McCarthy’s tip makes savage star
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The Pittsburgh Press (May 24, 1944)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
A B-26 base, England –
Sgt. Kermit Pruitt, whom I spoke of the other day, is the tail gunner in “my crew.” He’s an old cowboy from Arizona – looks like one, acts like one, talks like one. But he’s no hillbilly in the head.
Pruitt is the talking kind. He talks and sings on the slightest provocation. He likes old cowboy songs. They say that every once in a while, he will start singing some cowboy song over the interphone while they’re actually in a bomb run, and the pilot will have to yell at him to shut up.
He likes to tell stories about cowpokes in Arizona. He was telling the other day about one old cowboy who went to the city and registered at a hotel for the first time in his life. The clerk asked him if he wanted a room with running water, and the cowboy yelled, “Hell no! What do you think I am, a trout?”
Pruitt drives the rest of the crew crazy by shooting his tail gun at the most unexpected times. In more than 50 missions he has never yet seen an enemy plane to shoot at, so he breaks the monotony by shooting at gun emplacements and flak ships two miles below. These sudden blasts scare the wits out of the rest of the crew, and Pruitt then catches a little brimstone over the interphone from the pilot.
But this doesn’t faze him, or impair his affection for his pilot. Pruitt says he just shopped around in this Army till he found a pilot that suited him. Back in America he “missed” a couple of trains to avoid coming overseas with an outfit he didn’t like. He says his hunch proved right, for his entire old crew in that outfit were killed on their first mission.
Finally, he got a chance to come with the B-26s. Pilot “Chief” Collins was a wild man then, and most everybody was afraid to ride with him. But when Pruitt saw him handle a plane, he said to himself, “There’s my man.” So, he got on Chief’s crew, and he’s still on it. He wouldn’t think of flying with anybody else.
Pruitt is thin, not much bigger than me, and he usually wears coveralls which make him look even thinner. He goes around poking his head out from hunched-up shoulders with a quizzical half grin on his face. He sure does enjoy living.
Pleasant Valley, Arizona, is Pruitt’s home diggins. He is 30. He is married to a beautiful girl who is part French and 1/32 Indian, and last Christmas Day they were blessed with an heir. Pruitt has a pocketbook full of pictures of his wife and offspring, and he shows them to you every few minutes. If you go out of the room and come back five minutes later, he shows you the pictures again.
I was sleeping near Pruitt one night when the crews were awakened at 2:00 a.m. for an early mission. It was funny to see them come out of bed. Not a soul moved a muscle for about five minutes, and then they all suddenly came out as though shot from a gun.
Pruitt always starts talking as soon as he is awake. On this particular morning, he said:
When the war’s over, I’m gonna get me an Apache Indian to work for me. I’m gonna tell him to get me up at 2 o’clock in the morning, and when he comes in, I’m gonna take my .45 and kill the SOB.
The three sergeants in my crew sort of took me under their wing and we ran around together for two or three days. One night they slicked all up, put on their dress uniforms with all their sergeants’ stripes and their silver wings and all their ribbons, and we went to a nearby town to a singing concert. Then we went into the backroom of the local pub and sat around a big round table with two very old and ugly British women, who were drinking beer and who were very grinny and pleasant. They giggled when Pruitt told stories of his escapades as a cowboy and of his trips to London on leave.
There are about 20 flying sergeants in the same barracks with my crew. They live about the same as the officers, except that they are more crowded and they don’t have settees around their stove, or shelves for their stuff. But they have the same pinup girls, the same flying talk, the same poker game, and the same guys in bed getting some daytime shuteye while bedlam goes on around them.
I got to know all these flying sergeants and I couldn’t help but be struck by what a swell bunch they were. All of them are sort of difficult at first, but they open up when you have known them for a little whole and treat you like a king. They tell you their troubles and their fears and their ambitions, and they want so much for you to have a good time while you’re with them.
