The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, April 21, 1944, Page 1

“ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOLXLI,NO.9%632.. = = = = JUNEAU, ALASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1944 MI:MBLR ASSOCIATED PRESS S THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE PRICE TEN CENTY MORE SMASH BLOWS GIVEN GERMANY NEW THREAT FOR CHINESE Public School Teachers Are NOW_ARISESI Elecled 44-45 Japanese Start New Of- 'A B. Phillips Agam Sup- fensive with Spearhead of Flower of Army CHUNGKING, April 21—A new threat on China, including the pos- sibility of a man-made famine af- fecting twenty million civilians and hundreds of thousands. of soldiers, has developed as strong Jap forces drove across the Peiping-Hankow railway in northern Honan Province, the Chinese Army spokeamnn said today. The Jap offensive, embracing be- tween 50,000 and 60,000 soldiers, is spearheaded by contingents from Manchuria where until now the Japanese have kept the flower of their army even through seven years of war with China. - Dibebbd e’ 40,5 A Ndely (Continued on Page Two) The Washingion, Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON (. col. Y obert 8, Allon now on active service with the Army.) WASHINGTON—Though the na- tion was shocked at the news of the death of 400 U. 8. paratroopers shot down by our own naval gun- ners over Sicily, unfortunately all of that tragic story was mot then told. Still untold was the fact that, after losing 23 transport planes loaded with 400 men on August 11, we lost a second wave of 21 planes with almost another 400 men three days later—also shot down by Al- lied naval gunners. But perhaps even more import- ant is the fact that eight months have now passed, and with thou- sands of parattoopers poised to be- - gin the invasion of Europe, no step has been taken to provide anything but ordinary transport planes to carry paratroopers over the second front. The inside story of what hap- pened over Sicily and the failures since is set forth here only with the hope that it may still move the high command to side with the younger officers who have fought a losing battle to give better pro- tection to paratroop-carrying trans- ports. Here is the story: WHAT LED TO DISASTER ‘The first paratroop drop over Sicily took place before' midnight of August 9-10, before the Navy .ar- arrived, and was amazingly success- ful. Out of about 500 planes par- ticipating, only two were lost. Gen- eral Eisenhower sent his congrat- ulations. Prior to the opening of the Sic- ilian campaign, the paratroop op- erations had been under the com- mand of Colonel Mike Dunn, a fighting Irishman, who had se- cured an agreement from the Navy that it would not fire on any planes going into Sicily for fear of mis- taken identity. Once the Navy made this agree- ment, it immediately brought press- ure to change if, fearing enemy air raids from Sicily, against Allied shipping. “No,” said Dunn, “your boys are light-fingered. They start shooting at the drop of the hat and, one starts, the whole bunch will Jjoin in. They gan’t tell who they're firing at in the dark.” The Navy then proposed that a certain air corridor be marked out through which U. 8. planes could fly with safety, but Dunn argued that they might get lost, fly off course, and be shot down. Later, however, Brig. Gen. P. L. ‘Williams, then temporarily at loose ends, was placed in command of the Sicilian air-borne infantry op- eration, and finally yielded to Navy pressure. The early order was changed. SLOW TRANSPORTS HELPLESS So when U. 8. paratroop planes came over on the night of Aug. 11, in the Gela operation, 23 were shot down. It is not fair to say, as pre- viously reported, that the Navy shot them all. Some undoubtedly were downed by the enemy. Also, black| erintendent - School Board Reorganizes Members of the Juneau School Board met in the- High School building Wednesday night, reor- ganized and then took up regular business. R. B. Robertson, senior member, was reelected President, Dr. J. O. Rude, clerk, and Mrs. C. L. Popejoy, Treasurer. Mrs. Helen Friend - was reelected Secretary of the Board. The following teachers were elect- is |ed for the Juneau school year 1944- 1945: Grade School Esther Abell, Mrs. Herbert Ar- lowe, Mrs. Leonard Berlin, Velma Bloom, Margaret Case, T. Floyd Dryden, Patricia Goodell, Dalma Hanson, Ruth Holbrook, Alice John- son, Marian Lange, Mabel Monson, Mrs. ,John Monagle, Alberta