The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, April 18, 1945, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LXIV., NO. 9939 BATTLE FOR BERLI Japanese Planes Knocked Out In Month 2208 | TASK FORCES | - SMASHING AT | NIPAIRCRAFT Antiaircraft Gunners Also Get in Work—Ground Unifs Advance BULLETIN — SAN FRAN- CISCO, April 18 — The Tokyo radio claims American forces have landed on Menna Island, about four miles mnorth of Yank-invaded Ie Shima, off the west coast of Okinawa, and have obtained a new airfield there. The broadcast was picked up by the FCC here. A Jap Imperial communique, picked up here, also claims nine United States warships and four transports were sunk Monday and Tuesday by suicide planes. The attacks were made near Okinawa. The radio also asserted an (Continued on Page Eight) The Washington Merry - Go- Round WASHINGTON — Back-stage po- litical pressure is increasing to let Louisiana’s worst political crook, | ex-Governor Dick Leche, ' out on parole and also drop ether!Govern- ment charges against him. The argument is that Leche wds just a big, good-natured, handsome boy, who was the victim of circum- stances and was influenced by the old Huey Long crowd. 3 Leche is serving 10 years on one charge only—of buying , several hundred trucks for the Sf High- way Commission at 10, per, cent higher than the list price. On this deal alone, he raked in $51,000. He has now served three and a third years out of 10 and fs up for parole. But he faces three other indictments. Here is just how innocent a victim of circumstances the hand- some ex-Governor of Louisiana was: Indictment No. 1 — Accepted a $15,000 boat from State Conserva- tion Commissioner Willlam Rankin, supposedly as a gift from Leche's admirers, though actually the boat was paid for out of state funds. Rankin got one year and a day for this. Leche has not gone to trial. Indictment No. 2 — Used WPA materials and labor to build barns, fences and buildings on his pala- tial farm estate. Indictment No. 3——Split $134,000 with Seymour Weiss on a hot oil deal arranged with Freeman Bur- ford of Texas. Leche got a rake-off of. 10 cents a barrel on the oil, first getting paid by Burford—by a package of $48,500 in thousand- dollar ‘bills, sent by express. Ex- press avoided use of the U. S. mails. Later, Leche arranged to sell Burford a pipeline at the inflated value of $100,000, which the Gov- ernment contended was a disguised bribe, in return for winking at Burford’s hot-oil operations. As Governor of the State, Leche was supposed to enforce hot-oil laws. s s @ BURFORD BECOMES U. S. ARMY COLONEL Leche was indicted, and so was Burford. However, Federal Judge T. W. Davison of Dallas refused to extradite Burford to the Federal Government, a most unusual pro- ceeding. Later, Burford got a com- mission as Lieutenant Colonel under General Somervell's Bervices of Supply, while thousands of other | men were denied commissions even | as Second Lieutenant. | Governor Leche also was impli- cated in several other juicy deals, one of them the shake-down of a local gas company, which netted him from $40,000 to $60,000. He even pulled a thousand-dollar bill out! of his pocket in the grand jury | 'troops have reached the outskirts of leader, far-sighted statesman and |northern Luzon and have already President declared. | MacArthur explained, by pressure| __|prisoners to escape from the Jap-| e s ADNERUEAER TRUMAN MAKES BROADCAST T0 ARMED FORCES :Says NatiorWill Never | Falter in Cause for Which FDR Died WASHINGTON, April 18—Presi- dent Truman told the United | ;Smtes armed forces throughout the | lworld that this nation will not falter in the cause for which | |Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his life. | “All of us have lost a great| 1,000 NIP PRISONERS RELEASED Pressure of Yanks on Ba- | quio Aid Captured Civ- ilians fo Escape By Fred Hampson (Associated Press War Correspondent) MANILA, April 18.