The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, June 15, 1944, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. XLIL, NO. 9679. “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” ———e e — JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, JUNE 15 ,1944. MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _ PRICE TEN CLNI, PRICE TE.N CENT: JAPAN BOMBED TODAY BY FORTRESSE 350 PERSONS HOMELESS IN FIERCEBLAZE One Falaliimported—fl Percent of Dwellings Are Destroyed Fire or an unknown origin, break- ing out beneath a native’s cabin at approximately 8:30 o'clock last night, swept along the main street in Hoonah, on Chichagof Island, from the north to the south end, destroying all main buildings and 75 percent of the native homes. Only one fatality is known, John Smith, a native, losing his life in the fire. There may be another casualty although a complete check of the sufferers had not been made up to early this afternocon. There are no known injured. 350 Homeless Three hundred and fifty persons are homeless as the result of the blaze and immediate aid is being given them. The estimated replacement value is between $350,000 and $400,000. (Continued on Page Five) - e The Washington Merry - Go-Round| By DREW PEARSON (Lt. Col.” Robert 8. Allen now on active service with the Army.) WASHINGTON—War Department| officials are laughing behind their hands at the fact that Military! Intelligence, supposed to know all| about everything going on behind enemy lines and inside our own lines, chose D-Day to move their offices. In the Pentagon Building,| where Military Intelligence, or G-2, is housed, moving day was called “G-2's D-Day.” They “invaded” their new offices. But never could they have chosen a worse day to move than the Allied D-Day. ther War Depart- ment officers kept calling up G-2, asking for information. “Sorry,” said the operator, “but the telephones are all torn out. G-2 is moving.” Furniture was being moved down corridors, files of secret informa- tion were being shunted from one place to another. Everything was confusion on the one day which meant most to the war. Apparently, Miliitary Intelligence, supposed to know everything, didn’'t know when the big day we were to cross the English Channel was scheduled. REASON FOR CRACKDOWN ON EIRE Now it can be revealed why President Roosevelt was so tough in his crackdown on the Irish re- garding the removal of Axis dip- lomats from Eire. It long had been planned, though a strict secret, to land on the Cherbourg Peninsula. To reach it, many U. S. troops had to steam through the Irish Sea and through, waters adjacent to Eire. This was because the bulk of U. S. Army camps have been located in the west and northwest of Eng- land. While some of the troops were moved in advance to the Channel ports, a lot of them had to swing down through the Irish Sea around the tip end of Wales and then toward Cherbourg. Naturally, the President wanted no scrap of information regarding the early passage of landing barges through the Irish Sea to leak out in any manner, shape or form. NOTE—As it later happened, the invasion probably was no surprise to the enemy, partly because of the false invasion news dispatch, partly because of the fact that the armada, after getting all ready, had to be held up one ddy be- cause of bad weather. CAPITAL CHAFF You can expect Admiral Nimitz to replace Admiral King as Chief “(Continued on Page Four) DIMOND'S BILL IS 'BLOCKED BY ACTION STATE DEPARTMENI Disapproves of Legisla!ion; Extending Salmon Fish- ing Jurisdiction WASHINGTON, June 15. — The State Department has dlsapprowdL of legislation to extend the United States jurisdiction over salmon fish- i FLAG DAY SERVICES HELD HERE Lt. Col. Riegle Speaker at| Impressive Ceremony at Elks Hall 'WIDESPREAD NAVY ACTION IN PACIFIC Enemy Positions from Kur- iles to Marianas Under Atfack WASHINGTON, June §75,150 IN WARBONDS ARE SOLD Premiere Tonight at Capi- | fol Thealre Begins at 9:30 o'Clock 15. — Am- ! Marked by impressive ceremonies, | ing to the international bocundary i: erican warships have turned their | Bering Sea, Alaska Delegate Dimon: |heavy guns on enemy positions from RS |the north Pacific Kuriles to the Bond sales in the Fifth War Loan