Mur- phy, Eln{ Olson, Merle J. Pitts, Helen Webster, Mrs. L. Williamson, Ralph G. Wright, Joan Johnson. High School C. L. Anderson, Ruth Brooks, Richard Byrns, Enmfly Dean, A. N. Eide, Phyllis Grant, Henry Har- mon, Mary Morris, Evelyn Ohlson, Myrtle Phillips, Marjorie Tillotson and Doris McEachran. A. B. Phillips was reelected as Superintendent of the school for the 1944-1945 year. PEACE TERMS TO RUMANIA FROMRUSSIA LONDON, April 21. — Russla is understood to have tendered peace terms to tired Rumania but belief prevails here the German satellite must act quickly or face the full weight of the Red Army. Details of the peace terms have been communicated to the United States and Britain. 19 SOUTHBOUND BY BOAT TOI)AYl A vessel arrived in Juneau from the Westward with: the following disembarking here: Horace Adams, W. P. Brislin, Harold Lidbury, Charles L. Parker, O. S. Sullivan, Ray Hagerup, Willlam Thomas. and E. J. Scott. The boat left for the south with the following persons aboard from Juneau — Mr. and Mrs. Homer, Stockdale, Marion R. Craig, Agnes Van Wettering, Alice Lamor, Helen Davis, Hugo Johnson, Lloyd A.|' Warner, Charles Madsen, Ben Kraft, William Arnoldy, Barten Felch, Van Henry Alchrist, Albert D. McCoy, Mrs. Lois McCoy, Lung How Low, Man Fie Tom, Carl Hed- lund, and Martin Gustafson. BOMBS DROPPED ON WAKE ISLAND WASHINGTON, April 21.—Amer- ican bombers hitting Wake Island in the mid-Pacific for the second time in as many days, dropped 3¢ tons of bombs Wednesday night, the Navy reports, and only moderate antiaircraft fire was encountered. ‘The same day other bombers roar- ed over Ponape and bombs hit the airfields and adjacent buildings. ABSENTEE BALLOTING WILL END TOMORROW Voters are reminded that absen- tee balloting for the Territorial Primaries next Tuesday, will close tomorrow at 4 o’clock. Those who do not plan to be in| the first division when the voting takes place are requested to cast their ballots tomorrow at the U. 8. smoke was pouring up over Sicily (Continued on Page Four) Commissioner's offices in the Fed- eral Building. GRIM FIGHT CONTINUES, SEVASTOPOL Action Flares Again on Baltic Front - German Blows Beaten Back MOSCOW, April 21. — Powerful German tank and infantry attacks have been beaten back by the Red Army near the Estonian border town of Narva, and at the foot of the Carpathians more than 800 miles south, the Soviet communique said. The German blows on the Baltic front, which has been quiet for six weeks, «were directed against the Russian bridgehead on the west bank of the Narova River, south- west of Narva. Grim battles are reported con- tinuing in full swing on the out- skirts of besieged Sevastopol. Fronf line dfpatches said that thousands of Germans and Rumanians were drowned in the Black Sea as Soviet bombers and torpedo planes kept up hourly attacks against convoys seek- ing to reach Rumanian ports from Sevastopol. ——r——— MAE WEST, CHIC AND SPAN, HITS NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK, April 21.—Mae ‘West, whose stage roles brought her everything—f{ame -and fortune 57121, days in the workhouse back in 1927—arrived at the Pennsylvania station last night with 12 trunks, a maid, secretary, manager and stand-in, diamonds and sapphires big as doorknobs and silver fox furs. Photographers - were waiting and she said: “Shoot boys, I am the target tonight.” Mae is here to start rehearsals of her new comedy she wrote and will star in, “Catherine Was Great.” Mae is looking chic and slim’ and said: “I am in an amazingly fine stnte of repair for a gal uf 51.” NATL. SERVICE LAW NEEDED, SAYS STIMSON WASHINGTON, April 21.— Sec- retary of War Henry L. Stimson is quoted as telling the newly formed| ' Women's Committee urging a Na- tional Service Act that “we set aside a certain group of our boys for a difficulc and unpleasant task, then the country climbed into the grandstand to watch the show. I am afraid that is the impression our boys overseas have,” Stimson is reported to have told the group, headed by Miss Pauline Mandigo, publicity Secretary, that “we are approaching a great cri- sis” and we need a National Ser- vice law immediately. ERNEST SANDERS IS BROUGHT T0 JUNEAU Ernest C. Sanders, charged with the alleged murder of Al Johns, was brought to Juheau yesterday on an | Alaska Airlines plane from Anchor- age, by U. 8. Marshal Willlam T. Mahoney and Deputy Marshl Sid Thompson. Sanders is in the Federal Jail awaiting plans for a preliminary hearing which will probably be held at Haines. Al Johns, allegedly murdered lut month at Haines, was captain of a CAA vessel on which the accused man was also an employee. — - JAPS GET LARGE HAUL, SOVIET FISH MOSCOW, April 21.