—American | the enemy’s citadel Baguio in'a real friend of Democracy,” the rescued more than 7,000 civilians,| “You have lost an old friend| Gen. Douglas MacArthur announces. of the services, and our hearts are The majority of those liberated heavy. However, the cause which are Filipinos and the others are na-:claimed Mr. Roosevelt, also claims ' tionals of the United States, Britain, |us. He never faltered, nor will we." Russia, China, France, Poland,, The address was broadcast to Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, Cuba, men and women of the Army, Belgum, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Aus-/Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, | tria and even Germany. as well as to the people of the The rescue was possible, Gen. United States. ' i i | | Mothers’ Day Is Proclaimed WASHINGTON, April 18—Presi- | dent Truman today proclaimed ; Sunday, May 13, Mother’s Day |as acknowledgement of the' natlon’s’ “gratitude, love and devotion” to! the nation’s mathers. of his forces which enabled the Nip| anese during the night. They made their way to the American lines; and are being cared for by the| Army. | Among those freed are Brig. Gen. | Manuel Roxas, former speaker of the Philippines National Assembly, and four members of the Cabinet.| 'FISHERIES MEN WILL ADDRESS UNIONMEETING | | | | | | | Officials of the Fish and Wildlife| Service are to address members of the United Trollers of Alaska, Local Navy Planes, Firing Rockefs, in Atlack | On Base in Kuriles | 56, at their regular monthly union! meeting this evening in the Miners Union Hall, it was announced today. | r Speaking to the trollers will be J.. ALEUTIAN BASE, April 18 JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1945 PRESIDENT IS T0 RUN ‘OWN SHOW (Will Take A_dvice from Friends But Make De- sions Himself By Jack Bell (Associated Press Correspondent) WASHINGTON, April 18.—Pres- ident Harry S. Truman intends to run his own show. Although he “| will take advice from friends, he will make decisions himself. That is the interpretation Wash- ington put on several separate ac- tions, which displayéd a firmness not surprising to those who knew him on Capitol Hill. The President definitely overruled the High Command.by nominating Lt. Gens. George S. Patton and Courtney H. Hodges for the rank of 1our-star generals, and picked John Snyder, St. Louis banker and friend for 25 years, as Federal Loan Ad- ministrator. Washington had understood that Roosevelt had planned to shift Bud- get Director Harold Smith to that post. yesterday, rather tartly, that of course, Foreign Commissar Molotov would stop in Washington to pay his respects, as he should. The, President; announced positiv- ely, flatly and briefly he wants the Bretton Woods monetary agree- ‘ments and the reciprocal trade pro- gram. enacted by Congress. He also found time yesterday to direct the seizure of the Lake Charles, Louisiana, high octane re- finery plant, left idle in a contro- versy over rents charged at the nearby housing project. 'REMAINS OF ANDREW Steele Culbertson, Pisheries Manage- | (Delayed) — Rocket firing Navy ment Supervisor of the Fish and planes attacked Tomari Cape, Wildlife Service, and Clay Scudder, northeastern Paramushiro, in the | | Fisheries Agent for the Juneau Kuriles, pouring rockets and ma- area. They will explain procedures chine gun fire into the Jap in- proposed for trollers’ reporting in- stallations at low level. formation regarding their cawhes.; The planes went so The information so secured is to be debris from the rocl used for preparing further studies on struck one plane as it roared over. which to base management regula-!All planes returned to base. tions for tolling areas. The zrol.lersi Three Jap planes were seen but are asked to enter their catches did not attack. Flak, was scattered in bulk on forms provided and to and inaccurate. | report them to the Fisheries Division | ———————— at the end of the season. | WELL BABY CONFERENCE The cooperation of the trollers is| The weekly Well Baby Confer-| asked that a better understanding ence will be held tomorrow after-| may be reached of problems common noon, between 1 and 4 o'clock, at to both fishermen and fishery man- the Juneau Public Health Center. agement, leading