The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, August 7, 1950, Page 1

> THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. LXXV., NO. 11,574 “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” - e LAY JUNEAU, ALASKA, MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 1950 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS New Korean Offensive Launched By U. S. SUPERFORT IN CRASH, EXPLODES Seventeen Men Are Killed| —Gasoline, Demolition Bombs Blow Up FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, Calif., Aug. | T—(P—Less than 60 seconds spelled death for 17 Air Force men as a crippled B-29 crashed and exploded. Both inboard engines failed as the bomb-laden superfort took off for a long training flight Saturday midnight. The pilot tried desper- ately to return to the runway. But a wing scraped. The bomber belly-landed. Min- utes later its gasoline and demol- ition bombs exploded. A witness said the pilot could have landed safely in less than one minute more. The 17 known dead included 10 of the 20 men aboard. ‘Two others were missing and 60 or more persons were injured, some seriously, Many of the injured ‘were Air Force personnel and their families, living in a trailer camp only 150 feet from the scene. i Trailer Camp Leveled | Bombs leveled the trailer “area “like a giant had stepped on them,” a witness related. H Among the dead was Brig. Gen. Robert F. Travis, 45, much-decor- ated commander of the base, leader of the Ninth Heavy Bomber Wing here and hero of World War II He was riding behind the pilot. Both the plane commander and the pilot were among eight of the 2 men aboard who escaped alive. They had made an emergency belly landing. The fire and explosion came several minutes later. The two missing men were crew members. The other dead included thim members of the base fire depart- ment and a volunteer fire ngmen’ Three other dead were unidentified. Base headquarters said Capt. E. Q. Steffes, 28, of Bast Chicago, Ind., the plane commander, was at the controls. His injuries were listed | as not serious. 3 Gasoline Spills, Fires (Conuinued on Page Six) The Washington Merry - Go- Round | Bv DREW PEARSON ICopyright, 18%. vy Bell Syndicate, Ine.) . /ASHINGTON — The American people have always known how to take the bad news along with the good, but despite this the Army is holding back the true casualty list in Korea. Actually the public has shown itself more alert to the menace of Communism than most officials; but the Army has been 'nervously shielding us from the grim truth— namely, that battle casualties are 75 per cent higher than announced. This column has now seen the secret casualty list kept by the Army surgeon-general’s office. An Army spokesman insisted that all casualties have been announced to the press, but admitted that the| complete list had never been tab- ulated. Believing that the folks at home are entitled to know how many of their men are being lost or wounded in Korea, this column has now made a careful tabulation. This shows that whereas the Army had announced 96 killed in action and 15 died of wounds up to Aug- ust 1, the secret list of Army dead for the same period is 660. Whereas the Army reported only 587 wound- ed, the secret list shows 2,975. The Army also claimed 815 missing in action, of whom 11 got back. How- ever, the secret list shows 3,000 actually missing in action. The above figures are only Army casualties and do not include 14 Air Force men killed, 33 missing and six wounded. The Navy had also lost two men in action and the Marines none, as of August 1. It's about time the Army came | clean with the American people and told the true story of American losses in Korea. Franco Defeat Allied diplomats who watched tie legislative blitzkrieg that rushed the $100,000,000 loan to dictator Franco | came up at the briefing because of | was on the Phillips family in In- | Miss Disney is on assignment fc | died of a heart attack blamed on CASUALTIES IN KOREAN WAR, MADE PUBLIC Army An@lcement Is| Made Following Report Written by D. Pearson | WASHINGTON, Aug. 7—®—The| Army announced today that its Ko- rean war casualties reported to| families and released for publication | through August 6 totaled 2,616. There are additional -casualty lists, awaiting release after notifica- tion of families. Today’s total covered only Army personnel. Losses with other services have been relatively light. The breakdown of those casual- ties released for use shows 153 killed, 1590 wounded and 873 missing, spokesmen said. ‘The Army said it was not “try- ing to hide anything. We are try- ing to handle casualty notifications in a digniffed and considerate way.” The subject of casualty count a report by columnist