U.S. bombers smack base in Carolines
Raid is a follow-up to naval assault
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
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70 civilians slain by Nazis in Italy
Executions follow death of 3 Germans
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OWI director clears Army of ‘coverup’ on blunders
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Simms: United Nations look to U.S. to lead in stabilizing peace
Washington must make clear what kind of post-war setup it will not guarantee
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
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Briton defends Empire policy
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Strong lobby pushes along press subsidy
Congress subjected to hometown pressure
By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
With 5th Army beachhead forces, Italy – (by wireless)
Probably the two outstanding features of our handling of supplies on this 5th Army beachhead have been the “duck,” or amphibious truck, and our system of carrying regular trucks fully loaded aboard many ships so they can be driven right off when they reach here.
Without the “ducks,” some of our invasion landings would have been pretty close to impossible. It is a leading lady in this drama up here.
All day long you see a thin, black line of tiny boats moving back and forth between shore and ships at anchor a mile or two out. They remind you of ants at work. These are “ducks,” going constantly back and forth all the time, day and night. There are hundreds of them.
One day I stood on the beach and hooked a ride on one of them. A duck has no crew except the driver. My driver was Pvt. Paul Schneider of Seattle. He is only 22, yet from appearances he could have been any age up to 40. His black whiskers were caked with dust, he wore green celluloid sunglasses, and all his upper front teeth were out, giving him a half-childish, half-ancient look.
His teeth were knocked out in an auto wreck before he left the States, and he has never been still long enough since to get a plate made. I asked him if he didn’t have trouble eating, and he said:
No, I get along fine. There’s nothing to chew in C-rations anyway.
As soon as we drove down into the war and got our truck officially turned into a boat in introduced myself, and Pvt. Schneider said:
Oh yes, I just finished reading your book. It was all right.
Man for Ernie’s money
From that moment, Pvt. Schneider was, for my money, the champion
Once in the water, Pvt. Schneider shifted a few gears and pulled a lever to start a bilge pump. The engine made a terrific clatter, and we could hardly hear each other.
We had gone only a little way when Pvt. Schneider yelled, “Would you like to drive it?” I said, “Sure.” So, he took his foot off the throttle and we traded seats.
Driving a duck is funny. You turn the wheel, and about 15 seconds later you get the reaction to it. You anticipate the waves, and turn toward them a little.
I must admit that I felt very big and important, driving a rust and battered-up old duck out through the shell-strewn waters of Anzio after another load of the precious supplies that keep everything going on this tiny cameo of a beachhead.
Ducks go day and night
Some forms of unloading stop at night, but the ducks work right on through. Each driver does a 12-hour shift; but he does get some rest at the dump out in the country while he waits to be unloaded.
Pvt. Schneider says their big worry is not being shelled, but being run down at night by the bigger and faster ships known as LCTs. We have lost a few ducks that way.
The ducks take an awful beating being slammed up against the sides of ships by the waves while waiting for winches to swing netloads of stuff down into them. Sometimes the swinging load hits the driver on the head.
On our trip we carried back bunches of 20mm machine-gun ammunition.
The tires don’t last long on a duck. They are soft, for ease in climbing out onto the beaches, and won’t take too much running around on land.
Another trouble is that salt water gets in the brakes. Every now and then, you hear a story of a wreck caused by the brakes going out. But on the whole the duck is almost as wonderful in this war as the jeep.
Pvt. Schneider has worn out two ducks and is on his third one. He has had some close shaves, but has never been hit. When you go a long time, as he has done, with fire all around you and you never get hit, you sometimes build up a feeling of infallibility about yourself, and you don’t worry too much about what might happen.
Pvt. Schneider was just out of high school when he went into the Army, via the National Guard. His wife works in a defense plant at Seattle. He has been through the invasions of Sicily, Salerno and Anzio.
He says he would just as soon drive a duck as do anything else. This is exactly the fine philosophy you’d expect of a man who reads good books.
Primer for primaries –
Legislative contests slated in all but two districts in county
Endorsements by party organizations unopposed in 11th and 13th
By Kermit McFarland
Contests for legislative nominations in one or both parties are underway in all the legislative districts of Allegheny County except the 11th and 13th, where organization endorsements by both the Democrats and Republicans weeded out all opposition.
A summary of the lineups by districts follows:
- SEVENTH DISTRICT
Composed of the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th Wards on the North Side.
Rep. John L. Powers, who was first elected in the Roosevelt landslide of 1932, and Rep. Martin C. Mihm, elected in 1936, are Democratic candidates for renomination with organization endorsement. Mr. Powers is a decorator and Mr. Mihm is an attorney.
They are opposed by Paul W. Trimbel of Arch Street (operator of a laundry equipment service) and Raymond J. Wiegand (a patrolman).
For the Republican nominations, the only two candidates are Clarence A. Schaub (business agent for the hotel and restaurant employees’ union) and Louis M. Hubert (a drayman who is also Republican chairman of the 24th Ward).
- EIGHTH DISTRICT
Composed of the 21st, 26th and 27th Wards, this district also elects two members.
Candidates for the two Democratic nominations are Maurine L. Reynolds (seeking a third term in the Legislature), Thomas V. McNally (a clerk in the Prothonotary’s office and formerly
Republican rivalry is divided among three candidates: John R. Callahan (owner of a transportation line), Albert M. Bell (who lists himself as a defense worker) ad Ward C. Sanders (a police lieutenant). Mr. Bell and Mr. Sanders have been candidates before. Mr. Callahan is a fresh candidate.
