What about the army and Air force? Did they allow soldiers and pilots to keep diaries or were they torched too?
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The Army and Air Force has little or no regulations against it, as of now.
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Ferguson: Ants and grasshoppers
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
Women scouts from the War Production Board in Washington are traveling about the country in a so-called educational effort to inspire scrap contributions from housewives.
If this were not so expensive it would be funny, for there is something humorous in the grasshopper begging the ant for help. And certainly, the ants of our time are the homemakers. They are the only native Americans who have ever saved material things.
Most of them are both sentimental and sensible, and so they hold on to the used gadgets they have loved and put aside items which they feel might be useful later on. Today their trash is handy stuff for Uncle Sam and the men have sent out an SOS for it. Winter has descended upon our male grasshoppers and it’s a good thing everyone didn’t listen to the pet theories of those who have been preaching waste for a decade.
It used to be painful to move about the country, because the sight of good used cars filling scores of vacant lots, of half-worn material piled in junkyards, and of farm implements left to rust and rot in all kinds of weather outraged our housewifely instincts.
We are emerging from a period which will be noted in history for its crackpot economic ideas. The destruction of foodstuffs and of machines will be regarded someday as a major scandal – because, whatever new political “isms” may teach, thrift, like chastity, is a fixed virtue. What’s more, it must be bred into a people.
You can’t produce character, as you do tanks and guns, by working double shifts and overtime. Because we were rich and supposedly invincible, we have wasted our substance like the Prodigal Son – behavior we are already living to regret.
U.S. Navy Department (October 25, 1941)
Communiqué No. 167
South Pacific.
During the night of October 22-23, U.S. long-range aircraft attacked enemy ships in the Shortland Island area of the Solomon Islands. Bombs and torpedoes inflicted the following damage on enemy vessels:
- One light cruiser damaged by one direct and one probable torpedo hit.
- One destroyer damaged by a bomb hit.
- One heavy cruiser (or battleship) possibly damaged by a torpedo hit.
All of our planes returned.
During the late morning of October 23, our airfield at Guadalcanal was attacked by 16 enemy bombers escorted by 20 “Zero” fighters. Our Grumman “Wildcats” intercepted and shot down 1 bomber, damaged 3 others and destroyed the entire fighter escort.
During the night of October 23-24, enemy troops, using tanks and heavy artillery barrage, made four attempts to penetrate our western defense lines on Guadalcanal. Our Army and Marine Corps troops and artillery batteries repulsed each attack and destroyed five enemy tanks.
During the early morning of October 24, an additional enemy attack against our western defense lines was broken up by our aircraft and artillery. One U.S. plane was lost.
During the night of October 24-25, U.S. aircraft attacked an enemy surface force of several cruisers and destroyers about 300 miles northeast of Guadalcanal. One cruiser was reported probably damaged by a torpedo.
On October 25:
-
During the morning, troops from enemy transports were landed on the northwest end of Guadalcanal Island. No amplifying report on these operations has been received.
-
During the day, Douglas “Dauntless” dive bombers from Guadalcanal made three attacks on an enemy force of cruisers and destroyers immediately north of Florida Island. One enemy cruiser was damaged by bombs and the force withdrew.
The Pittsburgh Press (October 25, 1942)
Deferment for farmers –
Senate votes year’s drill in teen draft
Restriction adopted despite opposition by Roosevelt
Bulletin
Washington – (Oct. 24)
The Senate today adopted an amendment to the teenage draft bill authorizing deferment of bona fide farm workers from military service until they can be satisfactorily replaced. The amendment was sponsored by Senator Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), who said it had the approval of Selective Service officials and would help meet a “terrible shortage” of farm labor.
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 24)
The Senate today voted, 39–31, to insist on a year’s military training in the United States for 18 and 19-year-old youths before they may be assigned to combat.
It adopted an amendment by W. Lee O’Daniel (D-TX) offered to the pending bill to lower the minimum draft age to 18.
President Roosevelt, his military leaders and Democratic Leader Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky had said the restrictions would keep planes grounded.
‘Better soldiers’ sought
Mr. O’Daniel, in a final plea for adoption of his amendment, said it:
…has been insinuated that those Senators who believe teenage boys should have one year’s training are interfering with Army officials.
