Millett: Women dare not drop all of war’s burdens on husbands and sons
Service flag families won’t sit back and boast ‘we’re doing our share,’ while men are away
By Ruth Millett
…
Pegler: Mrs. Roosevelt’s communistic law
By Westbrook Pegler
New York –
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt has passed a law. It is a communistic law which was first proposed last winter by the United Auto Workers of the CIO, the same organization which tied up airplane production in the North American plant in California while Britain stood alone against the Nazis and the alien party of Browder and Bridges was sabotaging the American war effort with the slogan, “The Yanks Aren’t Coming.”
It is the law which Congress repeatedly refused to pass, limiting income earned by personal services to $25,000 a year, with certain reservations, and adopting the communistic principle of economic equality.
After the UAW proposed this law and Mrs. Roosevelt advocated the idea, the President took it up and presented it to Congress. Congress turned it down. The President then threatened to supersede Congress unless certain things were done and Congress, in a hurry to avoid such a showdown, increased his already-great executive power.
Then, a week ago, among many other provisions contained in his executive order creating the Office of Economic Stabilization, President Roosevelt gave Mrs. Roosevelt her law.
In practical financial effect, Mrs. Roosevelt’s law will make very little difference to the Treasury or to those affected because income-tax rates achieve about the same figures. In fact, it is not even presented to be a law to raise money, which is the purpose of taxation.
Communistic principle tried
Its purpose is plainly declared to be “to correct gross inequities and to provide for greater equality in contributing to the war effort.” That is where the communism comes in, for under the American system, the government has no mission to equalize the efficient and talented individual with the rest and, once equalization is recognized as a concern and a power of the central government, there is no reason why the ceiling on individual incomes may not be set at some figure which would permit neither peaks nor dips.
Aside from the principle of Mrs. Roosevelt’s law, passed over the head of Congress, it is unfair to those who earn their incomes by personal services and to individuals who have kept out of debt.
It provides that taxes, insurance premiums and fixed obligations may be deducted and this means that a person having great properties may deduct his taxes on the same, that he who is investing in large insurance policies may deduct his premiums which become a cumulative store of personal wealth and that the person who has borrowed a lot of money may keep it and deduct from income taxable under Mrs. Roosevelt’s new law the amounts which he pays to his creditors to reduce the debt.
And, of course, anyone who has inherited a fortune yielding a large income need not be troubled by the innovation.
Aside from the inequality of a law whose stated purpose is to promote inequality, a fault which could be corrected by straight taxation, the principle and the intent remain to challenge the American concept. If the same financial effect has been arrived at through income-tax schedules, the objections would not arise. In fact, this financial effect has been almost accomplished anyway for most of those who will be affected by Mrs. Roosevelt’s law will not pay much more under the law than they would have paid anyway on straight computation.
Roosevelt riches untouched
The communism is seen in the plain assertion that no person’s services in private enterprise, even outside the war effort, can legally be worth more than a certain amount of money per year. It is impossible to say what this maximum amount will be except in some hypothetical case in which an elaborate set of circumstances is improvised for purposes of reckoning.
It is said that the President’s own salary will be equalized by voluntary action which has nothing to do with the case except to affirm the offensive principle in the highest quarter. But the President is a rich man in his own right whose mother left a fortune of more than $1 million last year and that million but the remainder of a greater fortune which had been handed down and Mrs. Roosevelt, herself, had received one of the greatest personal incomes in the entire country in the years since 1932 which has been all hers to do with as she pleased, to spend, give away or keep, subject to the usual taxes. None of this income, neither from the estate nor from the accumulated riches, is affected.
But the stated purpose of Mrs. Roosevelt’s law is the key to its real intent. First proposed by an organization heavily infested with communists, diligently promoted by Mrs. Roosevelt and then by the President, rejected on principle by Congress and now enacted by decree, the law’s purpose is not to raise money with which to fight the war or to prevent inflation, but “to provide greater equality in contributing to the war effort.”
That phrase “in contributing to the war effort” is dressing. The real purpose is “to provide for greater equality” by establishing the principle that Americans may receive just so much and no more for their services with the unspoken proviso that the maximum may be scaled down to a subsistence rate.
San Francisco eases muddle in manpower
But discrimination, union barriers to shipyard employment remain
By George Challis, Scripps-Howard staff writer
…
Axis pounded by air forces
Growing power of Allies begins to be felt
By Rear Adm. Yates Stirling Jr., USN (ret.), United Press war analyst
…
The USS Olympia (C-6) is still around today in Philadelphia.
