America at war! (1941--) -- Part 2

102

Christmas Day to arrive around-clock for AEF

New York (UP) –
As Yuletide circles the globe today, it finds America’s fighting forces on all continents of this war-torn planet, in all climates and every time zone. As a result, the American Expeditionary Forces of this World War will celebrate Christmas around-the-clock.

It will be early morning of the birthday of the Prince of Peace in the battle area of Tunisia when midnight reaches New York today, while on Midway Island it will still be early afternoon of Dec. 24 and on Guadalcanal – across the International Date Line – Christmas Day will near its end.

To many of the 50 or more battle stations of U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines abroad, Christmas will come earlier than to us. At midnight, Christmas Eve, EWT, it will already be Christmas Day at the following outposts when the clocks will show:
Iceland 3 a.m.
Algeria 4 a.m.
England, Tunisia 5 a.m.
Egypt 6 a.m.
India 9 a.m.
China 10 a.m. to 12 noon
Philippines 12 noon
Australia 1 to 3 p.m.
New Guinea 1 to 2 p.m.
Solomon Islands 3 p.m.
Fiji Islands 4 p.m.
New Zealand 4:30 p.m.

But in Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, Hawaii and other Pacific outposts on our side of the International Date Line, Christmas Eve will come four to eight hours behind New York Time.

103

President Roosevelt’s Christmas message
December 24, 1942, 4:00 p.m. EWT

Broadcast audio:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D-NY)

This year I am speaking on Christmas Eve not to this gathering at the White House only but to all of the citizens of our nation, to the men and women serving in our American Armed Forces and also to those who wear the uniforms of the other United Nations. I give you a message of cheer. I cannot say “Merry Christmas” – for I think constantly of those thousands of soldiers and sailors who are in actual combat throughout the world – but I can express to you my thought that this is a happier Christmas than last year in the sense that the forces of darkness stand against us with less confidence in the success of their evil ways.

To you who toil in industry for the common cause of helping to win the war, I send a message of cheer – that you can well continue to sacrifice without recrimination and with a look of Christmas cheer – a kindly spirit toward your fellow men.

To you who serve in uniform I also send a message of cheer-that you are in the thoughts of your families and friends at home, and that Christmas prayers follow you wherever you may be.

To all Americans I say that loving our neighbor as we rove ourselves is not enough – that we as a nation and as individuals will please God best by showing regard for the laws of God. There is no better way of fostering goodwill toward man than by first fostering goodwill toward God. If we love Him we will keep His Commandments.

In sending Christmas Greetings to the Armed Forces and merchant sailors of the United Nations we include therein our pride in their bravery on the fighting fronts and on all the seas. But we remember in our greetings and in our pride those other men who guard remote islands and bases and will, in all probability, never come into active combat with the common enemy. They are stationed in distant places far from home. They have few contacts with the outside world, and I want them to know that their work is essential to the conduct of the war – essential to the ultimate victory – and that we have not forgotten them.

It is significant that tomorrow – Christmas Day – our plants and factories will be stilled. That is not true of the other holidays we have long been accustomed to celebrate. On all other holidays work goes on, gladly, for the winning of the war.

So Christmas becomes the only holiday in all the year.

I like to think that this is so because Christmas is a holy day. May all it stands for live and grow throughout the years.

104

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9285

Establishing the United States of America Typhus Commission

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and for the purposes of protecting the members of the armed forces from typhus fever and preventing its introduction into the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

  1. There is hereby established in the War Department, under the supervision and direction of the Secretary of War, a commission to be known as the United States of America Typhus Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Commission. The Commission shall serve with the Army of the United States, and shall consist of a Director, appointed by the Secretary of War, such officers of the Army Medical Corps as may be detailed as members thereof by the Secretary of War, such officers of the Navy Medical Corps and the Public Health Service as may be detailed as members thereof, upon request of the Secretary of War, by the Secretary of the Navy or the Federal Security Administrator, and such other persons as may be appointed as members thereof by the Secretary of War.

  2. The Director of the Commission is authorized and directed to formulate and effectuate a program for the study of typhus fever and the control thereof, both within and without the United States, when it is, or may become, a threat to the military population. The operations of the Commission abroad shall be carried out in collaboration with the Department of State.

  3. The Director of the Commission is authorized to employ necessary technical and nonprofessional personnel, and to make such expenditures, within the limits of funds made available to the Commission by the War Department, Navy Department, United States Public Health Service, or other Governmental agencies, as may be deemed necessary by him to accomplish the purposes of this order. Members of the armed forces may be detailed for duty with the Commission.

  4. The Director shall take steps to secure the cooperation, assistance, and services of other Governmental agencies; make arrangements for the visiting by members of the Commission of such areas of neutrl or allied nations as may be necessary to further the study of typhus fever; arrange for the analysis, study, and publication of scientific data and material obtained in such field investigations; establish and maintain typhus fever study units at appropriate Governmental laboratories; and procure such laboratory space, clinical facilities, and equipment as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this order. He shall collaborate with the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Administrator of the Federal Security Agency, and appropriate civilian organizations, when necessary, regarding the procurement of personnel and equipment in connection with the activities of the Commission, keep the Secretary of War informed in regard to the progress made in carrying out this order, and perform such other duties as from time to time the Secretary of War may assign to him.