He added:
What we’re endeavoring to do is trying to help them further because we believe these boys will be better soldiers after a year’s training.
The Senate adopted the O’Daniel amendment by roll call vote as a substitute for a similar one by George W. Norris (I-NE). The only difference was that Mr. O’Daniel’s amendment required a year’s training for both 18 and 19-year-olds, while Mr. Norris; applied to 18-year-olds only.
Marshall’s plea cited
Lister Hill (D-AL), administration whip in the Senate and spokesman for the War Department on year’s training issue, urged his colleagues to accede to the plea of Gen. George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, that no training requirement be written into the bill.
Mr. Hill asked:
Are we going to send word to Berlin that the message that Gen. Marshall sent to the Senate saying it would eb almost impossible to administer this bill was met by the Senate insisting on writing in the restriction?
He said there was a misunderstanding about Gen. Marshall’s position on the training question. The Chief of Staff, Mr. Hill said:
…never has taken the position that every soldier has to have 12 months’ training.
…but has said it takes at least 12 months to train an army division.
Life raft may save him –
Rickenbacker hunted at sea
Planes comb wide area for ace in Pacific
Honolulu, Hawaii (UP) – (Oct. 24)
Hope for the rescue of Capt. E. V. (Eddie) Rickenbacker, World War I air ace and Eastern Airlines president, was pinned tonight on the possibility that he is afloat on the life raft with which his plane was equipped when it was presumably forced down in the Pacific Wednesday.
Army and Navy personnel aboard planes and surface craft carrying out the search kept sharp lookout for such a yellow raft, part of the emergency equipment of all military planes in this area. The searchers were aided by a full moon.
It was believed possible that Capt. Rickenbacker could stay afloat on a life raft for weeks. The feat has been accomplished by several Navy pilots who have been forced down at sea.
The Army announced that:
All available facilities are being used for the search.
…and the Navy’s big flying boats were cooperating. The hunt spread out southwest of Oahu, where Capt. Rickenbacker’s plane was last reported.
Capt. Rickenbacker’s presence in Hawaii had been a closely guarded secret until yesterday’s announcement by the Army in Washington that his plane was missing. He was making a military inspection trip for Lt. Gen. H. H. Arnold, Army Air Force chief.
Capt. Rickenbacker is 52 years old and not fully recovered from a crash of one of his company’s planes when he set out on his Pacific inspection tour.
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Christmas package ship lost on ship to Britain
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 24)
The Army Postal Service today announced the loss of 4,986 sacks of mail, consisting largely of Christmas packages addressed to American troops in the British Isles. The mail was aboard a sunken United Nations cargo vessel.
The packages were those mailed to the Army Post Office in New York City during the latter part of September, through Oct. 3. Packages arriving there later than Oct. 3 were not among the lost shipment.
More enemy boats sunk –
Pacific admirals shifted; Navy raids Japanese isles
Halsey replaces Ghormley as commander in Solomons area as U.S. fleet units attack foe in Gilberts and Ellices and blast 4 ships
By Sandor S. Klein, United Press staff writer
Navy raids Jap bases east of Solomons, sinking two patrol ships and damaging a destroyer and merchant vessel at Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. The Ellice Islands were also raided. Tarawa is 1,500 miles east of the Japs’ main South Pacific base at Truk. Tarawa is about 1,100 miles from Guadalcanal in the Solomons.
Washington – (Oct. 24)
The Navy announced today that Vice Adm. William F. Halsey Jr. has been made Commander-in-Chief of the South Pacific Area in a shakeup coincident with steadily increasing activity by powerful Japanese forces bent upon recapturing vital Guadalcanal in the Solomons.
The new commander replaces 59-year-old Vice Adm. Robert Lee Ghormley who launched the American attack on the Solomons Aug. 7 and has directed it since.
A few hours after the announcement of the shakeup, the Navy disclosed that U.S. warships had resumed far-ranging raiding operations in the South Pacific similar to earlier raids which Adm. Halsey himself has led against the Japanese-held Gilbert, Marshal, Wake and Marcus Islands.
No news of Solomons
The new raids, the communiqué said, were carried out in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, approximately 1,000 miles from the beleaguered Solomons, and resulting in the sinking of two small enemy patrol vessels by gunfire. A Japanese destroyer and one merchant ship were damaged.
