The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, January 17, 1944, Page 9

MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 1944 Alaska Veferans, Just Back from Aftu, Once Againmlia’king "Basic” BY R. B. BERMANN FORT LEWIS—They're just back ' training officer from 3 year's service in Alaska and | staff the Aleutians—during which one battalion covered itself with glory | in the bloodiest fighting on Attu— but the veterans of the 4th in- |Attu anc who is now plans and on the regimental Starting Training “After 3 years of marching on muskeg,” he remarked today, “it’s a wonder they can march as well fantry have returned to the same as they do on the Fort Lewis rocks.” kind of basic training that they re- The Alaska veterans have just celved as recruits. | embarked on their new training It's not precisely the same kind program, as each of them received of traihing at that—because a lot 20 days leave on their return in of new weapons have come into November and December, and the use since their recruit days and regiment did not get back to full they've got to familiarize them- | strength until after the holidays selves with them. They came to Fort Lewis laden But it’'s just straight marching down with trophies—Japanese bat- practice that they need the most, tle flags, samurai swords, wrist- according to Maj. W. C. Liberty, watches and a wide variety of other who _was executive officer of the souvenirs. But they took most of 1st Battalion during the battle on these home when they got leave . "“Tellme. How many more days be- fore Ddddy can come home?”’ And mother doesn’t know. So she answers the same way she’s answered a hundred times . , .’ again. But this we do know .. » “Not so many days ~.~. we hope. Daddy can’t come home to us until the war is over. _ Until we win, you know.”‘\" Nobody can tell the thousands of bewildered little hearts when their Daddies will come home. Nor the millions of other Americans BACK THE INVASIO WITH WAR BONDS when their husbands, sweethearts will be back. The tragic truth is that many of them will never see their loved ones This Message for Victory Sponsored by - NORTHLAND TRANSPORTATION CO. Serving Alaska Dependably in War asin Peace and a Japanese machine-gun, much the same as an American 30 cali- ber, a knee mortar and a few flags are about all they have left in camp, Graphic Account A graphic account of the action on Attu was given by Major Lib- erty He explained that the 1st Bat- talion had been on Adak since No- vember, 1942, having played a ma- jor role in the establishment of the there, but it was after the invasion of Attu was ac- tually under way that its members learned they were to take part in the battle. “When the invasion began,” Ma- jor Liberty recalled, “we got orders to get packed and aboard the trans- port within 36 hours. We arrived at Attu and went into action the following day “The main body of troops that had preceded us had expected to overrun the island within 36 hours but, they found the Japs better pre- pared than they had anticipated— and we caught it pretty hard, as we took to the mountains right away and did most of our fighting there. “The battle officially ended on June 3—although we were still cap- bas base How many more days, Mummy ? Never. Every minute by which the war can be shortened means fewer lives lost—fewer white crosses on a lonely hillside. Your job is to put every dollar you can possibly dig up into War Bonds. The fighting equipment bought by your dollars will hasten the day of not. until’ or sons, THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE-—JUNEAU, ALASKA turing and killing a few Japs 8 mett down the trench.’ days later—and the battalion was| Barnett is no longer with the/to Alaska to work. It built more pretty busy all that time. regiment, having been hospitalized)air fields than the engineers and “There was lots of hand-to-hand {shortly after the battle for stomach|loaded nfore ships than all the fighting—but it wasn’t the kind troub! stovedores.” you might expect. When our men Anc r D. S. C. was awarded| The 4th is the second oldest regi-| closed with them the Japs didn't pos mously to Lt. Luther Brew-{ment in the United States army,| show any zeal for that kind of er, who died charging a machine- having been organized in 1792, Tt fighting. They'd just cower in their gun nest; there were 17 Silver sm's} fox holes. We couldn't trust 'em-—|in the battalion, and Cumpamrsi they were just as likely as not to A and C received unit citations. be holding grenades’ under cover--| But it isn’t mostly of the fighting | so there was nothing to do but|that men think when their| the shoot them when they wouldn't|thoughts go back to the Aleutians-- come out.” it's of the months of hard labor Kills 22 Japs that they put in during their stay Major Liberty spoke with pride !0 the North of the feat of Pvt. Fred M. Barnett | 2 Weeks of Fighting of A Company, who won the Dis- “After all,” commented Col. P. tinguished Service Cross for killing|E. LeStourgeon, the regimental 22 Japs single-handed with his rifle | comma “it was just & little land hand grenades over 2 weeks of actual fighting for “His platoon had been pinned|one battalion—out of 3 years of down by a Jap machine-gun,” he hard work for the whole regiment.