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

Soldier pens gripe about radio flag-wavers

‘Entertainment is what we want,’ he says
By Si Steinhauser


Plan outlined for conversion of war plants

Reserve Board urges speedy, equitable settlement of contracts

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What?!! Commies praising capitalists? I sure hope this relation continues.

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Commies and Cappies partying :tada: together

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The Pittsburgh Press (November 18, 1943)

U.S. FLIERS BOMB NORWAY
RAF smashes Nazi chemical center

Mosquitoes raid jittery Berlin; Fortresses pound Athens airfields
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer

Icy rain defied –
Small advance made in Italy

British punch forward, Americans ‘dig in’
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer

Hull sees end of world need for alliances

Congress hears report on Moscow parley; warning voiced


In Washington –
Anti-subsidy forces blame price failures on New Deal

Responsibility for inflation is on Congress if program is defeated, Democratic leader says

Official reveals sabotage by Brewster plant workers

Plane cables cut and machine-gun works weakened while union balked probe, he charges


Captive mine owners lag, Ickes charges

They cause more trouble than other industries, fuel boss claims

I DARE SAY —
How long is your memory?

By Florence Fisher Parry

Forum hears plans for era of fair peace

Roosevelt closes session with bid to hold the initiative


United Nations relief to cost tenth in cash

Remaining 90% will be in raw materials and processed goods

Allied airmen hit 3 Jap ships, down 8 planes

Bombers raid along an 800-mile front in Pacific
By Brydon C. Taves, United Press staff writer


Third straight day –
Jap-held isles again bombed

Marshall and Gilbert Islands hit from secret bases
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer

Editorial: A post-war certainty

Ferguson: Thanksgiving

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

Background of news –
Allied Military Government

By Frank P. Huddle, editorial research reports


Simms: Hull tribute spells hope for the ‘little countries’

Trend back toward isolationism forecast if peace terms are not just
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

CANDIDLY SPEAKING —
The girls must grin and bear it

By Maxine Garrison

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

Ernie Pyle is writing a short series of columns on his experiences and impressions at home while taking a rest from his arduous assignment in the war zones. He is about to shove off again for the battlefronts.

Albuquerque, New Mexico –
During a part of my vacation here in Albuquerque my old friend Paige Cavanaugh came over from Inglewood, California, and spent his vacation.

Cavanaugh is a farm boy from Salem, Indiana, who was on the Mexican border when he was 16, was in France throughout the last war, somehow made his way through Indiana University in the early ‘20s, and then went to California, where he has been fretting about the weather for the last two decades.

Cavanaugh says it took him two years to get from private to PFC in the last war, and he’s afraid he couldn’t equal such a meteoric rise in this one, so he’s decided to sit it out.

Cavanaugh and I both like to work (at certain times and at certain things). So, while he was here, we mowed the lawn twice, spread fertilizer and iron sulphate on it, cleaned and adjusted all the nozzles on the sprinkler system, poisoned several an-tholes, split and stacked in the shed a ton of fireplace wood, and washed the dishes every day.

In addition to that Cavanaugh all alone spaded up every foot of ground of the big south lot, just in order to get the stickers turned under so the dog could run around without getting them in her feet.

‘Wanton destruction’ begins

When all that was done, we went to work on the woodshed, which is the catchall. Every house has a catchall, in some form or other. The woodshed was so stacked with junk you could hardly get the door open. I said:

I’ll fix that. We will use the principle of wanton destruction. We will pillage and we will burn.

So, Cavanaugh dug a great hole in the backyard. You could have put half a jeep in it. And then we began carrying stuff out of the woodshed and throwing it in that hole. When it was full, we set a match to it.

All afternoon we carried stuff out of the woodshed and stacked onto the fire. People up in the Jemez Mountains thought we were Indians, trying to signal a message. I don’t know what our neighbors thought, and don’t want to know.