Drive soared to $75,160 in today’s tabulations, with $34,950 of the total being in E Bonds. text of Lt. Col.! We meet lers all moved in Monday to bom- | ships. The: Delegata bill e oY | | mid-Pacific Marianas, Admiral The Federal Employees and AI—‘ |aska Native Brotherhood and Sis- | tethood had charge of the bond | booihs last night and this evening bard Tinian and Saipan Islands in | the Elks 2 Jlub will take | the Marianas, where strong cnrrior,“m Blks and BmbisayOlub X €T | \ver one of the sales depots, while | task forces have 'been hammering |oV% °ne of P i % | the other will be manned by the the Japs since Saturday, and ad-|Ger o0y ope oo e ditional air attacks are cobre} Premiere Tonight ated with the shelling by the war-| «g,ight Homer Garvin, Manager |of the Capitol Theatre ,will be host The attacks were still continu-| o more than 600 Juneau and Doug- | ing on Tuesday, at the same time, Jag residents who will attend the | he said, that other warships, Bopd Premiere to see the motion companied by bomber planes, sped | pieture “Flight for Freedom” and to | over the north Pacific to Jay heavy | witness the presentation of the nine shells on the enemy base Mat- | Miss Liberty candidates by Lieut. suwa Island in the Kur nnly[Col Roy W. Reigle. 1,060 miles northeast of Tokyo.| The regular show will be over at | These are the planes that hnmlx-d‘fl o'clock, at which time the doors Jap positions at Paramushiro and | Wil be open for the Premiere, whi Shumusu at the northern end of |15 scheduled to start at 9:30 n'clock. the chain, and picked out the .l.np‘/\ bond is the price of admission. airfields as the principal objectives| I# Has been annonced that Irgne nl Mh"fl\'y auac}. | sf-n, who was the tenth M!ss Nimitz reported. Battleships, cruisers and destroy- ac- | hs‘r cnndidacy nnd the organization | sponsoring her have switched their | support to Joyce Smith. However, f | all votes'which had been pledged to | Miss Rasmussen, prior to her with- | miles to the west. | made this country what it is today, |with standards of liberty, freedom,; and living unequalled elsewhere in e world. “I like to think of our Flag as, woven of the threads of the lives, of those who fought, and are nght-i ing, our wars to win and maintain democracy and liberty. I like to think of our Flag as woven of the threads of tne lives of thos |who conquered the great plains aud‘ turned them into productive farms so that the American people might {be the best fed and clothed people {in the world. YANKS LAND ON MARIANAS Unconfirmed Report of Daring Invasion of In- ner Jap Defenses | LONDON, June 15.—The power-| drawal, have been frozen and will not. be counted in the contest. All votes obtained after-her withdrawal | will be counted for the other con- | testant. | Miss Liberty Contesl At 1 o'clock this afternoon the contestants for “Miss Liberty” and | the “Four Freedoms” stood as fol- lows: Betty Mill Joyce Smith Kathleen McAlister Betty Nordling Mary McCormack Lois Allen 11,775 7,675 . 6,328 . 4,096 3,500 3,146 | where American infantry pressed | | other Ruth Kuunas 3,000 “I like to think of our Flag as fy american task force, which has | {woven of the threads of the lives y.e; haragsing Jap strongholds in [of those who labored in the for- tne Marianas Islands since Satur- ests and sawmills and quarries to. day is now attempting to land Betty Bonnett 1,375 Lila Sinclair 1,125 Betty Mill has moved up from second to top position, exchanging make it possible to say that Am- ericans are the best housed people on earth. I like to think of our Flag as woven of the threads of the lives of our American fathers and mothers who instilled in the hearts of their children the spirit of patriotism and courage, and the |will to build a great nation. Weavers of Flag “My friends, all of us continuej daily to be the weavers of the Flag we love through our unselfish ser-| vices to God and country. Our| Flag is everything that is America!