With these boys, as with most all the specialized groups of soldiers I have been with, their deep sincerity and their concern about their future are apparent. They can’t put into words what they’re fighting for, but they know it has to be done and almost invariably they consider themselves fortunate to be living well and fighting the enemy from the air instead of on the ground. But home, and what will be their fate in the post-war world, is always in the back of their minds, and every one of them has some kind of plan laid.
Völkischer Beobachter (May 25, 1944)
Sowjets sollen Kriegsmaterial abgeben –
Tschungkings Notschreie setzten Wallace in Bewegung
Ein neues Geschäft für die Yankees, aber keine Hilfe für ihre Verbündeten
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U.S. Navy Department (May 25, 1944)
Communiqué No. 521
Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the sinking of fifteen vessels, including one combatant ship, as a result of operations against the enemy in these waters, as follows:
- 1 destroyer
- 1 large cargo transport
- 1 large tanker
- 2 medium cargo transports
- 7 medium cargo vessels
- 1 small transport
- 1 medium tanker
- 1 small tanker
These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Department communiqué.
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 45
Carrier‑based aircraft of a Pacific Fleet Task Force commanded by RAdm. A. E. Montgomery, USN, attacked Marcus Island on May 19 and 20 (West Longitude Date) and Wake Island on May 23.
At Marcus, our aircraft in 373 sorties dropped 148 tons of bombs on airdrome installations. Ammunition and supply dumps were destroyed and gun positions and buildings damaged. Only two enemy aircraft were seen in the area: one of these a medium bomber was shot down near the target and the other, also a twin‑engine plane, was strafed on the ground. A small cargo ship was set afire north of Marcus. Our losses were four planes and three men.
One hundred and fifty tons of bombs were dropped on Wake in 354 sorties. No enemy aircraft were sighted in the Wake area. Twenty buildings were destroyed and others damaged; storage areas and other airdrome installations were heavily hit. Several small craft were sunk or damaged. None of our planes was shot down.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 415
For Immediate Release
May 25, 1944
Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force bombed Ponape Island on May 23 (West Longitude Date).
Enemy positions in the Marshall Islands were attacked on May 23 by Mitchell bombers of the 7th Army Air Force, Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two, Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, and Navy Hellcat fighters. Defense installations were bombed and severely strafed.
Brooklyn Eagle (May 25, 1944)
Thrust by Anzio army joins 2 Allied fronts
Trap set for 17 divisions after foe flees coast
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It’s ‘where in hell are you going?’ when Yanks meet Anzio patrol
By the United Press
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$20 million boost handed to OWI by House group
Committee which cut outlay last year has its ‘valuable contribution’
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State opens drive against vote frauds
Herlands appointed to set up permanent nonpartisan bureau
By Joseph H. Schmalacker
A sweeping drive to block ballot frauds was opened by the state today when William B. Herlands, Mayor La Guardia’s former Commissioner of Investigations, was called in by Nathaniel L. Goldstein, the Attorney General, to organize a new Election Frauds Bureau in the State Law Department.
The new bureau, authorized by the Legislature under a $50,000 appropriation, will be permanent and will be formed on nonpartisan lines, Mr. Goldstein announced.
Herlands, a former Brooklyn resident, who is now living in Manhattan, was appointed by Mr. Goldstein as the bureau’s organizer with the rank of Special Deputy Attorney General at a salary which will be at the rate of $750 a month. His assignment will be part-time and he will continue to maintain his private law offices.
Must guard sanctity of ballot
Mr. Goldstein said:
While Americans on the battlefield are fighting a war to preserve democracy, we on the home front must vigilantly guard the sanctity of the ballot so that the vote of the soldier in the field and the civilian at home may be properly protected. The right to vote for candidates of one’s own choosing, the secrecy of the ballot and an honest count of the votes cast lie at the very root of our form of government. These rights must be preserved, even though we may differ as to candidates and issues. It is more important that our elections be conducted free from fraud and according to law than that any particular candidate should win.
Mr. Goldstein said Democrats as well as Republicans would be named to staff the new bureau. The appropriation to permit the new agency to be organized was urged upon the Legislature last winter by Mr. Goldstein. This was after a special report had been submitted to him by J. Edward Lumbard Jr., a special deputy who headed an investigation of election frauds last year.