Drew Pearson | that the casualty total up to August 1 was 660 killed, 2975 wounded and 3,000 “actually missing in action.” | Pearson. wrote that he had seen “the secret casualty list kept by the? Army Surgeon General's office.” ‘ The Army spokesman said in an- swer to questions, that the wt,als‘ given by Pearson “do not agree with | casualty lists I have seen.” Replying to a specific question about a “secret list,” the spokesman added that it is the Army's Adju- tant General that handles casuaity reports. DOROTHY DISNEY AFTER FACTS FOR NEWCOMERS As an occasional balance of fact | against fiction, and because she likes to get around the countly, | Dorothy Cameron Disney is glad of | | her arrangement with The Ladies’ uome Journal. This provides for writing twol articles a year in the “How Am- erica Lives” series. Her last one diana, and appeared several months ago. Now, on her first trip to Alaska write about a family selected by the Journal as one which camc from the East “to grow up wik the country.” In describing the life of Mr. and Mrs. William Krasilovsky of Juneau Miss Disney hopes to tell, not only their experiences, but of the oppor- tunities for newcomers in Alaska. Moreover, she is bent on warn- ing them to bring enough money to carry them until they find their places in the life of the Northland. The writer wants to be armed with accurate living costs, both here and in Seattle, which, she feels is the most logical place for comparison. Miss Disney, primarily a fiction- writer, is the author of many mag- azine serials as well as novels. A new book, “Come to Judgment” will be published soon. In private life, Miss Disney is the wife of Milton Mackayé, an author most frequently associated with his articles in The Saturday Evening Post. Their home is in Washington, D. C. Miss Disney arrived Saturday by Pan American and is a guest at the Baranof Hotel. She is deing concentrated work on her assign- ‘ment, hoping to return to Washing- ton early next week. ELECTRIC STORM STRIKES WINNIPEG WINNIPEG, Aug. 7—{®—An elec- tric storm accompanied by high winds and rain ripped through| Greater Winnipeg early today and caused property damage estimated at thousands of dollars. One man the storm and at least four others were hurt. Lightning started fires and split trees like matchwood. FROM HOONAH Bob Welsh and Bob Mills of Icy Straits Salmon Company, Hoonah, (Continued on Page Four) are registered at the Baranof Hotel. (inma] call is going out to approxi- |Aug. 15 and Oct. 31 U.S. {(ombat Engineers Fire on Snipers Helmeted U. S. eomhnt engineers and a heavy machine gun fire on snipers in hills near Yly\lonx as an an ammuntion convoy (not shown) heads for U. S troops on the Korean front. /) Wirephoto. | Marine Corps Jensen Demands Grand Jury Is Mobilizing Ifs Manpoweri WASHINGTON, Aug. ’7-']’5—1118 Marine Corps is mobilizing nearly | all its available manpower. An announcement today that it will put its 80,000 volunteer re- serves in uniform tapped the last big reservoir. This will boost the strength of the fighting Marines to around 200,000. A Marine spokesman said the mately 50,000 officers and men who will report for active duty between The Marine Corps said that it also is calling up additional or- 3anized units of its air reserve. Some air reserve units were sum- moned to active duty about three weeks ago. The corps already has called to active duty all its organized ground ceserve units. A Marine spokesaman said no date has been set for the call to approximately 30,000 volunteer re- serves who will not be included in :he first summons. IDAHO CROONING SENATOR UP FOR REELECTION TUES. (By Associated Press) Senator Glen Taylor, the guitar- nicking former actor who ran for the Vice Presidency on Henry A. Wallace’s Progressive ticket in 1948, will find out - tomorrow whether Idaho Democrats want to keep him in the Senate. Nebraska and Arkansas voters will elect two senators this year. The others are Connecticut and North Carolina. Republican strat- agists hope to pick up a Senate seat in Idaho this November—Tay- lor’s. The Republican candidates and one of Taylor's Democratic oppon- ents, former Senator D. Worth Clark, have accused the senator of associating with Communist-front srganizations. Since his return to the Demo- cratic fold after the Progressive slate failed to win a single elec- toral vote in 1948, Taylor has been a strong supporter of the Truman administration on nearly all domes- tic issues. GENERAL MOTORS ANNOUNCES TWO DIVIDENDS NOW | NEW YORK, Aug. 7—(®—Direc- tors of General Motors Corp. today declared a dividend of $1.50 a share | o and a special dividend of $2.50 nl . share, both payable Sept. 9 to stock- holders of record Aug. 14. { Dividends of $1.50 each were paid in preceding quarters this year. Herbert Bremner of Yakutat is a guest at the Baranof Hotel. lsmylng at the Baranof Hotel. Investigation Palmer Airport Transaction ASSEMBLY READY !