1 Like
President Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat 23
Report on the home front
October 12, 1942, 10:00 p.m. EWT
Broadcast audio:
My fellow Americans:
As you know, I have recently come back from a trip of inspection of camps and training stations and war factories.
The main thing that I observed on this trip is not exactly news. It is the plain fact that the American people are united as never before in their determination to do a job and to do it well.
This whole nation of 130,000,000 free men, women, and children is becoming one great fighting force. Some of us are soldiers or sailors, some of us are civilians. Some of us are fighting the war in airplanes five miles above the continent of Europe or the islands of the Pacific – and some of us are fighting it in mines deep down in the earth of Pennsylvania or Montana. A few of us are decorated with medals for heroic achievement, but all of us can have that deep and permanent inner satisfaction that comes from doing the best we know how – each of us playing an honorable part in the great struggle to save our democratic civilization.
Whatever our individual circumstances or opportunities – we are all in it, and our spirit is good, and we Americans and our allies are going to win – and do not let anyone tell you anything different.
That is the main thing that I saw on my trip around the country-unbeatable spirit. If the leaders of Germany and Japan could have come along with me, and had seen what I saw, they would agree with my conclusions. Unfortunately, they were unable to make the trip with me. And that is one reason why we are carrying our war effort overseas – to them.
With every passing week the war increases in scope and intensity. That is true in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, and on all the seas.
The strength of the United Nations is on the upgrade in this war. The Axis leaders, on the other hand, know by now that they have already reached their full strength, and that their steadily mounting losses in men and material cannot be fully replaced. Germany and Japan are already realizing what the inevitable result will be when the total strength of the United Nations hits them – at additional places on the earth’s surface.
One of the principal weapons of our enemies in the past has been their use of what is called the “War of Nerves.” They have spread falsehood and terror; they have started fifth columns everywhere; they have duped the innocent; they have fomented suspicion and hate between neighbors; they have aided and abetted those people in other Nations- including our own-whose words and deeds are advertised from Berlin and Tokyo as proof of our disunity.
The greatest defense against all such propaganda, of course, is the common sense of the common people- and that defense is prevailing.
The “War of Nerves” against the United Nations is now turning into a boomerang. For the first time, the Nazi propaganda machine is on the defensive. They begin to apologize to their own people for the repulse of their vast forces at Stalingrad, and for the enormous casualties they are suffering. They are compelled to beg their overworked people to rally their weakened production. They even publicly admit, for the first time, that Germany can be fed only at the cost of stealing food from the rest of Europe.
They are proclaiming that a second front is impossible; but, at the same time, they are desperately rushing troops in all directions, and stringing barbed wire all the way from the coasts of Finland and Norway to the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, they are driven to increase the fury of their atrocities.
The United Nations have decided to establish the identity of those Nazi leaders who are responsible for the innumerable acts of savagery. As each of these criminal deeds is committed, it is being carefully investigated; and the evidence is being relentlessly piled up for the future purposes of justice.
We have made it entirely clear that the United Nations seek no mass reprisals against the populations of Germany or Italy or Japan. But the ringleaders and their brutal henchmen must be named, and apprehended, and tried in accordance with the judicial processes of criminal law.
There are now millions of Americans in army camps, in naval stations, in factories, and in shipyards.
Who are these millions upon whom the life of our country depends? What are they thinking? What are their doubts? What are their hopes? And how is the work progressing?
The Commander-in-Chief cannot learn all of the answers to these questions in Washington. And that is why I made the trip I did.
It is very easy to say, as some have said, that when the President travels through the country he should go with a blare of trumpets, with crowds on the sidewalks, with batteries of reporters and photographers – talking and posing with all of the politicians of the land.
But having had some experience in this war and in the last war, I can tell you very simply that the kind of trip I took permitted me to concentrate on the work I had to do without expending time, meeting all the demands of publicity. And – I might add – it was a particular pleasure to make a tour of the country without having to give a single thought to politics.
I expect to make other trips for similar purposes, and I shall make them in the same way.
In the last war, I had seen great factories; but until I saw some of the new present-day plants, I had not thoroughly visualized our American war effort. Of course, I saw only a small portion of all our plants, but that portion was a good cross section, and it was deeply impressive.