Meanwhile, the Navy said:
There has been no report of any new action in the Solomon Islands area.
Adm. Halsey, 59-year-old holder of the Distinguished Service Medal for his leadership of brilliant actions against the enemy in the early months of the war, takes over the South Pacific command at a time when mounting American losses are causing some criticism in Congress of the conduct of the Solomons campaign.
Invasion fleet massed
Just a week ago, Rep. John M. Costello (D-CA), member of the House Military Affairs Committee, told the House he feared the Navy had attempted a “grandstand play” in the Solomons by failure to seek Army cooperation. Other Congressional leaders have voiced similar fears privately.
Meanwhile, the Japanese have been able to concentrate a powerful invasion fleet in the Solomons and have already pushed out “feeler” thrusts against the American garrison on Guadalcanal, presumably preliminary to an all-out assault.
Ship losses heavy
Thus far, U.S. losses in the Solomons have included at least 12 ships – three heavy cruisers, five destroyers, three auxiliary transports and one transport – plus unannounced numbers of ships damaged, aircraft destroyed and men killed or wounded. In addition, the Australian cruiser Canberra was sunk early in the campaign.
The most alarming development announced was recently the occupation by enemy forces – disclosed yesterday – of the strategically situated Russell Island, only 30 miles northwest of Guadalcanal. Possession of this island gives the Japanese a valuable supply base for their ground forces on Guadalcanal.
Jap forces regrouped
The enemy’s ability – repeatedly established since Oct. 14 – to land forces and heavy equipment, to push home night warship bombardments of the vital American-held Guadalcanal airfield, and to carry out increasingly-heavy air attacks on the field was regarded as evidence of the extent to which the Japanese have regrouped their forces since their defeat in the battles of Midway and the Coral Sea.
Adm. Halsey, who won the Navy Cross as a destroyer squadron commander in World War I, commanded the Pacific task force which raided the Japanese-held Marshall and Gilbert Islands last January. For this “brilliant and audacious” attack, President Roosevelt awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal.
Led raid on Wake
Adm. Halsey is a naval aviator – the son of a naval captain – and has commanded aircraft carriers. Since 1934, he has been identified with the Naval Air Service. In the Marshall and Gilbert Islands raid, his task force destroyed 16 enemy ships, including a converted 17,000-ton aircraft carrier, and 41 planes. He also led the successful raids on Wake Island, Feb. 24, and Marcus Island, March 4.
In replacing Adm. Ghormley, the Navy did not say what his new duties would be. The retiring commander, whose home is in Moscow, Idaho, is not rugged physically.
Other changes in the South Pacific Command announced at the same time included the designation of Vice Adm. Herbert F. Leary, heretofore Commander of United Nations Naval Forces in the Southwest Pacific under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, as a Pacific task force commander. He will be succeeded by Rear Adm. Arthur S. Carpender who was his second-in-command.
Enemy suffers reverses
Adm. Leary succeeds Vice Adm. William S. Pye, who moves from the task force leadership to the presidency of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
Heavy as U.S. losses have been in the Solomons, the Japanese have suffered reverses too. Enemy losses thus far announced include 10 ships sunk, three probably sunk and 46 damaged. Navy communiqués have announced destruction of 353 enemy planes.
Congressional criticism of the Solomons campaign has stressed fear that the Army and Navy High Commands are still not cooperating effectively.
Congress may act
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson recently attempted to allay such criticism with the disclosure that Army troops and airmen had been dispatched to the Solomons. Mr. Stimson added the assertion that Gen. MacArthur, United Nations Commander-in-Chief in the Southwest Pacific – Australia and islands to the north – was cooperating closely with the Navy.
Some Congressional leaders have said privately that unless the situation, as they saw it, was corrected soon, they would bring it to a head after the November elections.
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Speeding to war work thwarts ODT purpose
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 24)
War workers are the chief violators of the 35-mile-an-hour national speed limit, according to an Office of Defense Transportation report.
Representatives of the International Association of Chiefs of Police told ODT Director Joseph B. Eastman that some war workers are possibly under the impression that the limit does not apply to them because their work is of an essential nature.
Eastman pointed out that such workers should be among the first to cooperate in a rule designed for their benefit.