| It is a crowd of school children| |singing ‘My Country 'Tis of Thee’, and it is a town hall assembly of | Flag Day was observed last eve- ning at the Elks Hall by mem- S bled berk <t Sthay Rk o introduced to prevent the Japanese | cluding various fraternal groups. a s off the Alask coast. | The evolution of the Flag of thc‘w‘;[f]’: ‘émp "Depm“n‘l‘cm we s e United States was described by R"sympathlz{\ regarding the purposes tory of the emblem from the day| iy, ground it might cause inter- in the early sixteenth century when |, ijonqa) complications the depart- the English explorer Cabot landed| eny proposed to end and to be The talk was illustrated by nine| tions. flags of the various stages of lhv‘ country’s history, displayed Dby @y, then the Andes and the val- } The Flag Day address was given| o, = o o world empire; or the by Lt. Col. Roy W. Riegle, Whoiy pica) rivers of Africa that find prefaced his remarks with &n eX-|y,. peginning in hills yet unex- ing Juncau, where he spent 18 o goymbus discovered it; Am- months as Commanding Officer ab| . .= "1 e made it a great na- Duck Creek. and they have done S0 i g 4 { through Riegle’s address: lage which have been woven into piRbaTeliow - Qiiteens: the red, white and blue of the {lo.celebrate Flag Day, Recayse. : (U wiipl' e el m‘d gt “I like to think of our Flag not whxch we serve is the emblem ohas woven threads of silk. Rather ng. . pUTPoes:. 8- 8 DAMER) | Ehe |threads of the lives of men and hopes and aspirations, the joys and ;omen, living and dead, who have! sorrows, the romance and chivalry, {in flags. We find their origin in Divinity itself, when Jehovah, after| the Flood, unfurled in the heavens} jbanner of the rainbow—as a signal of danger passed, of safety assured.; Mortal man, since that time, has emblems and banners of various| kinds to express his hopes, his| struggles, and his accomplishments. \ “When man began to emerge from his state of isolated savagery | |and started to live in tribes, one| emblem which would enable him in battle to distinguish the members of his tribe from his enemies. by using clubs of a certain pattern, or decorating the body with color- ed clay. Then when shields, clumsy‘ special device or insignia was placed on the shield. In the course of| time these crude devices were sup- fastened to poles so that they could; be seen and recognized at consid- erable distances. may be traced the origin and evo-| lution of the flags of civilized man. Just as the Cross on Calvary is ligion and of our belief in immor- |, i i i J citizens discussing community prob-! \tality, so the American Flag is theleyns 14 §s a crowd of 100,000 gone \glory as a people and as a nation. , yag multitude gathered rever- /It is not the flag that floats above | onyy for Easter sunrise services. | a people that makes a nation great;| «ri is the last half of the ninth g;ea!.. twe are the Flag. We are\game and the chant of the tobacco | " f,rl;a Nan, th 1 auctioneer in Kentucky. It is corn-| e greatness, the real greal-|proqq and buttermilk on the talfle| by its size, or its material wealth.| . . | .; ighbor's lawn mower. It Rather it is measured by the spirit-|;. apple orchard in the Virginia ual qualities of its people, by "h""‘huls and Riley's old swimming hole imanity charity, temperance, integ- . ] ! 2 i Our Flag, Everything rity, truth and righteousness. A‘ “Our Flag is everything -that is Americal It is a filling station at| fruitful acres, but by the men who| ‘ cultivate them; not by its mines,iain of the neighborhood drug store. but by the men who work in them: |y o 5 tractor lost in the immen- ‘ sity of a Kansas wheatfield, and a who built and run them. 2 | Strength of America s on the top floor of a new sky- “The strength of America lies in scraper l:) is a ceremony v;; ti'xe: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and women of a nation make that as nation great or small, depraved OF|pamocratic National Convention in noble. It is not harvest fields Or|chicago. It is the roar of big city high mountains, that set the names | ¥ |rustle of leaves in the Northern of nations high in history. If it! Minnesota woods. It were streams or summits or rock {3 pmching (Continued on Page Six) citizens of Gastineau Channel, m-wtrom taking salmon in the shallow | E. Robertson, who traced the his-| . ypo i put disapproved of it on at Labrador up to the present day.