The investigation was centered in Albany and other large population areas, including Brooklyn, where a spot-check last year uncovered evidence of considerable election irregularities. The Brooklyn investigation was in charge of A. David Benjamin, a special deputy.
Herlands familiar with task
Mr. Herlands, before his appointment in the La Guardia administration, was chief assistant to Governor Dewey while the latter was making his investigation of rackets in New York County. He resigned as Commissioner of Investigations March 1.
Attorney General Goldstein said Mr. Herlands was familiar with election law problems and that he and Mr. Lumbard prosecuted a number of election officials for ballot frauds committed in 1932.
Yanks menace Maffin drome south of Sarmi
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U.S. nurses fought Buna terrors knee deep in mud, leader says
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Governor Warren shies away from nomination
Washington (UP) –
A telegraphic inquiry to Governor Earl Warren brought an explanation today that “obligations here in California” cause him to shy away from the 1944 Republican vice-presidential nomination.
But Warren did not say he would not accept the nomination if offered. Political observers believe the vigorous boom on his behalf will continue to develop and that he would be a welcome running mate for any likely Republican presidential nominee, including Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York.
Students name Dewey in mock GOP session
Nominated on the first ballot as the Republican candidate for President at a mock GOP national convention staged in two sessions for 3,000 students at Manual Training High School, 7th Avenue and 5th Street, today. Governor Dewey, nevertheless, failed to carry his home state when the booming voice of Roy Bredholt, third-year student, as convention secretary, called the roll of states.
New York’s 93 delegates split its voting strength three ways, casting 46 votes for Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, 37 for Dewey and 10 for Navy LtCdr. Harold E. Stassen. The big laugh of the roll call was Oregon’s “14½ votes for Dewey and half a vote for Stassen.”
On the shoulders of Mr. Dewey as the convention’s nominee would rest the burden of leading this nation “out of the wilderness and spiritual chaos,” according to Gordon White, “a gentleman from Alabama,” who was elected permanent chairman. Tumultuous applause greeted Dewey’s nomination by 774 votes (only 523 were required). Stassen was a poor second with votes of 154 delegates and Bricker trailed with 127 votes.
Assails New Deal
This nation can’t be run on “promises” of what will be done for the people, said keynoter Ward De Silva in a voice of authority. The New Deal “in its bureaucratic way,” he declared, has “forgotten the rights of industry.”
In placing Dewey’s name in nomination, Joan Abbrancati noted opponents’ claim that New York’s Governor is “too young” and then proceeded to show what “this young man” has done.
The party platform, presented by Joseph Tesoriero, recorded its opposition to a fourth term favored an organization of all the nations for “collective security” and promised simplification of the tax system.
3rd party aim is disavowed by Hillman
The Congress of Industrial Organizations has no intention of using its Political Action Committee to create a third party, but intends to work within the major parties solely for the support of “liberal, win-the-war candidates” and the reelection of President Roosevelt, according to Sidney Hillman, chairman of the committee.
Hillman said today that the committee has a fund of about $700,000. He declared the 5,500,000 CIO members would not be under any compulsion to vote the committee’s choices, but described the CIO as the largest voting bloc outside either of the two major parties.
Hillman said:
All we are conducting is an educational campaign. We give our members the records of Congressmen so that they may vote intelligently.
Immediate aim of the committee, he said, is to “get our members to register – we don’t ask that they register Democratic: we are interested in getting them to qualify to vote.”
Hillman credited the committee with having purged Martin Dies from Congress and with the capture of the American Labor Party in New York State. Hillman is the state chairman of the party.
He declared the committee’s books are open to inspection and ridiculed Governor Bricker’s charges that the committee has $5,000,000 allocated for a fourth-term drive.
Because only 28,000,000 votes were cast in the last Congressional election, Hillman said, his committee would attempt to mobilize war workers who have migrated from their homes. He estimated New York State had lost 1,000,000 workers and indicated this aided the Republicans.
He declared that the CIO had no further “purge list” but other CIO leaders placed Senator Taft high on such a list.