toward = improve-| JREEEINER 5 S5ESR W ments in the conservation program/BURNED BOY STILL IN in order to continue king and silver| | salmon runs in productive state. Individual catch records are not to to be disclosed, but will be compiled for analysis and study, with the compiled results published and made available for information of fisher- nten. The form provided asks in- formation as to where catches are sold, date of delivery, the area troll- ed and amount of fish sold per var- iety—king salmon, silver salmon and halibut—giving both the number of fish and the number of pounds of each variety sold. THREE INITIATED The Emblem Club initiated three new members at their social meet- ing last night. They are Betty McCormick, Frances Beebe and a short business meeting before tertainment committee, took over. Assisting her was Caroline McAl- ister. “Cootie” was the game chosen for the evening, and the honors for completing the most cooties went to Jean Talkington. Florence Aker- game. Pat Vance won the birth- day award offered to those who had prizes for war saving stamps. The refreshment committee was headed by Elizabeth Thompson as chairman. Pat Vance, Ellen Shaffer room and said: “Here’s a collection I made this morning.” b et ) G L RN T (Continued on Page Four) and Mattie Davis assisted her. The members were served delicious lemonade, cake and coffee, | CRITICAL CONDITION | ! | : ‘Waverly Peterson, who was badly burned and thrown from a power- | ROSNESS ARE BEING BROUGHT TO JUNEAU Mrs. Andrew Rosness is bringing the remains of her husband to Juneau ‘for burial, and expects to arrive| next Tuesday. Mr. Rosness, April 8, after a long illness. ment will be in the American Le- gion plot in Evergreen Cemetery. Funeral arrangement will be nounced later. MOVING DAY IS ON AT FOREST SERVICE Truman told his news conference | an- ERNIE PYLE IS KILLED Famous Wsr—torrespond- ent Meets Death, Pre- sumably on Okinawa WASHINGTON, April (Pyle, 44, famous war correspondent, has been killed in the Pacific. The news of Pyle's death became known when President Truman is- isued a statement of condolence. The wiry little reporter of the Scripps-Howard newspapers, who told the story of the war in GI language, has been reporting the fighting on Okinawa. | * Previously Pyle covered the war in |North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Britain and France. President Truman, in his state- \ment, said: ‘(All Americans under- llund how wisely, how warm-heart- edly, how honestly he served his {country in his profession. He de- |serves the gratitude of all _his {countrymen.” Twice in Europe. Pyle narrowly |escaped death. He was a Pulitzer prize winner, STUNNED BY DEATH ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, {April 18.—This city and this state |1 l&:‘unned by the death of Ernie | Pyiti: gt | Priends took the word to Mrs. Pyle, who was “the girl” in his columns, and report she is prostrated by |grief. - i here, having decided to make their :home in Albuquerque. | The Seventh legislature recently | |“Ernie Pyle Day.” | ! KILLED AT FRONT NEW YORK, April 18.—The Blue Network in a broadcast from Guam \made by Jack Hooley reported Pyle |was enroute to a sector where there met | death in company with Lt. Col. Jo-| ]wu heavy fighting and he |seph Coolidge of Arkansas. The two low mn' Word has been received by the were bumping along a narrow coral ket explosions Charles W. Carter Mortuary that'road in a jeep and an enemy mn-\ ichine gun opened fire a§ the jeep |rounded a corner. The two men scrambled into a |diteh. ~ The firing ceased for a | a veteran of World few minutes and then Pyle peered: ,|War I and meémber of the Ameri- | cautiously over the edge of the! ‘[cnn Legion, passed away in Seattle ditch. | Inter- | Another burst of fire and Pyle was hit three times in the temple. Coolidge managed to crawl out iand report. \ The body was inaccessible for some time, but finally a chaplain called for vclunteers. Three tanks IN PACIFIC 18.—Ernie | (Congressin Atfack Now On Truman \House Refiglicans Op- pose New Authorify on Tariff Reductions WASHINGTON, April 18.