|accomplished by diplomatic negotia- $I08D: of Glrt Soats. {ley of the Amazon would be the pressicn of pleasure at again, V's""‘plorcd, America was a great land |tion, Following. Js the their strength and cour- L Amerioan FIag: - ioan e s % our unity, our power, our thoughti, = = regard it as woven of the of the human race are symbolized | —the first flag—the multicolored in his humbled, earthly way, used Evolution of Flag tof the first needs he felt was an “At first this was accomplished | as they were, came into use, a| plemented by skins of animals| “From these primitive beginnings | the symbol of the Christian re- emblem " of our greatness and Our{uig ay a football game, and it is it is the people that make the flag|;ing jn a World Series baseball ness, of a nation is not mensured‘ior the evening medl, and the noise s |virtues of wisdom, fortitude, hu-|i 71.4iana nation is made great not by ius‘ |the next corner, and the soda foun- not by its railways, but by the men] steel worker swaying in the air| her sons and daughters, for the men Arlington, and a Republican or swarming cities, nor great rivers oriu.sric in New York City, and the that established the strength of na- troops |Marianas on Tuesday. jattempted landings were made by|Navy has announced that 27 men | peared off Saipan about 6:30 a. ;eraunns, Tokyo said. Inaval base at Truk and the home '€ missing as a result of this acci- dent. iwas on Saipan Island, Tokyo 4 with Joyce Smith who is now in paclio ARclRad s .o tecond place, Kathleen McAlister The daring operation, if success- | ionod with Betty Nordling and is ful, will give the United States an , third, with Betty fourth, Mary ocean base within 1,500 miles of | \oGormack made the biggest gain Tokyo. The Office of War Infor-|ang now ranks fifth with Lois Allen mation said the Jap communidue | gnd Ruth Kunnas, both of whom | jannounced a landing attempt was made substantial increases, in sixth also made on Tinian Island in v.hemnd seventh position |Marianas, and that “heavy fighting| el REPRIEISY is in progress between Japanese| units and the enemy forces.” | While no immediate confirma-| tion is reported on the landing nn- |erations, Admiral Nimitz disclosed |yesterday that an American L,nk (force was still operating off lhc It is con- ceivable that the force, alre: .uly credited with inflicting grievous losses on Jap shipping and air power, might still be operating in| the area. Today's Tokyo broadcast sald the 30MenDead As Result of 2 Explosions PEARL HARBOR, June 15.—The a force of 20 transports which ap-| were killed, 100 are missing, and 380 m, | were wounded in an explosion which and about 70 landing barges and destroyed several small landing 20 or more special craft were em- craft in Pear] Harbor on May 21. ployed in the actual landing op-| At the same time it is reported | |that & magazine at an ammunition The Marianas are situated in a|depot on Aahu Island exploded Sun- direct - line between the big Jap 48y, Killing three men. Seven men islands of Japan. RED CROSS SHIP The explosion among the landing | craft at Pearl Harbor was reported | by Admiral Nimitz, who said it oc- urred while ammunition was being nloaded from one small craft. 'l'he explonlon on Sunday was said | Fleet Headquarters to have hap- GREE(E BY MI“E pened when several torpedo war- ‘heads which were being transferred | STOCKHOLM, June 15 — Tm: from a truck to a platform do- Swedish Red Cross ship Fenja sank | tonated. between Calino and the Turkish mainland “probably as the resul| of a mine,” the Swedish foreign| ———o —— RYAN I 'DEGAllllE VISITS | men linéd the streets shouting his Dimond Asks that Two Vet Hospifals Be Built in Alaskj_ WASHINGTON, June 15.—Alaska | Delegate Dimond has asked Con- gress to authorize the Veterans Ad- | ministration to construct two mil- lion dollar veterans’ hospitals in Alaska. It is proposed in the bill that one hospital be constructed in Southeast Alaska and another hospital at | Seward. | 28 NIPPON PLANES ARE SENT DOWN Stiff Enemy Resistance En-| countered in Drive on Two Au&inps ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD-| QUARTERS IN NHW GUINEA, June 15. — Twenty-eight Japanese | airplanes have heen shot down over Biak Island off Dutch New Guinea | and over Palau in the Carolines of | the Southwest Pacific, headquarters | announced. | The enemy attack upon Biak, | where