Sheppard-Walker tops fight card
42 rounds of boxing at Gardens
By Dick Fortune
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Pravda prints interview with Eric Johnston
Chamber head predicts expansion of trade with Russia
Moscow, USSR (UP) –
Pravda published today a lengthy interview with Eric Johnston, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce obtained by a TASS correspondent in Washington, in which Mr. Johnston predicted large increases in trade between the United States and Soviet Russia in the post-war era.
Mr. Johnston was quoted:
American business circles warmly greet the victories of the Red Army. They are proud of the fact that the production of United States industry helped Russian victories over the common enemy.
This is another proof of the fact that the industrial power and almost inexhaustible resources of the United States and the Soviet Union can effectively complement each other in war as well as in peace.
I know American industrialists. They want to sell their productions and buy various materials in the world market. They believe they must export goods and services, but not export goods and services, but not export our ideology or political vies. It would be unrealistic not to admit the basic difference between the American and Soviet systems.
After the war, one should expect wide possibilities for the profitable exchange of goods and services between the two countries. The Soviet Union has many materials which American industry will need, and on the other hand there are evident possibilities that United States machinery and technical skill can be used by the Soviet Union where it sets itself to the task of reconstruction.
In the past, the volume of trade between the two countries was considerable, but one can believe the post-war era will bring a widening, increasing volume. It is necessary for both parties to work out suitable trade policies quickly and agree on credits.
‘Give us voice’ in draft cases, UAW head asks
Some employers use power to oust union member, he charges
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Gripsholm sails with 796 aboard
Lisbon, Portugal (UP) –
The Swedish exchange ship Gripsholm, carrying 796 North and South American repatriates and 15 special passengers, sailed today for New York.
The repatriates included diplomats and civilians who had been in internment camps in France and Germany. They were exchanged for an equal number of Germans who came here aboard the Gripsholm from the United States.
Among the last to arrive was John Brown, 58, a native of Portland, Oregon, who estimated that there were still 280 men – most of them Brazilians, Cubans, Hawaiians, Filipinos – at Compiegne, France.
The youngest of the repatriates is four-month-old Edwige Derkes, who was born in Vittel, France. Her parents, Joseph and Jadwiga Derkes of New Britain, Connecticut, have two other children and for all of them they received about a pint of milk daily, although the baby seemed in good health despite the hardships.
Hendrik James Vantvelt, a native of the Panama Canal Zone, said the Germans were flooding North Holland in preparing defenses for an expected Allied invasion and have the Dutch furious because the seawater ruins the soil and will make it useless for at least 10 years.
Völkischer Beobachter (March 7, 1944)
Abgekartetes Spiel mit der italienischen Flotte –
Der Verräter fühlt sich betrogen
Von unserem Berichterstatter in der Schweiz
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Neuyorker Betrachtungen –
Die Gefahren der Invasion
Lissabon, 6. März –
In einem Aufsatz der Neuyorker Zeitschrift Foreign Affairs über die Aussichten einer „zweiten Front“ heißt es, über die Schwierigkeiten eines solchen Unternehmens sei man sich absolut im Klaren. So schreibt der Verfasser:
Die größte Aufgabe liegt noch vor uns. Die Bildung einer zweiten Front in Westeuropa wäre der Schlußstein unserer gesamten Strategie. Wenn sie fehlschlägt – und sie kann fehlschlagen – dann sind wir erledigt.
Als eine der größten Schwierigkeiten der Invasion sieht der Verfasser des Aufsatzes den Mangel an geeigneten Offizieren an. Er stellt fest, daß schon viele US-Offiziere auf dem Schlachtfeld wegen Unfähigkeit abgelöst werden mußten. So wird diese
Tatsache kommentiert:
In der Schule der blutigen Erfahrung haben wir bittere Lektionen gelernt und eine davon war die alte Lehre von der absoluten Notwendigkeit einer kompetenten Führung.
Britentruppen erstaunlich schwach
dnb. Stockholm, 6. März –
Der Neuyorker Korrespondent von Dagens Nyheter berichtet, daß die Amerikaner mit den bisherigen britischen Leistungen in Burma nicht zufrieden seien. Der führende US-Rundfunkkommentator Raymond Gram Swing erklärte dieser Tage, daß die in Burma eingesetzten britischen Truppen erstaunlich schwach seien. Die Amerikaner verspürten deshalb eine wachsende Enttäuschung, weil eine Voraussetzung für die Erreichung der strategischen Ziele der USA gegen Japan die Wiedereroberung Burmas sei. Das nordamerikanische Volk sei sehr verstimmt darüber, daß der britische Kriegseinsatz in Ostasien in keiner Weise mit dem der Amerikaner zu vergleichen sei.
Der bekannte Leitartikler Constantin Brown schrieb vor kurzem, daß Wavell einen großen Teil der zur Verfügung stehenden britischen Truppen in Anspruch nehme, um Ruhe und Ordnung in Indien aufrecht erhalten zu können. Infolgedessen könne Mountbatten die für seinen Feldzug in Burma nötigen Truppen einfach nicht bekommen. Viele Amerikaner meinten, daß die Engländer eine andere und bessere Politik in Indien versuchen sollten, dann könnten sie genügend Truppen für Burma frei machen.
