e surface and was rescued."

Wallace Simpson, a young Negro, was a petty officer aboard this vessel.
Young Simpson was a graduate of the high school, Denver, Colorado, and
at the call of his country, when but in the prime of his life, made the
supreme sacrifice in order that the world might be made safe for
democracy.

NEGRO FIREMEN AND COAL PASSERS.

It seems that fate always throws the Negro in a line of service wherein
he can by some method, peculiarly his own, have an opportunity to
display his ability, loyalty and usefulness, in spite of prejudice and
opposition. I particularly refer here to the positions of firemen and
coal passers, because of the physical strength required for work of that
kind. The Negro can serve better in the American navy in this capacity
than in any other, with the possible exception of the messman branch of
service; but, nevertheless, in the former positions he has a decidedly
better opportunity to bring into play originality and foresight, for the
fire-room is the life of the ship and especially so when attacked.

When one of the vessels of our navy had been hit with one torpedo from
an enemy submarine and was about to be hit with a second, the commanding
officer had the following statement to make: "I realized that the
immediate problem was to escape a second torpedo. To do so, two things
were necessary, to attack the enemy, and to make more speed than he
could submerged. The depth charge crew jumped to their stations and
immediately started dropping depth bombs. A barrage of depth charges
was dropped, exploding at regular intervals far below the surface of the
water. This work was beautifully done. The explosions must have shaken
the enemy up, at any rate he never came to the surface again to get a
look at us.

"The other factor in the problem was to make as much speed as possible,
not only in order to escape an immediate attack, but also to prevent the
submarine from tracking us and attacking us after nightfall.

"The men in the fire rooms knew that the safety of the ship and our
lives depended on their bravery and steadfastness to duty. It is
difficult to conceive a more trying ordeal to one's courage than was
presented to every man in the fire room that escaped destruction. The
profound shock of the explosion, followed by instant darkness, falling
soot and particles, the knowledge that they were far below the water
level, practically enclosed in a trap, the imminent danger of