Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 42, Number 170, Decatur, Adams County, 19 July 1944 — Page 1

18 Must Win the War! All f/se Is Chores?

VxLII. No. 170.

ALLIES SMASHING FORWARD IN NORMANDY

Gets • So Ahead Signal WorSen. Truman

Roosevelt Word To Convention Breaks Deadlock On Choice For Vice President .gF bulletin ChiMOe stadium July 19. - _UP)— Th* «r*t session of the Jemocratlc Mftvcntion reccsag* -d at 1:10 p.m, today to await L srtight th* kajrnote address of WM. R*b«rt *. Kerr of Oklahkago Bt*dH||jL July 19 <(!’> President Roosevelt evidently .fetor** raaoatlmn <>u <>r vice ■MMF'RM**! A. Wallace is im. word to this r jnocratir. national convention ■ t he would be happy to run Rahman. munlHaw piodmtton in. " <}gator ot Missouri <__’hls word broke tin- deadlock o which the com• a'..■, i.rp.iiy k [[]> heading as II met today for t first seaaisS with Wallace >fu!;.seut to flgb’ for his political ghf I' After a hurry.up journey from Mhlngton. t looked like Truman on the •rtw ballot. now, perhaps Thursday wtlh Wallace am runner.tip. ‘•lr. Roosevelt’s okay of Truman m i ■ ebed this convention af'er the had forced wai moblll. ton director James F. Byrnes, I South Carolina out of the pH st. The Mesideni's willing. to take Trani.i'i *.>• rm<.ii<d national committee chai, man fjfljbert E, Hainmgao who told the >*>lted Proas: It is not NlTei't that Mr. , r laevelt has set up a second and • Vd choice (after Wallace). But ■ president has Indicated that ‘ would be happy to run with i. Truman, and that he thinks ■ it , i man would strengthen the I Qg’hat statement came about 2o . m rates after Wad had left the Un at an outlying station, an. 4 inclng he would go direct to the ’“..diutn where the convention » In session. I' ".01. lie went headquar' m the Slier, --a hotel. He la chairman of the ••* delegation 1 but had not In. to come here until his (lager* decided his only chance aid be to make a personal ap. .rance. Vallace will deliver a seconding ech tomorrow afternoon for Roosevelt, who will be re. ulna led for a fourth term In e to addroaalthe delegate* by io In the evaalh ' The second, speech will give Wallace his i chaai# io |prsttade the dele, e* to renomioat. him for the .000 a year Mee presidency, lyrnes was Mhrced out under Tur* To Paa* S, Column I)

?e H. Kortenber Survives xplosion Aboard Tanker

oe H. Kortenber. teaman flrat “ W,'<>n of Mr. ami Mrs. Joseph k MMlbsr, <l4 JOhllx street. ie now *rd a sew ship following hit J rival of aa explosion which i a I — MiMS3M 1 L* wup his foytner ship, about two g ** out of San Pedro, Cal. now • aun pointer Überty Ship and la going to male rating, ac-

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

United Stales Troops Capture Livorno Today Great Italian Port Falls For Greatest Victory Since Rome Rome. July 19 (UP)—American troops captured the great Tyrrhenian port of Livorno today, crumpling the western anchor of the Herman defenses across Italy in the biggest Allied victory of the Italian campaign since the fall of Rome. Livorno fell to the United States units of Lt. Gen. Murk W. Clark's fifth army soon after Allied headquarters announced that Polish forces had captured Ancona, the Adriatic anchor of the Nazi defense line. The twin victories at either end of the Italian line unhinged the hard pressed German defenses and cleared the way for a frontal onslaught against the Gothic line, before which the Nazis were struggling to make their first stand after a precipitate flight from Rome. Virtually all the port facilities of Livorno, prewar city of 200,000. had been destroyed by the Ger mans to prevent their use by the Allies as a gateway ot supplies and reinforcements. The city's many big bridges, the only contact with the mainland, also were wrecked by the Nazis In an extreme application of the scorched earth policy. Livorno fell to American forces who had swung around it in a wide flanking maneuver and closed in from the east while other units were smashing through the formidable German fortifications guarding its southern approaches. Front dispatches preceding the announcement that Livorno had fallen said the Germans wore lighting a rear guard covering (Turn Tn Pure 1. Column 1) O . — Inaugural Address By Lions President Deane Dorwin. new president of the Decatur Lion*. made his formal Inaugural addroas at the weekly meeting of the oervice club Tuesday evening. The president, who took office laot week, outlined the aims and program of the club for the.ensulng year.