  5. All Executive departments, independent establishments, and other Federal agencies are hereby authorized and directed to assist the Secretary of War and the Director in carrying out this order, including the furnishing of equipment, transportation, and personnel facilities and assistance.

  6. There is hereby established a United States of America Typhus Commission Medal, with suitable appurtenances, which shall be awarded by the President of the United States or at his direction, to any person who may render or contribute meritorious service in connection with the work of the Commission.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
The White House
December 24, 1942

105

U.S. State Department (December 24, 1942)

851R.00/120: Telegram

The Chargé in the United Kingdom to the Secretary of State

London, December 25, 1942 — 2 a.m.
[Received December 24 — 10:41 p.m.]

7347.

Radio Algiers has just announced that Admiral Darlan was attacked and subsequently died this afternoon and that his assassin was caught and is being questioned.

MATTHEWS

106

The Evening Star (December 25, 1942)

Assassination of Adm. Darlan of Axis origin, associate charges

Giraud reported taking steps to maintain order
By Noland Norgaard, Associated Press war correspondent

François Darlan (colorized by Norman)
Adm. Darlan

Algiers, Algeria –
Adm. Jean Darlan, who surrendered North Africa and yielded Dakar bloodlessly to the Allies, was shot to death on the eve of Christmas, and one of his closest associates said today the assassination was inspired by the Axis or its collaborationists.

The Algiers radio announced that Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, implacable foe of the Germans and Adm. Darlan’s commander of French forces in the North African field alongside the Allies, had taken over “maintenance of order” in French North Africa.

Thus, for the moment at least, the old-school French general who said he preferred fighting to politics stood virtually in the little admiral’s place, at the head of the French in North Africa.

The Morocco radio said the Imperial Council would name Adm. Darlan’s successor tomorrow. The council, set up by the admiral to govern North Africa and “defend the interests of the French Empire” until France is liberated, included Adm. Darlan and these five men, one of whom probably will be chosen: Gen. Giraud, Gen. Jean-Marie Bergeret (former Vichy Air Minister) and the three governors-general in French North and West Africa (Gen. Auguste Noguès of Morocco, Pierre Boisson of West Africa, and Yves Chatel of Algeria).

The Morocco broadcast said Gen. Noguès had left Rabat by plane for Algiers early today to attend the council meeting. It announced that a special mass would be celebrated in Adm. Darlan’s memory tomorrow in the Rabat Cathedral.

Assassin caught quickly

The assassin was caught in the government palace seconds after he fired the close-range shots which took the life of the one-time commander of all Vichy’s Armed Forces, high-placed member in Marshal Pétain’s collaboration cabinet, who said Marshal Petain sent him to North Africa as his deputy.

Bergeret makes charge

Gen. Bergeret, close associate of Adm. Darlan, said the admiral was:

…the victim of an assassin inspired by those who did not pardon him for having taken up arms on the side of the Allies against Germany.

The assassin was said to be 22 years old. There was no official announcement immediately identifying him or giving a specific motive for his act. He used a .25-caliber revolver.

The Federal Communications Commission reported hearing a Paris radio broadcast declaring that Adm. Darlan was killed by a young Frenchman.

Gen. Bergeret called on all Frenchmen to unite:

…for the only fight that counts – the liberation of France.

The general, who was present in Compiègne Forest when the German armistice terms were handed to French representatives in June 1940 and stood by Marshal Pétain and Adm. Darlan throughout the trials of the Vichy government, said that:

All attempts at dividing the population will be crushed.

New realignment in making

Thus, less than 12 hours after the puzzling career of Adm. Darlan was ended, new realignments were in the making. The extent of these changes could not be estimated today.

Adm. Darlan, who brought French forces to the Allied side under an arrangement with U.S. Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower after resisting briefly, but furiously, the Allied occupation of French Morocco and Algeria, was wounded mortally about 3 p.m. yesterday as he was about to enter his office in the government palace.

Five shots rang out in the corridor leading to Adm. Darlan’s office and the little admiral, who had followed Marshal Pétain with almost fanatical zeal for more than two years, slumped to the floor at the doorway.

Adm. Darlan died just before his ambulance reached the hospital. The last sacrament was administered by a military priest.

Adm. Darlan’s body remained through the night in the hospital chapel with a guard of marine officers.

Called for ‘union – at once’

Shortly before he was killed, the admiral had given an interview in which he called for the "union – at once” of all Frenchmen fighting the Axis, but he admitted there are difficulties, even certain opposition.

Adm. Darlan had said the Imperial Council would eliminate relentlessly everything that might risk weakening our war effort.

The assassin had visited the government palace yesterday morning, but left when he was unable to see Adm. Darlan. He was in the waiting room adjoining the admiral’s office when Adm. Darlan returned to his office in the afternoon and fired five shots from a .25-caliber revolver and then started to flee. Adm. Darlan’s aide, Cdt. Hourcade, attempted to stop him and was shot in the leg.

The assassin was captured by one of Adm. Darlan’s aides, Adjt. Andrew Vuichard, when he attempted to leap over the admiral’s body.