The United States has been at war for only ten months, and is engaged in the enormous task of multiplying its armed forces many times. We are by no means at full production level yet. But I could not help asking myself on the trip, where would we be today if the government of the United States had not begun to build many of its factories for this huge increase more than two years ago – more than a year before war was forced upon us at Pearl Harbor.
We have also had to face the problem of shipping. Ships in every part of the world continue to be sunk by enemy action. But the total tonnage of ships coming out of American, Canadian, and British shipyards, day by day, has increased so fast that we are getting ahead of our enemies in the bitter battle of transportation.
In expanding our shipping, we have had to enlist many thousands of men for our merchant marine. These men are serving magnificently. They are risking their lives every hour so that guns and tanks and planes and ammunition and food may be carried to the heroic defenders of Stalingrad and to all the United Nations’ forces all over the world.
A few days ago I awarded the first Maritime Distinguished Service Medal to a young man – Edward F. Cheney of Yeadon, Pennsylvania – who had shown great gallantry in rescuing his comrades from the oily waters of the sea after their ship had been torpedoed. There will be many more such acts of bravery. In one sense my recent trip was a hurried one, out through the Middle West, to the Northwest, down the length of the Pacific coast, and back through the Southwest and the South. In another sense, however, it was a leisurely trip, because I had the opportunity to talk to the people who are actually doing the work – management and labor alike – on their own home grounds. And it gave me a fine chance to do some thinking about the major problems of our war effort on the basis of first things first.
As I told the three press association representatives who accompanied me, I was impressed by the large proportion of women employed – doing skilled manual labor running machines. As time goes on, and many more of our men enter the armed forces, this proportion of women will increase. Within less than a year from now there will probably be as many women as men working in our war production plants.
I had some enlightening experiences relating to the old saying of us men that curiosity – inquisitiveness – is stronger among women. I noticed, frequently, that when we drove unannounced down the middle aisle of a great plant full of workers and machines, the first people to look up from their work were the men – and not the women. It was chiefly the men who were arguing as to whether that fellow in the straw hat was really the President or not.
So having seen the quality of the work and of the workers on our production lines – and coupling these firsthand observations with the reports of actual performance of our weapons on the fighting fronts – I can say to you that we are getting ahead of our enemies in the battle of production.
And of great importance to our future production was the effective and rapid manner in which the Congress met the serious problem of the rising cost of living. It was a splendid example of the operation of democratic processes in wartime.
The machinery to carry out this act of the Congress was put into effect within twelve hours after the bill was signed. The legislation will help the cost-of-living problems of every worker in every factory and on every farm in the land.
In order to keep stepping up our production, we have had to add millions of workers to the total labor force of the nation. And as new factories come into operation, we must find additional millions of workers.
This presents a formidable problem in the mobilization of manpower.
It is not that we do not have enough people in this country to do the job. The problem is to have the right numbers of the right people in the right places at the right time.
We are learning to ration materials; and we must now learn to ration manpower.
The major objectives of a sound manpower policy are:
First, to select and train men of the highest fighting efficiency needed for our armed forces in the achievement of victory over our enemies in combat.
Second, to man our war industries and farms with the workers needed to produce the arms and munitions and food required by ourselves and by our fighting allies to win this war.
In order to do this, we shall be compelled to stop workers from moving from one war job to another as a matter of personal preference; to stop employers from stealing labor from each other; to use older men, and handicapped people, and more women, and even grown boys and girls, wherever possible and reasonable, to replace men of military age and fitness; to train new personnel for essential war work; and to stop the wastage of labor in all non-essential activities.
There are many other things that we can do, and do immediately, to help meet this manpower problem.
The school authorities in all the states should work out plans to enable our high school students to take some time from their school year, and to use their summer vacations, to help farmers raise and harvest their crops, or to work somewhere in the war industries. This does not mean closing schools and stopping education. It does mean giving older students a better opportunity to contribute their bit to the war effort. Such work will do no harm to the students.
People should do their work as near their homes as possible. We cannot afford to transport a single worker into an area where there is already a worker available to do the job.
In some communities, employers dislike to employ women. In others they are reluctant to hire Negroes. In still others, older men are not wanted. We can no longer afford to indulge such prejudices or practices.
Every citizen wants to know what essential war work he can do the best. He can get the answer by applying to the nearest United States Employment Service office. There are 4,500 of these offices throughout the nation. They form the corner grocery stores of our manpower system. This network of employment offices is prepared to advise every citizen where his skills and labors are needed most, and to refer him to an employer who can utilize them to best advantage in the war effort.