it that Mr. a second and

cording to a recent letter received by his parenta. Prior to his new assigiiment, he was aboard a tanker which transported 120 octane gasoline to Australia. Mentioning the gas cargo, he commented. ‘’This Im worae than dynamite." The precious gas was delivered to Australia and Joe spent a couple of days In Sydney, which he saya la a good looking city. The Pacific voyage took 28 days and after the tanker pulled out of Sydney. It waa attacked by enemy subs. Kight torpedoes were tired at the ship, but as Joe comments, “We dodged them all." When about two miles out of San Pedro, the Decatur seaman wrote. “We ran into a mine or something and it blew up our ship. Some say It was a torpedo. I>nt I don't think It was because planes went out and searched tor a sub. but found no trace of one. So, we came to the conclusion that It was a mine. Everybody got off safely. It waa kind of a thrill. I don't want you to worry about me because I am O. K" 1 It was in June that Joe’s ship returned to the United States and ’ early In July he waa aaaigned to i the Überty ship, which had been ■ In service.

Death Toll In Naval Explosion Still Mounting Navy Will Launch Formal Inquiry In Munitions Explosion San Francisco. July 19.—(UP) The death toll in the explosion of two ammunition ships at Port Chicago Monday night continued to rise today as the Navy prepared to launch a formal Investigation into the disaster, the worst munitions blast since the French steamer Mont Blanc exploded in the harbor at Halifax. N. 8., Dec. 6. 1917. killing 1.226 persons. An estimated 377 persona were killed In the blast which sent the two vessels, the $2000,000 victory ship, Qulnault Victory, and the sl,•00.000 liberty ship. E A. Bryan, skyrocketing into the air In a sheet of white flame and nearly demolished the small towji of Port Chicago. Estimates of the number of Injured ranged from 500 to 1.000 ami property damage was reported well altove the $5,000,000 mark. The Navy could offer no explanation of the blast which was felt in 14 counties within a radius of 60 miles and officials explained that any investigation would be ham pered by a lack of survivors to give evidence of exactly wTlat happened. Only four bodies have been recovered from the debris of the explosion and naval officials etlll were unable to compile a complete list of casualties. The Navy estimated that 250 enlisted personnel, most of them Negro sailors who were loading the two vowels with ammunition at the time of the blast, are "missing and presumed dead." along with nine officers, live coast guardsmen and three civilian workers. Approximately 40 members of the armed guards of the two ship* also were believed missing and the war shipping administration liMtesj 70 merchant seamen as missing. All of the missing are presumed (Turn To Par* S. Column 4) O City To Provide Judgment Payment Council Discusses Next Year's Budget

Provision tor paying the jmig. merit against the city of Decatur for Injuries received by Nannie M Martin and resultant costs incurred by her husband. Thomas It Martin, from a fall on the aidewalk In front of the Htudebaker properties, 169 South Second afreet, on August 2. 1940, will be made in the budget for 1945. city officials decided last evening. Mrs. Martin war, awarded >1.200 and her husband S6OO. in the trial of the damage suit In the Wells circuit court, In October. 1943, Mrs. Martin fell and broke her ankle, alleging that a broken block of concrete In the walk caused her to fall. The property owner was not made a party to the suit and the caae waa vetiued to the Wella circuit court At the council meeting last evening which preceded the Informal meeting of city offlciala who discussed next year's budget, the street and sewer committee re. ported favorably on the petition for a sidewalk and curb on both sides of Oak street, running east from Winchester street to Cleve. land street. Engineer Ralph Hoop was ordered to prepare plans and specifications for the improvement. which includes a stretch of walk on the north aide of Legion Memorial park. An objection was voiced by Mr. North In behalf of bls daughter. Mrs. Vivian Klrchenhauer, on the route of the proposed Johnson (Turn Tn Page 6. Columa It TEMPERATURE READING DEMOCRAT THERMOMETER >:00 a.m M 10:00 a. m 70 Noon 01 0:00 p. m, M WEATHER Fair tonight and Thursday, slightly cooler tonight.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Wednesday, July 19, 1944.