Adm. Darlan was struck by two bullets, one wounding him in the mouth and other penetrating a lung.

Entertained tribesmen

Adm. Darlan’s amicable relations with Gen. Giraud, whose loyalty to the Allies has not been questioned and who is approved by the Fighting French, were indicated by the fact that only Wednesday he and Gen. Giraud entertained the Muslim tribal chieftains of Algeria at the governor’s palace. Gen. Giraud returned earlier in the week from an inspection trip in French Morocco.

Gen. Bergeret, in his statement appealing to the French for unity, said:

The designs of our enemies will not have any effect. This crime will not lessen our determination to liberate our country.

Cdt. Hourcade, a marine staff officer, was the only aide with Adm. Darlan when he walked into the palace and met the burst of gunfire. Cdt. Hourcade leaped at the assassin’s throat and the gunman fired at him. Adjt. Vuichard, hearing the shots, ran into the building and struck the young killer’s jaw with his fist.

The assassin told Adjt. Vuichard:

I surrender; my gun is empty.

Tried to kill assassin

Sword-bearing Spahis, who guard the palace, rushed in and tried to kill the assassin, but were stopped by officials. The killer was then turned over to the police. The palace gates, flanked by the marble busts of famous French military leaders, were shut to keep crowds from the scene.

Heavy guards were placed around public and military buildings following the shooting.

Adm. Darlan’s wife arrived at the hospital shortly after his death, but remained only a short time. His son was believed to be in Rabat, French Morocco, where he was flown recently for treatment of infantile paralysis.

The bullet which caused Adm. Darlan’s death struck the tip of his lung and lodged at the point of the heart. Physicians said death resulted from the severing of a large blood vessel.

107

Death causes grave anxiety here

Roosevelt brands act ‘murder in first degree’
By the Associated Press

The hand of a Christmas Eve assassin, abruptly ending the career of Adm. Jean Darlan yesterday, also ended an international argument over the usefulness of the former Vichy leader to the United Nations’ cause in French Africa.

The assassin’s bullets, however, injected a new element of violence into a situation already complicated and delicate, and caused grave anxiety to government leaders here.

President Roosevelt promptly recognized the menace of such an act in a statement denouncing it as a cowardly “murder in the first degree” and calling for swift and just retribution.

Observers familiar with the role assassins have played in the spread of war and terror throughout Europe watched intently for further developments which might indicate whether Adm. Darlan’s murder was:

  1. An isolated act of personal or political vengeance, or

  2. The first of a series of assassinations calculated to create an atmosphere of turbulence and terror in French Africa compelling Americans, French and British forces there to concentrate on maintenance of internal order.

Motives not clear

Should the latter be the case, the threat to Allied hopes of driving the Axis out of Tunisia would be grave and immediate.

It was far from clear what motives lay behind the slaying or what persons, factions or enemy intriguers have a hand in it.

One fact on which most reports agreed was that the assassin was a young man – perhaps 20 or 22 – and this description had a most familiar ring. It suggested the typical political assassin who has figured in so many tales of intrigue, revolt and terror in post-1920 Europe – the fanatical young gunman of the Nazi, fascist or Iron Guard school.

However, the Algiers communiqués indicated authorities were still uncertain whether Italian or German inspiration lay behind the deed.

White House statement

There was no comment from the State Department, but President Roosevelt interrupted a quiet Christmas eve observance in the White House to issue this statement:

The cowardly assassination of Adm. Darlan is murder in the first degree.

All leaders of all the United Nations will agree with that statement.

Nazism and Fascism and military despotism hold otherwise. I hope that speedy justice will overtake the murderer or murderers of Adm. Darlan.

Fighting French officials here were shocked by the news of Admiral Darlan’s death, but hesitated, pending receipt of fuller information from Algiers, to suggest any explanation or to attempt any evaluation of its possible consequences.

They showed interest in a report that Gen. Jean-Marie Bergeret of the Imperial Council in North Africa had appealed to all Frenchmen to unite now in the fight against the Axis, but they withheld comment. Nor did they express any opinion on the possibility that Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, commander of French forces im North Africa, might win Fighting French support as successor to Adm. Darlan.

Mission arrives here

Members of a French military supply mission, who arrived in Washington from North Africa a few hours before Adm. Darlan’s assassination was announced, could not be reached for comment.

The mission, headed by Gen. Emile Béthouart, was understood to have come here to advise War Department officials on supply problems of French African troops. Gen. Béthouart, who has been liaison officer at Allied headquarters for Gen. Giraud, was among the French leaders credited with aiding the Americans and British in the North African invasion.

Regardless of who might emerge as the new high commissioner for civil administrator in French Africa, no basic change in American policy there was expected.

During the weeks of controversy over Adm. Darlan’s status after he cast his lot with the Allies last month, both President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull repeatedly made clear that the situation in French Africa was primarily a military situation and that it would be up to the people of a liberated France to decide, after victory, what leaders and what form of government they desired.

Free French coup year ago

An ironic feature of the sudden development in North Africa was that it was exactly one year ago that another sudden development on French territory startled Washington in the midst of the Christmas holidays. This was the Christmas Eve coup of a Free French naval force which on Dec. 24, 1941, seized the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland, which until then had been under control of Vichy.