Perhaps the most difficult phase of the manpower problem is the scarcity of farm labor in many places. I have seen evidences of the fact, however, that the people are trying to meet it as well as possible.
In one community that I visited, a perishable crop was harvested by turning out the whole of the high school for three or four days.
And in another community of fruit growers the usual Japanese labor was not available; but when the fruit ripened, the banker, the butcher, the lawyer, the garage man, the druggist, the local editor, and in fact every able-bodied man and woman in the town, left their occupations, and went out, gathered the fruit, and sent it to market.
Every farmer in the land must realize fully that his production is part of war production, and that he is regarded by the nation as essential to victory. The American people expect him to keep his production up, and even to increase it. We will use every effort to help him to get labor; but, at the same time, he and the people of his community must use ingenuity and cooperative effort to produce crops, and livestock and dairy products.
It may be that all of our volunteer effort – however well intentioned and well administered – will not suffice wholly to solve this problem. In that case, we shall have to adopt new legislation. And if this is necessary, I do not believe that the American people will shrink from it.
In a sense, every American, because of the privilege of his citizenship, is a part of the Selective Service.
The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Selective Service boards. The successful operation of the Selective Service System and the way it has been accepted by the great mass of our citizens give us confidence that, if necessary, the same principle could be used to solve any manpower problem.
And I want to say also a word of praise and thanks to the more than 10,000,000 people, all over the country, who have volunteered for the work of civilian defense – and who are working hard at it. They are displaying unselfish devotion in the patient performance of their often tiresome and always anonymous tasks. In doing this important neighborly work they are helping to fortify our national unity and our real understanding of the fact that we are all involved in this war.
Naturally, on my trip I was most interested in watching the training of our fighting forces.
All of our combat units that go overseas must consist of young, strong men who have had thorough training. An Army division that has an average age of 23 or 24 is a better fighting unit than one which has an average age of 33 or 34. The more of such troops we have in the field, the sooner the war will be won, and the smaller will be the cost in casualties.
Therefore, I believe that it will be necessary to lower the present minimum age limit for Selective Service from twenty years down to eighteen. We have learned how inevitable that is and how important to the speeding up of victory.
I can very thoroughly understand the feelings of all parents whose sons have entered our armed forces. I have an appreciation of that feeling – and so has my wife.
I want every father and every mother who has a son in the service to know – again, from what I have seen with my own eyes – that the men in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are receiving today the best possible training, equipment, and medical care. And we will never fail to provide for the spiritual needs of our officers and men under the chaplains of our armed services.
Good training will save many, many lives in battle. The highest rate of casualties is always suffered by units comprised of inadequately trained men.
We can be sure that the combat units of our Army and Navy are well manned, well equipped, and well trained. Their effectiveness in action will depend upon the quality of their leadership, and upon the wisdom of the strategic plans on which all military operations are based.
I can say one thing about these plans of ours: They are not being decided by the typewriter strategists who expound their views in the press or on the radio.
One of the greatest of American soldiers, Robert E. Lee, once remarked on the tragic fact that in the war of his day all of the best generals were apparently working on newspapers instead of in the Army. And that seems to be true in all wars.
The trouble with the typewriter strategists is that, while they may be full of bright ideas, they are not in possession of much information about the facts or problems of military operations.
We, therefore, will continue to leave the plans for this war to the military leaders.
The military and naval plans of the United States are made by the Joint Staff of the Army and Navy which is constantly in session in Washington. The Chiefs of this Staff are Admiral Leahy, General Marshall, Admiral King, and General Arnold. They meet and confer regularly with representatives of the British Joint Staff, and with representatives of Russia, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, the British Dominions and other Nations working in the common cause.
Since this unity of operations was put into effect last January, there has been a very substantial agreement among these planners, all of whom are trained in the profession of arms – air, sea, and land – from their early years. As Commander-in-Chief I have at all times also been in substantial agreement.
As I have said before, many major decisions of strategy have been made. One of them – on which we have all agreed – relates to the necessity of diverting enemy forces from Russia and China to other theaters of war by new offensives against Germany and Japan. An announcement of how these offensives are to be launched, and when, and where, cannot be broadcast over the radio at this time.
