During the past three weeks the Navy Y Secretary has made almost daily visits to the U.S. Marine front line along Soochow Creek, and to the 2nd line Billets along Avenue Road and Gordon Road. The most common request from the men has been a Shanghai Map, a couple sheets of paper and an envelope, many of the men saying "I haven't written home for a long time, and now I have got something to write about which will interest the home folks."
1,000 Maps, 2,000 sheets of writing paper, and 800 envelopes have been distributed, free of charge, to American Service men. The next most popular request has been for Airmail envelopes and paper. With the tie-up of Marine mail using American postage, this airmail, going by boat to Hongkong and then by Clipper to America, has been most popular. The Navy Y have given away over 250 airmail envelopes and paper, the {men purchasing the Chinese stamps to the value of $145 each. The Navy Y have also sold over 1,000 U.S. 3 cents stamps to the men, and over 500 picture postcards of Shanghai scenes.
The Navy Y anticipate that there will be great need for reading matter. Friends who have magazines ith stories, Detective magazines, and ther light reading will be rendering a real service if they make these available to the Navy Y. Please telephone your address to the Navy Y Activities Office No. 16904.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.