 Marie Cady (center) with two CAP volunteers So as I sit here trying to prepare for this weekends Michigan Wing Guided Training Exercise, I thought I'd dig into my unit's squadron history file; aka, the plastic tub with 'stuff' in it, and see what's interesting. As I rifled away at different papers, I came across the following article that was torn out of a local Grand Rapids, MI magazine. I carefully cut away the torn edge of the page and taped the crumpled bottom edge of the paper to further preserve this history. The article described the actions and accounts of one Marie J. Cady, one of Michigan Wing's founding CAP members. This was the first I had seen this, or had even heard of, Marie J. Cady. So I decided to scan the article into a PDF to share with all of you. I have also ran OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on the article to include in this blog entry for 'Teh intarwebs' to forever index and keep a record of. I hope you all enjoy it. As my unit's new historian, I will do my best to create 'YACAPB History Moments' to share with you all. I look forward to your thoughts, comments and insights on what I post here. Click 'Read More' to get the text of the article and to download the PDF file. The following is the text of the article entitled "One Womans War Effort" by Richard Harms During the early months of World War II, Americans saw relatives off to service, bought bonds, and worked overtime; many wanted to do more. Although steps had been taken to prepare for war, the government needed several months after Dec. 7, 1941, to fully mobilize. During these months a volunteer air force of men and women with privately owned airplanes, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), helped defend the nation. The CAP had been formed one week before Pearl Harbor to transport personnel, provide courier service, and aid in search and rescue missions within the continental United States. Because of its potential for service to the nation, the CAP was the only civilian organization issued regulation army uniforms, with a special insignia consisting of red braid and red shoulder loops and an emblem with a red three-blade propeller in a white triangle on a round, blue field. Each state was assigned its own CAP wing, divided into groups and flights. Michigan's wing had eight groups. Because of the scarcity of private planes in the region, Grand Rapids based Group 638, covered 21 counties in West Michigan. Local furniture executive Frederick Meuller was selected group commander and turned over most of the day-to-day duties to public relations and intelligence officer Tom Walsh. Because of his responsibilities as Grand Rapids' airport director, Walsh turned to Marie Cady, a respected friend with considerable public relations skill, to direct the local CAP group. From her East Grand Rapids home, Cady vividly recalls assignments for the group's three flights, 638-1 based in Grand Rapids, 638-2 based in Big Rapids and 638-3 based in Muskegon. Cady, born 1903 in Hobart, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), came to Grand Rapids in 1932, doing public relations for the Red Cross, Wurzburg's Department Store, the Shriners, and working in a series of political campaigns. Since her husband had already been called to active duty, she quickly acceded to Walsh's request in mid-January 1942 to take charge of CAP Group 638. Cady organized several stenographers and typists in an office in the Michigan Trust Building. From that office came countless press releases and written instructions for the group's 350 pilots, observers, mechanics and ground-crew members for the various maneuvers assigned by the Michigan Wing office. Her work took her on weekly bus trips to Big Rapids and Muskegon to see to the needs of the CAP offices there. In Grand Rapids, she also oversaw several moves of the CAP office: first to the Rowe Hotel (now Olds Manor); then back to the Michigan Trust Building; and finally, into the Morton House. Morton House Manager Noel Black became a strong CAP supporter and provided facilities for all of Group 638's administrative and training needs. Unlike most CAP personnel, headquarters staff like Cady were entitled to pay. This pay was slow to come, and like most CAP volunteers, Cady covered her own expenses. During the summer of 1942, German submarines sank unprecedented numbers of merchant ships along the nation's East Coast and Gulf Coast. Military air support, desperately needed along the war's front lines, was not available to protect the unarmed coastal fleet. The Army (the Air Corps was not yet an independent branch of the military) and Navy asked the CAP to provide whatever assistance it could. From across the country, CAP patrols volunteered to patrol assigned sections of the coast from Maine to Texas. The Michigan Wing was assigned to the airport in Pascagoula, Miss. Because of her public relations and Group 638 experience, Cady was asked to join the Michigan Wing at Pascagoula. She traveled to Detroit and, with other Wing support staff, spent several days riding in a ramshackle bus purchased from Wyandotte. At their last stop before the Pascagoula airport, the bus passengers donned their uniforms,. "to present a proper military appearance at arrival." Cady recalls that the Michigan pilots, like all CAP personnel on coastal patrol, were frustrated as they watched from their unarmed civilian planes when German U-boats fired on a merchant ship. And also like other CAP units, the Michigan people fabricated, from scrap iron and wire, makeshift bomb racks under the wings of their planes. So armed, Cady recalled, "Our planes hit two German submarines in the Gulf of Mexico, and I decided it was time to get into the real thing". She enlisted in the Army Air Corps and attended officer's candidate school. Because of her pre-war and CAP experience, after graduation she was assigned to public relations work for the Air Corps. Click 'Download File' below to view and/or save the original article. 
CommentsR.R. Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:45:31 I'm a lurker over at CAPTalk and followed your linkthrough to here. gabriel D Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:03:05 Hi I am A Staff Sergeant in the squadron Pr 0051 I am currently one of the Flight Sergeant in the squadron and I am living in Puerto Rico. I currently moving back to Grand Rapids and I am trying to get as much information about the cadet program that is in Grand Rapids since i herd and join the CAP in Puerto Rico please e-mail me back @ djmezclao@hotmail.com Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply |  Mark L. Curtis, 1st Lt, CAP
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