the newly captured Mokmer | afrdrome has beert-pyt- into” opera- | tion for American planes, indicated | again the Japanese interest in pre- venting the use of that base for an | attack upon the Philippines, 880 Liberators attacked Palau on, Sunday, downed 20 of 50 inter-, ceptors, dropped 23 tons of bombs, | exploding ammunition dumps, start- ting fires and destroying many Jap- anese planes on the ground. The communique reported the in- tensity of ground fighting on Biak, | westward from Mokmer to the two Japanese airstrips, has in- creased as the Japs turned six inch- ers in the advancing units, Only slight progress is reported despite the use of tanks and artillery. To strengthen the American at- tack, four Thunderbolt fighter planes made a clean sweep of Biak | Monday morning. When they caught six Japanese twin engine dive bomb- ers coming out of a run, they de- stroyed all of them. ‘The same day a naval patrol craft off Biak shot down an enemy fight- | er and a patrol Liberator knocked off a Jap bomber near Halmahera. On Tuesday another Allied recon- naissance plane bagged an enemy | bomber near Palau. - HOMELAND;GREAT OVATION ENSUES ISIGNY, France, June 15.—Gen. Charles DeGaulle returned to his homeland yesterday for the first time in four years, and his country- name, in a dramatic ovation. The leader of the Committee of Na- tional Liberation appeared unex- pectedly, but the news carried rap- | idly and his name seemed like magic to the chanting wds, e STIFF SENTENCE GIVEN FLIER ON MORALS CHARGE SANTA ANA Clh( June 15— Capt. Morrison J. Wilkinson, Army flier who once flew for the Chinese, has been convicted at an Army gen- eral courtmartial on morals charges |involving a number of women, and has been sentenced to 30 years im- prisonment at hard labor and dis- missed from the Army. The flier was comvicted on six specifications, intluding statutory rape of a 17-year-old night club | office has been advised. The ship| T. L. Ryan, of San Francisco, is carrying relief supplies to in town and a guest at the Bar- Greeks in the Aegean Tslands, anof Hotel, dancer, Caprice Capron, and ac- quitted on four others, |cupied as the eastern | the | place {ing Hgonah Swept by Disastrous Fire Last Night BIG BATTLE SUPER CRAFT, NOW RAGING INNORMANDY [Allies Are Facmg Counter-| aftacks by Fiercely Fighting Germans SUPREME HEADQUARTERS OF ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, June 15—A force of between 1,000 and 1,200 Amer- ican Flying Fortresses and Lib- erators with escorting fighters swept over France this morning, bombing airplane plants, air- fields, and railroad facilities in a dozen places. Berlin reported an attack on the industrial city of Hannover, while lighter Allied warplanes * based in Normandy and Britain continued their widespread sup- port of the campaign in a smashing followup to the 1,100 bomber operation overnight. As part of the latter opera- tions, several hundred Lan- casters blasted the E-boat pens at LeHavre with six-ton “fac- tory busters.” | \ BULLETIN — SUPREME AL- LIED HEADQUARTERS EX- PEDITIONARY FORCES, June 15.—~American troops surged powerfully ahead in their stab st the Cherbourg. neck, angd Berlin reported that fess than six miles separated the spear- head from the last west coast communications linking Cher- bourg with France. Gains were hammered out in spite of fur- ious counterattacks, and the Allied line is holding firm everywhere else. FIERCEST OF FIGHTS SUPREME HEADQUARTERS OF ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, June 15—The Allies are fighting the fiercest battles since the landings in France, and the German Command, which has thrown four armored divisions in furious counterattacks, declared the battle “is approaching its climax.” American infantry and airborne units, supported by tanks are' smashing across the Cherbourg |neck, and drove to within seven miles of cutting of the last com- | munication lines leading to Cher- This is virtually the only during the past 24 bourg. Allied gain hours. Nazis Retake Towns The Germans drove the British from Troarn, which the Allies oc- anchor of 100-mile line and from the| village of Bocage, one of their two advance positions southwest of Caen. The best unofficlal estimates