Not since the outbreak of the war ended the interventionist-isolationist debate has any one subject been fanned into as intense a flame as the Vichy-Darlan question.

The Darlan situation itself was fed by the long-simmering ire of many political leaders and well-known writers over the State Department’s placid attitude toward Vichy – an attitude which some commentators said was vindicated in the North African coup.

But when the famed pro-Nazi and anti-British admiral himself was won over to the Allied cause by American persuasion, and the fact that he was to walk side by side with the Americans was announced the storm really broke.

Vandenberg backed Britain

At various times, members of Congress arose to state their opinion and at least one – Senator Vandenberg (R-MI) spoke out openly in favor of backing the decision of the military officials in charge of the North African venture, even if it meant playing along with Adm. Darlan.

Anti-Darlan spokesmen contended that by lining up with the former Axis collaborationist. American leaders would undermine the spirit of the “underground" in occupied countries and arouse distrust on the part of some of our Allies.

Those who took the opposite view held that the alignment with the French admiral gained time and saved lives in the North African invasion, and thus was justifiable. They contended military chieftains on the spot were qualified to judge the wisdom of the move and should not be “hampered" by internal strife over the case.

The storm was still raging when the assassin’s bullets ended Adm. Darlan’s life.

108

Foe routed from key position on central Tunisian front

Increasing night patrols seen hinting ‘showdown battle’ may come soon

Double Tunisian punch at Axis

Screenshot 2021-12-25 203002
Allied soldiers have thrown the enemy out of heights dominating Medjez-el-Bab (top arrow) in the first significant offensive in Tunisia in two weeks. West of Kairouan (lower arrow) French troops repelled enemy attacks. (AP)

London, England (AP) –
In the first significant offensive action on the central Tunisian front in two weeks, Allied troops were reported today to have driven the Germans from a height dominating the important road junction to Medjez-el-Bab and held the position against enemy counterattacks.

Rome and Berlin communiqués declared that Allied thrusts were repulsed and the German High Command said “a large number of Americans” were captured.

The success was announced by Allied North African headquarters in a communiqué which also reported an increase in patrol activity on the northern end of the front and sharp fighting on the southern flank, where French troops were said to have repelled Axis attacks west of Kairouan.

Reuters reported that the Morocco radio broadcast a French communiqué saying:

In the region west of Kairouan, our troops were violently attacked by the enemy throughout yesterday. The enemy was repelled on the whole length of the front, leaving behind numerous prisoners and a great quantity of war material. American aircraft success fully supported our troops…

Medjez-el-Bab is about 35 miles southwest of Tunis. Kairouan is another 65 miles farther south and about 40 miles west of the port of Sousse, toward which a French column has been reported pushing in an effort to drive a wedge between the Axis forces in Tunisia and Field Marshal Rommel’s army now retreating westward across Libya.

Whether the engagement at Medjez-el-Bab was a forerunner to the long-expected showdown battle for Tunisia was not immediately clear. Action in this area has been retarded of late by heavy rains.

Dispatches from North Africa quoted a spokesman at Allied headquarters as saying there had been a definite tendency on the part of both the Allies and the enemy to increase night patrol operations on the north front.

He said:

We cannot say what it may portend, but you can be sure this state of affairs cannot continue very long.

The spokesman said the enemy was continually moving more troops into Tunisia in preparation for a showdown and added grimly:

Undoubtedly, he’s got a hell of a lot of stuff there.

Just back from the front, the spokesman made it plain, however, that the Allies also were rapidly strengthening their forward positions.

He said:

I was most impressed by the superb motor convoy system which the British are using to move supplies and equipment into Tunisia. They are doing an incredibly good job of moving great convoys day and night through mud over dangerous roads.

The Brazzaville radio, meanwhile, broadcast an announcement that Fighting French forces coming up from the Lake Chad area in Equatorial Africa had routed an Axis motorized detachment in the Fezzan region of southern Libya. The exact locale was not given, but it apparently was some 300 or 400 miles south of Tripoli.

There was little news from the Libyan front, although there was no indication that Marshal Rommel had yet made any attempt at a stand. British patrols were reported engaging Marshal Rommel’s rear guards, but the advance of the main force of the 8th Army apparently still was being delayed by minefields.

109

Japs are driven back in Buna area to last line of defense

Main positions overrun by Allied forces in double envelopment

Allied HQ, Australia (AP) –
Allied troops, in a double envelopment, have overrun the main Japanese positions in the Buna area of New Guinea and have driven the trapped enemy troops back to their last line of defense, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters announced today.

As a result of the maneuver, in which Australian and American infantry, tanks and artillery participated, the Allies now control practically all of the Buna airdrome and have pinned the Japanese down in a coastal strip about a mile long and 500-600 yards wide, the announcement said.

Fierce fight expected

The battle to wipe out the last Japanese forces remaining on the Papuan peninsula thus had entered its last phase, but Allied headquarters indicated that fierce fighting was still in prospect before the goal is achieved.

The communique said tersely of the last Japanese defense line:

It is a prepared and fortified citadel of resistance.