— Presi- dent Harry S. Truman encountered his first pitched battle in Congress when House Republicans launched a full dress attack on Administration |efforts to gain a sweeping new au- | thority for tariff reductions. There was a noisy ruckus when the Ways and Means Committee op- {ened public hearings on the issue, | MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS = ————————— | GEN. PATTON HAS ENTERED NEW SECTOR | Invades Czechoslovakia as Other Forces Trample Down Germans PARIS, April 18—Gen. Patton's third Army bisected Germany to- | day, invading Czechoslovakia, as | Gen. Hodge's First Army swrmedI to within 4,000 yards of the center | of surrounded Leipzig, and Gen. | Patch’'s Seventh Army troops | cleared half of the Nazi city of Nuernberg. Along the entire front, Gen.i The Pyles bought a little house declared his birthday, August 3, as; |with Republicans objecting to the reading of a statement written by {‘Sccretary of State Stettinius. Chairman Doughton told the Re-| publicans pressing duties in connec- tion with the impending San Fran- | cisco Conference prevented the ap- pearance of Stettinius. POLES MAKE " FASTSWEEP, | PO VALLEY Advance Within 10 Miles of Bologna-Fifth Army Battering Along [ | ROME, April 18—Polish troops of | |Dwight D. Eisenhower's armies are |gathing strength for the final drive eastward to meet the Russians. | The Allied triumph in the Ruhr | has assumed the proportions of the greatest victory of the war, and has |been even more costly to the Ger- |mans than Stalingrad. 309,484 Prisoners Taken Already 309,484 prisoners have been taken from the industrial |trap, with 50,000 more expected to| surrender today. ‘The halving of ‘Germany is of more geographical than immediate military importance, as the enemy still has circuitous contact between north and south Germany througl the mountains of O: “Cetigor bare report that Czechoslovakia has been entered by . Patton’s’ troops. | Presumably, the invasion is in the Plauen area, where troops of the | Nintieth and Twenty-8ixth Divi- sions were last ;reported four miles |from the frontier. ! Magdeburg Captured Ninth Army troops captured ‘Ithe Eighth Army are sweeping up Magdeburg, a city of 334,000, se-; {the Po Valley and have advanced curing a firm anchor on the Elbe to within 10 miles of Bologna, the River, opposite Berlin. This in-| major German base in Northern |dustrial and commercial center was Italy. the twentieth largest city in Ger- The Fifth Army has also fought many before bombs and shells re- | slowly close to the big Italian art/duced it to smoking ruins. | and industrial center, battering| British tanks swept forward on ;their way through enemy troopsia 40-mile front, to within 18 miles; jentrenched in scores of caves,/of Hamburg and 12 miles of Her-| {tunnels and pillboxes along the burg, which lies across the Elbe. mountain highway from Florence. |South of the great port of Hamburg | 0 BE STARTED IN MAY Final Battles { The Nurses’ Aide class, which is Final battles continued inside the | cities of Halle, Dusseldorf, Dessau | |being sponsored by the AWVS, will be started the first week in May, land the suburbs of Bremen, while !Canadian forces captured Ede, llb-‘ |erating all of northeast Holland, and closed to within two miles of {it was announced today by Mrs. Fred Geeslin, chairman of the Red YCmss committee in charge of {Nurses’ Aides. | | |the Zuider Zee. A special French |communique announced the elimi~ \nation of the Royan pocket north of the Gironde estuary. s have WMe b BY EMBLEM CLUB Christine Bahm. There was also| Louise Adams, chairman of the en- vick won the booby prize for this| April birthdays. Eva Clark awarded , transmission line 'tower Monday evening, is reported still in a very| , thorough re-arrangement of \critical condition at the Govern-'space facilities was consumated this ment Hospital. |morning in the local offices of the SORPIRES: <0 G R U. S. Forest Service, on the fourth GSO MEETING TONIGHT = Ifioor of the Federal Building. Near- A meeting of the Girls' Service|}y a1 administrative and