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A WORD FROM THE EDITOR
IT'S NO SECRET anymore that this newspaper has just won the toughest
battle in its stormy 20-year history - a fight for the right
to continue printing totally uncensored news in our own sassy,
maverick, renegade style.
That fact should have been obvious to anyone who read between
the lines of this brief Stars and Stripes story Dec. 17
[1971]:
Daniell Rehired As Editor of OW [Stars
& Stripes headline]
FRANKFURT (S&S) - Curtis Daniell has been rehired as executive
editor of the Overseas Weekly, Joe Kroesen, publisher of the
paper, announced Wednesday.
Kroesen said that staff members had convinced him that he
had made a mistake in dismissing Daniell several months ago.
"I came here to change you mothers," Kroesen said
at an OW office party Wednesday, "but you mothers changed
me."
Kroesen bought the paper from the estate of the late publisher
Marion Rospach.
[The Editor continues:]
What that story means is that OW has gone through a
major crisis and come out a winner. Now we can all get back to
work - thanks to Joe Kroesen, a big man who's grown even bigger
in the past few months. And thanks, too, to the reporters and
editors who stayed loyal to their editorial principles.
Where do we go from here? Right on, friend! We're going to
do all the things we used to do - all the tough-talking, hard-hitting,
hell-raising things that make OW the most popular GI publication
in the world. And we're going to try some wild new things too.
We'll need your help.
How can you give us a hand? Well, of course, one vote of confidence
you can give us is to walk down to the bookstore and pick up
a copy of OW every week. We'll try like hell to give you
much more than your quarter's worth.
More important, you can keep us clued in on what's happening.
We want to know about it every time some trooper is getting the
shaft. We want to know about cases of harassment, injustice,
senseless waste, Mickey Mouse and mass punishment.
We want to print these stories because over the years we've
seen that exposure brings results. Generals, Senators, Congressmen
and many other influential people pay attention to OW
exposés. That's why sometimes all it takes to fix up a
rotten situation in some yo-yo unit is a slight mention in our
HOTLINE column.
On the other side of the coin, we want to hear the good stuff
too - the humor and the heart of GI life, the zany things that
can only happen in the U.S. military.
If you've got a gripe, a story tip, or just an opinion you
want to get off your chest, write us a letter. It'll be printed
and read by maybe 200,000 people. You don't like to write? Okay,
give us a phone call. You can buzz Frankfurt civilian 287654
and talk to a real live OW reporter (all ex-GIs, by the
way) any duty day and most evenings up till 10. Sometimes a lot
later. If nobody's in, tell it to our automatic answering service.
Or, it you'd prefer eyeball-to-eyeball contact, you're welcome
to come pay us a visit here in the Frankfurt office.
One thing we guarantee: anything you tell us is in complete
confidence. That's a promise we've never broken in 20 years.
What I really want to say is this. If you're an EM, an officer
or a dependent and you've got a problem, call on OW.
We're here to help in any way we can.
Sincerely,
Curt Daniell
Executive Editor
The Overseas Weekly
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