Finns disavow Jap applause
Pearl Harbor party called ‘social event’
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‘No’ means ‘no’ –
WLB threatens labor decision
Reiterates state, municipal non-intervention policy
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Gen. Hartle sends greetings to Army
London, England (UP) –
Maj. Gen. Russell P. Hartle, commanding U.S. forces in Northern Ireland, sent Christmas greetings today to his men and their families at home.
He said:
The future is full of hardship and weariness, but this Christmas we are already beginning to see our hope fulfilled. We are on the road to victory and nothing will stop us.
He praised the people at home “who are behind us – offices, factories and farms.” He pointed out that Americans were fighting all over the globe:
…for freedom which once again will make it possible for the people of the world to celebrate Christmas in peace and goodwill.
Editorial: Christmas 1942
In the midst of war, we pause again to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace.
Some see bitter irony in the fact. There is so much of sorrow in the world, so much of hatred, so much of suffering, so much of distrust – so little, it seems of goodwill.
It has always seemed thus.
Each Christmas, from the first, has found human hearts bowed down by loneliness and grief, human spirits corrupted by selfishness and malice, human aspirations mocked by enmity and defeat.
If that were all, the celebration would be a travesty indeed.
But Christmas – this year, as in other years – finds most of us honestly wanting to be unselfish and king; most of us genuinely trying to be better than we are; most of us sympathizing with others’ sorrow and seeking to add out mite to others’ happiness.
Christmas has never been all we could wish tit to be. But our very longing for a perfect Christmas, never realized yet never quite suppressed, is the best answer to the cynics.
Our minds tell us that, for most of humanity, it is a day of anxiety and woe. Our wiser hearts persist in saying–
A Merry Christmas to you all!
U.S. and Mexico sign
Washington –
The United States and Mexico yesterday signed a reciprocal trade agreement, the first such pact between the two countries.
Dive bombers blast Jap Solomons base
Washington (UP) –
U.S. airmen again bombed and strafed the new Jap air base at Munda in a continuation of their day-to-day efforts to knock out that establishment in the Solomons, the Navy announced today.
The latest attack, the 13th since Dec. 9, was carried out on Tuesday (Solomons Time) by dive bombers operating from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, 150 miles away. Results were not reported.
U.S. fliers hit Japs in Burma
Bolster British offensive with raids on airfields
By Darrell Berrigan, United Press staff writer
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
Oran, Algeria –
Oran, as a city, is not a bad place at all. But most of the Americans here would trade the whole layout for the worst town in the United States, and throw in a hundred dollars to boot.
That’s the way Americans are, including me. Most of us had never heard of Oran till the war started. Yet it is bigger than El Paso. It has palm-lined streets, broad sidewalks, outdoor cafés, a beautiful harbor, restaurants with soft-colored lighting, and apartments with elevators.
On the other hand, it has Arabs dressed in ragged sheets, garbage in the gutters, dogs that are shockingly gaunt, and more horse carts than autos.
Most of the Americans talk about how dirty Oran is. Which just goes to show they haven’t been around. Oran is cleaner than some of the poorer Latin cities in our own hemisphere. And at this season, it doesn’t even smell very bad.
World travelers had told me that Oran had an Oriental atmosphere, but I can’t sense it. It seems much more like a Latin city than an Oriental one.
You could compare it in many ways with El Paso if you discounted the harbor. The climate is roughly the same. Both cities are in semi-arid country. Both are dusty in the spring and very hot in summer. Both are surrounded by fertile, irrigated land that produces fruit and vegetables and grain. And if you just substitute Mexicans for Arabs, the proportions are about the same.
The population of Oran is actually mostly French, Spanish and Jewish. The Arabs are a minority. They run all the way from hideous beggars up to solemn men in long white robes and bright turbans, sitting in the most expensive cafés and sipping tall drinks. But you see many more Europeans than Arabs.
American forces fight boredom
Our troops are rather lost here, officers and men both. There aren’t the usual entertainments to be had at home and in England. Nothing much is left to drink but wine, and most of the Americans haven’t learned to drink wine with much relish.
The movies are few and pretty poor. There are no dances. There is a professional “line,” but the parents of nice girls are very cranky and won’t let the girls out.
Everybody feels a sense of rage at not being able to talk to the local people. The soldiers try hard with French but it’s not much fun. Officers stationed here at desk jobs are already itching to move onward.
Troops camped far out in the country – which the vast majority are – really are better satisfied than those in town.
Everybody is plenty busy. That is, almost everybody. There are at the moment two correspondents in Oran, and several times that many Army censors to handle our stuff. I turn in one piece a day, and the other correspondent one piece a week. The censors are so bored that when I bring my column in, the entire office staff grabs for it and reads it hungrily, everybody makes flattering remarks, and then we all go out and have a bite to eat.
For some reason, communications from here are faint, you might even say mystic. I can’t find out how my copy is transmitted. The censors themselves don’t know. We write the stuff and send it away with about the same assurance of delivery as though we’d put it in a bottle and tossed it in the Mediterranean. I’m positive I saw a small Arab boy feeding my column to his goat yesterday morning.