Luxury foods due to go –
U.S. may lose ice cream; butter, cheese dole seen
Agriculture Department cites failure to attain milk gial, increased wartime demands
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 24)
Ice cream may join the list of “luxury” food items losing wartime priority, it was indicated by the Agriculture Department today. The rationing of other dairy products such as butter and cheese is also considered possible.
The Food Requirements Committee has found that, while American dairymen surpassed all previous milk production records, total output fell about five million pounds short of the 1942 food-for-victory goal. The heavy demand for milk and milk products may force the committee to recommend rationing.
Ice cream would be one of the first items to disappear, the Department predicted. Butter and cheese would next be placed on the rationed list. A system would be set up to divert adequate supplies of whole milk to children, mothers and invalids.
A pattern which may be followed throughout the war on the food front was recently fashioned in the case of so-called “luxury” vegetables. The Department of Agriculture asked growers of asparagus, avocados, lettuce and other winter crops to divert their acreages to more essential foods, such as beans, peas and carrots.
It was made clear to producers of luxury items that they will have last call on manpower, equipment and fertilizers.
WPB freezes sales of vacuum cleaners
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 24)
The War Production Board today prohibited until next Jan. 1 all sales of new domestic vacuum cleaners to anyone except the Army, Navy, Lend-Lease, or holders of Board of Economic Warfare export licenses.
The action was described as “a temporary measure, pending determination of supplies of vacuum cleaners in the hands of manufacturers,” who must file inventory reports with the WPB by Nov. 9.
WPB said:
If it should be found that manufacturers’ stocks are sufficient to supply all military requirements, it is expected that vacuum cleaners in dealers’ and wholesalers’ hands will be released.
Vacuum cleaner production was stopped April 30.
Roosevelt hurdle scrapped
Cambridge, Massachusetts – (Oct. 24)
A metal fence, over which President Roosevelt used to jump as a Harvard undergraduate, was razed today and sent to the scrap pile.
Army list 3 more missing Tokyo raiders
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 24)
The War Department today revealed the names of three more American fliers who are “understood to be missing” after the April 18 bombing of Japan under the leadership of Brig. Gen. James Doolittle.
The three are:
- 1st Lt. Chase J. Nielsen, Hyrum, Utah;
- 1st Lt. Robert L. Hite, Earth, Texas;
- 1st Lt. Robert J. Meder, Lakewood, Ohio.
This brings to eight the number of American fliers which the War Department this week has disclosed as missing. Prior to this week, the Department had not disclosed that any of the fliers had been listed as missing.
The first admission that four fliers were missing came at a press conference of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson after the Tokyo radio had said that some of the Doolittle raiders were being held captive.
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Scrap your compacts, women are urged
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 24)
American women were urged today to give all their compacts, except one, to the scrap metal drive, and check up on their cosmetic counters for other salvage items.
Mrs. Mary B. White of the War Production Board said most women “have half a dozen lipstick holders” and “can’t possibly use all of them.”
She said:
We need the unused ones for the war effort.
She said the nation is “loaded up” with discarded material and that:
We should make a systematic monthly canvass of American homes, organize the family into a salvaging squad, and have our Boy Scout sons make salvage bins.
Mrs. White said she plans to begin salvaging silk and nylon stockings, probably around Nov. 1. Only stockings containing part silk or part nylon will be salvaged – no rayon. Underwear will not be a salvaged item, she explained, because the weave is not suitable to making powder bags.
New life preserver can double as tent
Washington –
A shelter tent that is also an emergency life preserver is the product of two Washington inventors, Cdr. E. C. Craig of the Navy and Glen W. Leyde, already to their credit in the field of rubberized fabric products. Their present invention, covered by patent 2,299,078, contemplates a tent made of a moderately thick layer of expanded cellular rubber covered on both sides by duck or canvas. It is permanently closed on one end by a vulcanized seam, and the entrance can be smugly secured by a slide fastener with pull-tabs on both sides.
Invention speeds tube production
Washington –
Torpedo tubes for the Navy are coming at a faster rate from the Nordberg Manufacturing Co. plant, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since Ralph E. Miller found a simple way to grind their surfaces, saving 2,500 man-hours per year. His device, a portable motor-driven grinder, gives a smooth finish to the surface and blends the steel barrel of the tube with the riveted brass and flange used in the torpedo door. It can be operated by unskilled workers. War Production Drive Headquarters has awarded Mr. Miller a Certificate of Individual Production Merit.