clerical Organization: of the USO will be|personnel found their desks in new {held promptly at 7:30 o'clock thiSirooms in corners when the fore- evening. noon’s activity was completed. Only This is a very important meeting t{al that all members syjjected to the relocation orders. attend whoican possibly do 50... | As the offices are now arranged, Bl e o ST iRegional Forester B. F. Heintzle- REYNOLDS GO SOUTH Iman will henceforth sit in solitary Mr. and Mrs. Percy Reynolds and |grandeur in the center of the Forest Service suite. |baby left via Pan American for: |Seattle and vicinity on an indefi- - |BARBARA HERMANN WINS SCHOLARSHIP {nite vacation. Mr. Ellis Reynolds {and Betty Johnson are in charge of the cafe during their absence. —————— SEVEN FLY SOUTH Mrs. Mildréed Hermann has word ithat her daughter, Ann Hermann, has received a Grad- uate Scholarship at the University of Michigan. She is an Anthropol- A Pan American plane left Ju- neau for Seattle today, taking the jogy major and upon graduation will jreceive tuition free for one more {following passgngers — Bernice {Woodall, Richard Prelog, Edward Hanouser, Lt. Comdr. Brannelly, {Carl W. Amos, George H. Pishney, \and Howard N. Brenna. PR Sl R Miss Lois M. wsuey, of the Libby, |year which will enable her to re- [McNeill & Libby Company, Anch-'ceive her Master's Degree. ‘orage, is a guest at the Baranof. Miss Hermann attended both SRR o AN Grade and High Schools in Juneau VINELAND, N. J., April 18—An-|and after graduation in 1940 went to drew Fenton, 101, Civil War veteran | Willamette College in Oregon for and flag bearer when the United [two years. After a short period of ;Bfilm took possession of Alaska,|time, which she spent with her died at the Soldiers’ Home here.|family here, she enrolled in the He served on the Monitor in|University of Michigan and will Chesapeake Bay. graduate in June. {and it is essen! i the accounting offices were not/ Miss Barbara| |steady fire the men indide the unn;m,,d in and returned immediately were helpless. {to Mrs, Harley Turner. Finally Corp. Alexander Rohenl} be held A meeting will next \found Pyle peaceful in death. {Center, in the Territorial Building, {and all those who plan to take the training course are urged to be present. STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, April 18 — Closing quotation of Alaska-Juneau Mine stock today is 67%, American Can 97%, Anaconda 34%, Bethlehem ]Bleel 71, Curtiss-Wright 5%, Inter- \national Harvester 85%, Kennecott 3 New York Central 25, North- ern Pacific 24%, U. S. Steel 67%. | | | MANY DIE AT FRONT I NEW YORK, April® 18—Ernie |Pyle was the 30th Allied War Cor- respondent to lose his life in the present war according to figures| compiled ' by Editor and Publisher. This list also shows 149 war cor-, |respondents are missing, wounded, | or are prisoners of war. Another Scripps-Howard column- |ist, Raymond Clapper, was also kill- ed in the Pacific area. DIDN'T WANT TO GO i | NEW YORK, April 18.—Pyle did: Inot want to go to the Pacific but| |felt it was his.duty. In his column|fOllows: Industrials, of February 6, the first after he re-|59.62; utilities, 29.87. sumed writing on his return from T T the European theatre, he wrote: GLASS-TOPPED TABLES 1“There is nothing nice about the DANGE““"{S WHEN USED prospects of going back to war again. | FIXING CEILING LIGHT Anybody who has been in the war and wants to go back is a plain| damn fool. I am going back simply | because I've got to and I hate it.” Al PRt WORKMANE IN JUNEAU 163.83; rails, Glass-topped tabies are not the to change lightglobes in ceiling {fixtures, as John Tomasi, now a patient at St. Ann’s Hospital, dis- ’covered when he tried it last Sat- ;urday evening. C. N. Workmane, of p‘umnu,! The table-top crashed under his has arrived in Juneau and is a|weight, and one leg was badly 'guest of Walter Walsh, at the|gashed in the fall. Dr. W. M. Banarof Hotel. Whitehead, attending physician, —— e removed a 4'%-inch-long sliver of SHERRY HERE the heavy glass, which had become James G. Sherry, of Homer, is a|deeply embedded in the flesh {guest at the Hotel Juneau. above the ankle. 