Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 141, Decatur, Adams County, 15 June 1945 — Page 1

* cV ent/> War Loan 11 ]5 Days to Go

K XLHI. No - 141 -

P-000 TONS OF BOMBS DROPPED ON OSAKA

L Ribbentrop ■Captive Os ■lied Forces ■foreign Minister Knder Hitler Is ■Seized In Hamburg ■.. u | ;ii ijsh 2nd Army. GerK June I"’ - tl’P) Former minister Joachim Von enlr ,, l i. List of the Nazi hiertentatively accounted .. .matured yesterday in a boarding house where jived unrecognized for |Be than six weeks. ■ '.eno left Lueneberg by . ... p. m. in custody of ■?v, authorities for an undis■,,,l destination where he will by representatives supreme headquarters. lieutenant and two discovered him lying i,i bed. Dressed and taken mi'.,mb headquarters, he was m have secreted a can of in his crotch. titr.qr registered at the house under the name ii| r ntity to his captors. A r arrested today confirmed O identification. lie had been ■yi-- t'oreign minister who engithe diplomatic phases of ■f Hiller's European conquests |M| - captors that be had hoped ■■imie until British opinion Germany had died down it,- could surrender for a trail.” London dispatch said Ribwas on the individual criminal lists of many counand also was accused under general classification group■ah members of the Nazi govThe dispatch said he would be taken to Britpending trial.) had three letters in his posone addressed to “VinSMtt" — presumably for Primo ■pe-r Winston Churchill, anto British .Marshal Sir BerL. Montgomery and the |Mrd to foreign secretary AnEden. British staff officer casually the prize capture in to a routine question from about rumors that Rib■V op had been captured in the occupation zone. ■f> officer revealed that Rib■«trop had gone to Hamburg ■ lll '- of a wine merchant who an old triend. Before bis ■* r - v into diplomatic affairs, Rib■mrnp was a champagne sales- ■ The wine merchant refused him ■nctnary, however, and Ribbenwent to the boarding house he was captured and regis- ■ r " l as an ordinary guest. He ■tic unrecognized and unchaluntil arrested at 9:30 a. m. ■sterday. walked to British headquarter tn Hamburg with the arrestin officers. A medical examinaI" there revealed the can of ■ snn - Re subsequently was ■' n to Lueneberg and confined ■ I e same house where gestapo ■ f H p inricli Himmler commitV* suicide with poison last t 0 a U corners of Ger- ■ ithtrn To Page 4. Column 4) a . bulletin t-ondon, June 15,_( UP) _ lett er from Clement R. At- ** to Prime Minister Church- , ~r evealed today that the coming Big Three meet--0 will b e he | d jn Ber | in> l |e e, Labor party leader, ro - Churchill to accept an " , * ltati *n to the Big Three "'"ltog, which he described as 'prospective conference in krlm.» Kmocrat thermometer temperature reading X;-" -- « ■ 75 ; I Mow LEATHER I cloj s C '® ud ; toni o ht - Partly Ilon.i Saturda y with an occa- 1 ttor ower or thunder- 1 mUCh Cha " 3e * n ■