We are celebrating today the exploit of a bold and adventurous Italian – Christopher Columbus – who with the aid of Spain opened up a new world where freedom and tolerance and respect for human rights and dignity provided an asylum for the oppressed of the Old World.
Today, the sons of the New World are fighting in lands far distant from their own America. They are fighting to save for all mankind, including ourselves, the principles which have flourished in this New World of freedom.
We are mindful of the countless millions of people whose future liberty and whose very lives depend upon permanent victory for the United Nations.
There are a few people in this country who, when the collapse of the Axis begins, will tell our people that we are safe once more; that we can tell the rest of the world to “stew in its own juice”; that never again will we help to pull “the other fellow’s chestnuts from the fire”; that the future of civilization can jolly well take care of itself insofar as we are concerned.
But it is useless to win battles if the cause for which we fight these battles is lost. It is useless to win a war unless it stays won.
We, therefore, fight for the restoration and perpetuation of faith and hope and peace throughout the world.
The objective of today is clear and realistic. It is to destroy completely the military power of Germany, Italy, and Japan to such good purpose that their threat against us and all the other United Nations cannot be revived a generation hence. We are united in seeking the kind of victory that will guarantee that our grandchildren can grow and, under God, may live their lives, free from the constant threat of invasion, destruction, slavery, and violent death.
1 Like
U.S. Navy Department (October 12, 1942)
Communiqué No. 147
Certain initial phases of the Solomon Islands campaign, not announced previously for military reasons, can now be reported.
Reconnaissance during last June and July revealed enemy activity of marked significance in the Japanese controlled Solomon Islands. An airfield was in process of construction on Guadalcanal Island and facilities of other nearby bases were being expanded rapidly. This expansion in the Solomons, together with increased activity in Eastern New Guinea, clearly indicated that the enemy was attempting to establish and maintain control of the air and sea in the Solomon Islands area. Establishment of such control would have put the Japanese in a position to launch a seaborne thrust at Port Darwin and Australia, and would have seriously threatened our supply lines to Australia and New Zealand as well as to our island bases in the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and the Fiji Islands.
It was necessary, therefore, that these designs of the enemy be blocked by our capturing and utilizing his key positions in the southeastern Solomons. This was accomplished on August 7, when U.S. forces surprised and captured Japanese positions in the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area, as described in Navy Department Communiqués 107 and 115 and Admiral King’s statement on August 10.
Vigorous opposition was offered to the consolidation of our positions. Throughout August 7 and August 8, enemy planes carried out raids on our shore positions, transports and fleet units. These raids did not prevent U.S. Marines from seizing most of the key positions in the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area by the afternoon of August 8. Meanwhile, additional troops, supplies and equipment were being unloaded from transports and supply ships, and it was imperative that these operations be successfully completed. To this end screening groups of allied cruisers and destroyers were placed on both sides of Savo Island to guard the western entrances to the transport area. An additional screening force was stationed near the transports to provide close coverage within the harbor.
At about 11:45 a. m. on the night of August 8-9, enemy aircraft dropped flares over our transports and supply ships. Simultaneously, a force of enemy cruisers and destroyers skirted the south coast of Savo Island at high speed, headed in the direction of the transports and supply ships which were silhouetted in the illuminated area. The rapidly moving enemy sighted our covering unit located southeast of Savo and opened fire immediately with guns and torpedoes, seriously damaging and setting fire to the Australian cruiser, HMAS Canberra. It later became necessary to abandon the Canberra and she sank the following morning, as already announced. Following a brief engagement with our southeastern screen the Japanese altered course to proceed through the passage northeast of Savo Island. Here the Japanese force encountered our northeast screen of cruisers and destroyers and a battle at dose range resulted. The action was fought with guns and torpedoes, with targets illuminated by searchlights and starshells. The enemy fire was heavy and accurate and the U.S. cruisers Quincy and Vincennes were hit repeatedly and sank during the night. A third cruiser, the USS Astoria, was badly damaged and burned throughout the night. She sank the following morning.
It was not possible to determine the extent of damage inflicted on the Japanese ships by our screening forces. The enemy withdrew to the northwest without attempting an attack on our transports and supply ships. Although a majority of the personnel was saved, there still were many casualties as a result of the sinking of the four Allied cruisers. The next of kin of those lost and wounded have been notified. The loss of these four cruisers has now been offset by the appropriate reallocation of ships which is made possible by new ship construction.
