In the Army now –
Fritzie Zivic passes final physical exam
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
In Italy – (by wireless)
The other aerial gunners in our tent went on with their story.
Sgt. Robert Fleming of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Sgt. Steve Ujhelji – pronounced “You-haley” – of Salem, Oregon, were together as gunners in a foray that won their pilot the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The pilot was Lt. George Gibson, also from Salem, Oregon. Lt. Gibson’s nickname is “Hoot,“ and that has gradually been warped into “Hooch” for reasons beyond my power to fathom. Hooch has finished his missions and gone home. I knew him before he left, and he was a wonderful pilot.
He was another of those great, good-natured people that everybody likes. He would tell you seriously, and I know he meant it, that he was the world’s worst combat pilot, that he had bawled up half the missions he had gone on, that he was scared to death, and that he was just hanging on by the skin of his teeth trying to finish.
But he did finish, and before doing so he crash-landed his badly shot-up plane one day so expertly that he not only saved the lives of his crew, but also that of a fighter pilot who was landing his damaged plane from the opposite direction and running directly into Hooch.
He knows a good story
He got the DSC. If you should ever run into him back home, just ignore the DSC and ask him to tell you the story about the British motorcyclist.
Finally, we got around to my host, Sgt. Albam Petchal of Steubenville, Ohio. When he stopped out the tent door to throw out a wash pan of water, the other boys told me he had the worst experiences of all.
Last summer, Petchal was flying as gunner in a flight of bombers coming over from America. They had reached Central Africa, and were flying north toward the combat zone. Somehow Petchal’s plane got separated from the rest of the flight, and wound up far out over the Sahara Desert and out of gas.
They rode the plane into the sand dunes, which were everywhere and about two stories high. They bounced across the tops of four and slammed head-on into the fifth.
All three men were painfully hurt. They crawled out, made a shelter out of their life raft under the wings, and patched up their wounds as best they could.
They stayed there for three days and nights. On the third day, Sgt. Petchal walked eight miles away on a reconnaissance and then walked back. He thought he saw trees and camels, but it ruined out to be the old storybook mirage.
Despite their pitiful condition, they started walking for good on the fourth day. They sprinkled the wrecked plane with gasoline and set it afire. It was said to see it burn. They carried a five-gallon can of water between them, slung from a stick.
Their wounds pained them constantly. They almost froze at night. Petchal kept getting sick at his stomach. The two officers became semi-delirious and quarreled violently. One day they saw three planes in the distance, too far away to attract.
Finally, they found tracks, and the same day ran onto a camel caravan. The Arabs fed them and took them with them. The boys tried to ride the camels, but it was so rough and horrible that they finally had to get off and walk.
End of the rainbow
On the night of the 10th day, they came to the end of their rainbow. Soldiers from a French desert outpost rode up to the caravan and took charge of them. They had by then walked more than a hundred miles.
They were in the hospital for several weeks, and then, after such a harrowing start as that, Sgt. Petchal finally arrived at the front. And since that day he has flown more than 60 combat missions. He is due to go home before long.
Petchal has been wounded by enemy flak, but we never got around to that.
The only man without an “experience” was Sgt. John McDonnell of Cedarhurst, Long Island. He is a good-looking, friendly and hospitable fellow.
Friends at home sent him some brown liquid in a G. Washington coffee bottled for Christmas. It looks like coffee, but it isn’t coffee. Sgt. McDonnell is saving it to celebrate his last mission. He offered to open it for me, but some hidden nobility in me reared its ugly head and I told him to save it.
Sgt. McDonnell has gone more than four-fifths of the way through his allotted missions, and has never yet laid eyes on an enemy plane. Furthermore, there has been only one tiny flak hit on his plane in all that time.
The sergeant says:
That suits me fine. I hope it stays that way.
And so do I.
Stokes: A vote joker
By Thomas L. Stokes
Washington –
A joker which may not be so funny to state treasuries has been discovered in the soldier vote bill now awaiting final action by Congress. It may complicate still further the problem of soldier balloting.
Under a last-minute change in the bill made by the House-Senate conference committee, states will have to pay postage for sending out instructions for voting procedures and lists of candidates. As originally provided, these were to be postage free, that is, paid for by the federal government.
Free postage is still provided for postcards which the soldiers must mail back in order to get a ballot, for mailing the ballots, themselves, to the soldiers, and for envelopes in which the soldiers will mail back their ballots.
Some states do not carry voting instructions on the ballots. This means that if they want to send out instructions or lists of candidates, they cannot put them in the envelope with the ballots, unless they want to pay the postage on the whole package. Instead, they would have to mail the instructions or lists in a separate package, making just that much more mail, on which they must pay the postage.
Before Dewey spoke
Instructions on how to mark the ballot are regarded as important in some cases, because of peculiarities of state laws, particularly for soldiers who have come of age since they went into the service and are voting for the first time. Also lists of candidates will be necessary in some cases.
The provision for free postage for voting instructions and lists of candidates was stricken from the measure by the conferees at the tag end of their long and wearing ordeal over the measure, when someone brought in the report that voting instructions for New York State made up quite a sizeable volume.
Why, it was asked, should the federal government foot the bill for such bulky mail? Nobody knew whether New York actually had any idea of sending out anything like this. That was before Governor Dewey had presented his plan for state ballots to the New York Legislature which, he said, would call for a ballot package weighing only six-tenths of an ounce, well under the eight-tenths of an ounce prescribed by the bill.