California Blast Kills Hundreds 7 . . H * FIRST REPORTS ESTIMATE the number of victims, dead and injured. In the explosion at th • Port Chicago Navy depo‘ catastrophe In Martinez, Cal., to be 650. The blast occurred when an explosion hit a Liberty ship loaded with ammunition, spreading destruction for miles around. Some idea of the force of the blast is shown by the condition of this case in the town of the port. This case Is located about a mile and a half from the scene.

Large Naval Vessels Join Guam Assaults Join Softening Up Attacks On Island BULLETIN Washington, July 19—(UP) —American submarines, continuing t heir steady attacks on Japanese shipping, have sunk 14 more enemy vessels, including two combatant ships, the navy revealed today. (By United Press) The reshuffle in the heads of the Japanese army and navy was explained as a 'gigantic step toward strengthening the national defense structure,’* by a government spokesman today as American Central Pacific forces continued their “softenlng up" campaign against Guam in the southern Marianas. The removal of Premier Gen. Hideki Tojo as chief of the army general staff and Ot Admiral Hhigetaro Shimada as navy minister was the second reorganization in five months and reflected the serious view Japan has taken of the American threat to her inner defense*. The explanation of the changes was made In a Tokyo broadcast by Eiji Arnau, head of the imperial Information board, who said the new chiefs now "could devote their total efforts entirely toward their respective duties." America’s largest naval vessels joined with carrier aircrait Io carry the assault on Guam, former 11. S. naval base, into the 13th consecutive day. Admiral Chester W. Nltnitz said large battleships blasted the island with 14 and 16 inch guns Sunday for the second successive day. lie revealed that -potter planes directing the Are met some anti-aircraft fire but that "three anti-aircraft positions in turn were neutralized by our light units." American forces on Saipan. 130 miles north, were revealed to have Interned 15.420 enemy civilians and soldiers. Including 1.620 troops. In the southwest Pacific, Allied bombers, continuing attacks on enemy shipping, sank or damaged five more merchant vessels Monday while American troops killed 175 (Turn Tn Paas 2. Column ■ 0 Fifth War Loan Total li Now $1,647,210 •Purchase of $42.6*9 76 in war bond* last week by Individuals sent the fifth <war loan total to 51.647,210 Earl Caston co-chairman of the bond staff announced today. (Adams county exceeded Ita quota of >1.470.300 on July 9 and sake to individuals will he credited to the drive up to July 29.

Close Swimming Pool For Cleaning Purposes 'l>an (Perry, supervisor of the municipal swimming pool, announced today that the pool will be clcaed for several daye. The pool will be thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed, the supervisor said, and the water completely changed. The pool likely will be reopened early next week Definite announcement of the reopening will be made later this week. o Requests Os Highway Department Pruned County Council In Continued Session The members of the Adams county council reconvened this afternoon at the auditor's office to affirm yesterday's action in mak. ing special appropriations ami to sign the ordinance appropriating the money for the various offices and departments of county gov. ertimen*. The councilmen pruned the re. quests of the highway department by $2,600. The requests as filed and the amount approved by the council, follow: truck and tractor drivers. $1,600. $1,090; single hands, $4.(t00, $3,000; repair of trucks and machinery. $2,000, *1.500; tires and tubes, SI,OOO, *900; steel and castings. SI,OOO, *900; paint. $l5O allowed; tools, *lso, allowed The request for *SOO for new and used trucks was withdrawn !,y the highway department, for reason that the WPH had refused a purchase permit for the equip, ment. The funds for the highway de. partment are appropriated from the gasoline fund No tax levy Is made for this department, the county receiving all Its income from the gas tax. Yesterday the councilmen ap. proprlated approximately *42,000 for repairing three bridges which span the Blue Creek ditch near Salem, In Blue Creek township. The council also allowed special appropriations for payment of bounties on foxes; Insulating at the county hospital, venue coats and ether Items, on which no re. (Turn To Page 1. Column 4» ——— . —o ———— Lad Dies Os Fright In Dentist's Chair iMiddMtoro. Mum. July l» (l'f>> Fourteeti-year-old Wayne Thomas HOF Rayham died yesterday while sitting In a dentist chair waiting to bare a tooth pulled (Medical examiner A. Vincent Smith reported today that the (toy's death resulted from a heart seizure Induced by freight.

