Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 172, Decatur, Adams County, 23 July 1945 — Page 1

WBlusf Win the War! ft Else Is Chores! ,

VoftXLIII. No. 172.

ALLIED FLEET REOPENS ATTACK ON JAPAN

1 w Landing On Iftneo Made By IKsie Troops I »ghting Northeast ; ’W Balikpapan Near B |B°PP’ n 9 Up Stage ■ July 23. (UP) Fig'.itthe area just northeast of K neared the mopping up H Ml today as Australian troops, '1 B| binding at Tempadoeng It K Uli northeast of Balikpapan. S beyond Berangoe village. K ]■. Douglas MacArthur’s com- § ®B ue announced the seventh ■ division made the six 8 IBB* 11 " 1 '' operation late Friday ® WB :i!| il early Saturday morning no opposition. is located in the in--1 Or t|,ril ot vast Ri, likpap<in haralready is being partly the Allies. On the westof Borneo, Gen. MacAr- "'•« spokesman said, there has minor contact with the in the Brunei bay area but flle fights have developed (£Sbi George C. Kenney’s 13th ai"tiiiMM liberators on Friday comlevelled the town of Tobili. gulf in the northern 14B 1 ' '• Barge concentration of Japang| '“W 1 Tobili were reported wilted Sl|c*B)y the raid in which over 20 bß’ators dropped scores of looaii Hbai is the Tomini gulf terfor tlle Japanese supply gjf rtK across the narrow waist sepgte s W r ‘"’ t!le northern section of the Il ’ ! ® 11 f |om its southern section, ak Rtb airforce Liberators on night pt ]•*! bombed the Japanese naval at Make, °n Formosa, with®®bs p i’ving results while seventh j MB m ariners bombed and strafed I lu ßg er ' s ’ and barges along coast. fleet mariner damaged sßast 36 barges, junks, and lugnorth of Hongkong while an■r mariner bombed and strafed sMn other large junks near HongThis same mariner caught :Brge sea-going tug and left it 2 Winga •eArthur's spokesman said II 'H* Japanese were counted 11 Wee * i in t ' le I’hiiiPP ines > wi, !1 || • vast majority on Luzon. He S| • the sixth infantry division had Hanaue in northern Lu- . I •after an eight-mile advance and | ■ Philippine army units had •■•BlB 51 s I* B ** B, °"ly *2 Ameriwere killed in the Philippines I 138 Week, with two others missing 48 wounded. spokesman also anthat counted Japanese on all the Borneo fronts had 4 •■lied 4,378 with 441 prisoners. I ■here were 287 Allied soldiers 12 missing and 1,351 wound- — o Bison Takes Oath ■Treasury Head | ■Sixth Appointee Os | (Truman Takes Office | Bashington, July 23— (UP) — 1 •retary of treasury Fred M. I B son > sixth appointee of Presi>t Truman to take his place in cabinet, called on the people 1 Bay to preserve a sound U. S. 1 ■ noir >y without which “you canI ■ have a stable world economy.” veteran of half a dozen er federal posts, took his oath I ■ successor to Henry Morgenu ’ Jr., amid reports that a perhaps an eighth, cabIK cllan ge may be expected Min. ■F "there are trying and diffillK t days allea( l both in the war H* 1 on home front.” he added, requires |b IT J!2L To Pa ®e 3. Column 2) 0 » ~° CRAT thermometer di ;t?* per ature reading - 73 B o ' 83 j| ■ i:00 P-m. 92 II F WEATHER >1 u > r and c ®"tln«ed warm lH ” Btlt an<l Tu«»day>

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Cut In Discharge Points This Month Washington, July 23 — (UP) — The war department will announce before the end of the month the extent of the promised cut in the number of points needed for discharge from the army, a spokesman said today. Soldiers now need 85 points to become eligible for release under the point system. The revision will lower that figure “slightly.” o Senate Debate Is Opened On World Charter Confidently Expect Senate Will Ratify Charter This Week Washington, July 23 — (UP) — The senate today opened debate on the United Nations charter with leaders confidently expecting overwhelming ratification by the end of the week. Chairman Tom Connally, D., Tex., of the senate foreign relations committee, a delegate to the recent San Francisco meeting of 50 United Nations which drafted the charter, opened the debate. He offered the charter as “a new step and advance in international relations in getting governments together.” Under the charter, the United States will join with other peaceloving nations in an international organization seeking to prevent future aggression and preserve the peace, with forde if necessary. The opening of debate drew a full senate audience. There was standing room only in the public galleries. Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., who served as secretary of state through much of the negotiations leading to drafting of the charter, sat attentively in the president’s row of gallery. Before his senate speech Connally held a press conference at which he estimated the treaty should be ratified by the end of the week. Senate Democratic leader Alben W. Barkley said ratification might come as early as Thursday afternoon. So did Sen. Wallace H. White, R., Me., the Republican floor leader. There was no sign of organized (Turn To Page 3,-Column i)