Nothing can be done about the joker unless one branch or the other should reject the whole conference report and send it back for further consideration.
Another example of confusion
This is just another example of the muddling on the soldier vote bill. Confusion exists about some of its provisions. Already inquiries are coming in from secretaries of state, particularly as to whether poll tax and registration requirements are waived. No one is clear about this.
They were waived specifically in the existing law, passed in September 1942, which would remain in effect if President Roosevelt vetoed the pending measure. For this and other reasons, the belief is growing here that President Roosevelt will veto the bill and, in so doing, seize the opportunity to reply to Governor Dewey’s attack on the administration.
A probable tipoff was seen when Speaker Sam Rayburn withdrew his first endorsement of the conference agreement and said that he had not made up his mind whether he would support it.
The Senate will take up the conference report on the measure Tuesday.
U.S. fliers tell how they did it –
First Fortress to smash at Berlin takes honors only by accident
Other formations veer from target; Yanks ‘sweat out’ flak and weather
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Poll: GOP in Kansas favors Dewey by big margin
MacArthur, Willkie next in popularity
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
When Alfred M. Landon, the 1936 GOP nominee, predicted that Governor Thomas E. Dewey will be nominated as the Republican presidential candidate this year, he was expressing the wishes of his fellow Kansas – at least as of today.
Kansas voters who state a preference today for a Republican for President name Governor Dewey their first choice for the GOP nomination by a 58% majority. Gen. MacArthur is chosen second most frequently, Wendell Willkie third, Governor John W. Bricker and former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen next.
Voters state preference
Here is a table showing the actual percentage of the Republican vote won by the possible candidates included in today’s survey:
| Dewey | 58% |
| MacArthur | 20% |
| Willkie | 11% |
| Bricker | 6% |
| Stassen | 5% |
Each voter in the survey was asked to select his present preference from a list of men most prominently mentioned today as likely candidate for President in both parties, and the results shown above are based on those who named a Republican.
Dewey strong in Kansas
Former Kansas Governor Landon made his prediction that Mr. Dewey will be nominated at the convention in a statement to the press several months ago.
Latest published surveys in sentiment in the entire West Central area, including Kansas, when compared with today’s survey of the Sunflower State show Mr. Dewey more popular in Kansas than he is in the area as a whole. His percentage vote in the entire area is 44%. The states making up the West Central section, in addition to Kansas, are Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.
MacArthur second
Gen. MacArthur’s strength on the basis of percentages, is the same in Kansas as in the whole West Central section. Mr. Willkie is stronger in the area as a whole than in Kansas, winning 18% in the eight states grouped, as against 11% in today’s survey.
Minnesota’s former governor, Harold Stassen, has 14% of the Republican vote in the whole area, as compared to 5% in Kansas.
New high-powered U.S. fighters give Allies edge in air war
Axis countries forced to concentrate on fighters for defense; powerfully engined Thunderbolts, Corsairs and Hellcats help maintain combat superiority
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New tactics add to Navy’s punch
U.S. carriers launch all planes on mission; Japs come in for kill; overwhelmed by land-based Corsairs flying ‘top cover’
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Pre-invasion airwork softens Marshalls
Coordinated 75-day battering by airmen of Army, Navy and Marines paves way for final assault
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Völkischer Beobachter (March 12, 1944)
Die Möglichkeiten der Abwehr –
Unsere Jäger packen US-Bomber
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U.S. Navy Department (March 12, 1944)
CINCPAC Press Release No. 305
For Immediate Release
March 12, 1944
Three enemy bases in the Eastern Marshall Islands were attacked on March 10 (West Longitude Date) by Marine and 7th Army Air Force aircraft, including Mitchell bombers, Dauntless dive bombers, and Warhawk fighters. On the same day Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two attacked another Eastern Marshall base. There was no fighter interception on any of these raids and despite moderate anti-aircraft fire all planes returned safely to base.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 306
For Immediate Release
March 12, 1944
A small amphibious unit of the Pacific Fleet, including a detachment of the 22nd Marine Regiment, has occupied Wotho Atoll without resistance.
The occupation force, commanded by Maj. C. B. Lawton, USMC, was received by the native population with ceremony, including gifts of food. A proclamation was posted, establishing military government.
The Pittsburgh Press (March 12, 1944)
Irish told U.S. can use force
Non-invasion pledge not in force now, says State Department
By John A. Reichman, United Press staff writer
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Yanks score big air victory in Italian raids
Bombs rained on Florence railyards
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer
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Pledge to spare Rome reported
Pope may announce Allied, Nazi promises
By Aldo Forte, United Press staff writer
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Fortresses sow havoc in arms center
Münster principal target of day raids
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
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‘In love and war’ –
Sgt. Kelly gets his medal, but loses his ‘only girl’
Gen. Clark decorates Pittsburgh hero
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Usurpation of power laid to Roosevelt
Indianapolis, Indiana (UP) – (March 11)
Senator Robert A. Taft (R-OH) charged tonight that “usurpation of power by the President” is transforming the courts and legislature into “a mere shell” and declared that a fourth term would cause steady enlargement of the executive power.
Addressing the Republican Editorial Association, Mr. Taft denied that the President had any legal right to many of the powers which he has assumed.
Mr. Taft said:
If the President is elected to a fourth term, with a Congress disposed to do his bidding, the people can only expect one course to be pursued – that is the course of steady enlargement of the executive power.