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

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Brooklyn Eagle (February 13, 1943)

Roosevelt pledge of invasions heard by Axis

Shortwaves carry vow smash through into Europe and Asia

Washington (UP) –
Friends and enemies throughout the world today received President Roosevelt’s promise to bomb Japan this year, to wage great offensives against the Axis in both Asia and Europe and eventually to send Allied armies marching triumphantly through the streets of Berlin, Rome and Tokyo.

All shortwave stations began broadcasting his radio address shortly after he delivered it to the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association last night. The rebroadcasts in more than 20 languages will continue throughout the weekend as a message of cheer to subjugated countries and as a harbinger of doom to the Axis.

The President’s address was vibrant with confidence and pitched on the theme of absolute victory after unconditional surrender of the Axis. It bristled with fighting phrases:

Important actions will be taken in the skies over China and over Japan itself…

Our prime purpose in the battle of Tunisia is to drive our enemies into the sea…

The pressure on Germany and Italy will be constant and unrelenting…

The enemy must be hit and hit hard from so many directions that he never knows which is his bow and which is his stern.

Reports to nation

The speech was the President’s report to the nation on his Casablanca Conference with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, since expanded to global significance by subsequent discussions among United Nations leaders.

The Casablanca meeting, Mr. Roosevelt said, produced plenty of news:

…and it will be bad news for the Germans and Italians and the Japanese.

The President’s revelation of powerful offensives being mounted against Japan brought cheer to China, whose armies and peoples have been resisting the Japanese for nearly six years.

Mr. Roosevelt said:

Great and decisive actions against the Japanese will be taken to drive the invader from the soil of China. Important actions will be taken in the skies over China and over Japan itself.

There are many roads which lead right to Tokyo. We shall neglect none of them.

Pay for own dinners

The President and other guests, high government officials and members of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, paid for their own dinners because proceeds of the function went to the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, a cause close to Mr. Roosevelt’s heart.

The diners wore business suits and partook of a plain meal of bean soup, boiled flounder, roast chicken with potatoes and peas, a green salad and fig pudding. There was no coffee, sugar or butter.

The President’s speech was a companion to Churchill’s report to the House of Commons earlier in the week and it breathed the same spirit of aggressive optimism. It was not without its somber note, however.

The President advised the American people to prepare themselves for heavy casualties in the battle of Tunisia. He said:

We must face that fact now with the same calm courage as our men are facing it on the battlefield itself.

More aid to China seen

Observers saw the promise of more aid to China in the President’s declaration that:

Our policy toward our Japanese enemies is precisely the same as our policy toward our Nazi enemies; it is a policy of fighting hard on all fronts and ending the war as quickly as we can on the uncompromising terms of unconditional surrender."

The President’s remarks about Quislings or Lavals apparently was intended to silence critics who have been asserting that the North African government still harbors men who were associated in the Vichy regime with the pro-German Pierre Laval.

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Nazi attack hurled back in Tunisia

British crush drive in valley – captives seized by patrols

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Aerial armada of Allies rips Nazis in France

Huge force of planes passes for hours over channel to blast foe

London, England (UP) –
Allied planes roared toward the continent in an almost continuous procession for hours over the southeast English coast today, and it was indicated that major raids were being made on enemy territory.

The planes were in unusual force and flying at tremendous height, observers reported from the southeast coast, as they made toward Calais on the French occupied coast.

It was believed that American as well as British planes might have been among the many formations.

Though there was brilliant sunshine along the coast, the planes flew too high to be seen, United Press watchers reported.

The first planes returned after 45 minutes, coming from the Boulogne direction, bombers escorted by heavy forces of fighters.

Railroad junctions and industrial areas were believed to have been among the targets.

Enemy planes made a hit-and-run raid on a southwest coast town shortly before noon. Bombs caused considerable damage to shops and homes. Some planes machine-gunned the streets, and it was feared there had been numerous casualties.

Rescue squads worked to extricate persons buried under debris.

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Lady Marines to start enrolling on Monday

2 female Leathernecks of 25 years ago recall Sam Browne belts, laced shoes

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BULLETINS!

Sailor’s body found on tracks delays thousands at Clark St.

Thousands of passengers bound for Brooklyn on the 7th Ave. line of the IRT were delayed for almost half an hour today after trackwalkers at 7:10 a.m. discovered the body of a sailor killed by a train about 200 feet front the Clark St. station.