Cpl. Richard Linn Expected Home Soon Reaches New York On Queen Elizabeth Cpl. Richard F. Linn, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Linn of Fornax street, decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre, is expected home Wednesday, his proud and happy parents learned today. Cpl. Linn was one of 14,000 veterans who arrived from Germany in New York last Saturday aboard the S. S. Queen Elizabeth. Practically the entire personnel of the famous 44th Infantry division, of the Seventh army, returned on the ship. The highly honored and decorated soldier received the DSC for heroism in rescuing a group of wounded men from the battlefield. The arrival of the 44th division was played up in metropolitan newspapers yesterday and Cpl. Linn was among a half dozen interviewed. An AP dispatch, printed in several of the Sunday papers, reads: "Returning aboard the Queen Elizabeth and wearing the Distinguished Service Croes for rescuing a group of wounded soldiers under Are, Cpl. Richard F. Linn of Decatur, Ind., eaid, “All I did was stay with my outfit all night and help rescue the wounded. “JHs buddies standing around him, however, said he broke an arm and shoulder at the time.” Cpl. Linn was twice wounded on the battlefield. He was serving with a medical outfit. He was at Camp Atterbury today, completing details incident to his furlough home.

Marshal Petain Goes On Trial For His Life Tells French High Court Aim To Save France, Aid Allies Paris, July 23 —(UP) —Marshal Henri Philippe Petain told the French high court of justice trying him for treason today that he signed the 1940 armistice with Germany “in order to save Franco and help the Allied victory.” Petain, hero of Verdun in the first world war and chief of the Vichy regime in the second, made a plea in his own defense after the opening preliminaries of his trial for his life in the jam-pack-ed. heavily guarded palace of justice courtroom. Demonstrations against Petain broke out and the red-robed justice, Pierre Montgibeaux ordered the courtroom cleared and a little later suspended the hearing. Petain opened his own plea at 3:20 p. m. He rose to speak, although the judge gave the 89-year old marshal permission to sit. His voice rang clear and firm. “I will not answer any questions,’’ he began. “I did the necessary act in order to save France and to help the Allied victory by proclaiming the armistice. “What would the Allies have done if De Gaulle and the Allies had landed in France and found nothing but ruin and cemeteries? I used the powers given me like a shield to safeguard the interests of France. “I did go so far as to sacrifice my reputation, although I iiad knives at my throat disputing every step with the enemy. History will judge how much I did to save France by thus fighting with the enemy.” Warming to his description of himself as a man serving France and the Allies while heading the Vichy regime dominated by the Nazis, Petain cried: “If you condemn me, let this condemnation be the last one. You will be condemning an innocent man. “I will not ask for the mercy of the court, because a marshal of France does not ask for pity. I throw myself back on the French people for their judgment.” He said he had served France all his life and “I serve it still in the present. I have given France the gift of myself, and will continue to serve by telling the truth in this court.” "A great part of the world will back me,” Petain said, “because I represented the great Christian tradition in fighting against excesses of every kind, as well as in supporting the principle of the family and the principle of work (Turn Tn Pawn 2. Column 4) O Mrs. John Barnett Dies This Morning Funeral Services Thursday Afternoon Mrs. Myrtle Evans Barnett, 70, lifelong resident of Adams county, died at 6:30 o’clock this morning at her home on Monroe route one, after a year’s illness of a heart ailment. She was born in Blue Creek township November 16, 1874, the daughter of John W. and Serena Humble-Evans. Surviving are the husband, John H. Barnett, and the following brothers and sisters: Mrs. Amanda E. Richards, Mrs. May Welch, Zeke and Will Evans, all of Decatur: Mrs. Sophia Everett of Sturgis, Mich.; Mrs. Eliza Zollinger of Hamilton, 0., and Henry Evans of Vicksburg, Mich. One brother and one sister preceded her in death. Funeral services will be held at 2 o'clock Thursday afternoon at the Black funeral home, with the Rev. Glen Marshall officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. The body may be viewed at the funeral home after 1 o’clock Tuesday afternoon.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, July 23,1945.

“Shangri-La” Wac At Home M i W ft MkV ■ 1 wFwfl! WAC CORP. MARGARET HASTINGS, the 30-year-old Owego. N. Y.. girl who was marooned in “Shangri-La” valley of New Guinea for 43 days with two army men before their rescue, returns to her home town. The whole city of 5,000 population turned out to greet her. She is shown in a car with her father, left, and Eddie Morton, the head of the chamber of commerce.

