The Key West Citizen Newspaper, June 23, 1954, Page 5

FIRST-HAND REPORT GIVEN OF VIETMINH AMBUSH IN INDOCHINA By FORREST EDWARDS HANOI, Indochina —It started ‘when 200 Vietminh guerrillas am- bushed a Fench patrol. It ended with one village in flames and an- other raked from end to end by tons of bombs and artillery shells. “In between was a wild chase across reeking race paddies under a blazing sun, clinging to the mud- dy side of a bucking tank that dived into irrigation ditches, chewed its way through paddy dams and stopped every hundred yards to hurl a half-dozen shells at Vietminh fleeing on foot or|j._ hiding in thickets. “A pretty ordinary day in the delta,” was the way the English- cy ipa sergeant, Michel + Put it. “You mean the heat or the fight- 2” “Both,” he answered. “The first 12 miles out of Hanoi the French supply line to Hai- 1 seaport had been dull and du: st whirlwind spun bend in the road and a French soldier furious- a bicycle and shout- fut Viets. Ambush!” Vietminh had struck hur- and sloppily—less than half of the patrol had been led and none killed—and then Half fled through the fields one side of the road, half on other side. American - supplied M24 led up from a post only the road, swung their began pumping shells of trees a half mile road. Four more soon One shell cut a power tank, the Dunkerque off the road. Seconds it was covered with mud as wed through a rice paddy. $ not an inch of dry here on the tank. And was a two-handed job. \ddy had been freshly stink was sickening. paddies fled when began—all except one The old man dug into brought out what and waved it past. The old ruined dikes be repaired in her arms, out in a ling very hundred jadron leader, ? (jt Ey’? fe & 5 z Ha HH E F Py & iH ? 3 z | £ 4 & e g HH ae F gE fie Hi i F i E i i Hy and he would his glasses. fleeing Viet- uns would belch cee z i rifles into suspicious- and tree clumps as kept up the chase. Heutenant began swinging ron té the right in an intercept rebels flee- the Vietminh-infested of Nhan Hoa Thuong, two es away. as it looked as if the tanks get between the Vietminh the village in time, they hit a seemingly bottomless paddy. The Dunkerque settled lower and lower. Its treads churned but only dug the tank deeper into the mire. Muraccioli grabbed the radio and i F g : i EF i! as bestt lage. Others raked it from side to side for an hour. Fighter-bombers sped over it, dropping 500-pound bombs. “No use any more,” the lieu- tenant said. “By now the Viets are all underground in the village. But maybe we killed some with our tank guns before they got there. See, the infantry is moving up to look for dead and wounded.” Using trails broken by the tanks, units of Vietnamese and North African troops, commanded by French officers, were moving to- ward the tanks. They passed and pressed forward in thin, straggly es, ‘ Then came the long job of get- ting the mired tank free. Miles behind the Dunkerque, on the other side of the road from the ambush site, smoke and flame from another small village. An artillery shell or bomb had touched off one straw-thatched hut — fire was leaping from hut to wut. Later a French briefing officer ted: reported: “Moderate losses to a Vietminh force that ambushed a patrol on the Hanoi-Haiphong road. Losses to the patrol were very light. There were no other losses in the action.” Dr. Karl Compton, Atom Scientist, Dies In New York NEW YORK — Dr. Karl T. Compton, 66, one of America’s top scientists and educators, who in wartime helped ‘develop radar and worked on the atomie bomb, died yesterday, For 18 years he was president of Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, one of the nation’s fore- most scientific institutions. He had been chairman of MIT since 1948, when he gave up the presidency to organize the nation’s scientific talent for the cold war against communism, a job he re- signed a year later for reasons of health, During World War II he received the Army’s highest civilian award, the Medal of Merit, and was cited as being “personally responsible. for hastening the termination of. hostilities.” Compton, born in Wooster, Ohio, died at Cornell Medical Center here. He had suffered a heart at- tack last Wednesday and his wife was called to his bedside. Besides his widow, the former Margaret Hutchinson, he is sur- vived by three children, Mrs. Car- roll M. Boyce, Scarsdale, N. Y. Mrs. Bissell Alderman, Holyoke, Mi and Charles, instructor at Mount Hermon School, North- field Mass. One of Compton’s last public as- signments was as chairman of a commission set up by President Eisenhower last year to study uni. versal military training. He was an ardent supporter of UMT and in 1947 advised its adoption as an urgent necessity for national se- WIND CONVERTS SILO FAIRFIELD, Vt. — Vermont has a new and quainter covered bridge today as the result of a gusty thunder storm. Winds lifted an empty 40 foot silo last night and dropped it 600 feet away, across a brook. The farm owner’s wife, Mrs. Donald Reed, said, “it makes a perfect covered bridge.” SALE NOW GOING ON THE MUSI SHOPPE Every Item Reduced 726 Duval Street Telephone 2-5355 NAVARRO, Inc. ‘VACATION