The men carried the body to the Borough Hall station and summoned police, who removed It to Cumber land Hospital, where it is awaiting identification by naval authorities. Police said the sailor carried no articles that would establish his identity. They were unable to learn how or why he descended to the tracks, or just when he was killed.

Normal subway schedules were restored at 7:35.

Light snow due to last all day

The way it has been snowing today is “lightly,” according to the Weather Bureau in reiterating a previous forecast this morning that the fall would probably continue for the rest of the day.

Asked whether some other term than “lightly” might not better describe the snowfall which had already blanketed the streets, one of the weather experts replied:

There is some wind blowing the snow around, and we may have some accumulation, but it is still a light fall.

The snow began to fall at 6 a.m. The temperature, which rose from 28 degrees at 8 a.m. to 29 at 9, is expected to continue “moderately cold.”

Oil shortage threatens to close Boro court

Brownsville residents had better settle minor difficulties among themselves – otherwise they will not find justice as handy as usual. The 7th District Municipal Court, which is housed in the Pennsylvania Avenue Courthouse, is to be moved shortly.

Pelham St. George Bissell, President Justice of the Municipal Court, disclosed that he is seeking new quarters for the court, because he expects that current fuel oil difficulties will cause the building to close.

The Pennsylvania Courthouse, whose other tenant is the Magistrate’s Court, is one of 50 municipal buildings which must either close for varying periods or find ways of stretching until March 31 their nearly depleted fuel oil rations.

Col. Strong lauds U.S. spirit

Montauk, New York –
Col. F. S. Strong, chief of construction of the U.S. Army Engineers, addressing a crowd gathered here at presentation of the Army-Navy “E” award to the Andrew Weston Company, Inc., of Woodmere, declared yesterday that:

In spite of the mistakes of the past, we all believe in the things America stands for that is why America, in hating war, is working and fighting with a spirit which the Axis powers cannot understand.

Nye predicts food riots in U.S. next winter

Washington (UP) –
Senator Gerald P. Nye (R-ND) today predicted food riots in the United States next Winter as a new Senate investigating committee prepared to “blow the lid off” administration farm policies. Nye said:

We’ve already got a food shortage only a few months after harvesting the record crop of 1942. Without adequate help and machinery, the farmers are going to have to reduce their planted acreage. Unless the position of the farmer changes immediately, it is only fair to anticipate food riots in the streets in another winter.

Mayor reveals he’s a ‘short snorter’

Mayor LaGuardia is a “Short Snorter.”

The Mayor, asked for his autograph at LaGuardia Field yesterday, pulled out his fountain pen and along with it his wallet. Seeing inside a folded dollar bill covered with signatures, a reporter asked:

Are you a member of the Short Snorters?

The reference was to a custom on transatlantic flights of initiating a passenger making his first such hop by presenting him with a dollar bill bearing the signatures of all the other passengers.

“I certainly am,” said the Mayor, displaying the bill. He said he got it at Newfoundland.

12,500 classed as conscientious objectors

Abraham Kaufman, executive secretary of the War Registers League, today reported that more than 12,500 men throughout the country have been officially classified as conscientious objectors by their local draft boards. Kaufman said that 6,000 objectors are now in civilian public service camps. Last August, more than 6,500 had accepted non-combatant duty in the army. He said that of the 2,325 men convicted of Selective Service violations up until Dec. 1, 1,400 were conscientious objectors. Several hundred were members of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a religious sect.

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Webb is recaptured after fleeing air base

Playboy nabbed by police in Reno hotel – found in red bathrobe, Army pajamas

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Stassen says he won’t run again in 1944

Los Angeles, California (UP) –
Governor Harold E. Stassen of Minnesota said last night that he would not be a candidate in 1944, and whether the Republicans elect a President next year depends upon what they do with their recent political gains.

Stassen, in a Lincoln Day address, said he would not participate in the 1944 political campaign because he still expects to be lieutenant commander in the Navy. He said:

I think it will be a long war.

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New naval losses admitted by Tokyo

By the United Press

A Tokyo radio broadcast heard in London today gave a summary of losses not previously reported in the Solomons campaign, including seven small Japanese warships and five cargo ships sunk and eight small Allied warships and eight cargo ships sunk.

A little later, a Berlin broadcast, purporting to cover the same communiqué, said three Japanese battleships had also been sunk.