| said, “and he got tired of staying That just goes to show how much the: So he loaded 2 Jap gas mask |fatigue duty there is in a war.” holders with grenades and started Major Liberty said the 1st Bat- out for the machine gun. After he'd talion didn't lose any time getting | emptied his rifle, he started in with/back to fatigue duty after the the hand grenades—and he simply | battle cleared out the whole trench. The| We had to go right back over 2 dead Japs aren’t an esumate—"fln- battlefield and bury the dead the platoon commander made a per-|{and police it up,” he said. “That sonal count when he followed Bar={was a lousy job. “But after all, the regiment went was disbanded in 1802, but was re- | has | organized 10 years later and been continually in existence si then. - - 5 Reasons For You fo BuyBonds These pictures show why Unele Sam wants you to get in on a good thing — the Fourth War Loan. The five reasons are those listed by the Treasury Depart- ment to spur bond buying. 1—HELP YOUR or Victory " the day when the boys come marching home. Don’t slacken your Bond purchases ~ « while victory is-within our grasp! Never let it be said that while the attack grows stronger on the fighting fronts, we at home failed to back it to the very limit of our ability., Dig down deeper. Buy extra War Bonds. Help shorten the war by those vital minutes—or z days, or months—which mean American lives saved! 5—INSURE THE PEACE | NO BLONDES NEED APPLY: U. specifications for their ideal girl. we mean? BY DOROTHY ROE AP Feature Writer Bombardiers prefer brunettes. Dream-girl specifications of the “hell-from-heaven” boys also in- clude these qualifications: The bride of a bombardier mus! be (a) a good companion; (b) the independent type; (c) a home gir (d) average size (not too skinny, not too fat); (e) a wearer of tai- lored clothes; (f) as smart as the boy-friend, but not smarter. These pertinent facts were glean- ed from a questionnaire sent by! AP Features to bomboardier schools| 1t Midland, Big Springs and San' Angelo, Texas. | Some 453 bombardiers answering the questionnnaire blasted the the-' ory that gentlemen prefer frilly | { | blondes, listing their preferences| I thus: ! Brunnettes, 251 rather than| blondes, (107) or redheads (63). Good companion, 285; good cook, 99; good dancer, 69. Independent type, 163; type, 138; helpless type, 63. Use makeup, 293; use no makeup. | |54. i , Tailored clothes, 251; frilly clothes, 109. Home girl, 231; working girl, 91;| WAC, 5; WAVE, 9; nurse, 15. Average size, 234; skinny, 7; slim, €1; plump, 20; fat, 12. As smart, 239; smarter, 67T, dumber, 46. So bye-bye blondes—farewtll foj the beautiful but dumb. A girl} must be smart, tailored, independ- lent—and brunette—to qualify as the bride of a bombardier. InTight Squeeze Inlfaly | athletic PAGE THREE They Are Pinning Down The Pin-Up Girl Now AVERAGE BRUNETTE USES MAKEUP | INDEPENDENT { TYPE WEARS TAILORED | CLOTHES S. Bombardiers have written the Here is what they mean—See what ATTARAWA FIERCE ONE SEATTLE—A charred Jap rifle, a bayonet, and a knapsack which had lost its odor of death, were mementces brought back from bloody Tarawa by Corp. Gordon “I guess it was the bloodiest fight the marines were ever in,” he said at his home, 1014% Alder St. “The worst was the masses of dead—the stench was pretty ter- rible when we went ashore, 3 days after the attack opened.” But the breath of new life held much more interest for the tall good-looking young marine—he was meeting young Donna Gale Sage, 13 months old, for the first time, and it seemed hard for him to remem- ber the color of death when she grinned at him and tugged his ear. “We started hitting with the big guns before daybreak,” he related. “Then the shore batteries opened up, and the first Jap salvo came just short of our ship. There was a lot of cheering when a huge col- umn of flame told us one of our ships had made a direct hit on an oil or gas storage dump. Rough On Beachhead .lt was pretty rough when they tried to take the beachhead, Cor- poral Sage said. “No, I didn't talk to any of the boys in the first wave—I don't think many of them came back to tell a story,” he asserted. “But I saw their bodies, littering | the reefs in all sorts of grotesque positions, when the tide went out. “You see, the Higgins boats |couldn’t get over the coral reef. Trapped, the fellows could only go WITH UNITED STATES PlrrH‘overboard and wade to shore. They ARMY IN ITALY — There were made a pretty target for the en- some tight squeezes in the Fifth trenched Japs, and most of them Army’s invasion of Italy but Pri-|never got there.” vate Otto Ekman of Winter, Wis,| The Japs, he said were pretty had one of the oldest. | well dug in, behind coral and coco man lines he became separated ed every beachhead. from his small outfit in the dark.| “Their blockhouses were really At 4 pm., he suddenly realized he|something to see—solid concrete, 8 could hear nothing but Gcrmnn’feEl thick,” he said with impartial voices. He did. When dawn came,| enthusiasm. “We took them with he found he was squarely in the|dynamite and flame throwers. middle of a Nazi bivouac area. “Themass killings? Well, I didf't “All day,” he said, “Germans|mind that as much as you might expect. You see we had expected On a special mission behind Ger- |logs and sand- bags, and command- passed within a few feet of where I was hiding. At times they were so close I was certain they could hear me breathe. But I stayed put until 9 o'clock, when I decided to try to get out. I did, all right, but { made a little noise and the Ger- mans were $o nervous that ma- chattering all over camp.” Ekman departed hastily ber, his wife, Patricia, and Donna Gale, for the first time in 17 months. it to be messy.” i Sage, 22, a marine since Septem- 1940, is home on leave with — e — Two thousand new tires a day ‘hine guns immediately started | Were required by U. S. forces to re- | place worn-out tires during the and | North African campaign. - sventually got back to his outfit—| 12 days after he had started out on| ©One two-ton blockbuster bomb for his mission ‘Berlln costs $872