Showdown Battle For Roads To Paris And Heart Os France On

Russians Pour « Through Hole In German Defense 1 Outflank Fortress Os Lwow, Ready To Smash Across Bug Moscow. July 19. —(UPI Marshal Ivan 8. Konev's Ist Urkrainlan army, pouring through a 124-mlle hole in Germany's southeastern defenses, outflanked the fortress of Lwow from the north and prepared to smash across the Bug river border Into the puppet government general of Poland today in a new offensive aimed squarely at the relch. Konev's tanks and infantry already were well across the Bug elver at several places south of the point where It becomes the bonier agreed upon by Germany and Russia following the partition of Poland in 1939. and one column was speeding westward only a few miles from the Lwow-Lublln Warsaw railway in an apparent attempt to encircle Lwow. Advances of up to 31 miles were registered by the let Ukrainian army in the first three days of its offensive along the southeastern invasion route to Berlin. More than 600 towns and villages were liberated. ineluding Kamionka (Kamenka) and Krasne. 21 mllett north and 25 miles east ot Lwow. one of the ' greatest communications hubs in Europe. The German command hurled 100 to 200 tanks at a time against the Soviets in a desperate attempt to stem the otiidaught, but Konev's army forced them into retreat with withering blasts of lire from mobile (Turn To Page 1. Column 1) O Local Man's Brother Dies At Chicago 'Hugh .1 Fisher. 58, a Chicago policeman for 21 y< ars and a brother of John 4). Fisher of this city, di< d at 5:45 o'clock this morning at St. Ann's hoapilal. Chicago, of'compllcatloui, following an extended illness. F.ltcral servl.es will be held Saturday morning at 9 o'chrck at Peru Burial will be in ilia’ city. Surviving Iteeldes the widow and the brother In Him city are a sister. Miss 'Marie Fisher of Chicago and two other brothers. James P. Fisher of Huntington unJ Joaeph E F>aher of Miami. Fla

Former Resident Os Monroe Dies Tuesday Mrs. Daniel Uhrick Dies In Michigan Mrs. 11. Nettle Johnston-l’hrick. 73. native of Monroe, died at 10:15 o’clock Tuesday night at her home in Jackson. Mich. Iteaih waa attributed to a heart ailment. She waa born In Monroe March 16. 1871. the daughter of James S. and Malinda Bell-Johnston, and lived in that town until moving to Michigan a number of years ago. Surviving in addition to the husband. Daniel C. I’hrltk. are four daughters. Mrs. Haymond Darring of Zanesville. O.; Mrs. Gertrude Evans, Mrs. iloaa Uhrick and Mrs. Durnell Templin, all of Muncie; one son. Cloyde, of Illinois; one sister. Mrs. Elisa M Kahnert of Monroe. and three brotteoiw. Frank L. Johnston of Decatur. Cyrus of Morgantown. W. Va., and Samuel of Rome City, Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Monroe Methodist church, with Rev'. James H. Uhrick of Fort Wayne officiating. Burial will be. In the Ray cemetery west of Monroe. The body may be viewed at the Lobenstein funeral home at Monroe.

Comfortable Weather Promised Democrats Meeting In Chicago Chicago. July 19 tl’P) A nonpartisan weather man. who forced the RepuiblieaiM to tswelter in t>-m---pera'ur<«< ranging up to I'm degrees at their convention here la. t mouth, today promised the Democrats on "alr-condltloned " show. The govertnnen* forecaster predicted "normal" weather fur today, tomorrow and Friday, with daytime thermometer readings not to exceed *5 degre.o. Not once, he eaid. will the mercury reach the 100 degree maximum recorded daring one Republican afternoon stosion at the Chicago otailium. Nights will tie '.iimfortable and not too cool, witli a minimum of 6<t degrees, the bureau said, and no rain Is eXipncted In Chicago for the next three days. 0 : Southern Germany Is Hammered By Planes Destructive Raids By American Planes London. July 19 (UP) More than 1.200 American heavy bombers attacked eight war plants, airdromes and rail yards in south Germany today, hammering home destructive assaults on prime targets scattered through a 250-mlie long swathe of th- Reich. The great armada of Hying fortresses and liberators, escorted by some 750 fighters, smashed at the German war potential in an area bounded by Munich. Schweinfurt. Koblenz and Saarbruck' n. and hit the French border town of Strasbourg. Swinging away from the Normandy battlefront after taking part in the biggest concentrated bomliardment of all time, the eighth air force carrietl the war back to th Reich in one of its most widespread attacks on the Nazi homeland The daylight attack ill force (Turn Tr» Pwr* 1, CAliimn 4 > o Water Being Drained From Former Quorry The southwest bank at Green Water* located on tin- Central Soya company grounds, north of the city, is beiiig sloped ami the water drained from the former quarry. Carp and undMinfble fish have been removed and restocking of th" quarry with game fish will be done The quarry is the private fishing epot of the company'* employe conservation and fishing club.