Völkischer Beobachter (October 13, 1942)
Chiles und Argentiniens Antwort an die USA. –
,Ungerechtfertigte Beleidigung und Aggression‘
vb. Wien, 12. Oktober –
Die unverschämte Rede des nordamerikanischen Unterstaatssekretärs Sumner Welles gegen die Politik Argentiniens und Chiles und seine kategorische Forderung nach Abbruch der Beziehungen zur Achse hat seitens dieser beiden Staaten eine unmißverständliche Antwort gefunden. Während die argentinische und chilenische Öffentlichkeit mit einem einzigen Schrei der Empörung reagierte, protestierten die Botschafter beider Länder in Washington. Der Präsident von Chile, Rios, hat auf Grund der unqualiflzierbaren Beleidigung seines Landes seinen geplanten Besuch bei Roosevelt auf unbestimmte Zeit verschoben.
In Buenos Aires ergriff auf einer Massenkundgebung im Luna-Park der Führer der argentinischen Nationalunion, Dr. Fresco, das Wort und ging mit der pseudodemokratischen Politik der USA, von der Menge begeistert umjubelt, scharf ins Gebet. Einer der hervorragendsten Politiker Chiles, der Expräsident Arturo Alessandri, wies in einem auffallend scharfen Artikel die Unterstell rigen Sumner Welles zurück und kennzeichnete sie als „ungerechtfertige Beleidigung und Aggression“. Überall im freien Südamerika brandet eine Welle des Zornes gegen die Dreistigkeiten der Washingtoner Hemisphärenfronvögte.
Besonders bemerkenswert ist das Wiedererscheinen des früheren chilenischen Präsidenten Alessandri auf der politischen Bühne in diesem Augenblick. „Ich protestiere!“ ist der Titel seines von der gesamten chilenischen Presse Veröffentlichten Beitrages, in dem ein Satz steht, der von Roosevelt nicht oft genug gelesen werden kann:
Die nationale Würde verbietet es uns, Entschlüsse auf Befehl eines fremden und stärkeren Landes zu fassen.
Man habe, so schreibt Alessandri weiter, in Südamerika allgemein gehofft, daß die Zeiten des USA.-Imperialismus vorüber seien. Die Angriffe und Beleidigungen Sumner Welles zeigten aber „die Rückkehr zum angreiferischen und unberechtigten Imperialismus früherer Jahre“ an. Sie seien eine Warnung für die Länder, die heute noch den USA uneingeschränkte Hilfe leisteten.
Alessandri umriß weiter erbarmungslos die Person von Sumner Welles, der zusammen mit Nelson Rockefeller und dem brasilianischen Außenminister Aranha die südliche Hemisphäre für Wall Street erobern soll. Sumner Welles sei seinerzeit zur Konferenz von Rio de Janeiro gefahren, um die 20 ibero-amerikanischen Republiken an den USA.-Karren zu spannen. Sein Scheitern in dieser Sache könne er nicht verwinden.
Im Zusammenhang mit der Absage des Besuches Rios an Washington zum vorgesehenen Termin am 15. Oktober ist der Wortlaut der Botschaft des chilenischen Präsidenten an Roosevelt aufschlußreich, der jetzt vorliegt. Es heißt darin unter anderem:
Ich bedaure sehr, daß ich mich gezwungen sehen muß, Eurer Exzellenz mitzuteilen, daß die kürzlich in den Vereinigten Staaten in Umlauf gesetzten amtlichen Informationen über die Lage meines Landes mich veranlassen, die Ehre, Eurer Exzellenz einen Besuch abzustatten, vorläufig aufzuschieben.
U.S. Navy Department (October 13, 1942)
Communiqué No. 148
South Pacific.
On October 9:
-
During the morning Marine Corps aircraft attacked a Japanese force of two light cruisers and four destroyers in the area north of New Georgia Island. A direct hit damaged one of the cruisers and when last seen she was down by the bow. The second cruiser was also attacked and minor damage was reported. Three of the enemy seaplanes which attempted to fight off our attack were shot down.
-
Navy and Marine Corps search planes bombed enemy antiaircraft installations at Rekata Bay and strafed seaplanes on the water. The results of this attack are not known.
On October 11:
-
Four waves of Japanese bombers with fighter escort totaling about 35 bombers and 30 fighters attempted to bomb our positions at Guadalcanal. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps fighters intercepted and forced the bombers to drop their loads in an open field. Eight enemy bombers and 4 Zero fighters were shot down. Two U.S. fighter planes were lost.