—Fishing al- lotments included in the Soviet-Jap pact of March 30 were auctioned off at Vladivostok yesterday, ten per cent going to Russian firms and the remainder to the Japs. BADOGLIO FORMS -NEW CABINET IN ITALIAN NATION He Will Confinue as Pre- mier, Foreign Minister -Is [Coalition NAPLES, April 21.—Premier «Ba- doglio announces formation of & new Italian war cabinet, himself as Premier and Foreign Minister. Men who held war, navy and air minis- tries in the old cabinet remain at their posts. Posts are divided among Italy's six political parties of the Libera- tion Junta and some independents of four outstanding figures have been made ministers without port- folios. They are Count Sforza, one=~ time Italian Foreign Minister who led the -anti-Fascist movement abroad; Benedetto Groce, philos- opher; Guilo Rodino, leader of the Christian Democrats; Palmiro Tog= liatti, Communist leader who was for many years in Russia under the name of Ercole, attached to the Third International, and recently lead in urging cooperation with Badoglio in forming the new cab~ inet. BRITAIN IS SHAKING ON “LONDON, April 21. = Urging ‘a stronger and long-term military al- liance with Soviet Russia “with def- inite military’ commitments,” Sir Edward Grigg, Permanent Under Secretary of State of War, told the House of Commons “if any power acquires domination of the Euro- pean continent nothing could pre- vent this island from being Pearl Harbored in a night.” Emanuel Shinwell, Laborite said: “We have no intention of throwing the British Commonwealth nations overboard to satisfy the American press or any one else. There are some in the United States who would like to take the Common- wealth countries, each in turn, by separate agreements to our own disadvantage and that would be dis- astrous to the Commonwealth. We fiddle to any nation or empire.” 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF ODD FELLOWS BE Commemorating the 125th anni- versary of the founding of Odd Fellowship in the United States, ganization on Gastineau Channel with their families and guests, will meet tomorrow, Saturday evenlng, |at 8 o'clock in the Odd Fellows Hall. | The anniversary also celebrates the birthday of Thomas Wiley, founder ;»! the Odd Fellows order in Amer- ca, The committee in charge consists of H. V. Callow, chairman, assisted by George Clark, James MeDonald, and Ted Laughlin. They have ar- ranged an entertaining program of music, dancing and refreshments. Charles W. Carter will be the prin- cipal speaker. Albert Peterson will furnish the music, in charge of Mrs. Frank Olson. Attending the affair will be the members of Aurora Encampment A-1, Silver Bow Lodge No. A-2 and Perseverance Rebekah Lodge No. A-2, their families and mvlbed guests. Al visiting members are! issued a special invitation to be| present for the celebration. PAA PLANE IN, OUT YESTERDAY Yesterday Lola La Pointe flew to Fairbanks and Mrs. Dorothy Mar- shall to Seattle by Pan American Airways plane. Incoming passengers were Allan Webb, inspector for the Department of Agriculture, and Gil- bert Griffin, district manager for the Morrison-Knudsen Company, boih from Seattle. Roy Lynch, mining man, came in today from Seattle, returned from Moscow to take the) HER FUTURE are not prepared to play second COMMEMORATED HERE | members of all branches of the or-| and refreshments will be! HARBORS OF ITALY GET German Communications Blasted by Warplanes of Allied Forces {ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NAPLES, April 21. — Allied war- lanes, diverted temporarily from ‘ssaults on Balkan rail targets, ashed German communications Italy yesterday. ‘ U. 8. heavy bombers blasted Ven- gets from Ancona to Trieste. On the ground, meanwhile, Ger- than troops on the right flank of the Anzio beachhead are observed taking up both their own and Allied ines, although the front has gen- erally been quiet. The Germans are reacting sharply to every Allied move, apparently apprehensive of attack. ONLY THREE SALMON CANNING PLANTS 10 'RUN, PUGET SOUND WASHINGTON, April 21, — In order to save manpower. and equip- i ment, the Puget Sound salmon can- ning industry was placed under a concentration order by Coordinator | of Fisheries Harold L. Ickes