Allied airmen, meanwhile, in a series of operations ranging all the way from Timor to New Britain, were credited with sinking an enemy destroyer and two merchant ships, damaging a tanker and shooting down at least five Japanese planes.

The destroyer was reported sunk off the New Guinea coast near Salamaua while the two merchant ships – one a 5,000-ton transport – were destroyed off New Britain. The tanker was bombed near the Admiralty Islands.

Timor installations bombed

In addition, the Allied planes bombed Japanese installations at Failoro, Timor, and the airfield at Cape Gloucester, New Britain.

Fifteen Japanese fighters jumped the Allied heavy bombers – presumably Liberators or Flying Fortresses – which sank the transport off Gasmata. One was reported shot down and two others forced out of the fight, while the Allies suffered no losses.

Three of nine enemy fighters which intercepted an Allied air reconnaissance unit also were destroyed, and two others were badly damaged and probably crashed. Another Allied reconnaissance plane shot down a Japanese seaplane over the Aroe Islands northwest of Australia.

110

Gen. Hurley’s daughter weds aviation cadet

San Antonio, Texas (AP) –
Miss Ruth Noel Hurley, daughter of Brig. Gen. and Mrs. Patrick Hurley, became the bride of David Huey Hughes, Army aviation cadet, in a Christmas eve wedding ceremony in Christ Episcopal Chapel. The bridegroom is the son of David A. Hughes of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

111

5,000 demanding wages quit work at Kearny plant

Kearny, New Jersey (AP) –
Work halted abruptly last night in the sprawling yards of the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company when more than 5,000 employees put down their tools four hours before the quitting whistle and demanded their wages.

A score of windows and several doors in the plant were broken during a demonstration at the pay master’s window, said Chief Patrick Dolan of the Hudson County police.

A company spokesman said that preparations had been made to pay the workers at 12:30 a.m., at the end of the second shift. The yards were to have stopped work then for the holiday today.

When the men began lining up at the window at 8:10 p.m., the payroll had not been made up, the spokesman said.

Kearny and Hudson County police established order and the pay envelopes were distributed in less than an hour.

112

14-man U.S. patrol takes town in daring raid in New Guinea

By Murlin Spencer, Associated Press war correspondent

With U.S. troops in New Guinea –
A 14-man patrol of fighting Americans recently captured a native village from many times their number of Japanese, held it long enough to destroy a cache of arms and supplies and then fought their way back to their own lines.

The commando-like raid was one of the most daring and successful patrol actions yet reported from the New Guinea battlefield. It cost the Japs between 10 and 24 dead and a number of wounded.

Black-haired Lt. Paul Schwartz of Syracuse, New York, led the patrol in which Sgt. Lester Sherman and Pvt. Roland Acheson, both of Ionia, Michigan, played leading roles.

Lt. Schwartz told me the story on a steaming jungle trail leading to Buna Village.

He and his men were sent out to the west of Buna Village, across Siworia Creek, to learn whether the Japanese were established in that area. It was a dangerous job at best, for they were forced to explore territory between Buna and the enemy strong positions at Sanananda.

Lt. Schwartz said:

The first night out we swam the creek and saw evidence there were Japs around. We even picked up a big rubber boat and took it back across to our side.

That afternoon we ran into a little trouble. We encountered a Jap machine gun in a little clearing near the village of Ta-akena. They waited until we were close and then opened fire.

I left two men to keep the machine gun busy and sent two others out towards the beach which overlooked the village. The rest of us prepared to attack.

We took the first set of foxholes; the Japs had been using, captured a machine gun position and two rifle positions. We killed three Japs and six others ran.

There was a little hut which contained between 2.000 and 4.000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition and 50 to 75 grenades which we threw into the ocean. Also, there was a Bren gun and six rifles. The rest of the stuff we destroyed.

Lt. Schwartz told how Sgt. Acheson. his gun empty, came across a Jap officer:

The officer pointed a pistol at him but for some reason he didn’t fire. Acheson put in a new clip and emptied it into him.

The little band of fighting men had lost some of its members. So, Schwartz put up a defense line in the village but later was forced to withdraw.

The lieutenant was apologetic about the withdrawal. The Japanese with their superior numbers were starting a flanking movement, he said, and with less than a dozen men left, “we didn’t have much defense in depth.”

113

Roosevelts entertain small group tonight at turkey dinner

Four sons at front unable to get home for Christmas

President and Mrs. Roosevelt opened their presents today after a round of official engagements yesterday, climaxed by the President’s annual address to the nation from the scene of the National Community Christmas tree on the White House lawn.

In a private capacity as Episcopal worshippers, President and Mrs. Roosevelt this morning attended the union service conducted by the Washington Federation of Churches in the Church of the Epiphany. Mrs. Roosevelt attended one official engagement to greet war workers eating dinner at the YWCA, but quickly returned for the family’s Christmas package unwrapping early in the afternoon.

The guests around the dinner table tonight included only the Roosevelts themselves; the President’s sister-in-law from New York, Mrs. J. R. Roosevelt; the wife and children of Lt. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.; the Harry Hopkins and Harry Hooker of New York. None of the four Roosevelt sons could get home for Christmas from the fighting fronts to which all are assigned.