-
United States Marines succeeded in extending our positions to the westward on the north shore of Guadalcanal Island after 2 days of offensive operations. Army fighters assisted by strafing enemy troops and installations and the enemy suffered many casualties.
Communiqué No. 149
South Pacific.
On various occasions during recent weeks the Japanese were successful in increasing the number of their troops on Guadalcanal Island by night landings from cruisers, destroyers, and small transports. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft from Guadalcanal persistently attacked these landing parties but air attack alone did not stop the landings. For this reason a task group of United States cruisers and destroyers was ordered to intercept enemy ships attempting further landings.
At about midnight on the night of October 11-12, this task group engaged a force of enemy cruisers, destroyers and transports to the westward of Savo Island. After a 30-minute battle fought with guns and torpedoes, the enemy was forced to abandon his landing attempt and withdraw. Several of our ships received minor to moderate damage, and one U.S. destroyer was sunk. During the engagement our forces sank one heavy cruiser (Nati or Atago class), four destroyers and an enemy transport of about 5,000 tons.
During the morning of October 12, Navy and Marine Corps torpedo planes and dive bombers left Guadalcanal to locate and attack the retreating enemy ships. At about 10 o’clock, two enemy cruisers were overtaken south of New Georgia Island. A torpedo hit was obtained on one cruiser, and several bombs exploded nearby. The cruiser was left dead in the water and burning.
During the afternoon of October 12, an air group from Guadalcanal attacked an enemy cruiser and a destroyer, also in the area south of New Georgia Island. A direct bomb hit severely damaged and stopped the cruiser. When last seen her crew were abandoning ship. It is believed that this cruiser had been damaged during the previous engagements. A direct hit and several near misses set fire to the destroyer accompanying the cruiser, and she was left in a sinking condition.
Reports received to date indicate that as a result of the night action of October 11th-12th and the air attacks on October 12, the enemy suffered the following minimum of damage:
- One heavy cruiser sunk.
- One cruiser badly damaged and out of action.
- Four destroyers sunk.
- One medium-sized transport sunk.
- One destroyer probably sunk.
The destroyer mentioned in paragraph 2 was the only U.S. ship lost in these actions.
Communiqué No. 150
North Pacific.
On the 8th, 9th, and 10th of October, Army heavy bombers, escorted by fighters, continued to bomb enemy installations and ships in the harbor of Kiska. Both demolition and incendiary bombs were used. Targets for these bombings were chiefly the camp and hangar area and enemy ships in the harbor. Fires were observed ashore and damage was reported on the ships in the harbor.
In these attacks only moderate antiaircraft opposition was experienced and no hostile planes were observed in the air. Although receiving minor damage all of our planes returned.
The various types of Army aircraft employed in these raids were:
- Consolidated “Liberator” bombers.
- Boeing “Flying Fortress” bombers.
- Lockheed “Lightning” fighters.
- Bell “Airacobra” fighters.
The Pittsburgh Press (October 13, 1942)
Navy reveals loss of three big warships
Heavy cruisers sunk by Japs off Tulagi Aug. 9 now replaced
…
Roosevelt: Allied threat places Nazis on defensive
Germany apologizing for losses and setbacks, President asserts
…
Henderson acts –
Limit of 5 tires ordered for cars
Owners of extras will be denied gas rationing cards until they sell them to government; registration will start Nov. 9
…
Willkie arrives in U.S.
Minneapolis, Minnesota –
Wendell Willkie, returning to the United States after an around-the-world tour, arrived here at 2:17 p.m. today.
1 Like
Cesar Romero enlists
Long Beach, California –
Cesar Romero, Hollywood actor, today signed up with the Coast Guard as an apprentice seaman.
1 Like
I DARE SAY —
Irving Berlin!
By Florence Fisher Parry
I know – just yesterday I wrote about Irving Berlin in this same space, and I wish I hadn’t, for that was before I had met him; and now, try as I try, I cannot for the life of me write of anything else today!
This man is a quiet and filling event in anyone’s life, once you meet him, once you are near the steady, burning fire and common sense of him. Once in a while you meet someone, and suddenly the whole meaning of America comes out clear. Will Rogers was such a one, Henry Ford, Lou Gehrig, Georgie Cohan – yes, I remember now meeting each and thinking.