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Destroyer Hazlewood Hit By Suicide Plane San Francisco, Juno 15 . ( n>) Japano-e suicide pilot crashed hl< oxplosive-laden plane into th., veteran destroyer I'. s. S. Habelwood off Akinawa April 29, smashing and sotting afire the bridge and superStructure. Ten officers ami (17 men were killed or missing. The navy revealed today. Ihe 2,100-ton Hazelwood, commissioned June is, 1942, steamed into San Francisco bay yesterday on its way to Mare Wand ravy yard for reconditioning. ■ ‘ i Grant Priority For ' 25 New Homes Here National Housing Agency In Grant ' A priority for building 25 new 1 houses in Decatur has been granted by’ the national housing agency in Chicago, it was announced today. The NITA approved the building ; of 250 new houses in this area and allocated 175 to Fort Wayne; 25 to Wabash; 20 to Huntington and five to Bluffton The entire building program is estimated at ?l,G0(),000. Two hundred houses will be for sale at a maximum of SO,OOO to SB,OOO, including house and lot and 50 will rent at a maximum of SSO to SGS a month. The announcement from Chicago did not state what the rental scale would be in Decatur. The priorities were granted under the new H-2 program, which does not confine purchases or rentals to those employed in war plants. Applications for priorities to build are to be made with R. Earl Peters, state director of the federal housing administration, in Indianapolis. It is expected that it will take at least 3(1 days or longer for actual construction of the houses to start since the priorities must be secured and FHA clearance obtained. The start of the program the difficulty in securing lumber and other materials. Although definite details regarding the building program were not obtainable here, it was (Turn To Page 4, Column 5) 0 —.—.— Flag Day Observed Here Last Evening Two Programs Held In Honoring Flag Two programs honoring the flag and extolling its virtues as the symbol of unity and freedom, were hold here last evening, the public event at the Elks homo being attended by several hundred persons. Earlier in the evening at the luncheon meeting of the Rotary club, the Rev. John W. McPheeters, new pastor of the First Presbyterian church, delivered a talk on the flag. Vernon Sheldon of Fort Wayne, a veteran of World War I, and lecturer at Indiana University extension department, gave the oration at the Elks home, sponsored jointly by Decatur lodge 993 of the 8.P.0. Elks and Adams Post 13 of the American Legion. The Elks ritualistic service was exemplified by the lodge officers, directed by Florian Keller, exalted ruler. Carl Sheets acted as song leader and master of ceremonies. The Elks tribute to the flag was read by George Laurent. The Legion's firing squad and color guard, Boy and Girl Scouts and the Decatur high school band marched from the Legion home to the Elks home, where they participated in the program. Mr. Sheldon spoke briefly on, what the American flag meant ta Americans and how it served ae the symbol of rightousness and freedom throughout the world. “Here I it stands for the privileges we en-j joy in America, the symbol of our unity and guarantee of equality," . he said. The Rev. McPreeters traced thee history of flags and said that Den- 1 nark had the oldest national flag, ' its inception dating back to the , 13th century.

U. S. S. Saratoga Returns To Action "T- UW W( . ■■■t IS" -gMI i' w isl •* ■ > MS THE NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER U. S. S. SARATOGA, queen of the flattops, severely damaged off Iwo .Inna last I<eb. 21, has returned to action against the Japs. Operating off the coast of Iwo, the veteran (•airier sustained seven Jap hits but her crew battled the flames in spite of the havoc wreaked and lesumed operation to bring the valiant carrier back to Puget Sound navy pier at Bremerton, Wash., under her own powi r. She was pronounced the “most extensively damaged vessel” ever received at the yard. This is an official I’. S. Navy photo.

LI. Stalter Details Nazi General Arrest Tells Experiences On Front In Italy Lt. Robert Stalter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dorns .Stalter of th> city, was one of the American officers who placed German General Karl Wolff, head of the SIS troops in Italy, under arrest, following Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 7, and American occupation of the city of Bolzano. In the elaborate German headquarters in Bolzano, which the Nazi officers first refused to surrender, Lt. Stalter found a valuable leather top coat that a German officer had left 'behind. In one of the pockets was a beautiful 'brass, .bone handled pistol, which may have .been General Wolff's revolver, a gift from Heinrich Himmler. Lt. Stalter, in a recent letter to his parents, commented, “It is worth several thousand dollar-, and will Hie worth more in a few years.” Lt. Stalter may have difficulty in keeping the pistol, for if it Ibtlongs to General Wolff, American General Kindell demands the firearm. Lt. Stalter relates some of the exciting experiences which Americans encountered when they took over Bolzona and northern Italy. “After the unconditional surrender of tile Germans and before any American troops could move into the town, the German commander ordered all his troops in the area surrounding the town to move into town. It was a direct violation of the peace agreement. All troops were to stay put. When we arrived, here they were and .being ontnumtiered about 100 to .1, what, could wo do? We did just that, nothing. “iCol. Sappington, division Hq. commander was in town looking for a suitable building in which to put our division hq's. There were none for the Germans had them all. Not wanting to cause trouble, he went to the German hq's and asked for a building. He was sent from one office to another and finally went to Gen. Wolff's headquarters. Gen. Wolff commanded all SS troops in Italy and was Himmler's right hand man. The deaths, suffering and unhappiness caused by him can never (Turn To Page 4, Column 4) o Schirack Memorial Mass Here-Monday (Memorial services will be held at 9 o'clock Monday morning at the St. Mary's Catholic church for Staff Sgt. Joseph P. 'Schirack, son of Mr. and Mrs. 'Andrew Schirack of this city. Sgt. ISchiraok, a of Gen. Patton’s Third army, was killed in action in Germany on April 3. The memorial mats will be read by the Rev. Joseph J. Seimetz, pastor of the church.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Friday, June 15, 1945.

