japanese forcibly marched 90,000 to 100,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps. Frazier was one of these numbers. He survived the Bataan Death March that lasted six days and seven nights with no food and only sips of water and spent three and a half years in Camp O'Donnell and Billibid Prison in the Philippines.

Frazier

The march was characterized by physical abuse, murder and savagery resulting in very high fatalities inflicted upon the prisoners and civilians along the route by the armed forces of the Empire of Japan. Beheadings, cut throats and casual shootings were merciful actions compared to bayonet stabbings, rapes, guttings and numerous rifle butt beatings. Many prisoners were deliberately refused food or water while continually marching for nearly a week in tropical heat. Falling down, and being unable to continue moving were tantamount to a death sentence, as was any degree of protest or expression of displeasure.

The exact death count is unknown but some historians have placed the minimum death toll between 6,000 and 11,000 men.

Following the Bataan Death March, Frazier was sent to a Japanese Prison camp 500 miles by railroad from Tokyo. On the morning of Sept. 3, 1945 21 prisoners of war, including Frazier, escaped by train to Tokyo, and had no trouble with the Japanese they encountered. On Sept. 4, after riding trains all night, they arrived at General MacArthur's headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. As they approached MacArthur's headquarters, Frazier remembers seeing Old Glory flying above him and the sight of that sent chills up and down his back.

RE/MAX on the Coast, located at 911 Gulf Breeze Parkway in Gulf Breeze, celebrated the holiday Season at Springhill Suites on Pensacola Beach Dec.14.

Fort and the members of ECWC will be glad present this program for the public. Remember seats are limited.

For tickets, contact Fort at 850-939-3972.

Driftwood Garden Club

Skopelos On the Bay in Pensacola was the site of the Driftwood Garden Party. The beautiful icicles and sparkling lights in the dining room and the red poinsettias on the tables created a very festive atmosphere for dinner. Almost a full membership and their partners attended, coming early to mingle and enjoy greetings and conversations before being seated.

Peggy Roltsch, Bobbi Gaither, Averette Mull, Nancy Duce and Dale Duce at the Gulf Breeze Hospital Holiday luncheon.

President Millie Dehn welcomed the group and thanked Marti Vickery, Margaret James, Emogene Presley, and Shari Fulford for their help in arrangements and decorations.

The club will hold their next regular meeting on Jan. 24 at The New World Landing in Pensacola where they will hear from master gardeners about new, unusual and perennial plants.