Observe coffee rations

The dinner at the White House tonight will begin with oyster cocktail and will include roast turkey resplendent with the President’s favorite chestnut dressing, cranberry jelly and deerfoot sausage. The President himself is scheduled to carve.

Beans, cauliflower au gratin and casserole sweet potatoes with orange will complete the main course.

After a grapefruit and avocado salad and plum pudding with hard sauce, the Roosevelts will get the after-dinner demitasse to which they have limited themselves since start of coffee rationing. A half-cup of coffee with milk in the morning completes their ration of a cup a day.

In his Christmas address to the nation yesterday at the annual community tree celebration, the President declared that:

This is a happier Christmas than last year in the sense that the forces of dark ness stand against us with less confidence in the success of their evil ways.

Mr. Roosevelt emphasized his greeting to servicemen of the United Nations all over the world. He especially reminded men stationed “in remote islands and bases” that “we have not forgotten them.”

Remembers home front toilers

Some of these men will “in all probability" never come into actual combat, the President said, but their effort is essential to victory just the same. He also sent greetings to those who toil “in industry and in offices” for the common cause.

He concluded with the observation that only Christmas out of all the usual holidays in the year is now being observed by shutdown of wartime industry and government.

Mr. Roosevelt concluded:

I like to think that this is so because Christmas is a holy day. May all it stands for live and grow throughout the years.

There was silence from the massed thousands on the White House lawn during the President’s remarks. But as soon as Winfred Kemp, of the Marine Band began to play his annual cornet solo, “Cantique de Noel,” howls broke from the White House roof where young Christopher Roosevelt was sitting with his nurse.

Finally is quieted

The baby’s mother, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., was standing with her older boy, Franklin III, and Mrs. Roosevelt on the South Portico near the President. She looked alarmed as the voice of her weeping child floated down to the official group. Those on the South Portico could not see Christopher above them, but the crowd watched fascinated as the nurse on the roof hastened to pick up the boy in his green suit and peaked wool hat. Christopher stopped crying at once, and Bandsman Kemp finished his solo in the midst of silence.

The other children who witnessed the tree celebration from the White House proper were Diana Hopkins and the Princesses Astrid and Raghild and Prince Harald, children of Crown Princess Martha of Norway. Hundreds of public-school children released yesterday for a two-week vacation from classes watched the ceremony from halfway down the White House lawn.

Four microphones were necessary to pick up the invocation and benediction of two Washington clergymen, the voice of President Roosevelt, broadcast of the Marine Band and Glee Club and the greetings of Scouts spoken by Senior Service Scout Mildred Cabell and Eagle Scout Nicholas Morana.

Greetings to sons afar

Scout Morana sent greetings not only to the President but to the sons of the Roosevelts in the armed services. The same greeting to sons separated from families all over the world was sent by the Rev. Frederick E. Reissig during his invocation. Benediction was pronounced by the Right Rev. Patrick J. McCormick.

President Roosevelt has presided at community trees in three other sites besides the one used yesterday, said the master of ceremonies. Col. Engineer Commissioner Charles W. Kutz. President Coolidge lit the first tree in 1923. During Mr. Roosevelt’s 10 years in office. Col. Kutz said, he has lit trees in Sherman Square, Lafayette Square and on the Ellipse. For the first time this year there were no actual lights on the tree. It was decorated instead with multi-colored ornaments contributed by the children of Washington and collected by the District Recreation Department.

The carolers were members of the Army War College Glee Club, Navy School of Music chorus and Lovette Choral Club.

No Yule lights outside

Last night the President followed his annual custom of reading Dickens’ Christmas Carol to his family. There were no outside lights at the White House this Yuletide, but two wreaths are hanging in the windows on either side of the front door and a bunch of mistletoe is hanging from the ceiling light in the lobby. There is one tree in the east room, where White House household employees got war bonds and war stamp books from the presidential couple yesterday, and another tree for the family in the west hall.

Ornaments on all the house trees, like those outside on the community tree, were salvaged from other years. The White House issued a special warning against buying any new ornaments for trees at the White House.

Members of the office force also got leather-bound war stamp books from the President and Mrs. Roosevelt yesterday. Each book contained a 25¢ war stamp.

Immediately after the tree ceremony yesterday Mrs. Roosevelt went to Cherry Hill court in Georgetown to hear the annual alley carol singing of the Washington Council of Church Women. Earlier in the day, she attended parties at the Salvation Army and the Arlington Kiwanis Club.

114

Lottery helped raise funds for Capitol, Knutson reveals

Advocates of legalization disclose some little-known oddities
By the Associated Press

Going back more than a century to bolster their claim that Uncle Sam hasn’t always frowned on gambling for Federal financing, proponents of a national lottery helped bring to light today some little-known oddities in connection with the National Capitol.

Not always has the massive domed building been used exclusively by the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court. An official publication titled, The National Capitol discloses that at various times it has served as headquarters for people selling such articles as stoves, pots and pans, mouse traps, watch ribbons, root beer, or what have you.

Records disclosing this and other sidelights were dug out of obscurity at the suggestion of Rep. Knutson (R-MN), who long has advocated legalization of a lottery to help pay the Federal overhead.