For Thursday Only 8 AM. till 9:30 P.M. Lot No. 1 4% Southard Street TELEPHONE 2-2242 94g ’ PLYMOUTH Suburban Extra Special SPECIALS Lot No. 2 Opposite Navy Commissary TELEPHONE 2-7886 1953 DE SOTO One Owner - 2 Tone Paint - Power Steering - Automatic Transmission RADIO - HEATER $1896.00 Wednesday, June 23, 1954 Legionitems By JUDSON STEPHENS, Arthur Sawyer Post, No. 28 American Legion Installation:- I believe that we had one of the nicest installation ceremonies that I have witnessed anywhere. The Key West Guard of Honor deserves credit for their splendid showing on Saturday evening while assisting Vie Wilde, 10th District Command- er, install the officers of the Post for the Legion year 1954-55. Norman C. Kranich was installed as the Post Commander; M. E. Lewis, first vice commander; Paul L. Mesa, Jr., second vice com- mander; Nelson Cannon, chaplain; Louis Ismay, historian; Bethel P. Johnson, past commander; Ken- neth M. Longhurst, service officer; Paul Esquinaldo, judge advocate; L. Van Reber, adjutant-finance of- ficer; and George Sikes, Joe Metz- ger and Lewis Bays, executive committeemen. Congratulations to the new officers and a very suc- cessful year to them. Among some of the dignitaries present for this installation were: Rear Admiral George C. Towner, Commander, Naval Base; Captain C. L. Murphy, Jr., Aide and Chief of Staff to Admiral Towner, Larry Hoffman, Department historian; Tom Farrell, Grand Chef de Gare, 40 and 8; Lowery Davis, Grande Conducteur, 40 and 8; Bill Ander- son, Department sgt. at arms; Doris M. Clarke, National Com- mander, World War Nurses and many others from Marathon, Per- rine, South Miami, Hollywood, West Palm Beach and Miami. It was a pleasure to see all our old friends present for this installation, Key West Guard of Honor:- xk kw * This small group of volunteer Legionnaires serve the Post in al- most every capacity. It is made up of Legionnaires of good standing in the Post, many of whom either are or have been officers of the Post. Serving with the Guard of Honor is additional job for all of them and sometimes it is hard to at- tend all functions due to having’to make a living besides. Just an example of what the Guard has done since Friday even- ing past: On Friday they journey- ed to Marathon and assisted 10th District Commander Vic Wilde in installing the Post Officers of the Marathon Post 154. Returning to’ Key West they assisted the District Commander in installing the officers of our Post. On Sun- day afternoon they were again as- sembled for a funeral for a com- rade legionnaire. And coming up on Wednesday, they will serve as the ritual team for the initiation of the new members. Their job is never done and they are always ready, willing and able to serve the Post Commander in any job called upon to do. The Guard is made up of 24 members at present but men are always needed to carry out the many functions. It would be ap- preciated if more yolunteers would come forth and apply for the Key West Guard of Honor. Anyone de- siring information about the Guard and the procedure for applying for membership, contact Paul Mesa, MEAT WITH THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Adjutant of the Guard and he will help you out. RR Boys’ State:- Twelve Key West boys departed on the 5 p.m. bus Saturday headed for a week at Tallahassee to take Part in the 1954 Boys’ State there. Thanks to the generosity of the Civic organizations of the city, the City of Key West and the Post we were able to set a new record this year in sending these 12 boys. Our previous total was 10. The boys will return next Sunday. On Friday evening they will have a g together with the girls for Gir State. Girls’ State begins on Fri- day for a week. x kk Post Meeting:- Regular Post meeting and initia- tion of new members on Wednes- day, June 23, at 8 p.m. Begin the new legion year right and attend this meeting. A tough year is ahead and it will take many hours of hard work to carry on gantic program. To do ‘job right it will take the help of all Legionnaires. Start your new Post Commander off with a bang, at- tend the meeting. x wk & Preamble to The Constitution of The American Legion:- To start the new Legion year off right let’s rededicate ourselves. to the preamble to the constitution of the American Legion, the oath of every Legionnaire: “For God and Country, We associate ourselves together for the following purposes: To uphold and defend the Con- stitution of the United States of America; To maintain law and order; To foster and perpetuate a one hundred per cent American- ism; To preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars; To inculcate a sense of individ- ual obligation to the Commun- ity, State and Nation; To combat the autocracy of both the classes and masses; To make right the master of might; To promote peace and good will on earth; To safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of Justice, Freedom and Demo- cracy; To consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.” Repeat and rededicate yourself to this preamble, it comes fo sales, every car maker the top of his price class. Which is only Tike that means