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

Cleavage of Allies widens in attitude toward Reich

Hints of Russian ‘break’ from Anglo-American stand seen in Moscow propaganda
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer


Talk of Russia ‘quitting war’ is held insult

British official describes Soviet as brave and capable ally

Isolated Yank unit ready to ‘welcome’ Japs to India

By Albert V. Ravenholt, United Press staff writer

Reservations in recognition ‘annoy’ French

But satisfaction is voiced that some action has been taken
By Donald Coe, United Press staff writer

Clark given award of Legion of Merit

Radio cooker, plastic screen to follow war

Sample of things to come taken by National Association of Manufacturers

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

Somewhere in Sicily, Italy – (by wireless)
Yesterday I wrote about going down to see some old friends decorated for bravery. After it was over, we went back to the tent where one of them lives and sat there talking about old times and how good it was to get together again.

One officer had a bottle of champagne he had been saving for some occasion and since this seemed to be at least a good imitation of an occasion he got it out and we passed it around, the half dozen of us drinking it warm and out of the bottle. My palate has never been educated up to champagne and I’d just as soon have had a good swig of Bevo, but after all an event is an event and you can’t let your old friends down.

We sat out under the trees and a chill wind came up and somebody brought me a jacket to slip on. It had lieutenant colonel’s leaves on the shoulders and I suppose I could have been arrested for impersonating an officer, but I was in a nice position, having the head military policeman of the area sitting next to me, so I just flaunted my colonel’s leaves and hoped some stranger would come by to salute me.

Our host was Lt. Col. Goslee, of Columbus, Ohio. He calls himself a professional reserve officer as he has been on active duty for 10 years now. He was with us back in the first days at Oran, then got shunted off to another job and missed the fighting in Tunisia. But this summer he got switched back onto the main track again and lately he’s been making hay fast while the bombs fall.

Daughter asks for Ernie

Back home he has a wife, and a daughter of 15 who keeps writing him, the precious child, asking if he’s seen me. He also has a Dalmatian dog named Colonel who volunteered – or was volunteered – four months ago in the Dogs for Defense Army and is now serving somewhere in Virginia. Col. Goslee’s home flew two service stars in the front window – one for the man and one for the dog.

Dusk came on and we moved inside the tent so we could light our cigarettes. Our conversation drifted back to other days – Oran of last November and bitter cold Tébessa in January and the sadness of our retreat from Sbeitla and the chill sweeping winds of Gafsa and later in the spring the beauties of Béja and the final wonderful feeling of victory at Ferryville.

And we talked of how tired we had all gradually become, and nobody seemed like a hero who’d just been decorated for bravery. We talked of the miles we’ve covered and the moves we’ve made in the last nine months, of countries we’ve seen and how the whole war machine, though it grows dirtier and tireder month after month, also grows mature and smooth and more capable.

Bond with old friends

In this long time all of us over here have met thousands of different soldiers and officers. Yet those of us who became friends right at the very beginning in Africa or even back in England seem to have a bond between us as though we were members of a fraternity or a little family, and when you get back with each other again it’s comfortable and old-shoelike. We talked of people no longer with us – such people as Lt. Gen. Lloyd Fredendall and Maj. Ed Adkins, both on duty back in Memphis now. Ed, in his job as headquarters commandant, used to be a focal point of this little sitting-around group in Tunisia, just as Col. Goslee is in the same job here in Sicily.

Ed Adkins was a favorite and his name came up frequently in our conversation. He was crazy to get back to the States and we knew he’s happy there, and yet we laughed and prophesied that he reads these lines in a Memphis paper – reads how we were still going on and on, still moving every few days, still listening now and then for the uneven groan of the German night bombers, still fighting dust, darkness, and weariness and once in a while sitting around talking after supper, on cots in a blacked-out tent – when he reads about it, and visualizes us, he’s going to be so homesick for the front that he’ll probably cry.

They tell me all the soldiers who have been through the mill and have returned to America are like that. They get an itch for the old miserable life – a disgusting, illogical yearning to be back again in the place they hated. I’m sure it’s true, but I know a lot of soldiers who would like a chance to put that theory to the test.

Alaska goes to war

Haines route joins highway with coast
By Morley Cassidy, North American Newspaper Alliance

Clapper: Brains wasted

By Raymond Clapper

Dewey writes self off for 1944 race

Peru, Indiana (UP) –
Gration P. Wickerham, Peru attorney, said today Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York said in a letter he will definitely not be a candidate for the Republican president nomination 1944.

Wickerham offered Dewey the support of a group of Miami County citizens, but Dewey replied:

I have not the slightest reservation in my mind as to my own course and I am not and shall not become a candidate for the Republican nomination. I have important work to do here in New York and I want to do it.

Völkischer Beobachter (August 28, 1943)

Wunschträume des USA.-Imperialismus:
‚Italien als Kolonie – Deutschland unter Zwangsherrschaft‘

Unserer Waffen der einzig wirksame Schutz gegen solche Tobsuchtsanfälle

Die Fiktion einer gemeinsamen Außenpolitik –
Neue Beratungen Roosevelt-Churchill

Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung

The Pittsburgh Press (August 28, 1943)

LAST JAPS FLEE FROM NEW GEORGIA
Yanks take stronghold of Bairoko

Americans in position for blow at isolated enemy garrison at Villa
By Brydon Taves, United Press staff writer

2-HOUR RAID RIPS NUREMBERG
Bombs cut railroad in southern Italy

RAF blasts German city despite ‘tremendous’ fighter defenses

Hull defends his policies, hits critics

Claims inaccurate public statements are giving aid to the enemy

Mrs. Roosevelt’s shampoo delays press conference

First Lady tells New Zealanders she believes U.S. is abandoning isolationism

Headhunters save lives of Yanks lost in jungle

Radio reporter Eric Sevareid, one of group, tells of long trek back toward safety
By Eric Sevareid, distributed by the United Press

I DARE SAY —
Big bugs and little bugs

By Florence Fisher Parry

Ickes adds unit to coal setup

Safety and health division to aid bureau

Detroit socialites caught in black market roundup

One family loses ration book until end of 1944; others forfeit points to cover purchases

Steele: India, Ceylon have big role in war on Japs

Importance is emphasized by the appointment of Mountbatten
By A. T. Steele