Justice Murphy praises Quezon exile government
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Attu wounded eager to fight Japanese again
Cheerful despite bayonet and bullet scars and frozen limbs
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When heat was on at Attu, ‘invincible’ Japs quit cold
Under heavy shelling and strafing, enemy warriors lost heads and ran
By Sherman Montrose, ACME Newspictures photographer
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
Allied HQ, North Africa – (by wireless)
Many things have happened since I left my gang of Flying Fortress friends last January. Often in the months that intervened I have watched them plow through the Tunisian skies, miles above, and wondered what they were up to and what they were thinking and how things were with them. Now I have visited them again briefly.
A few of them are gone forever, but not so many. Practically everybody has gone up one notch in the promotion scale. Some of them have been sent home to help train new groups. And a lot of them have completed their allotted number of missions and are through with combat flying for a while, and assigned to ground duties.
Many new faces show up
Nearly all of them wear medals. Distinguished Flying Crosses and Purple Hearts are galore. Some of them seem pretty tired, and those of the old original crews who haven’t got in their full number of missions are anxious to get it done and rest.
Some of my enlisted friends have commissions now. Most of the January beards have been shaved off, and shirtless suntans have replaced the heavy mackinaws the mechanics used to wear. Pet puppies have grown into big dogs.
There are many new faces. Replacements arrive to fill the gaps left by those who don’t return and those who finish their required missions and go on ground duty. Everybody knows more about his job than he used to. It’s routine now, both on the ground and in the air, and you sense a confidence that comes from doing a thing a long time.
Fliers earn respite
Shortly after the Tunisian campaign ended, the flying men were given a three-day holiday, the first of its kind since they arrived in North Africa. Some of them went to the nearest cities by jeep or truck for a little fling. Others took planes and went to big cities farther back. Many went to beaches to swim and laze. And a great many went to Tunisia – to see with their own eyes the havoc they had so carefully and perilously wrought all winter.
They found it an odd thing to be there on the ground looking at a place they’d never seen except from miles above and with the sky around them riddled with flak and swarming with fighters. They visited Bizerte, which they had wrecked, and Ferryville and Tunis, whose docks they had demolished in their numberless raids. They were pleased at what they saw. They found that in their precise work of destruction they had done a good job.
Old plane finally checks-in
The House of Jackson – the Fortress crew I have followed since before it left England – doesn’t exist anymore as a “family.” The passage of time has scattered and consumed it. Two of the original members are dead. Some have been promoted. Others have completed their goal in missions and are on ground duty. The remaining few have been assigned to other crews.
They are all veterans of veterans by now, and their old Fortress itself is no more. The old “Devils from Hell” that they brought all the way from America nearly a year ago went down over Palermo one bitter day, but only one of the original House of Jackson was still on her then.
The faithful old ship was on her 42nd mission when she died. She had been on so many raids they had almost run out of room to paint the little white bombs on her nose, each of which denote a mission. Her list of enemy victims ran high too.
I supposed the boys would feel sentimental about her going, but they didn’t seem to.
Fliers are legion now
There was a day when I knew every group of fliers on combat duty in North Africa. But not anymore. They have multiplied and grown fantastically. Today there are more than you could possibly know, even if you devoted all your time to it.
When I go about the airfields now, I feel old in Africa. Those few who carried the torch at first, and still remain, are a sort of grandfather generation among all the hordes that speckle the skies today. And that is well, for that is what we have been waiting for.
Witness tells of Dempsey’s battle in raid
Correspondent bled profusely, Los Angeles detective testifies
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Yanks batter Japs in China
Fighters, bombers aid in counteroffensive
By Darrell Berrigan, United Press staff writer
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U.S. ‘knights in armor’ may soon bomb Nazi cities
Gen. Eaker discloses experiments on protection along bulletproof vest lines
By the North American Newspaper Alliance
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The Pittsburgh Press (June 5, 1943)
INVASION MAPPED AT AFRICAN CONFERENCE
‘Worst blow yet’ planned against Axis
Gen. Marshall, Churchill there; zero hour at hand, London says
By George Palmer, United Press staff writer
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Miners go back Monday, but threaten new strike
June 20 set as deadline for wage-hour pact; WLB stands firm
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Congressman dies
Washington –
Rep. U. S. Guyer (R-KS) died at the Naval Hospital at nearby Bethesda, Maryland, today. He was admitted to the hospital several days ago suffering from complications of several diseases.
Roosevelt to speak on radio Monday
Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt will address delegates of the 44 nations who have just concluded deliberations at the Hot Springs, Virginia, food conference at 5:15 p.m. Monday.
The speech is expected to deal with the conferences’ recommendations and future planning. It will be broadcast and will be of about 10 minutes’ duration.