But one thing on our destruction list stumped us. That was a big old-fashioned radio that weighed about 60 pounds and hadn’t played a note for years.

I was going to burn it, but Cavanaugh said no, it was too good to destroy, let’s give it to somebody. So, we looked up several radio repair shops, and started out.

I said:

I’ll bet we have trouble. People will think there’s some catch to giving a radio away, and will be suspicious.

And I was right. I went into a radio shop and explained the circumstances. I said:

We haven’t got room for it at our house. It’s old, but it’s big and has lots of parts in it you could use. There’s no catch to it. We just want to give it away.

The woman behind the counter gave me the old don’t-you-try-to-cheat-me-young-man look and said condescendingly:

Well, bring it in, we’ll look at it.

So, Cavanaugh lugged the huge thing in, almost breaking his back. The woman gave him the cold eye, and never so much as said thank you.

After we left, we got mad. As the afternoon wore on, we got madder. I said:

That guy will spend $5 fixing that thing up, and sell it for $75.

Cavanaugh said:

Sure he will. And they didn’t even say thank you. Let’s go and take it away from them.

Stuck with it again

And by jimmy we did. We just went back and said we’d changed our minds, and lugged the thing back to the car. Now we were stuck with it again.

On the way home we stopped to see our friend Sister Margaret Jane, who is Mother Superior at St. Joseph’s Hospital. We told her what we’d done, and Sister almost died laughing at our audacity. Then she said:

Well, if you don’t know what to do with it, give it to me. One of the workmen can fix it up, and we can sure use it around here.

So, we lugged it into the ambulance entrance of the hospital, heaved a great sigh of relief, and went on home. After a while the phone rang. It was Sister Margaret Jane. She was laughing so hard she could barely talk.

We asked:

What’s the matter?

She said:

Why, we’ve just plugged the radio in and it started right off playing. There wasn’t anything the matter with it at all!

Clapper: Pandora’s Box

By Raymond Clapper

11 new carriers show boost in U.S. Navy

Jane’s 1943 edition also credits U.S. with 8 more battleships


Maj. de Seversky: Even super-carriers can’t compete with land-based enemy airpower

By Maj. Alexander P. de Seversky

Germans are also placed in danger as Japs disdain ‘weak’ white men

‘We, the powerful men-gods,’ Nipponese boast
By Royal Arch Gunnison, North American Newspaper Alliance


WAC’s heroine in Africa gets soldier medal

U.S. Navy Department (November 18, 1943)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 16

Late afternoon raids were made on enemy positions on Jaluit and Mille Atolls in the Marshall Islands and on Makin Island in the Gilberts on November 15 (West Longitude Date) by Liberator bombers of the Army’s 7th Air Force.

At Jaluit many fires were started by our bombs in the hangars, shops, and dump areas at the seaplane bases on Imieji and Jabor Islands. Of the five ships anchored in the lagoon one was left burning. Three others were possibly damaged. Several fires resulted from the Mille attack but cloud con­ditions prevented accurate observance of damage at Makin.

No air interception was encountered in any instance. Anti-aircraft fire was intense at Mille, weak at Makin and at Jaluit. No damage was suffered by our planes or personnel.


CINCPAC Press Release No. 170

Bombs were dropped on the airdrome area, Jaluit, Marshall Islands, on November 16, West longitude date, by Liberators from the 7th Air Force. Large fires were started.

One of several enemy float planes which attacked our formation was probably shot down. No damage was suffered by our planes or personnel.

At noon on November 17, West Longitude Date, Liberators from the same force made low‑altitude bombing and strafing runs on the enemy airfield at Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. No enemy aircraft was sighted. No damage was suffered by weak anti-aircraft fire from Betio Island.

About 10 enemy bombers made a medium altitude raid on our installations at Funafuti, Ellice Islands, before dawn on November 17, West Longitude Date. Our losses were two killed and several planes damaged.

Continuing the discussion at America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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