Militia mobilized as strike cripples cartridge plant
1,000 troops ordered to stand by for duty as workers defy WLB
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They even rescued a cat from blazing Wakefield
The story of the escape of 1,590 persons from the naval transport Wakefield was expanded today as Coast Guard members of the crew arrived here to tell tales of individual and collective heroism during the inferno aboard the luxury liner converted to war uses.
One of the rescuers in the Morro Castle disaster in 1934, Lt. Joseph Mazzotta, took pride in the fact that valor, speed and efficiency had not only prevented the loss of a single life when 25-foot flames swept the Wakefield, but was so effective that:
We even saved a cat.
Lt. Mazzotta, 34, and a resident of Cape May Court House, New Jersey, was overcome once himself before the order to abandon ship was given at 8:15 p.m., an hour and 45 minutes after the automatic alarm first sounded, but he considered that a minor mishap.
He said:
Some of the boys were overcome several times and still managed to fight it off and keep going.
Lt. Henry P. Knickern Jr. of Manhattan told how 60 persons in sick bay were taken to safety without ill effect and Ens. John Mahrley, 31, of St. Paul related the rescue of six overcome passengers from a lower deck.
Charles Albert Buchert, Carpenter’s Mate 1st Class, of Glennside, Pennsylvania, was cited for pulling three passengers who had no gas masks from an escape hatch, while Richard Foutter, gunnery officer, hailed all the passengers for keeping cool in the midst of soaring flames.
To Ens. Mahrley, the most remarkable phase of the holocaust was the manner in which, he said:
…three members of the crew who were trapped in a laundry escaped by forcing a watertight door below water level and made their way to the upper decks.
Skipper of Wakefield hoped to be farmer
But left agricultural college to enter Coast Guard Academy, wife reveals
Cdr. Harold Gardner Bradbury, skipper of the 24,289-ton Navy transport Wakefield, formerly the $10,000,000 luxury liner Manhattan, had early aspirations of becoming an agriculturist, his wife said today at their Brooklyn home, 169 Columbia Heights.
Cdr. Bradbury, born in Maine, attended Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon, for a year before heeding the call of his country, he switched to the United States Coast Guard Academy at New London. He graduated from the academy in 1918 and has been an officer of the Coast Guard ever since.
Returned to Academy
In 1927, he commanded the destroyer Tripp and in 1932, the destroyer Davis. He returned to the Coast Guard Academy in 1933, teaching navigation there for the following four years. Then he commanded a ship off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and went to St. Louis, where as the Chief of Staff to the Coast Guard District Commandant, he helped coordinate the lighthouse service with the Coast Guard.
Returning to sea, he commanded the Coast Guard cutter Shoshone and making trips to the Aleutians, was in charge of the Bering Sea Patrol in the first half of the summer of 1940. He decommissioned the Shoshone at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, from which the vessel went to Great Britain under the terms of the Lend-Lease agreement. Then he went into the transport service for the Navy, and commanded one other big vessel before the Wakefield.
War training now mandatory in high schools
Courses in crafts ruled for last 2 years – girls included
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15 U.S. fliers injured in London blackout
London, England (UP) –
Fifteen American Air Force men were injured during the blackout last night when their bus rammed the rear of a stationary truck.
Most of those injured received broken arms or legs, head injuries or severe cuts.
A fine rescue
The loss, at least pending repairs, of the transport Wakefield, formerly the liner Manhattan, is a blow to our maritime strength at a time when every ship is needed to transport men and munitions. There would be no use denying that loss. Yet there is great consolation.
The warships accompanying the Wakefield performed the work of rescue in a fashion worthy of the traditions of the United States Navy. Because of their prompt and efficient work, more than 1,600 passengers and members of the crew were taken off in mid-ocean without loss of life. That is a first-rate achievement and brings honor to the officers and men who managed it.
Italy reports capture of U.S. flier in Sicily
Rome, Italy – (Italian broadcast recorded by UP in New York)
A High Command communiqué said that an American pilot had been taken prisoner when his plane was forced down during an Allied raid on Sicily.
The British Middle Eastern Command said in a communiqué that fighter planes based on Malta had shot down two Italian planes over Sicily. It was assumed that if one of the British planes was forced down, its American pilot was a member of the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadron made up of American volunteers.
The communiqué said Italian planes had shot down seven Allied planes which attacked a Mediterranean convoy and that an Italian destroyer had sunk a submarine.
Japs have 75 divisions ready to attack Siberia
Chungking, China (UP) –
Japanese military leaders have 75 divisions available for action against Russia in Siberia, well-informed Chinese military sources told the United Press today.
These sources reported there were 34 Japanese and 10 mercenary divisions in Manchuria, 6 Japanese and 15 mercenary Chinese Mongol divisions in Inner Mongolia, and 10 Japanese divisions held in reserve in the Hopei and Shantung area for reinforcement wherever required in a possible northern theater.
The Chinese press reported today that the Japanese authorities had introduced conscription in Manchuria and were forcibly enlisting all men between 18 and 40.
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Chief Palestine rabbi marks New Year in message to U.S.
Jerusalem (UP) –
Isaac Herzog, chief rabbi of Palestine, sent the following message to the United States for the Jewish New Year Saturday:
Men and women of the United States and all who strive and toil to rescue true civilization in this unprecedented world crisis, we send you blessings and greetings on the Jewish New Year.
Faith and trust shall be your motto in this gigantic struggle between light and darkness. America, the citadel of democracy and liberty, built upon the rock of prophetic teaching, become inspired with that immovable faith in the ultimate triumph of the great ideal of the future portrayed by Israel as the most afflicted victim of inhumanity on this darkest hour of its tragic but glorious history, and resolve now upon its restoration after the present gloom will have vanished with God’s help.
FDR may bar war pay raises over 15%
To use ‘Little Steel’ formula as yardstick, House committee told
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The Pittsburgh Press (September 11, 1942)
Rubber action by Roosevelt due Monday
All of Baruch suggestions except rationing get swift attention
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