U.S. Navy Department (March 7, 1944)
CINCPAC Press Release No. 297
For Immediate Release
March 7, 1944
Seven enemy‑held positions in the Central Pacific were attacked by aircraft of the 7th Army Air Force and Fleet Air Wing Two on March 5 (West Longitude Date).
Army Liberator bombers dropped approximately 30 tons of bombs on Ponape and Kusaie, damaging ground installations, aviation facilities and harbor areas. Heavy explosions were seen near the airfield at Ponape. Navy search Liberators also bombed Nauru.
Army Mitchell bombers, Dauntless dive‑bombers, Warhawk fighters, Navy Hellcats and search Venturas bombed and strafed four enemy‑held atolls in the Eastern Marshalls with approximately 35 tons of bombs.
Moderate anti-aircraft fire was encountered. Two Hellcats failed to return to their base.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 9430
Inspection by the Office of Price Administration of Corporation Statistical Transcript Cards Prepared from Income and Declared Value Excess-Profits Tax Returns
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 7, 1944
By virtue of the authority vested in me by Sections 55 (a) and 603 of the Internal Revenue Code (53 Stat. 29, 111), it is hereby ordered that corporation statistical transcript cards prepared by the Bureau of Internal Revenue from corporation income and declared value excess- profits tax returns made under the Internal Revenue Code, as amended, for any taxable year ending after June 30, 1942, and before July 1, 1943, shall be open to inspection by the Office of Price Administration; such inspection to be in accordance and upon compliance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury in Treasury Decision 5173, approved October 26, 1942, which relates to the inspection of similar cards for taxable years ending after June 1, 1941, and before July 1, 1942. This order shall be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 7, 1944
The Pittsburgh Press (March 7, 1944)
Yanks bag 176 planes, lose 78 over Berlin
Day attacks on continent continue; RAF hits yards near Paris
By Phil Ault, United Press staff writer
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In freezing rains –
Yanks attack inside Cassino
Street fighting breaks out; beachhead quiet
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer
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Two girls, policemen slain –
Lieutenant’s orgy laid to jealousy
Married officer in love with young secretary
Riverside, California (UP) –
Army 2nd Lt. Beaufort G. Swancutt, 31, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, whose shooting orgy Sunday night resulted in the death of two girl companions and a Riverside policeman, will be tried for murder from his wounds, Camp Anza officials said today.
Lt. Swancutt’s unrequited love for a young secretary was blamed for the shooting which occurred at a party in the Camp Anza Officers’ Club.
Lt. Swancutt, who has a wife and two children at La Crosse, was seated with the two girls, Dorothy Evelyn Douglas, 19, and Lourdine Livermore, 18, both of Long Beach, and Lt. Harry J. Light of Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, when he suddenly opened fire with his .45-caliber service automatic killing the girls and wounded Lt. Light and another officer, Lt. Aldace M. Minard of Pomona, who was passing their table.
He then commandeered a car and forced the driver to take him to nearby Arlington, where he fatally wounded Patrolman A. B. Simpson before he fell critically wounded with three bullets in his abdomen.
Lt. Swancutt had been keeping company with Miss Douglas, a secretary at the Port of Embarkation where he previously had been stationed, for about three months, according to the official version of the shooting.
Miss Douglas and Miss Livermore had been invited to Camp Anza as guests of Lt. Light. The four had dinner together, the report said, and then Lt. Swancutt excused himself and went to his quarters, returning with his service automatic. He sat down again for a few moments and then jumped up, firing.
Crouching and backing toward the door, Lt. Swancutt held the rest of the crowd at bay in true movie fashion. He escaped to the officers’ quarters where he aroused his superior, Capt. Aubrey G. Serfling, 27, of Preston, Minnesota, and demanded another clip of cartridges for his gun.
Capt. Serfling denied him the bullets.
Leveling his gun, he screamed:
Why you ******! I’ve killed four others already tonight, and I won’t be alive by morning. I see no reason why you should be either.
Corporal wounded
He fired two shots into Capt. Serfling’s abdomen, grabbed another clip of cartridges and fled. He then encountered a group of soldiers attracted by the shots and held them at bay, firing once and wounding Cpl. Robert Simpson.
Waving his revolver, he forced Sgt. John E. Roberts to drive him to nearby Arlington, where he forced an approaching car to the curb in front of the police substation. In it were Ray Schlegel (Los Angeles aircraft worker), his wife and eight-month-old son and a sailor cousin.
Wife makes plea
Lt. Swancutt ordered the young aircraft worker out of the car despite pleas of his wife, who asked the officer to spare them because of their baby asleep on the rear seat.
Mrs. Schlegel said:
He pushed a gun into my husband’s side and told him to get back in the car and start driving where I tell you or I’ll shoot.”