We have no word at all from our correspondent friends in Algiers.
U.S. supplies and men fill place
Yesterday, two correspondents arrived from Casablanca bringing the first news we’d had from out there except communiqués. They say Casablanca is a beehive but very dull, and they think they’ll like Oran better.
They say naval aviation did the best job in the original occupation at Casablanca.
Outside of the poor censors, everybody is busy here. The Army’s immense supply organization is working at fever pitch, unloading supplies and getting them started forward.
The scenes at the docks and warehouses are thrilling. It is astounding the amount of rolling stock we have here. There seems to be just as many trucks as I ever saw in America. The coastal highways are good macadam, and our trucks roar over them constantly.
Combat troops that are still bivouacked in this area continue their training, keeping constantly fit by long marches down the highways.
Day by day, the whole of North Africa grows nearer the saturation point with American soldiers, machines of war and supplies. Before long, they will be ready to spill out in a smothering flow over the enemy.
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Jap peril grows on Guinea coast
Allies capture more jungle territory; reporter tells how three U.S. generals were wounded
By Brydon Taves, United Press staff writer
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Around world with AEF on Christmas Eve
By the United Press
Bethlehem, Mandatory Palestine –
U.S. soldiers in olive drab mingled with somberly dressed pilgrims on the six-mile road from Jerusalem today, bound for the midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity.
Wartime restrictions reduced to only a few the number of autos on the road from Jerusalem and most of the pilgrims, including the doughboys, made the journey to the birthplace of Christ afoot. Others traveled in a strange assortment of horse-drawn vehicles and some made the journey on donkeys.
War news blared from a loudspeaker in the public square, but the bells of the Church of the Nativity, built on the traditional site of the manger where Christ was born, pealed out the Christmas message in the blackout.
Americans visit shrines
Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine –
Sightseeing guides experience a war boom today with U.S. soldiers, some fresh from sorties over the North African battlefronts, observing the Christmas season by visiting the shrines of the Holy Land.
They went by scores to see the Holy Sepulcher, the Wailing Wall, Rachel’s Tomb, the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, Jericho and other Biblical scenes near the Holy City.
Parties in Britain
London, England –
Staff Sgt. Frank Mullin of New York, is ready for his Christmas overseas.
Sgt. Mullin wasn’t sure whether he would have to work tomorrow, but if he gets leave, he will attend a Christmas party his outfit is giving. The doughboys will exchange small gifts with the English girls, sing carols and dance.
Dreams of white Christmas
Allied HQ, North Africa –
U.S. doughboys in North Africa are dreaming of a white Christmas – a year from now.
They expect no special Christmas observance, although one Iowa squadron fattened up two turkeys and a pair of geese in their quarters for Christmas dinner. Most of the AEF here, however, will dine on cold mutton.
Yank like Indians
New Delhi, India –
Like most Americans here, Sgt. Charles O. “Chili” Hiller of Dallas, Texas, looked forward today to his first Christmas away from home but the prospect wasn’t too glum.
He said:
I’m starting Christmas with the services under the squadron three. Then with gifts and packages from home, I’m going to an Indian home to help a Christian Indian mother and a Brahmin father play Santa Claus for their three little children.
They’re swell people – almost like home folks. They’re going to have a big log fire and a Christmas tree. We’ll have all the fun – excepting home. I’m going to decorate their tree with a few packages of American chewing gum. They’ll love it.
Hawaii on the alert
HQ, Hawaiian Department –
Hawaii is on the alert today, but Christmas prospects are brighter than last year, when the holiday followed the Pearl Harbor attack by only 18 days.
Fighting men will remain at battle stations throughout the Pacific, but holiday traditions of turkey dinners and Christmas messages from their officers will be maintained.
Parties in Alaska
HQ, Alaska Defense Command –
U.S. servicemen will hold Christmas services and parties with Canadian forces tomorrow in desolate areas where only a year ago there was nothing but wilderness with an occasional Indian, Eskimo or wandering trapper passing through.
Chaplains and United Service Organizations officials were busy with plans today and the Quartermaster Corps was coping with the enormous task of providing “dinners like mom’s” for the forces, most of whom were sending their first Yuletide away from home.
The Royal Canadian Air Force, following an old custom, will have its Christmas dinner provided and served by its commissioned officers who will wait on the enlisted men.
Softball in Cairo
Cairo, Egypt –
Softball games, Christmas trees and religious services will highlight the holiday observances of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Middle East tomorrow and every man will get a pound of beef or chicken and American beer for his special Christmas dinner.
Forces near Cairo will play softball league games today and tomorrow. There was a special movie today and tonight midnight masses will be held.
Another day in Guinea
Somewhere in New Guinea –
Christmas under New Guinea’s blistering sun will be just another working day to AEF forces fighting the Japanese under Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s personal command.
Most Americans have received something from the planeloads of Christmas packages arriving here during recent weeks.
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.