and as ia result fewer packing plants wil ‘vwznte this year than in any year i since 1893, Following the successful opera- tion of the Alaska salmon packing industry under a concentration plan, which is being repeated this year, representatives of the industry in the Puget Sound area requested that a similar plan be placed in effect for their segment of the industry. Only three plants will operafe this year instead of the usual eleven al- though one stand-by plant will be available if the run warrants its operation. A single plant, the larg- est in the area, will pack salmon for nine different firms. This plant, at Anacortes, Washington, has a capacity of 10,000 cases a day and storage facilities for 100,000 cases. The other operating plants will be at Deer Harbor and La Conner, ‘Washington. A saving of more than 525 cannery | workers and tender operators will |be effected by the consolidation plan, and 27 cannery tenders will be released for use in other activ- i savings in the use of diesel oil and | the maintenance of salmen cannery equipment. ‘Germany Jiller; on Hitler's Birthday as | 'LONDON, April 20.—Adolf Hit- ler observed his 55th birthday yes-| [terday in silence and the German nation avoided even any pretense at| a celebration. The German radio |stations, however, came out with | numerous reflections on Germany’s helghtening relief the hour for the Allied invasion is near. Dispatches from Sweden and Switzerland reported Field Marshal von Rundstedt massing troops along the vaunted Atlantic wall for an invasion test. Numerous guesses are the assault will be before May. Paul Goebbel’s newspaper printed !an article that told the German people “we have burned the bridges and there is no going back.” ‘(ATAlINA DIVES ' INTO CARIBBEAN; 16 ARE MISSING WASHINGTON, April 21. — The loss of a big Navy flying boat in the Caribbean Sea area has been | ported that 16 of its crew and pas- sengers are missing. The Catalina crashed into the sea on April 6 “while on a routine flight.” The Navy said that 14 sur- vivors and the body of one member olt!ncuwwmplckeduphyn merchant vessel the following day. BiG SMASH ibe harbor and pounded other tar-| {nvasion Day Nears. 'announced by the Navy, which re-! PRSI Young Juneau (andidate Curtis Shattuck, native Alaskan and Juneau young businessman, is a candidate for the first time this year, running for the House of Rep- resenul«iva- on the Democratic Ticket. VIGLATORS OF FISH CEILING SUED BY OPA NEW YORK, April 21.—Federal court suits, with treble damages totalling $4,065,000 were filed April 15 by the Reglonal OPA “against nine smoked fish processors accused of overcharging consumers $1; 356,- | 000 the past year. The OPA also filed with the, Federal Brooklyn and Manhatten courts suits of permanent injunc- tion to force adherence to OPA ceil- ing, prices. ‘The OPA ¢claimed that on wsome sales retailers allegedly | féles. There will also be considerable | charge up to 40 percent above the| ceiling for smoked salmon, nearly dguble for sturgeon, and on white-! fish averaging 256 cents a poum:ll above ceiling, Those sued are the Oxenburg Brothers, $1,179,000; Horowitz Brothers, + $647,000; Gem Smoked Fish, $210,000; Montrose Smoked Fish Corp., $142000; Banner Smcked Fish Corp., $366,000; Ten Eyck Smoked Fish Corp., $278,00; Hellmans Smoked Fish Corp., $433,- 009; Rosola Food Products, Inc., $362,000; and Vita Food Products, 1$450,000. Army Flier from Alaska Is Killed In Wreck of Plane| SEATTLE, April 21. — Funeral services will be held here tomorrow for Lt. Adolph I. Rodgers, 31, of the Army Air Force, killed when his | plane was wrecked in a snowstorm at Klamath Falls, Oregon, last Fri- day. He was born on Unga Island, Alaska, was a graduate of the Sew- ard High School and worked at fishing before entering the army. Princess Elizabeth 18 Years Old Today LONDON, April 21.— Blonde Princess Elizabeth, next in line to rule the vast British Empire, be- came at the reigning age of 18 to- day. Greetings from far-flung out- posts of the Empire poured in on the young princess who becomes Counsellor of State empowered to act for her father, the King, in his "absence, (hurcliiil Winds Up Debale on Aflantic Charter in Commons ‘ LONDON April 21.