- NINTH DISTRICT
The 9th district is McKeesport.
Rep. William J. Yester, seeking a third term, is opposed for the Democratic nomination by Joseph M. LeRosa (manager of a beauty salon). Mr. Yester is an optometrist. Richard F. Watson (paint engineer) is unopposed for the Republican nomination.
- TENTH DISTRICT
This district, taking in the Turtle Creek Valley and the municipalities east of the Monongahela, elects four legislators.
Six candidates are out for the four Republican nominations:
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Robert J. Strathearn of Swissvale (an auditor and former deputy in the local Internal Revenue Bureau office)
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Albert E. Beech of Wilkinsburg (a clerk for the State Labor and Industry Department)
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William P. H. Johnson of Penn Township (an auto dealer)
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Walter C. Feick of Glassport (a dentist and former school director)
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John Wayne Judge of Pitcairn (clerk for a machine company)
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Paul M. Bardes of Oakmont (real estate and insurance broker, former legislator and former squire).
The Democratic organization’s slate in this district is unopposed. It consists of Reps. Thomas J. Heatherington of Versailles Township (a foreman for the County Public Works Department), J. P. Moran of Turtle Creek (a machinist), and B. Frank Hunter of Wilkinsburg (assistant County Paymaster), and also William L. Shaffer (North Braddock lawyer who served one term in the House and two years ago was a candidate for the Senate).
- ELEVENTH DISTRICT
There are no contests in either party for legislative nominations in this district, composed of the 31st Ward of Pittsburgh, Clairton, Duquesne, Dravosburg, Homestead, Munhall, West Elizabeth, West Homestead, West Mifflin, Whitaker and Jefferson Township.
Reps. Thomas E. Barrett of Homestead (secretary in the Clerk of Courts office) and David M. Boies (Clairton dentist) are unopposed for renomination on the Democratic ticket. James F. Lawry (West Mifflin steelworker) and Lida R. Lutz (Clairton hardware merchant) are the candidates for Republican nominations.
- TWELFTH DISTRICT
This is a big district, electing four legislators, taking in the 29th, 30th and 32nd Wards of the city and all the boroughs and townships south of the rivers not included in the 11th district.
Six candidates seek the four Republican nominations, including the four incumbents.
Aspiring to renomination are Reps. Edwin C. Ewing (Mount Lebanon sales engineer), George W. Cooper (Mount Lebanon lawyer), John R. Haudenshield of Carnegie (secretary to a building and loan association), and Norman H. Laughner (a hauling contractor of Glenwillard). Running against this slate are Irwin I. Tryon of Baldwin Township (attorney) and Samuel K. Calhoun (ret.) of Mount Oliver.
- THIRTEENTH DISTRICT
This district is without primary contests for legislative nominations.
The Democratic candidates for the two nominations are David M. Huston (son of Register of Wills), John M. Huston of Allison Park, and L. C. Lockerman (Cheswick merchant and president of the borough school board).
Republican candidates are Rep. Robert D. Fleming (Aspinwall insurance agent) and George D. Stuart of Tarentum (editor of the Valley Daily News).
The district takes in all the boroughs and townships north of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers.
Stokes: Warren out of race for Vice President
Eliminated by choice as GOP keynoter
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
Washington –
The selection of Governor Earl Warren of California as keynote speaker of the Republican conventions eliminates him as a possible vice-presidential nominee, for which he had been mentioned as running mate with New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey.
Instead, the inclination of Republican leaders is to pick their vice-presidential candidate from the Midwest.
This was the word received here from the meeting of the arrangements committee of the Republican National Committee which also recommended that the convention again elect Rep. Joseph W. Martin (R-MA) as permanent chairman, as it did in 1940.
3 others suggested
It is customary to select both as keynote speaker and as permanent chairman men who are not candidates for the presidential or vice-presidential nomination, for the obvious reason that these positions should not be used to promote candidacies or influence the convention.
It was with the understanding that Governor Warren is not a candidate for second place on the ticket that he was chosen to deliver the keynote address, it was learned.
Among Midwesterners available for second place on the ticket, those mentioned most prominently are Ohio Governor John Bricker, now campaigning for the presidential nomination, Rep. Charles A. Halleck (R-IN), a House leader and chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, and Rep. Everett M. Dirksen (R-IL), who is also an announced candidate for the presidential nomination.
Gesture of governors
The selection of Governor Warren for the keynote address was recognition of the importance of California in Republican consideration, and a gesture to the 26 Republican governors who have assumed major influence in party councils and affairs. The governors will be powerful in the convention.
Governor Warren will have control of California’s 50 votes at the convention. Delegates will be elected at the May 2 primary. The delegation will be uninstructed.
Prefers Cabinet post
The Governor, it is said, was averse to the vice-presidential nomination, for which he has been prominently mentioned. He would prefer a Cabinet post as Attorney General, should the Republicans win, it is reported, because of experience fitting him for such a position. He was Attorney General of California for eight years.
The elimination of Senator Arthur Vandenberg (R-MI) as the keynote speaker, for which he was considered, was regarded here as due to his championship of the nomination of Gen. Douglas MacArthur who has won virtually no support among Republican leaders.
The Senator is reported now as cooling off considerably toward the general as the result of his letters to Rep. A. L. Miller (R-NE), recently made public by the Congressman, and the Senator said to be drifting toward the Dewey camp.