Ferguson: Disguised blessing
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
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Steele: Drive in Burma nears decision; British raiders menace Japs
Every hour precious to Stilwell’s men
By A. T. Steele
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891 Jap planes destroyed in South Pacific
200 Allied aircraft lost in 4 months
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer
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Yank treks 49 days in jungle, over mountains to get at Japs
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Identical ‘choppers’ –
Both wear ‘store teeth,’ so Chic and Walt become bosom pals
Form Damon and Pythias Association because their upper plates are alike
By Ernest Foster
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
In Italy – (by wireless)
Italian trains are running again, and they have some electric trains out of Naples that are as modern as ours at home.
But no transportation here is back to pre-war proportions, and everything is packed with masses of humanity. People ride on top of the cars and hang all over the sides.
The funniest thing about this to me is that whenever a train approaches a tunnel it stops in order to let the hangers-on get off, so they won’t be raked off by the tunnel walls.
One of the items on the Naples black market these days is American Army C-ration. Where the black market gets them I don’t know, but a can of C-ration meat-and-vegetable hash sells for 25 cents.
An Italian housewife who I know slightly bought three cans of C-ration hash the other day. But when she got home, she discovered she had been hoodwinked, for the cans were filled with sand.
Some smart operator had simply gathered up a batch of empty cans and lids, put sand in the cans, and then neatly crimped the lids back on.
Quotes wrong price
At the entrance to one airfield which I visit occasionally, a ragged Italian woman sits on the ground selling apples, hazelnuts and English walnuts to the soldiers.
These roadside merchants prefer not to sell to the Italians at all, because our soldiers willingly pay higher prices than the natives. But the other day another Italian woman stopped in front of this vendor and gathered up an apronful of apples. Then she started to pay for them. The vendor woman unfortunately quoted her the soldier price. The prospective customer looked at her a moment, and then in a rage threw all the apples right in her face.
Note to postal clerk Henry Rosner of Pittsburgh – I got your message. Thanks a lot.
Several weeks ago, Sgt. Bill Mauldin, the Army cartoonist, bought a pair of rubber panties in Naples and sent them home to Phoenix for his six-month-old baby.
His wife apparently spread the word, for since then Bill has had about 20 requests from young mothers in America wanting rubber pants for their babies. Apparently, this article is extinct back home.
Bill is in a spot, and has had to declare rubber panties extinct over here too.
Eiderdown sleeping bag cherished
Sherman Montrose is the boss of all the civilian photographers over here. He works for NEA Service and has covered the Solomons, the Aleutians and Italy, which makes him one of the most veteran of correspondents in this war.
Monty has one piece of equipment which everybody would like to steal. It’s a pure eiderdown sleeping bag. It’s just a thin envelope which you crawl into, and is so wonderfully warm you don’t need anything else except a shelter half to keep the rain off.
Monty had it made back in the days when eiderdown was still available. It cost $60. He packs it in his hand the way a woman carries a shopping bag.
The Red Cross asked me the other day to speak on a transatlantic broadcast in connection with its $200 million drive.
But since public speaking is not one of my most glittering talents, and since the whole program would probably collapse if I tried to make a speech about it, we compromised and I promised to write a few lines.
So here they are. I’ve seen the Red Cross operate in Ireland, England, Africa, Sicily and Italy, and I’m very much for it. Its task is tremendous and it does a great good.
You won’t be making any mistake if you fork over a little dough for the Red Cross. Why, even I am going to donate a mile.
Roper: War beautiful to watch, if you’re 2 miles away
Go a mile closer and you see tragic faces of wounded, Cassino eyewitness says
By James E. Roper, United Press staff writer
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Less control over industry is advocated
Batcheller opposes ‘planned economy’
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Cash in public hands reached all-time high
Total tops $21 billion mark
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Poll: Dewey choice of Republicans in Illinois
MacArthur gains in popularity
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
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Völkischer Beobachter (March 18, 1944)
Schwere Angriffs- und Abwehrkämpfe –
Vergeblicher feindlicher Ansturm auf Cassino
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U.S. Navy Department (March 18, 1944)
Communiqué No. 510
The submarines USS CAPELIN (SS-289) and USS SCULPIN (SS-191) are overdue from patrol and must be presumed to be lost.
The next of kin of personnel in the CAPELIN and the SCULPIN have been so notified.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 316
For Immediate Release
March 18, 1944
Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four bombed Paramushiru and Shimushu in the Kuril Islands on March 16 and again on March 17 (West Longitude Dates). No fighter opposition was encountered and anti-aircraft fire was light.
On March 16, a Liberator bomber of the 11th Army Air Force bombed Matsuwa Island in the Kurils, without opposition. Liberators bombed Shimushu on March 17.
Four enemy‑held atolls in the Eastern Marshall Islands were bombed by Mitchell medium bombers of the 7th Army Air Force, Dauntless dive bombers of the 4th Marine Air Wing, and Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two on March 16. A large explosion was caused on one of the atolls, and fires were started on another. One of our planes was damaged by anti-aircraft fire.
On the same day, search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two bombed Kusaie and Oroluk in the Caroline Islands.
We lost no planes in these operations.