When federal funds with which the Capitol was being built gave out in 1796, Mr. Knutson said, the State of Maryland supplied money through a lottery.

The records also showed these details about the building that is symbolic of the United States government:

The statue of Freedom on the 8,000,000-pound dome originally was to have worn a Phrygian, or liberty cap, but Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War at the time, had a crested helmet substituted because the matter of freeing slaves was a hot issue at the time.

Used by peddlers

Because of uncertainty as to whether officers of the Senate or the House had jurisdiction over the rotunda, this part of the Capitol was used by merchants and peddlers of all types around 1825, one impresario having set up a “Panorama of Paris, Admission 50 Cents.” A would-be assassin tried to kill President Jackson in the rotunda on Jan. 30, 1835.

The original Senate chamber was used by the Supreme Court until it moved into its own building only recently. Behind the dark-red draperies which formed the background for the "bench,” the Justices formerly lunched, one at a time, in front of an old fireplace.

Clock used since 1802

A clock standing in a hallway on the Senate side has been in operation since 1802.

Although alcoholic beverages have been taboo in the dining rooms in the Senate wing, one historian records that in 1838:

…by asking for pale sherry at the Senate bar, the thirsty could get gin.

Statuary Hall, once used as the meeting place for the House, has an acoustic peculiarity by which a person standing on a certain spot, now marked by a brass marker, can plainly hear the whispers of other persons standing on the opposite side of the hall. The sightseers never miss this.

115

Relief from acute shortage of butter in capital seen

Hope that the acute butter shortage in the Washington area would be relieved was seen today in the action of the Office of Price Administration yesterday, fixing uniform prices on sales by processors and wholesalers of butter, Cheddar cheese, evaporated milk and bulk powdered skim milk.

The step was taken by the OPA in an effort to equalize distribution generally throughout the nation. Retail prices were left temporarily unchanged.

Many stores here were reported to be without butter yesterday and others were doling it out in quantities of a half or quarter-pound per customer.

Producers recently have been shipping their butter supplies to the West, particularly into the San Francisco area, where ceiling prices are relatively high.

In addition, OPA announced it is preparing a similar price schedule on retail sales which may either increase or decrease some of the Items to a small extent, but will “on the average leave these costs about unchanged.”

The price of butter was fixed at the wholesale level on a basis of 46 cents per pound of 92-score butter at Chicago. In the New York, Philadelphia and Boston areas, prices will be three-fourths of a cent higher than in Chicago, and in San Francisco-Los Angeles-Portland-Seattle areas, they will be 2 cents per pound above Chicago. Generally, prices elsewhere will be determined by the usual differential between any particular locality and any of these three basic areas.

On cheese, the basic price at wholesale will be 23.25 cents per pound for U.S. No. 1 American Cheddar cheese at Plymouth, Wisconsin. Generally, prices elsewhere will be based on the Plymouth price plus freight and certain incidental expenses such as icing, during shipment.

To determine manufacturers’ prices on evaporated milk, the country was divided into three zones. In Zone I, which includes most of the country except the Northwestern states, which fall into Zone II, and Far Western states, which are in Zone III, the price of a case of 46 cans (14.5-ounce size) is $4.10. In the other two zones, it is $4.20.

A case of 48 six-ounce cans will be priced at $2.05 in Zone I and $2.10 in the other two zones. A case of 96 six-ounce cans will sell for $4.10 in Zone I and $4.20 in the other two zones. A case of six 8-pound cans will be $4.10 in Zone I, and $4.20 in the other two zones.

Prices on powdered milk were set at 12.5¢ per pound, wholesale, for roller process extra grade f.o.b. plant, Midwest, or 14.5¢ per pound on spray process f.o.b. plant, Midwest.

These new prices will go in effect Dec. 30. Commenting on them, OPA said:

Celling prices set by the new order reflect to milk producers approximately $2.46 per hundredweight for the raw milk used in the manufacture of dairy products. This is considerably above the Oct. 15, 1942, price level of $2.28 and indicates a return in excess of parity.

OPA in setting price ceilings has been careful to set maximums that in its opinion and in the judgment of the director of the Office of Economic Stabilization will facilitate the food-for-freedom goals of the Department of Agriculture, which call for a 1943 milk output of 122,000,000,000 pounds. The prices at these levels are supported by the Department of Agriculture.

116

Bombing of Wake Island reported by Japanese

Berlin, Germany – (from German broadcasts)
Dispatches from Tokyo said today that Japanese forces occupying Wake Island were bombed Wednesday night by U.S. Flying Fortresses which came “from the region of Midway.”

There was no confirmation from Washington that Wake Island had been raided.

117

French arms mission arrives to advise U.S. on needs in Africa

Gen. Béthouart heads officers who will aid in expediting supplies
By the Associated Press

Gen. Emile Béthouart, French hero of two wars, arrived here yesterday as head of a military supply mission for the French forces in North Africa.

His primary function, it was understood, will be to advise War Department officials on the needs of the French African troops fighting with the Allies and the types of equipment they have been trained to use.

Official announcements did not specify the exact status of the mission or the machinery by which its supplies would be furnished. Since the mission came here under the auspices of the War Department, however, it was believed that its supplies would be allocated by the assignment to the French forces of Army-owned equipment, rather than through Lend-Lease. Thus, the reception of the mission apparently involved no political recognition of its principals, and no announcement was made by the State Department.