Sgt. Harvey Laughrey, Marine Tells Os First Night On Saipan

<By Sergeant Charles It Vandergrlf- of Cincinnati. Ohio, a marine St combat correspondent, formerly of edi—"The closest one iwas a dud," •aid Mjflha Tmbnfcal Sergsaul

Buy War Savinas Bonds And Stamps

Price Four Cents

British Tanks Pour Through Breach In Enemy Lines South • And East Os Caen Supreme Headquarters, AEF. July 19 (UP) Hundreds of Brit, isli tanks, streaming through a wide breach in the enemy lines south and east of Caen, smashed headlong into German Marshal Erwin Rommel's hastily massed panzer legions on the Normandy plain 'oday in a showdown battle for the roads (o Paris and the heart of France. Front dispatches said Gen. Sil" Bernard L. Montgomery’s armored spearhead* had driven "several miles" Is-yond Caen at a iiiiiiilh-i of points and already were across the highway running southeast of Caen to Vimont, seven miles away. "Operations are progressing successfully," a conservative official statement released at supreme headquarters said as the all.out British offensive passed its 30th hour. From an advance command post came the prediction that "news of the highest importance may be Imminent." Headquarters declined to reveal just how far Montgomery's hard, bitting, fast striking spearhead* penetrated, but front reports told of the occupation of a number of ' villages beyond Caen and a - spokesman said the northern • part of Faubourg de Vaucelles, t strongly.held southern suburb of ■ Caen, had been cleared of the ■ enemy Apparently caught off guard by the powerful assault launched be- - hind an unparalleled all-, ground ’ ami sea bombardment. Rommel was unable to bring his massed i armor Into play until the British - 2nd army already had broken through to ideal tank terrain south ' and cast of Caen and some 115 miles west of Paris. Gen : 87th communique of the invasion I said Rommel now was counter. ' attacking desperately "in an at. ' tempt to block the breach made i in German positions in this area." Rommel had possibly seven pan. zer divisions 1.4011 tanks at full I I strength—around Caen, but most of them had been drawn off io the ; southwest by Montgomery'* dl- . versionary attack*. on the American half of the I Normandy front. 1.l Gen. Omar | N Bradley's Ist army finally cleared enemy "suicide squads" of machinegunners, mortar crews and snipers from the ruins of St lai. 32 miles west of Caeit. and cir the St. lat.Perier* highway, breaking the track of tile enemy line in this sector Henry T Gorrell. United Press war correspondent with the Americans, said the Germans had (Turn To Pag* 5. Column 4)

the Cincinnati Enquirer.l Saipan Marianas Islands (DelayHarvey W Laughrey, husband of Mrs. Edith Laughrey, 221 tj North Eleventh Street, Decatur, Ind. telling attmut the Jap mortar barrange hie first night on tiiapan Communications chief of a weapons outfit, Laughrey is the son of Mr. and Mrs. J»ws latughrey of (Monroe. Ind. Hr is a graduate of Monroe high school He said hta unit moved In latte in the afternoon of the invasion day. HBeveral times the Japs laid down a pattern of mortar fire." Laughrey said, ’’but we moved inland a short way and dug in for the night. We had three fox-hole* in a a triangle allrout eight feet apart. "The Japs dropped several shells • > close we had to keep down to escape the shrapnel Hut the closest one landed right In the middle of the triangle. I saw It coming, heard it smack Into the sand, and thought the war was over as far as I was concerned. After what seemed tlk« five minutes, It hadn’t gone off, and 1 lUrR-’l -feita.”