Cheered by Britons –
U.S. may conscript women, First Lady says in London
By Hilde Marchant, written for the United Press
The following account of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt’s first full day in London has been written by Hilde Marchant, a feature writer for the London Daily Mirror.
London, England – (Oct. 24)
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt intimated tonight that the United States may eventually conscript women to fill war jobs.
The President’s wife, who arrived in London yesterday as the guest of King George and Queen Elizabeth, said she had heard “only praise” for work done by women in factories thus far.
She told a press conference:
You come to everything as you need it. It is very difficult to make people realize the importance of some piece of work until it is actually very badly needed.
She pointed out that six months ago, talk of registration of labor only stirred an uproar among trade unions and Congress. She added:
But today, many cry:
Why aren’t women working?
At the same time, Mrs. Roosevelt appealed for deeper bonds of understanding between the United States and Britain. She said she believed improved Anglo-American relations depended upon increased knowledge of the people in each country about the other.
She said:
I think most of the people of England know little about the United States. Just so, most of the people of the United States know little about England. Our history books begin with the American Revolution.
It was a busy day for Mrs. Roosevelt. She had luncheon at Buckingham Palace with British women war workers, then went on a tour of the blitzed areas.
Accompanied by the King and Queen, she motored to St. Paul’s Cathedral, then to St. Clement Dames and deeper into the areas of heavier damage.
In a subterranean room at the air-raid patrol control center, she looked at a pin-studded map showing the extent of the city’s bomb damage. She said:
My goodness.
Many cheer her
Her trip through the ruins of the hard-hit East Side was supposed to have been a secret, but the route was lined with enthusiastic women and children.
Once, the children surrounded the royal car and climbed upon the running board, cheering loudly. Police had to call them off so that the procession could move on.
At the air-raid center, Mrs. Roosevelt was greeted by Lord Mayor Sir John Laurie and Regional Commissioner Sir Ernest Gowers. She looked over London’s civil defense setup and asked them numerous questions.
‘Fond of people’
Mrs. Roosevelt explained that she hoped her visit wouldn’t be made too formal.
She said:
I’m fond of people and I like talking to them.
The First Lady chattered with her son Elliott until 2 a.m. She arose early and breakfasted alone, then walked about the palace with the Queen, who showed her the damage German bombers had inflicted to the royal chapel and other nearby spots.
She won reporters’ hearts when she unaffectedly remarked at her press conference that:
I’m a little deaf, but go right ahead and ask your questions.
Asked about the reasons for her trip, she said she was interested in “every phase” of what British women had accomplished.
‘Can use knowledge’
She said:
You have had many more years of war effort than we.
There is suddenly great interest in what women can do, and there is a great deal of your experience and knowledge that we can use.
Typical of the curiosity which Mrs. Roosevelt’s visit has aroused among people on the street were the remarks of three women who were excitedly discussing her:
She’s tallern’ the King… I’m mighty glad to have caught a glimpse of her… I wish the President were here too.
Mrs. Roosevelt’s press conference was an awesome affair for the London press, and the only person fully at ease seemed to be the First Lady.
In untouchable class?
The rank and file of British newspapermen and women have neither interviewed nor talked with King George or Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and they were rather inclined to regard Mrs. Roosevelt as being in the untouchable class, too.
More than 100 reporters were presented – all the girl reporters turned out in their best clothes. It was the biggest press turnout since Wendell L. Willkie came to Britain.
When Mrs. Roosevelt appeared for the conference, all the reporters rose. She stood throughout the conference, answering all the questions in a pleasant, natural tone.
Visits dockyard area
Mrs. Roosevelt was taken on a roundabout route through the dockyard area.
The King and Queen appeared as interested as Mrs. Roosevelt. It was the first trip for Their Majesties to some of the points of the tour.
Mrs. Roosevelt asked Patricia Bewing, 22, who has been decorated for her war services, how she was able to drive during blackouts.
Patricia told her:
It’s easy once you get used to it.
The King said:
It’s amazing what one can get used to.