Highest U.S. award for heroism won by Pittsburgh Yank in Italy
Charlie Kelly to get Medal of Honor; North Side man one of 7 brothers in war
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Marine landing speeds drive toward Rabaul
New Britain sector cut in two
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
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162,282 war casualties suffered by Americans
Totals are 20,592 dead, 47,318 wounded, 26,326 missing, 27,222 prisoners
Washington (UP) –
Casualties of the United States armed service now total 162,282, it was revealed today.
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson announced that the Army’s casualties number 121,458 – 20,592 killed, 47,318 wounded, 26,326 missing and 27,222 prisoners of war.
On Feb. 24 – two weeks ago today – the casualty total was 156,865, of which 118,128 were Army and 39,737 were in the naval forces. The increase in the two weeks totaled 5,417 announced casualties.
Navy list
A Navy list released today showed a total of 40,824 casualties – 17,261 dead, 9,910 wounded, 9,239 missing and 4,414 prisoners.
Secretary Stimson pointed out that the chance of survival for American soldiers wounded in this war is nearly twice as great as it was for men wounded in World War I.
Figures given
He made public a recent report by the Surgeon General showing that only 3.7% of American wounded have died as compared with 6.1% during the last war.
Although extensive operations in the tropics have led to an increase in the proportion of men overseas requiring hospitalization for diseases, the annual average death rate for this reason has been only 0.5 per 1,000 men as compared with a rate of 12.8 per 1,000 during the last war. In continental United States, the death rate from disease is 0.6 per 1,000 men yearly, as compared to the World War I rate of 15.6 per 1,000.
Social diseases
Since the last quarter of 1942, more than 100,000 men suffering from social diseases have been inducted and cured, the report said.
Secretary Stimson said 25,291 of the Army wounded have already been returned to duty or released from Army hospitals. Of the prisoners of war, 1,627 are reported to have died of disease, mostly in Jap camps.
Breaking down the figures by theaters, he reported:
ASIATIC THEATER: 231 killed, 156 wounded, 395 missing and 144 taken prisoner.
CENTRAL PACIFIC: 447 killed, 589 wounded, 83 missing, and one taken prisoner.
EUROPE: 2,419 killed, 2,214 wounded, 4,622 missing and 4,542 taken prisoner.
LATIN AMERICA: 44 killed, four wounded, and eight missing.
MIDDLE EAST: 379 killed, 232 wounded, 671 missing and 294 taken prisoner.
NORTH AFRICAN THEATER (including Italy): 9,271 killed, 29,278 wounded, 3,141 missing and 7,369 taken prisoner.
NORTH AMERICAN THEATER: 1,243 killed, 1,018 wounded and 39 missing.
PHILIPPINES: 1,096 killed, 1,720 wounded, 15,198 missing and 13,590 taken prisoner, including 12,506 Philippine Scouts.
SOUTH PACIFIC: 1,918 killed, 5,627 wounded, 467 missing, and six taken prisoner.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: 1,959 killed, 3,577 wounded, 1,353 missing and 458 taken prisoner.
300 Japs slain in one attack in Burma
Enemy move to ford river frustrated
By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer
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Politics sits at WLB table in steel case
Spokesmen for both sides in evidence
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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Soldier vote bill back in Senate
Washington (UP) –
The soldier vote issue will return to the Senate today in form of a bill bearing only slight resemblance to the federal war ballot measure passed and sent to conference with the House some weeks ago.
Senator Tom Connally (D-TX) will file with the Senate the agreement finally reached by the conferees after prolonged discussions in which so many restrictions were placed on the federal ballot that the entire issue may again have to be thrashed out in the Senate.
Rayburn favors measure
Convinced that the new soldier vote bill will enable more service personnel to vote this year than were able to do so in 1942, Speaker Sam Rayburn said he would support the measure when it reaches the House.
Mr. Rayburn told reporters that Chairman Eugene Worley (D-TX) of the House Elections Committee, and Rep. Herbert C. Bonner (D-NC), both members of the House conference delegation, had assured him that the measure would make it possible for more soldiers to vote this year.
Ballot’s use restricted
As it emerged from conference, the measure provides a federal ballot for overseas personnel only if they apply for a state absentee ballot by Sept. 1 and fail to get it by Oct. 1. Use of the ballot within the United States is limited to servicemen whose states have no absentee voting laws – namely, Kentucky and New Mexico.
House committee to study Ernie Pyle’s ‘fight pay’ plan
Weiss bill will be considered along with other proposed reforms in military pay law
*By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
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Editorial: Another Republican victory
Republicans have scored another victory in a special Congressional election, raising their hopes for national success in November. Colorado’s 1st Congressional district is the latest. Before that, it was districts in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Even more encouraging to Republicans was the result last week in New York City, where they polled more votes than the Democrats in a heavily Democratic district and were nosed out only by American Labor Party ballots.
In Denver on Tuesday, a GOP businessman took away from the Democrats a seat they have held since 1932. When Colorado went Republican in 1940, that district remained Democratic by almost 10,000. In 1942, its Democratic margin was 8,000. This week’s reversal was the more remarkable because the defeated candidate was a disabled bomber pilot with all the political glamor of a brilliant war record.
Politicians in Washington were watching this Denver test as an indication of urban trends. Democrats admit that the Roosevelt administration is weak in the rural areas of the North and West, and that it must depend largely on the city vote in November. Hence the Republican joy and Democratic gloom over results in Denver, following the show of GOP strength in Philadelphia and New York.
To lick the Democratic war hero, the Republicans campaigned on the national issue of “less government in business and more business in government.”
When an ordinary businessman, with no previous political experience and no campaign “it” can lick a wounded war hero on that plea, it must have a lot of public support.