5 |moved up but there was such @&, Al gpplication blanks should be | Third Army troops have entered ,Zwickau, on the approach to Chem- nitz, which is ‘under frontal at- tack. N REACHING CLIMAX DEFENSES OF NAZI CAPITAL AREBREACHED Dispatches fo Moscow Claim Russians See Berlin Burning | GERMAN BROADCASTS ASSERT SQUEEZE ON Arc Forminfias!, North- east of City — Third Offensyf_segun BULLETIN—LONDON, April 18—A German radio reporter in a broadeast tonight quotes Russian prisoners as saying that Stalin, in an Order of the Day, read to them at the start of the new eastern front ' offensive, said the war in Europe will end April 25, Berlin falling to the Red Army. Another Nazi broadcast ' to- night said two and one-half divisions of Boviet troops are driving on Berlin, supported by 2,500 field guns and 1,600 mor- ::;. which during the past houra-hare. s LS, LONDON, April 18 — German broadcasts declared today the battle on the eastern approaches to Berlin have “reached its cli- max,”” with the Russlan troops breaching the defense .ines only 18 or 20 miles from \he ‘Nazi capital city. The German: broadcasts declared the Soviets have launched the third offensive south of Stettin, aimed gt linking with the Allies on the nortl German plain front. - 3 Dispatches to Moscow asserted the Russians see Berlin burning but did |not specify any offensive is under- way. The Russian Armies are smash- ing toward Berlin, German broad- casts further stated, conceding Red Army gains through hedgehog po- sitions blazing the arc east and northeast of the ., bomb-shattered city. The «Germans claim Stalin has thrown the third offensive on a 17- mile front south of Stettin, seeking to slice twixt the Baltic port and Berlin and join the western allies north and south of Berlin. COLUMBIA LUMBER of New York volunteered to go alone. ' | | Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock in| |He crawled up to the ditch and Room 108, Juneau Public Health' Dow, Jones averages tody are as| hest or safest things to stand on! ((COMPANY OFFICIALS /AT ANNUAL MEETING U. 8. Seventh Army forces, out- ‘nanking beleaguered Nuernberg, ‘closed to within 85 miles of Munich, {140 miles from Hitler’s hideout at |Berchtesgaden. OPA ASKS COURT FOR RESTRAINER AGAINST oic ana S“Gw‘v mADBMA" B‘/’l‘rfmu.lcbonuld is here to attend |the annual meeting of the Colum- Harry G. Ask, of Skagway, is|bia Lumber Co. which will be held |tonight at 8 o'clock in the Columbia Lumber Company’s offices, Thomas 'A. Morgan announces. C. H. MacDonald arrived in Jun- eau yesterday via Pan American |from Seattle where he is President lof the Savage Lumber Co. He is |accompanied here by Mrs. MacDon~ |ald and they ate registered at the /defendant in a suit filed with the IClerk of the District Court here this morning by the Office of Price Administration. Dan Moller, Vice-President of the In. its complaint, the p-edem];Columbla Lumber Company, arrived Agency asks a Court Order re-|from Sitka last Saturday to attend straining the defendant from buy- this meeting. He is also a guest ab ing or selling articles subject tolthe Baranof. price control regulations until he: Py if jhu first prepared records and forms and computed maxxmum’woon v ‘mw‘“ o' prices, in conformity with OPA | regulatory demands. ‘{ nou"n ml’ m" i dray .le(:m'olA‘l‘ED | A Woodley Alrways plane yester- | Articles of Incorporation for two|gay took the following passengers to jnon—prom organizations were mw}Anchorago: Edward Hamilton, Mrs. here this morning at the office of g Hamilton, Tom Webster, and |Territorial Auditor Frank A. Boyle.|capt. Jas. Miller. The two organizations are: The| To Yakutat: Mrs. Cornelius Baas |Methodist Church of Anchorage, |Ted Laughlin and Lt. Wm. Brubeck. |Virgil Lamb, Uart Breece and E. L.| Gustavus to Anchorage: R. H. |Arnell, incorporators; Cordova|whittemore. |Lodge No. 1266, Loyal Order of | Coming from Anchorage to Juneay Moose, Nels Adamson, G. A. Van-|were: Bernice Woodall, Mrs. Soren- borg and W. G. Steear, incorpor- son, Sgt. Kuhns, Lt. W. T. Bowles, ators. and Maj. Parker.