Just then, Arlington police started to investigate and he opened fire on Schlegel, inflicting a flesh wound. He then whirled on the two policemen, killing Patrolman Simpson.
Asks for doctor
Simpson went down shooting, however, and the combined fire of the policeman and his companion, C. F. Cole, dropped Lt. Swancutt. Cole was also wounded in the brief battle.
Lt. Swancutt underwent a sudden change of heart as he fell to the street. He moaned:
I’ve been shot. Call a doctor.
Unofficial reports of the shooting said Lt. Swancutt apparently became morose over his failure to improve his relations with Miss Douglas because of his wife and children, and resented the attentions she paid to Lt. Light.
Aimed at girl
The jealously motive for the slaying was bolstered by the fact that his first shots were aimed at Miss Douglas.
Long Beach police said Lt. Swancutt had been booked there July 18 on battery and disorderly conduct charges, but they were dismissed when his unit was sent overseas. He had assaulted two patrolmen who had taken him into custody for molesting a woman at a bar, police said.
Released from jail to join Army
La Crosse, Wisconsin (UP) –
Lt. Beaufort Swancutt, who killed three persons in a shooting spree that started in an Army camp, was serving a 90-day jail term on a vagrant charge when he was released to join the Army in August 1942, Assistant Police Chief Aaron Sanford said today.
Sanford said police records in Swancutt’s hometown showed 15 entries against him, including six cases of “family trouble.” The entries included two attempts at suicide, larceny, and disorderly conduct, Sanford said.
Authorities said Swancutt’s wife once divorced him but remarried him. They have two sons, 10 and eight years old.
Lt. Swancutt was one of seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Swancutt. His parents are separated.
One brother, Woodrow, formerly national collegiate boxing champion at the University of Wisconsin, is now in the Air Force and piloted Lord Louis Mountbatten, Allied military commander in India, during his visit to the United States.
On New Guinea –
Allies effect new landing
Advances are also made in Admiralties
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
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Adm. Nimitz: Jap heavy fleet units driven away from Truk
U.S. now has sufficient strength to meet enemy at sea at any time, chief says
…
I DARE SAY —
Films for fighting men
By Florence Fisher Parry
I must get over a bad habit: sparing the movies whenever possible. They’re a pet of mine, as you all must know by this time; and whenever I have to pan them I notice that it comes hard. They’re doing such a grand job in wartime, and heaven knows there’s little that we can blame them for here on the home front.
No doubt they have problems beyond our power to imagine, in distribution of film to our combatants in far parts. But the fact is that they have NOT been getting new movie fare to our boys. They feed them good OLD feature pictures, 1940 to 1942 vintage, sometimes very much older, and a few new Class B discards.
But our boys far from home get practically no up-to-date Class A feature pictures, and they’re starving for them. Movies come next to letters from home. They’ll wait in line, they’ll sit in the rain, they’ll squat on the ground dry OR wet, they’ll ensure these hardships gladly for the chance to see a movie – and what do they get? Leftovers and stale outdated newsreels and double feature fill-ins.
This is not so at our Army camps here at home. The boys get the latest and best. But imagine a fellow in some Pacific island or bleak Aleutian outpost waiting for ours in line to see some politician back in 1941 addressing a meeting, or a peacetime feature picture fill of anachronisms that throw out the movie’s whole mood!
No war stuff!
And if and when we DO manage to get our boys up-to-date pictures, let us hope that they will be selected with some discrimination. Their tastes are not our tastes, their needs not out needs. Even their sense of humor has changed. They need healthy pictures full of action, fun and music. Obviously they don’t want war stuff unless it’s really fine. And even then, they don’t like it.
Up home a man who has been discharged some time now after having won the Purple Heart because of a bad wound sustained in one of the landings in North Africa was reproached:
You haven’t seen Casablanca! Why, what an omission! It got the Academy Award as the best picture of the year!
“Yeah,” he replied laconically.
Well then, why don’t you go to see it? It’s here now.
“Oh,” he yawned, “I was there.”
And when I told a young major in the Marines, just returned home after 18 months in the Southwest Pacific, about that wonderful Technicolor newsreel of the landing at Tarawa, now showing in Pittsburgh, he said:
Yes, I’ve heard about it. But the part I know about wasn’t in the picture. It was cut, for obvious reasons.
You could tell by his eyes what the “obvious” reasons were. We think we are tough on the home front, but we’re soft and still afraid to face what combat means.
Tune in!
In reply to a recent column in which I confused that I had had to tune out every sermon I’d tuned into on a certain Sunday, I got a number of really helpful letters recommending programs I’d evidently missed. Here are some of them:
- The Pilgrim Hour, 2:00 p.m. Sunday, WCAE.
- The Old-Fashioned Revival, 7:00 p.m. Sunday, WCAE.
- The Catholic Hour, 6:00 p.m. Sunday, KDKA.
- Bishop Pardue’s broadcast, 10:30 p.m. Monday, WCAE.