succes. We know, because for years Buick has held such an eavied position — the unquestioned sdes leader in its class. And with good reasons in But today, folkslike you heve Today's By SAM DAWSON NEW YORK (®—Easy money is on the way today to nourish the hoped-for upturn in business. Easy money is being offered to keep new homes going up, to en- courage industry to produce goods for the fall and winter markets, to help move the crops to market. Easy money will also ease the pains of the U. S. Treasury, which will need about five billion dollars of extra funds by the first part of August—and altogether must borrow around 10 billion dollars by the end of the year. The Treas- ury wants the money to be avail- able for borrowing—and it would appreciate interest rates being kept low. The Federal Reserve Board is offering the easy money through its lowering of the reserve require- ments for its 6,700 members banks throughout the country Together they hold about 90 per cent of all the bank deposits in the nation. Henceforth, they won’t have ‘to keep quite so much of these de- posits in reserve, and will have a little more to lend to business and agriculture, At the moment most of these banks have plenty of money to lend. Their trouble has been most- ly the other way—too few good risks eager to brorrow from them. Many of the banks have been ac- tively looking for ways to put idle 10,000 MILE Guaranty on USED CARS with DM), “a g Carlife B Guaranty & Y RE NAVARRO, Inc. 601 Duval St. Tel, 2-704 Business Mirror By Sam Dawson money to work and have been com- peting for borrowers—always with the emphasis on the soundness of the risk, in this period of business uncertainty. But the federal reserve is look- ing ahead to the August de- mands of the Treasury and to the fall demands of business and agri- culture. It wants to make sure that if there is a business upturn this fall it won’t be cramped by tight money, Federal reserve officials insist their move toward easier money and credit doesn’t spring from nervousness over the outlook for business this fall—they just want to be sure that business will find it easy to expand, if an upturn is a-borning. 5 for the banks themselves the first pressure will probably be on their interest rates. These rates are tied to the “prime rate” which they set for lending money to cor- porations with the highest credit Printing... Embossing Engraving ... Rubber Stamps The Ariman Press Greene Street Phone 2-5661 The Islander FLORIDA KEYS FINEST HOTEL & APTS. Air-Conditioned 80 Miles Northeast of Key West 12 acres on the ocean. Dining or eat, — Later swim- ming |, private beach, shuf- fleboard, fens movies Frida nite, fishing at the fishing capi tal of the world. LOW SUMMER RATES Write or Phone Matecumbe 2061 ISLAMORADA, FLORIDA SPARROWS LOSE To PLANE ENGINES ATLANTA (®—Six sparrows tan- gled with a four-engine airliner over the Atlanta Airport. Capt. J. B. Parker had to land the Delta-C.&S. DC7 yesterday and transfer his 69 passengers to ame other plane The dead birds were removed from the engines. The plane was hauled to a hangar for repairs. Read Citizen Daily rating. In March they lowered this Prime rate to 3 per cent from 3 per cent. But now businessmen can shop around and borrow more cheaply than that. Nonbank lenders are making short-term loans to com- panies with the highest credit credit ratings at anywhere from 1% to 2 per cent. The U. S. Treasury just a year ago was paying around 2 per cent for 91-day borrowing. But now it is borrowing this short-term money at 0.635 per cent. Taree HoTetsin MIAMI | WHATEVER YOUR NEEDS IN THE LINE OF Children’s | TOYS Come to The TROPICAL TRADER 718 DUVAL ST. DIAL 2-6262 at_ POPULAR PRICES Located in the Heart ef the City REASONABLE RATES ROOMS WRITE or WIRE for RESERVATIONS with BATH and TELEPHONE Pershing HOTEL Ritz HOTEL Miller H |OTEL 182 E. Flagler St. 226 N.E. Ist Ave. 229 NE. Ist Ave. 102 Rooms Elevator Solarium 100 Rooms es Elevator Heated Cd] Rooms Elevator 3 BLOCKS FROM UNION BUS STATION Dally Service! NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA Direct Connections in MIAM! NATIONAL Airlines yhiiliwe of the Bites aspires to be up at nateral. Popularity pushed Buick sucess even beyond such bounds. ‘Today, the top full generation sale standings of a hare been changed. ‘Today, latest sale figures for the Wee BETTER AUTOMOBAES ane pus! BUICK WILL SURD MULBERG CHEVROLET CO. Corner Caroline Stree’ Telegraph Lane first four months of 1954 reveal this phenomenal fact: Fu total national volume, regardless of price class, Buick is outselling all cars in America except two of the so-called “low-price three.” ‘That's a tip too good to pass up. That's the tip-off that Buick must have the hottest styling of the times and the sweetest performance of the year. <= 34-n-3 708-8 More important, that’s the tip-off the reach of more and more people ~and that such prices buy a bot more automobile per dollar. So why not look into the tomorrow- ahead today? styled Buick that puts you so far Come in, or phone us this week for a demonstration. Then you ean judge for yourself that Buick really is the beautiful buy—by far. Dial 26743