Georges-Picot is aide

Accompanied by several French officers and by Brig. Gen. Shepler W. Fitzgerald, commander of U.S. forces in Central Africa, Gen. Béthouart arrived by plane at Bolling Field and was met by Lt. Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, Army Deputy Chief of Staff.

As liaison officer for this mission, Gen. Béthouart has selected Guillaume Georges-Picot, who was counselor of the French Embassy here from early in 1941 until relations with the Vichy government were severed following the American landings in North Africa. Many of the Embassy staff, including Ambassador Gaston Henry-Haye, were interned at that time but Georges Picot was among those permitted to remain in Washington because of their known sympathy for the Allied cause.

Gen. Béthouart himself, said the War Department in announcing his arrival, used his position as head of the French Armistice Commission at Casablanca to resist Axis encroachments in Morocco and “his sympathy for the cause of the United States and Britain has been consistent and well-known.”

Headed commission year

He headed the Armistice Commission for more than a year, and since the American troops landed in North Africa has been liaison officer at Allied headquarters for Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, whose assistance contributed materially to the success of the landings.

Gen. Giraud, now commanding French soldiers fighting with the Allied forces in Tunisia, designated Gen. Béthouart to head the mission in this country to coordinate the movement of equipment and supplies.

Now 53, Gen. Béthouart is a graduate of Saint-Cyr, who served with distinction in World War I, when he was wounded, and won the decoration of a Chevalier de Maitre d’Honneur for heroism. Between the two wars, he served in various assignments with troops and the French General Staff, including special duties in Finland and Norway, and a tour as military attaché to Yugoslavia.

In April, 1940, he took a division of chasseurs to Norway, participating in action at Namsos and commanding the Franco-Polish expedition to Narvik. Troops under his command captured Narvik May 28 and his heroism in the three-week campaign won him the rank of commander of the Legion d’Honneur.

After the withdrawal of Allied troops from Narvik, he was assigned to a subdivision command at Rabat, Morocco. Later he was president of the French Armistice Commission, and last Jan. 25 he took command of the Casablanca Division.

118

Eisenhower expresses confidence in victory

Allied HQ, North Africa (AP) –
Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower messaged Yuletide greetings of admiration and confidence yesterday to all members of the Allied forces in North Africa.

His message:

I extend Christmas and New Year greetings to all members of the Allied force in North Africa. My admiration for your accomplishments of past weeks is equaled only by my complete confidence that you will meet every test of the future with the same fortitude and determination.

My profound thanks and best wishes go to all ranks in the ground troops, Navy, Air Forces, Nurses Corps and all civilian services associated with the Allied forces.

Good luck to everyone of you.

119

WPB sees cut in use of hardwood lumber

By the Associated Press

The War Production Board estimated yesterday that consumption of hardwood lumber will decline from about 6,000,000,000 feet in 1942 to 5,670,000,000 feet in 1943.

This estimate was based on military, construction, factory and boxing needs.

At the same time, an advisory committee estimated that hardwood production at present is at least 10% below a year ago and in some regions has declined 20-30%.

120

‘Liberty in every blow,’ Nimitz says in message

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, supreme commander in the mid-Pacific zone, sent this Christmas message to all servicemen in the Pacific Ocean areas:

TO ALL FIGHTING MEN IN THE PACIFIC: On this holiest of days, I extend my greetings with admiration of your brave deeds of the past year.

The victories you have won, the sacrifices you have made, the ordeals you now endure are an inspiration to the Christian world.

As you meet the Jap along this vast battle line from the Aleutians to the Solomons, remember liberty is in every blow you strike.

121

AP correspondents congratulated on war reports

Cooper, general manager of news agency, cites home front benefits

New York (AP) –
Associated Press war correspondents covering the global war on land and sea and in the air were told yesterday by Kent Cooper, general manager, that:

…never before has a war been so thoroughly, so truthfully and so colorfully reported.

In a shortwave Christmas broadcast to the men he said were sharing "the risks and the experiences of the fighters in the front lines,” Mr. Cooper said:

Dispatches from the battlefront are doing many things that you may not realize.

Your stories are breaking down the fearful suspense of waiting mothers. They have put iron into the veins of a fighting people. The morale of entire communities has been raised by your words of how their husbands and sons have fought gallantly, or even how they have died bravely.

You have broken down the great bugaboo of those who stay at home – no news.

Asserting that the war correspondents “have the toughest, most dangerous – yet the most cherished jobs in AP,” the general manager said:

I certainly do wish you all the best and happiest Christmas that is possible under the circumstances in which you find yourselves. I hope what I have said will convince you that you are in our thoughts and in our hearts. Perhaps that will help. I hope so.

Mr. Cooper’s greetings, which carried congratulatory messages from many newspaper members of the Associated Press throughout the United States, also included a brief message in Spanish to newspapermen of La Prensa Asociada, AP subsidiary, in Latin America.

It was carried by NBC over shortwave transmission stations WRCA, WNBI, WCW, WGEO, WBOS, WGEA and WRUW.