The Tokyo version quoted an Imperial Headquarters communiqué, covering losses not previously reported during the entire campaign from Aug. 7 to Feb. 7, including 215 Japanese planes destroyed.

Three destroyers, five cargo ships, three submarines and one patrol vessel were reported sunk and one cruiser, four submarines, five cargo ships and one patrol vessel damaged.

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Plane plant’s row with ‘sweater girls’ faces capital airing

Stratford, Connecticut (UP) –
The “sweater girl” controversy at the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation appeared headed for Washington today, as another war industry headache of the U.S. Conciliation Service.

The dispute, which started when the company sent home 53 girls for disobeying a rule against sweaters, and 22 others quit in protest, was in process of settlement by a labor-management committee when it struck a snag.

The committee had decided to appoint a “style committee” to take up the whole question of working uniforms, when the company insisted that the girls refrain from wearing sweaters while the committee was working on a solution to the problem. This was objected to by the union committee, which had promised that the girls would wear sweaters “that conformed with the standards of decency.”

Finally, it was decided that conference would be held Monday between an international representative of the CIO United Automobile Workers and the personnel director of the United Aircraft Corporation and that if no final decision is reached, the dispute would be certified to the U.S. Conciliation Service.

Meanwhile, the 75 girls were back at work, wearing the regulation slacks and jackets.

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Norris says Americans have not suffered enough

Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Former Senator George W. Norris (D-NE) believes Americans “have not suffered sufficiently” to realize the necessity for a permanent peace for the preservation of civilization.

He said at a Lincoln Day banquet in his honor last night:

Perhaps it will be necessary for each of us to compromise some of our cherished ideals.

England, Russia and China, he said, have suffered infinitely more than the United States and:

These countries have come to the place where absolute equality exists between men regardless of chasms in society.

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‘Damn glad to see you, colonel,’ signals end of Guadalcanal fight

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WLB freezes labor contracts

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Showdown at hand on $25,000 limit

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Wibecan pleads for equal rights in Lincoln Day talk

Says Americans after war will mean end of discrimination

In a plea for equal rights for Americans of all races and religions, George E. Wibecan, former confidential inspector for the late Borough President Ingersoll, in a Lincoln’s Birthday address over WNYC yesterday, declared that Americanism after the war would take on a new meaning:

…with no color distinction, no race prejudices or religious discriminations.

The broadcast was sponsored by the Crispus Attucks Community Council, with headquarters at the Carlton Branch of the YMCA, 405 Carlton Ave. Mr. Wibecan said:

The lesson of Lincoln’s life and leadership was never more pregnant with meaning than now. A product of the plain people, he believed that the government was made for the people and that all men were equally endowed oy me creator with lights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Let the spirit of Lincoln then be a guide to our men in the higher councils of the nation, that they may understand “might does not make right” and that the liberty of no citizen is assured so long as there exists anywhere under our flag, the individual, white or black, who does not enjoy those rights.

Renewed allegiance

Mr. Wibecan pointed out that the Negro people of the nation look upon Lincoln’s birthday as an occasion to renew their allegiance to America:

…because of an abiding faith in its traditions and in the leadership of the great men and women who laid its foundations.

He declared:

In time of stress and national need, the Negro can be counted upon to defend our flag and our institutions and to help preserve those immortal memories made possible by the struggles of our ancestors.

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Kuhn’s wife and son jailed as enemy aliens

Mrs. Elsa Kuhn and Walter Kuhn, 16, wife and son of Fritz Kuhn, former leader of the German-American Bund, now in jail for stealing its funds, are interned as enemy aliens.

They were seized with eight other Germans and one Japanese yesterday as Federal Judge John Bright concluded the taking of testimony in the government’s suit to revoke the citizenship of Kuhn and 19 other Bundists. His decision will be ready next week, he said.

It was believed that Kuhn’s wife and son were arrested because they had seemingly continued their interest in the Bund and its associate youth movement, even after Kuhn himself was sent to prison in 1939.

At the time Kuhn was on trial, it was stated that many of the leaders associated with Kuhn took the position that Kuhn’s use of Bund funds did not constitute larceny. The FBI statement announcing the apprehension of the wife and son carried the inference that the boy engaged in activities in line with the policies of the Bund, for, while his father’s citizenship is in effect, he, too, in a citizen of the United States.