This is America – this is what America can do for the Born-to-Be’s.
And then I met Irving Berlin – small, husky-voiced, tired – not spent, but fatigued in that way that comes over one in interludes between creativeness.
Here there were only a few of us wonderfully at home – wonderfully close somehow – because Irving Berlin, being the magnet he is, draws from those near him their true selves; all attitudes fall away, leaving you strangely real and simple, as though you yourself were taking on something of his unspoiled attributes.
Creativeness
Someone asked him what it was that kept his fires burning and burning, and made him still CARE and be so caught up with each new creation. And he gave an answer, and it seemed to sum the man. He said:
Well, I’m just a guy who wants to do a good job.
If you can think of a better answer to what animates a man to dream, and work tirelessly all his life through, not thinking of any reward but the inner reward – not needing more success, but having to earn it just the same – just please tell me!
To me that answer of Irving Berlin resolved the whole mystery of what is meant by creativeness. Creativeness is something that drives you, drives you to do your best. It is the greatest perfectionist of all; and if you have it, your goal is always ahead, never reached, and always alluring…
Oh, if we could only set down – any of us – adequately, the story of Irving Berlin – how his songs came to be written – how he came up, up, UP from nothing, up to being an idol and a legend and a saga – what a piece of reporting that would be!
He told us how This is the Army rolled up its great snowball – how it started not to be a moneymaker at all, just a theater piece good for our souls… and now it’s on the way to making $5 million for Uncle Sam – the greatest single moneymaker the theater has ever known!
But then we got him started to talk about the songs he had written; and as he talked you’d swear that writing songs was an ADVENTURE beyond the dreams of any Marco Polo! He told us about “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” and how it wasn’t the first ragtime at all, but was thought to be just because of happening to have the word in the title. He told about why “God Bless America” was cut out of Yip Yip Yaphank and how in this show too he omitted it, and for the soundest reason. He said:
These boys hate sap like poison. They’re bashful about their souls – they’re not God-Blessing America, they’re fighting for America. Let the home front carry the sentimental burden, but for them, cut the soft stuff!
He told us why one of his new songs, “When That Man’s Dead and Gone,” didn’t catch on – because it happened to be written before Pearl Harbor, that’s all, and we were afraid to hate Hitler openly because this wasn’t our war then. And when we asked him:
Well, what about your writing some battlecry-of-hate now?
…he shook his head, and he said:
No, no hate song’ll ever go over, here in America – because we’re not haters – we really don’t know how to hate! We can get damn mad, and we can fight like hell – but we’re rotten haters.
Can’t be forced
And when we asked him:
But see here, isn’t something brewing and brewing inside you – eating at you – to write a war song for NOW?
…he nodded and said:
Yes, yes but I can’t force it. Great songs can’t be forced, they happen. Oh, sweat goes into the writing of them – sweat, and toil – but this doesn’t make a song. A song overtakes you – possesses you – gives you no rest, and then – it’s there; and whether it’s good or not it sweeps the world, is just one of those things – and all that guys like me can do about it is just do the best we know how all the time, all the time – and care, care terribly, while we’re doing it…
We asked him, of course, what of his songs he liked best, and he named them after a fashion: “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody.” “God Bless America,” “Heat Wave,” “Always.” – Oh, I can’t remember all; but I do remember how he dwelt on “Always.” It was plain he had a fondness for it; and while he was talking about it, somehow the picture of him changed, and I no longer saw before me a songwriter whose songs have stormed and soothed the heart of the world.
No, I saw instead a man who had a wife he loved very dearly, and lovely children, and a peace and contentment passing all worldly honors waiting for him at the end of his workaday.
…And I went home humming…
Not for just an hour,
Not for just a day,
Not for just a year,
But Always.
1 Like
WAACs lose privilege of postage-free mail
Washington (UP) –
The free mailing privilege has been suspended for members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps because of a technicality in the law permitting members of the Armed Forces to mail letters without postage, it was learned today.
WAACs do not have a full-fledged military action under the law which created the corps, whereas the free-mailing law specifically limits its privileges to members of the U.S. fighting units. WAACs are thus eliminated automatically.
Officials expected that legislation to correct the situation would be placed before Congress soon.
1 Like
Suffrage leader dies
Montclair, New Jersey –
Mrs. Janet Patten Macy, 94, leader in the women’s suffrage movement, died last night at her home here.