_ TO MEET, CASE OF | NEW AGGRESSON = LAKE SUCCESS, Aug. 7 — (M — Trygve Lie said today the U.N. Gen- J eral Assembly could meet on 24 hours notice in case of an emer- gency such as a new aggression. | The Secretary General told a; weekly news conference he would | not hesitate to call the 59-nancn] assembly at such a time. He said the present rules provide for a 14-day period of notice to the assembly members, but that he be- ' lieved he had the authority to set} aside the rules in an emergency. Some delegates have suggested the assembly meet in special ses- sion of the Soviet Union ties up the! Security Council by using its veto powers. Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Jakob A. Malik, president of the council this month, threatened last weele to use the veto if the council refused to invite the Communist North Koreans to take part in de- bate on the Korean war. He can- not use the veto, however, to halt UN. military decisions already taken. Lie was asked about demands in some quarters that the U.N. de- clare the Soviet Union the aggressor in the Korean war. “T really think still that the So- viet Union wants peace,” Lie re- plied. | GAMETONIGHT The regularly-scheduled Gasti- neau Channel Baseball game tonight finds- the Moose playing host to the Coast Guard at 6:30 o'clock. This is the final meeting of the two teams for the season. ® 6 & & o » & o o . WEATHER REPORT In Juneau—Maximum, 66; minimum, 46. At Airport—Maximum, 70; minimum, 46. * FOREC'AST . . . . . . . . . . (Juneau and Vieinity) ‘e Partly cloudy with lowest ® temperature near 46 degrees © tonight becoming fair and e highest temperature about 69 © Tuesday. . . l PRECIPITATION (Past 24 hours ending 7:30 a.m. today @ | City of Juneu — None; since August 1—1.14 inches; since July 1—11.07 inches. At Airport None; since August 1—0.82 inches; since July:1—7.86 inches. | o L3 Charles Rice of Ketchikan is| i ythe Baranof Hotel. | of Terrifory, FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Aug. T—& grand jury investigation to de- cide legality of a $150,000 land tran- | saction between the Territory and: | the Palmer Airport Assn., was de- manded Saturday by Marcus Jen- Jensen,. from Douglas, is an in- vestigating committee member of the Alaska House of Representa- tives. i He said the '.ransachon involved | payment of $150,000 by the Terri- itory to the airport association for 127.94 acres of land at Palmer for a new Palmer airport, and repay- | | ment of $145,000 to the Territory | by the association. i The price per acre paid by the Territory for the land was $1,172.] Official records of the Civil Aero- | nautics Administration show the| land last year was valued at $42 per acre. Jensen said his demand for grand jury action was based on reports that the inflated value of the land was paid by the Territory to obtain federal matching funds under the Federal Airport Aid Act, in order to | oifset territorial expenditures made on the Palmer airport prior to the effective date of the act. | Meanwhile, Alaska’s Auditor Frank A. Boyle has asked 'l‘en'i-1 torial Atty. Gen. J. Gerald Williams ! for an opinion as to the legality of the entire Palmer transaction. | Boyle cited what he said were six specific points of question. Palmer is in the Matanuska val- ley farming area. i LOCAL ANGLE When questioned regarding Jen- en’s request for a grand jury im- sestigation of the Palmer Airport controversy, District Attorney P. J. Gilmore said “If a grand jury in- vestigation is indicated, it should be in the Third Division situs of | the transaction. An ' investigation | in this division is procedurely in- correct.” Mr. Jensen stated that the reason he requested the grand jury en- panelled in this Division is that (ne territorial vouchers involved in the transaction were paid in this div- ision, this is a Territorial matter and Juneau, in the First Division, is the capital of the Territory. STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, Aug. 7 — Closing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 2%, American Can 95, Anaconda 33%, Curtiss-Wright 11 International Harvester 20%, Ken- | nemtt 60%, New York Central 14%, | Northern Pacific 18, U.S. Steel 38'%., Peund $2.80. Sales today were 1,850,000 shares. | Averages today are as follows: in- | | dustrials 21582, rails 62.85, utilities | ¢ 38.30. FROM ANCHORAGE George Metter of Taylor Alaska Sales Company, Anchorage, is at | Union. | ris revoked his $25,000 bail. He up- {said the government has made no | appeal. MARTIN VICTOR | Taylor left via PAA plane yester- |rival at Akron, 700 T0 1,000 ! plenished that; then the salad bowls { which were on hand in endless ! made the day perfect for the kids. ® @ o 0 o 0 0 0 & 0 0 . . e TIDE TABLE o . I. AUGUST 8 . e Low tide 4:08 am., 32ft. ® e High tide 10:5¢ am, 106 ft. ® Low tide 16:00 pm. 7.0 ft. e High tide 22:08 pm., 131 ft. ® ® ® 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o0 BRIDGES IS JAILED BY FED. JUDGE Bail of $25,000 Revoked-l Attorneys Make Appeal | to Circuit Court SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 7—®—! Harry Bridges' dttorneys today asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- peals here to free the jailed presi- dent of the CIO Longshoremen's They filed a writ asking that balll be set. The court agreed to hear arguments at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Bridges was jailed Saturday after Federal District Judge George Har- held the government contention that | the longshore leader is a threat to | national security and =hould be in custody pending appeal of his per- jury conviction. Norman Leonard, the attorney| who signed the circuit court appeal, claim that Bridges is not a good rlsk. nor that there is no grounds for The writ said that to deny bail “because in meetings of his own labor union Bridges said things which not only every citizen but every person in our nation has the Constitutional right to say” would violate Bridges' Constitutional rights. Meanwhile, the attorneys also presented to Federal District Judge Dal M. Lemmon a writ of habeas corpus asking that the government show cause why Bridges should not go free on bail. In revoking bail, District Judge Harris termed Bridges “probably one of the most cogent figures in the Communist party in America to- day.” PARKA IS WORN BY DERBY TAYLOR Sporting the latest Martin Victor parka, soap box derby winner Jerry day afternoon enroute to Akron, Ohio, for the classic event. ke was accompanied by Milt Daniel. Jerry will wear the parka at all special events including his ar- The parka was made especially by Martin Victor for Jerry to wear from Juneau to Akron. ATTEND PICNIC HELD BY ELKS Seven hundreds to 1,000 Elks, their families and invited friends turned out yesterday for a grand and gala Elks annual picnic held at Auk regreation center. Even the weath- erman cooperated by donating a cloudless, warm, and sunny day. Young and old had a wonderful time with the afternoon given over to various contests and Sherwood’s ponies traveled miles giving the youngsters free rides. The only worry in the crowd was borne by the food committee. First | they ran out of beans—sent an SOS brigade to town for more beans; then they ran out of ham—and re- were empty, so they served hot dogs strings. Pop, ice cream and cocoa All in all, said the committee, it was one of the finest and most suc- cessful Elks picnics ever enjoyed by the Juneau lodge. OREGONIAN HERE Richard Paschill of Hammond, Ore., is at the Gastineau Hotel. 1 -~ Marines and Doughboys in Quick Adion Inflict Heav y Losses on Reds-Air Boys Hit Tar- gefs Effectively US. 8TH ARMY HEADQUAR-‘ TERS IN KOREA, Aug. 7 — B — American Marines and doughboys drove nearly two miles on “a broad front” east of Chinju in the first Allied offensive of the Korean war. | Reports to field headquarters said the Reds suffered probably their heaviest casualties of the war in the attack on the 6th North Korean Division. “The air boys had more and better targets today than they have had in a long time,” one staff officer said. But the Communists made their own kind of trouble for the Ameri- can offensive with accurate and effective artillery fire on a bottle- neck road west of Chindgon. Artillery Fire One American tank was stopped and several vehicles were knocked out on this road. The artillery fire ‘stnpped the advance of American tanks trying to support the Infantry attack. Communist artillery directed by obviously close and direct observa- tion also hit into American artillery positions. But American Infantry pushed ahead without armor support. Both planes and ground patrols concentrated on finding and knock- ing out Red field guns. Attack Broad One ‘The American attack was a broad one manned by three regiments— the 5th Marine Regiment (rein- forced), the 5th Regimental Combat Team from Hawaii and the 35th Regiment of the 25th Division. Maj. Gen. William B. Kean, Com- manding General of the 25th Divi- sion, commands the operation witn a task force bearing his name. Three Pronged Action .While the three-pronged attack | was made toward Chinju by the “Kean Task Force,” 20 miles to the west 25th Division elements were doing a step-up job between Chungi and' the Naktong river to the