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Woman reporter turns cabbie for day; rings up $9.90 fares

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Latest movies to relieve 17-hour nights in Alaska

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Editorial: Churchill speech heartening shows Allies’ cooperation

To the ordinary American, the noteworthy parts of Prime Minister Churchill’s report to the House of Commons were those that indicated the growth of understanding and cooperation among the United Nations.

Proud as every American must be that our Gen. Eisenhower is Allied Supreme Commander in the African-Mediterranean theater, Gen. Eisenhower’s appointment to that position of great responsibility is of less importance than the fact that Britain and the United States are agreed that the African command must be unified.

Equally gratifying is it to be told that members of the British and American High Commands have conferred with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in China, and with Field Marshal Wavell in India. Implicit in Mr. Churchill’s speech was the indication that the plans for global victory hammered out on the anvil at Casablanca were made with the full knowledge of Joseph Stalin.

All of this is the best possible sign that our war leaders are thinking along worldwide lines, and realize that victory must be achieved as a whole, that military and political moves in one area must be coordinated with moves in all other areas if victory is not to be too long delayed.

Mr. Churchill’s optimistic view of the submarine situation was somewhat surprising in the light of the thoroughly depressing statements that have been issued on this side of the water. One can only hope that the Prime Minister’s views will be justified by the events to come.

Indeed, his whole speech rang with the confidence of a man who never has faltered in his stubborn faith in victory but who now at last feels himself in a position to promise heavy offensive blows, the blows that will bring down the Western bastions of the German fortress as the Russians are bringing down the bastions of the East.

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Navy likely to hand football final kayo

Announcement today expected to follow Army’s lead in barring soldiers at colleges from intercollegiate athletics
By Paul Scheffels

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Post-war boxing boom seen by Louis

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Saludos Amigos at the globe packed with goodwill and fun

By Jane Corby

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 13, 1943)

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

A forward airdrome in French North Africa – (Feb. 12, by wireless)
Although our fighter pilots are shooting down more German planes than we are losing, still they have a deep and healthy respect for the German airmen.

One of the boys said:

They apparently brought their very best men to Africa because the newcomers sure know their business. There are no green hands among them.

American fliers who have been captured, and then escaped, report that there seems to be a sort of camaraderie among airmen – not in the air, but on the ground. There is no camaraderie at all in the air – it’s fight to the death and nothing else.

The other night the boys were recalling stories from the last war. They had read how Allied and German fighters would shoot up all their ammunition and then fly alongside each other and salute before starting home. There is none of that stuff in North Africa.

Our pilots really lead lonesome lives over here. There is nothing on earth for them to do but talk to each other. In two weeks, you’ve talked a guy out, and after that it’s just the same old conversation day after day.

The boys hang around the field part of the day, when they’re not flying; then go to their rooms and lie in their bunks. They’ve read themselves and talked themselves out. There are no movies, no dances, no parties, no women – nothing. They just lie on their cots.

One of them said:

We’ve got so damn lazy we hardly bother to go to the toilet. We’re no damn good for anything on earth anymore except flying.

Flying a fighter plane is not comfortable. There is so much to do, and you’re so cramped, and you strain so constantly watching for the enemy. Also, fighter cockpits are not heated. The pilots get terribly cold at 25,000 and 30,000 feet. They don’t wear electrically heated suits. In fact, they can’t even wear too heavy flying clothes, for their bulk would have made it impossible to twist around in the cockpit. They wear only their ordinary uniforms with coveralls on top of those, plus flying boots and gloves. And they can’t even wear really heavy flying gloves.

One of them said:

Our bodies don’t get so cold, it’s our hands and feet. Sometimes they get so cold they’re numb.

Said another:

It’s funny, but you’re never cold when you’re in a fight. You actually get to sweating, and when it’s over your underwear is all wet in back. Of course, that makes you get all the colder afterwards.

It’s interesting to sit in with a bunch of pilots in the evening after they’ve returned from their first mission. They’re so excited they are practically unintelligible. Their eyes are bloodshot, they are red-faced with excitement, and they are so terrifically stimulated they can’t quiet down. Life has never been more wonderful. They tell the same story of their day’s adventure over and over two dozen times before bedtime. The other night one boy couldn’t eat his supper. Another one couldn’t go to sleep.

The older boys listen patiently. They were that way not so long ago themselves. They know that battle maturity will come quickly. Just drop in a few weeks from now.