Queen Os Flattops, Badly Battered Off Iwo, Returns To War Puget Sound Navy Yard. Bremerton. Wash., June 15.—(UP) — The U. S. S. Saratoga, queen of the flattops, was severely damagedj off Iwo Jima last Feb. 21 when she j took seven direct hits from Japanese bombs anil suicide planes and * suffered 315 casualties. Tlie story of the Sara, one of the navy’s luckiest shi|>s, can be told for the first time today because the tough old lady is back in action. She is sending all she's got against an enemy that has had good reason on three occasions to believe she was through. The Sara took her latest beating . two days after the invasion of Iwo. I Heroic action by her crew members saved the ship. She survived. but at a cost of 123 men killed or missing and 192 wounded. Twice before she had undergone torpedo attacks that would have sunk a lesser ship. But each time she came back —this time after a repair job in this navy yard that set a new speed record. The attack ended a phenomenal streak of luck that had carried the ship through three vears and three months of war. from Guadalcanal to Tokyo, without damage from enemy aircraft. No other carrier since Pearl Haibor had ranged as far and wide as the Saratoga. She had hit the Japanese many times. Her planes sank the enemy carrier Ryuzyo in the Solomons. On that day off Iwo it looked for many hours as though they had succeeded. The repairmen in the Puget Sound yard said the Sara sailed in with enough damage to I sink “any other ship.” The old carrier wars providing air support for the marines at Iwo after returning from the first large carrier strike at Tokyo. She was cruising with a fast carrier task group northeast of the bloody little I island when nine or 10 suicide bombers picked her out. They began attacking at 5 p.m. The Sara launching her own planes when the assault came. Her guns and aircraft shot down four of the attackers. Four others got through and made crash hits. A fifth, knocked down alongside, boun'ced crazily on the waves and slammed into the carrier. It exploded and ripped a large holo in the Sara’s side. A sixth (fnemy plane scored a bomb hit that blew a hole below the water line of the vessel rupturing many fuel lines. One of the crashing attackers had smashed ] into the hangar deck and explod- ( ed, starting a roaring fire. Water rushed in the gaping hole. The ' ship took on a six degree list. ,< A nightmarish spray of “fire- j works” followed. Cmdr. R. P. Bee- , be. California, told reporters , while the ship was being repaired , here. < (Turn To Page 4, Column 3) d ‘

Rotary Club Formed At Berne Thursday 20 Berne Men Are Charter Members A Rotary club was organized in Berne last evening, temporary officers and a board of directors were elected and plans made to celebrate “charter night” with a meeting at the Community building, following receipt of the charter from Rotary International in Chicago. K. M. Webb, superintendent of the Berne schools, was elected president. Other officers are: Rev. C. P. Maas, vice president; Rev. Gerald Stucky, secretary; Brice Bauserman, treasurer, and M. L. Spruilger, sergeant-at-arms. Additional directors elected are Gordon M. Liechty, Carl Luginbill, E. J. Schug and C. H. Sprunger, the latter manager of the Berne Witness company. There are 20 charter members in the organization. The Decatur Rotary club will be the sponsoring club. Credit for organizing the Berne club is given to Jack Yarian of Flora, northern Indiana Rotary governor, who conferred frequently with representative Berne citizens and explained the purpose and functions of Rotary to tlie interested group. Governor Yarian attended last night's meeting. Leo Kirsch, president of the local club, and other Decatur Rotarians, including E, W. Lankenau, Oscar Lankenau, W. Guy Brown, A. R. Ashbaucher and Roscoe Glendening attended the meeting. The first meeting of the Berne club will be held June 25 at the City Lunch in the evening. Local Rotarians are planning to attend. o 17 Persons Killed In Crash Os Plane Jackson, (Miss., June 15 —(UP)— Army officials today investigated the crash of a plane near Ok Ridge, ' Miss., in which 17 persons, two of them women, were killed. 'Public relations officers at the Jackson air base had made no official report on the crash which occurred in a muddy field. Names of the victims were withheld. - o Army Chaplain Dies In Philippines Hospital Mr. and Mrs. John H. Hogg, of near Bluffton, have received word that their son-in-law, Capt. Paul F. 'Sharpe, died of a liver ailment in the (Philippines June 7. Uapt. Sharpe, a chaplain with the U. S. infantry forces, was pastor of a United Presbyterian church at LaPrairie. 111., when he enlisted. Survivors include his wife, the former Gertrude Hogg, and a two-year-old lighter. > •