—Prime Min- |ister Churchill told the House of Lommons today that a British and ‘Americnn mutual assistance agree- ment was reached in 1942 and “we are no more committed to abolition of Imperial preference than the Amerh:un Government is commit- |ted to” the abolition of their pro- tective tariff.” This wound up the debate re- garding the Atlantic Charter and trading agreements after the war. e FINAL SERVICES ARE HELD TODAY , FOR TOM CASEY Tom Casey was laid to rest this afternoon in Evergreen Cemetery, gfollowlng services. at the Carter | Mortuary chapel conducted by the Moose Lodge, and graveside rites under the auspices of the American Legjon with Commander Edward L. | Keithahn in charge. All liquor storess and cocktail lounges in Juneau were closed for an hour this afternoon in (ribute to the deceased. Serving as pallbearers were Frank Metcalf, John Walmer, James So- foulis, §. M. Hungerford, Claude Carnegie, and Alfred Zenger. — eee STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, April 21.— Alaska Juneau mine stock closed at 5% ‘loduy American Can 84, Anaconda 25*» Bethlehem Steel 577, Curtis Wright 5%, International Harves- ter 69, Kennecott 30%, North Am- erican Aviation 8%, New York Cen- tral 18%, Northern Pacific 15%, United States Steel 50%. Pound $4.04. Dow, Joneg averages today are as follows: industrials 13697, rails 38.53, utdlities 22.55. i o Pistol Packin’ Panon Arrives in London LONDON, April 21.-Pistol Pack- in' Lt. Gen. Patton, Jr, who com- manded the American Seventh Army in the Sicilian invasion, has arrived in the European theatre for duty. He will probably be in com- mand of some part of the invasion of Hitler's fortress in Europe, RAF THROWS 'MORE BOMBS, NAZI TARGETS Night Attack Follows Dusk Raid-Germans Tell of Invasion Plans BULLETIN "BERLIN, April 21.—The Ber- lin radio broadcasts reports of a major attack on southeastern Europe by American heavy bombers and also that railroad centers in Germany and occu- pied countries have been hit. The broadcast also said Bu- charest was attacked during to- day by American bombers ap- parently from bases in Italy. Added to the broadcast was the statement that 1100 bomb- ers were dispatched by the RAF over Cologne and other centers last night. LONDON, April 21.—The Royal Air Force threw a crushing weight of 1,100 aircraft in an attack on Cologne, German anti-invasion transport hub, and other rail targets fin France and Belgium last night. Sixteen bombers were lost in the tremendous night operations which included a Mosquito raid on Berlin, The attack quickly followed yes- terday’s dusk attack on Hitler’s At~ lantic wall by a fleet of 750 to 1,000 Flying Fortresses. Allled Spitfires hammered mm- tary objectives in northern France g ke, softening ‘op- {‘e’rution! for further movements. Great Concentration The Berlin radio broadcast sald American and British navies are massing the greatest concentration since Dunkerque in British home waters, preparing for the invasion. The broadcast also said troops are leaving London, which is becoming more and more desetted, every day and night, and British and Amer- ican colonial troops are taking sta- tions on channel ports. Troops Massed on Coast A Vichy broadcast declares the English southeast coast is massed by troops and further declared the major invasion blow from the west will be timed by new Allled assaults on Italy and the Balkans. At midnight last night the sky over the Strait of Dover was lit by high explosives and star shells and German shipping was blasted. The Germans replied and the explosion of one shell rockgd the Dover area. Srmrrnppre———— STASSEN IN PERIL MADISON, Wis., April 21—“We may have rescued the next Presi- dent of the United States,” a Wis- consin sailor, Willilam Bormet, wrote his parents in a letter describing the rescue at sea of an officer he identified as Lt. Comdr. Stassen, former Governor ef Minnesota and Republican Presidential possibility. In Washington, the Navy Depart- ment sald no information as to the incident, was received. - At South St. Paul, Minn, Mrs, Stassen, wife, sald she had “heard something about it.” Catholic Universify ‘In China Is Closed By Japanese Order CHUNGKING, April 21.—Further evidence showing a deliberate de- struction of educational institutions by the Japanese in their occupied territory is received in Chungking in a report saying that the Catholic University in Peiping has been clos- ed by the Japanese. For unknown reasons, Professor Chang Huai and Professor Ying Chien Li have been arrested by the Japanese Gendarmes there. — e —— e o o o o ‘0 o WEATHER T h (U. 8. ) ‘Temp. , April 21 lnx!mumu.lhll\nmu e .o . . . . . ’ \ ' | | | L 1 «‘ | ¢ H i # H |