north. ‘While the deep South offensive was launched, there was concern among observers that the Com- munists may have renewed the Nak- tong river crossing attempts Mon- day night in the 24th Division area. Some of the 800-man force that crossed early Sunday still occupied elements’' of two regiments trying to clear out 150 Red survivors scat- tered in hills east of the river. HAWAII SUGAR 'WORKERS QUIT AS BRIDGES JAILED HONOLULU, Aug. 7—(®—Mem- bers of the International Long- shoremen’s and Warehousemen's Union (CIO) walked off nearly all sugar plantations on Hawail Island today. Some union men described the walkout as a rank-and-file protest against the jailing of their union ; leader, Harry Bridges, in San Fran- cisco Saturday. Union officials in Honolulu said | 11 of: 13 plantations on the island were struck. But company spokes- men reported only 10 were down 80 far. The walkout began simultaneously throughout the plantations. STEAMER MOVEMENTS Baranof from Seattle scheduled to arrive sometime tomorrow night. Princess Kathleen scheduled to arrive 3 p.m. tomorrow. Prince George scheduled to sail from Vancouver Tuesday. Princess Norah scheduled to sail from Vancouver Wednesday. Aleutian scheduled to sail from Seattle Saturday. Princess Louise due in port at 8 a.m. tomorrow and sails south one hour later at 9 am. Alaska scheduled southbound on Saturday. Mrs. J. M. Steear of Wrangell is a guest at the Baranof Hotel. TWO MILES ARE GAINED NEW MOVE Marines amnfantrymen Smash on Behind Fe- rocious Air Attack (By the Associated Press) U.S. Marines and Infantrymen smashed almost two miles ahead in their new Korean offensive behind a feroclous air attack today, in- flicting possibly the heaviest casual- ties of the war on stiffly resisting Communist forces. The brunt of an attack by about 9,000 men, including leathernecks, doughboys and some South Korean Commando units, was hurled against the 6th North Korean Division, who were forced to expose their po- sition to Fifth Air Force Fighters and bombers. A staff officer sald “the air boys had more and better targets today than they have had in a long time.” The attack roared out Sunday after U.S. artillery laid down a cur- tain of steel and U.S. planes spat bombs, rockets and machinegun fire at the enemy. The Reds replied with heavy nruflery fire directed against American big gun positions. While the new UN. offensive got underway in the southernmost part of Korea, B-29 Superfortresses made their biggest strike of the war against Communist supplies. The Superforts dropped 540 tons of bombs on railyards at Pyongyang, the Red capital, and on an oil re- finery at Wonsan. All the bomies returned to their bases. The American attack was launched Sunday even as the Communists were preparing an attack of their own. The Reds struck on the U.S. right flank. The primary Com- munist threat still lay some 14 miles north of the new American thrust, In the area of the big bend in the Naktong river, the U.S. 24th Divi- sion holds defensive positions against strong probing thrusts by the Reds, 3 “The attack launched this morn- ing by the 26th Division and the Marine Brigade -advanced about 3,000 yards today on a broad front,” said a communique of U.S. Eighth Army headquarters. “Strong resist- ance was met with U.S. forces in- fiicting heavy casualties on the enemy.” The first Marine Brigade went into action on the Eighth anniver- sary of the landing of the First Marine Division at Guadalcanal in World War II. U.S. ADVANCE GAINS TOKYO, Aug. 7—M—Headquar- ters late today announced that American leathernecks and dough- boys blasted out a four-mile ad- vance with strong plane and tank support today on the Southern Ko- rean battlefront, in their first of- fensive action of the Korean war. Stabbing out along a 20-mile front, the three-pronged American attack edged ahead in the face of a heavy artillery and mortar bar- rage from the North: Kdrean Com- munists, who were knocked off bal- ance by the llrong American coun- ter-thrust. \ The Red artillery for a time bot- tled up a column of American Per- shing tanks by. knocking one of them out of action, but this seemed to have been broken and appar- :wntmum FORMER ALASKA PASTOR IS DEAD IN BELLINGHAM BELLINGHAM, Aug. T—®—The minister who built the first Luth- eran church in Ketchikan, Alaska, died in his sleep at his Anacortes, Skagit County, home early Satur- day. He was the Rev. Oluv Fosso, 66, pastor of the Anacortes Lutheran church for the past 11 years. As well as working for 11 years in Ketchi- kan, the Rev. Fosso answered his first call at Teller, Alaska, 32 years ago. Services will be conducted Wed- nesday in Andcortes, with grave side services at the Pacific Lutheran cemetery, Seattle.