Raid By 5208-29 s Only Taste Os Future Raids;[ Okinawa Japs Weakening — J

16 Persons Killed As Train Derailed 27 Others Hurt In Pennsylvania Wreck I Millon. Pa., June 15.—(VP)—The ' Buffalo-bound Dominion Express of I the Pennsylvania railroad derailed I near here today and 1G bodies were | recovered from the wreckage five i hours after the accident. Railroad officials announced wrecking crows had recovered the bodies of two crew members and 14 passengers. Twenty-seven persons were injured seriously enough for hospitalization at Danville. Sunbury and Milton. At least 25 were detained at the hospitals. Six cars of the passenger train left the rails one mile south of Milton after the engine rammed Into derailed cars of an ore train. Twelve bodies were removed from one coach and two other bodies i were found in a combination bag-gage-passenger car. The ore train of 103 carts, mov-1 ing east, derailed at 1:08 a.m.! when one of the cars buckled. ' throwing a number of the heavily loaded cars onto the west-bound track. Before crew members could set up a warning signal, the Buffalo train rammed into the wreckage within a minute later. The engine and six ears crashed off the tracks. The engine crew of two was killed when the big locomotive toppled off the righ-of-way. One coach and seven pulllocomotive toppled off the right-of-and many of the passengers were shaken hut not injured. Eight Workers Die Amsterdam, N. Y.. June 15. - (VP) —Eight members of a New York Central track crew were killed today when the eastbound wi(Tuirn To Pago I, Column 7) 6. E. To Build New Plant At Tilfin, 0. Seek Another Site To Expand Plants Fort Wayne, Ind.. June 15 (VP) To meet the anticipated post war increase in small motors. General Electric announced today it had selected a site at Tiffin. Ohio, and i.s in the process of selecting an- ’ other site for new manufacturing . plants operated under management of the company’s Fort Wayne works. In making this announcement. . M. E. Lord, manager of the local plant, said Ibuildings will be designed and equipment ordered for construction as quickly as it is possible to do so. "Employes of the Fort. Wayne works have long observed, year by year, increasing demands for fractional horse power motors for ap-1 pliances and have seen the plant : facilities expanded until they have ‘ overrun areas available for produc- i lion,” Lord said. “The grow h in . fluorescent ballasts production has been even more rapid.” ■'The new plants will also provide facilities for the manufacture of increased quantity of products that we .believe will be demanded in j Ifti'ge volume for many years following the close of the Japanese war. (Even with these new facilities it is expected that post war employment by General Electric in Fort Wayne wil Ibe in excess t>f pre war levels.” Lord said. Victory Garden Vandals Warned Decatur police authorities today i.-sued stern warning to persons who have been causing consideratble damage to victory gardens in tile west part of the city. The police warned that prosecution will follow any further acts of vandalism.