the number of German di- vision in action now at around 20 strong, and indications are the ene~ my is bringing reserves from other| armies a distance of 200 miles. * The fierceness of the: fighting is attested by a German broadcast,| which said the Allies are trying to enlarge their bridgehead “toward all sides.” Climax Approach The Germans added, “Salvoes from the heaviest naval guns, in- | cessant air attacks, and with freshs ly brought up infantry and tank| forces being thrown into action on both sides, the battle is approach- a climax.” : ‘The American advance on a nine- | | that, FIRST TIME, MAKE RAID B-29s Enter Combat De- clares Brief Announce- ment Issued by Army WASHINGTON, June 15. — The Army announces that B-20 Super Fortresses of the Army Air Forces bombed Japan today. No further information was divuiged after the brief an- nouncement, and there was no indication which part of Japan was struck nor where the new planes, the first time in com- bat, were based, The text of the communique read as follows: “B-29 Super Fortresses of the United States Army Air Forces of the Twentieth Bomber Com- mand, ‘bombed Japan today.” MORE FACTS WASHINGTON, June 15. — The | War Department disclosed that.the |planes taking part in the raid on Japan came from the India-China- Burma theatre and were B-20 heavily armored ships whose bomb load, range and ceiling exceed my other plane. They afe.powsted with, four engines of 2200 horsepower each, and each carrying two super- chargers. It has a wing span of 141 and two-tenths feet compared with the B-17's span of 104 feet. One of the major questions about the Super Fortress—could it protect | itself, was answered satisfactorily with an unanticipated encounter with a dozen Jap planes over Burma many weeks before the first big raid on Japan. The giant bomber is be- lieved to have downed two of the attacking fighters before the enemy turend away. The Fortress received a few bullet hole sand one gunner was wounded slightly. Marshall’s Statement Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief iof Staff, in a statement on the at- tack said the Super Fortress intro- duced a new type of offensive against the enemy and “also creates a new problem in the application of military force” because of the enormous range and heavy bomb load of this newest bombardment | plane. Marshall sald, “They can strike from many and remote bases at a single objective” and their power is so great, Marshall continued, the American Joint chiefs of staff de- cided it would be uneconomical to consine the Super Fortress organiza- tion to a single theatre. Single Commander “These bombers, therefore will re- main under centralized controel of the joint chiefs of staff with a single commander, General Arnold acting as their agent and directing their bombing operations through- out the world, “The planes will be treated as major task forces in the same man- ner as the naval task forces and will be directed against specific ob- jectives. This type of flexible cen- tralized control recognizes that very long range bombardment is not a weapon for the air forces alone. “Under the joint chiefs of staff the theatre commanders will have a voice in its employment, ensuring a maximum of effectiveness will contribute directly to the over- all strategy for the defeat of our | enemies."” et miie front westward from Carentan toward the high ground mntrollmxr the last German roads leading to| Cherbourg met violent German ”'I action to this threat to their life-| line, and it is expected that fur-| ther Ameri¢an advances will be only after the costliest fighting. IN FROM FAIRBANKS Mrs. Monroe Swarner, Mus. A. Woehler and two children ar- rived here recently from Fairbanks | and are registered at the Baranof! Hotel. | [ b B SRR | JOHN HAY HERE | John Hay is a guest at the Bar- anof, registering from Santa Fe, I New Mexico, 'GESTAPO MAJOR DIES AT HANDS OF PARTISANS BERN, June 15.—Gestapo Major | General Werner 1is reported to have been captured by French Partisans, tried, and executed after his refusal }!o sign an order releasing imprison- ed patriots, The Gazette de Lausanne said that Werner was captured several weeks ago and a group of his fol- lowers were killed in the skirmish,