Drenching downpour brings fresh misery to bombed hospital
Whether the roll of thunder or sound of Jap shellfire brings the greatest alarm might be a question in cross-marked huts in Papuan jungle
By George Weller
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Nazi influence over huge U.S. drug firm told
Development of synthetics for America stifled, Yale man says
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Supply of equine roasts and horse chops is limited
By Jane Stafford, Science Service medical writer
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Japs lock war prisoners in hold of torpedoed ship
500 to 1,000 British and Canadians, weakened by brutality, die on vessel; survivors are machine-gunned
By Robert P. Martin, United Press staff writer
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Wavell gains as angry Japs bomb Calcutta
Advancing British forces reported less than 45 miles from Akyab
By Darrell Berrigan, United Press staff writer
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Millett: When Daddy goes to war, stay closer to your child
Mothers will find life more worthwhile by spending more time with little folks
By Ruth Millett
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
WITH U.S. FORCES IN ALGERIA – Our ship had two tunnels, or smokestacks. The forward one was a dummy – empty inside. About three feet from its top a steel platform had been built. It was reached by a steel ladder. The Army kept a lieutenant and three enlisted men up there all the time, on lookout with binoculars for it was indeed a grandstand seat.
I used to go up every afternoon and suit with the lookouts. The sun was bright, the funnel sides cut off the wind, they had deck chairs, and it was really like a few square feet of Miami Beach.
We could get a perfect view of our zigzagging maneuvers. Once we saw three rainbows at once, one of them making a horseshoe right over our ship.
Lt. Winfield Channing, who had charge of an anti-aircraft battery, usually had the afternoon watch up there, and we’d chat for hours about his job before the war, and of our chances for the future, and of what we’d do when it was over.
They had an empty barrel up there, to which was tied about 200 feet of heavy rope, for escape in case the ship was hit. The enlisted men on lookout had made bets among themselves as to which side of the ship the first torpedo would hit. Fortunately, nobody collected. We called our little post “The Funnel Club.”
Gunners on duty at all times
We correspondents and a few Army officers made up a pool on when we would arrive at our destination. The various arrival dates we chose covered more than a week. The pool of about $8 was finally won by Bill Lang, of TIME and LIFE.
American gunners manned all the ship’s guns, but they never had to fire a serious shot.
Once underway, two canteens were opened for the troops. One sold cigarettes, chocolates and so forth; the other, called a “west canteen,” sold hot tea. There was a constant long queue at each one. Soldiers often had to stand in line for three hours.
My special hangout down below was in a section where I ran onto a bunch of soldiers from New Mexico. One of them was Sgt. Cheedle Caviness, a nephew of Senator Hatch. Sgt. Cheedle has grown a blond mustache and goatee, and looks like a duke.
There was no trouble at all among the troops during the voyage. But we did have a couple of small “incidents” in the officers’ section of the ship. One officer, monkeying with his revolver in his cabin, “didn’t know it was loaded” and shot a nice hole through the wardrobe, thoughtfully missing his cabinmates. Another officer was arrested for taking pictures of the convoy out of his porthole.
No movies shown during trip
No movies were shown during the trip. The troop commander issued orders that electric razors were not to be used, for fear the enemy could pick up our position from the current, but we found out later this wasn’t necessary.
We got radio news broadcasts twice a day from BBC. It was rumored they would be discontinued after we were a couple of days at sea, but they weren’t. They were piped over the ship by loudspeakers so the troops could hear the news.
Chaplains aboard ship said that church attendance among the troops went up noticeably after we sailed, and continued to rise as we approached submarine waters.
The nurses and doctors aboard were mainly from Roosevelt Hospital in New York. There were two other detachments of nurses on other ships in the convoy, we learned later. The nurses teamed up with the officers, played cards, walked the decks, sat in the lounge. That moonlight was pretty enchanting, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some romances got started.
As time wore on, acquaintanceships grew broader and broader, just as they do on a peacetime cruise. The days were purposeless and without duties, yet they seemed to speed by. For many of us the trip was a grand rest. Toward the end some of us even hated to have it over – we felt the sad sense of parting from new friends and of returning to old toils, and we were reluctant. But the war doesn’t humor such whims.
Hep cats from New York and Brooklyn top all other jivers in Armed Forces
But the rugcutters from Hollywood are at bottom of the list – Texans are pretty good steppers
By Ernest Foster
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U.S. War Department (December 23, 1942)
Communiqué No. 274
North Africa.
French forces repulsed strong counterattacks on a town occupied by them in the Kairouan area.
In addition to continued patrol activity by our troops, Allied fighters carried out sweeps and patrols over the forward areas yesterday. They attacked enemy vehicles with gunfire and two enemy bombers were shot down. One of our aircraft is missing.
On the night of December 20-21, three enemy aircraft were destroyed.