Little Nations Demand Charter Change Rights Specific Revision To Hold Convention Sought By Nations San Francisco, Juno 15. tl'l’i — The small nations which lost the fight to modify the Big Five veto demanded today that the I'nited Nations charter guarantee them another change within five to in I years. • They sought a specific provision making it mandatory to hold a , constitutional convention for revision of tile charter not sooner than five years nor later than 10.1 I The big powers favor provision for such a convention but oppose I ihe specific lime reference. The j little nations show no sign of yieldi ing claiming it is "the certainly" lof such a convention that they want. That controversy, and the related dispute over the right of a member to quit the organization, threatened another delay in I’niteil Nations conference adjournment plans. A vote on these issues may come today in committee, but the losing side is certain to want to argue it again later in the public commission sessions. A lot of work must be done fast if the conference is to adjourn on June 23 as planned. Tlie committee which is the farthest behind in its work is the one which must reach decisions not only on the constitutional convention and withdrawal issues, but also on expulsion and the secretary general. It debated for more than two hours yesterday without voting on anything. Even the commission sessions are getting bogged down in debat \ The one on the preamble, principles and purposes got so involved in discussion of one phrase yesterday that the discussions were carried over to today. Another light was promised for today. The committee on organization principles adopt 'd the section wlli cll guarantees against world organization interference in matters of domestic jurisdiction. (Turn To Page 2. Column 3) Dee Fryback Named As Excise Officer Decatur Man Named To State Position . Dee Fryback, former coal dealer of this city, and active in local Legion circles, has been appointed an I excise officer by the Indiana . : it : excise department of the state alcoholic beverage division. Mr. Fryback was interviewed in ' Indianapolis yesterday ami will go to the capital city Monday to attend a three-week short course in the duties of his new position. Six men have been named by the | department, which, under the law. j is to bet set up on a non partisan basis. Following' the indoctrination course, the new excise officers wilt be assigned territories in the state, in which they will have supervision in the enforcement of th' state liquor laws. Mr. Fryhack does not yet have his permanent assignment, but believes that his area will be in the proximity of Adams county, permitting him to maintain his residence here. The new appointee is a veteran of World War 1 and is a member of Adams Post 4.3 of the American Legion. He has lieen active in local political circles for a number of years.

fta/se the Flag! $150,000 Needed < To Meet Quota

Price Four Cents.

j Japs Will To Fight [ Broken On Okinawa; j Two Million Tons Os Bombs To Hit Japan Pearl Harbor. Jane 15 —(VP)— Japan got the first 3,000 ton instalment today on the 2,000,000 ton bomb payoff she faces in the next 12 months. A fleet of 520 B-29 superfortresses opened the second year of their campaign against Japan with a morning raid on Osaka. And that was only the beginning of a year which Gen. 11. 11. Arnold promised would see Japanese industry wiped out. Fur the next j 3(15 days, an average of 5.000 tons I of bombs will be dropped on Japan daily. j Faced with the prospect of her i homeland being levelled worse . than Germany was, Japan also watched her stolen empire slip ! away. | Japanese suicide troops held I only 12 square miles on Okinawa ! today as 10fh army troops moved across the Yaeju-Dake plateau. "The Japs' will to tight is broken." sa'id Maj Gen. Perdo Del Valle, first marine division commander, as he predicted it would .be all over on Okinawa within ' two days to two weeks. On North Borneo, the drive for the rich oil fields was underway. From captured Brunei town, the 9th Australian division advanced . along the road leading to the , Seria and Miri fields’ which be- , fore the war poured out 70(1,000 tons of oil a year. The navy swept mines and bombarded coastal positions near the oil tields, while the airforce < hammered Miri airstrip, in what i'njted Press war correspondent Richard Harris messaged from Borneo was “paving the way for future operations.” Tokyo reported that B-? 4 Liberators raided the oil center of Balikpapan, across Borneo on the east coast. And another Japanese dispatch said the natives of south Borneo were being organized intu suicide forces. The Japanese radio also report cd that the British Pacific fleet, taking more and more part in the Pacific war. y<sterda\ raided Truk in the Carolines. Planes based on British carriers were said to have raided, the island seven times in six hours. Chinese troops on the mainland of China aitacked the treaty port i of Wenchow, on the Chekiang coast, where the Japanese were reported withdrawing. The Chinese also re-captured Ishan. which they look June 10 only to lose the next day. They were fighting from Ishan toward Liuchow, former American air base 43 miles to the east. Hongkong was the target for Hie biggest fire raid in the southwest. Pacific. Over 50 Liberators dropped over 25,000 gallons of jellied gasoline bombs on (lie causeway area, putting the torcli (Turn To Pag- 4. Column G) ’

CITY-WIDE WASTE PAPER and TIN CAN DRIVE TOMORROW. Get Out All You Can. Let's go stronger than ever this pionth.