Slight Cut Promised In Some Meat Points Beef, Veal And Lamb Cut, No Pork Change Washington, July 23 —(UP) —An office of price administration spokesman said today that point values for lamb, beef, and veal will be lowered slightly on July 29, the beginning of the new ration period. The point value for pork, however, will remain unchanged. The OPA spokesman did not say how much the lamb, beef and veal values would be reduced, but it was understood the cut would be small. Food officials said recently improved distribution of the still limited meat supply has caused more ineat to move in legitimate channels. The principal reason is the government's slaughter control program, started a few weeks ago. This (ias forced more meat into federally-inspected packing plants which can ship meat across state lines and into deficit areas without delay. The officials said that taking meat out of the black market has made more available for the points of the honest housewife. Another factor which has led to an improvement in the civilian meat supply is the recent cut in military purchases. Pork points cannot be reduced because hog marketing, now at. the lowest level in many years, will continue to be small until next spring. Marketing of beef cattle is presently high for this time of year. o_ Charles Railing Dies At Home In Lima, Ohio Charles Railin/ native and former reeldent of Decatur, died of a heart attack this morning at his home in Lima, 0., according to word received by friends and relatives. Surviving are the wife, formerly Gertrude Andrews of this city; three daughters, all living in Lima; one brother, Tom Railing, of Los Angeles, Calif.; one sister, Mrs. Armel Bennett of Florida. Misses Fannie and Madge Hite of this city are cousins. o Mrs. Caroline Stahl Dies At Fort Wayne Mrs. Caroline Stahl of Fort Wayne, formerly of Geneva- and Portland, died at St. Joseph's hospital Sunday afternoon of an asthmatic ailment. iFuneral services will be held at 9:30 o’clock Wednesday morning at St. John's the Baptist church, in Fort Wayne

Harvester Company Strike Is Settled Fort Wayne, Ind., July 23 — (UP)—Approximately 1500 workers in the machine division of the International Harvester company in Fort Wayne returned to work today after a walkout Friday. Union officials of UAWA, local 57 said that the strike followed a wage dispute arising from a shift in departments. Berne Lieutenant Is Killed In China James Baumgartner Air Crash Victim First Lt. James 11. Baumgartner, 24, a former star athlete at Berne high school, was killed in a plane crash in China on July 7, the war department today notified his wife, the former Maxine Moser, who resides at Berne. Lt. Baumgartner was pilot of a C-47 transport plane and presumably was on flight duty when his plane crashed. No details were given in the war department's telegram. The Berne officer was inducted into service in August, 1942, and was transferred to the air corps in September, 1943. He received his commission and wings after B-24 training at Altus, Okla., on August 4, 1944, and later was given C-47 training at Malden, Mo. He was married to Miss Maxine Moser, also of Berne, at Altus, Okla., on June 20, 1944. He was sent overseas in March of this year and was in the China-Burma-India theater of operations. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Grover Baumgartner, of Berne. His father, who died a few months ago, was formerly a field for the Indiana gross income tax division, and was well known in this city. Lt. Baumgartner starred in basketball and baseball at Berne high school, where he was grad(Turn To Page 2, Column 7) Nazi Guards Holding Out In Bavarian Alps U. S. Third Army Headquarters, Bavaria, July 23—(UP)—American intelligence officers confirmed today that scattered Nazi elite guards are still holding out in the Bavarian Alps, fighting a spacmodic guerrila war against the American occupation forces. The continued existence of the Nazi holdouts was admitted in response to a series of questions submitted to third army headquarters by a United Press correspondent who uncovered evidence of their activities during a recent tour of Bavaria.

Four-Ship Enemy Convoy Wrecked Off Tokyo Bay; Town Os Omura Shelled

Says Japanese Save For 'Sunday Punch' Adm. McCain Warns War No Pushover Aboard Admiral McCain’s flag.ship off Japan, July 20 (Delayed)— Allied fast carrier task forces have been able to operate along the coast of Japan for the longest period of the war with practically no enemy opposition because the Japanese are saving up for a “Sunday Punch” attempt, vice Adm. John S. McCain warned today. McCain, commander of task force 38, for the past 10 days pounding the Japanese islands from one. end to the other without -serious challenge from the enemy, emphasized that the war wstill is no pushover. “The Japs did not react,” McCain said, “Not because of inability, I believe, but because they are conserving and waiting for a more propitious time.” Never before, he pointed out, have the Japanese -been subjeced to such a working over as they have received since July 10, and never before have they done less about it. But he warned that past experience shows the enemy has both modern weapons and ability to use them. “There have been several instances,” McCain said, “of our people running into highly trained groups. These highly trained Japs with efifeient equipment undoubtedly are being saved up.” It was apparent that the “more propititious time” McCain referred to was invasion of the Japanese homeland. The task force commander praised the British Pacific fleet, which has been taking part in the assaults. British units, he said, fitted into the American force easily, and “‘with no appreciable adjustment whatever necessary.” "They’re good fighters in any scrap,” McCain said. “I hope they consider us as good Allies as we consider them.”

o Doolittle Returns To Pacific Theater Heads New Superfort Eighth Air Force Guam, July 23—(UP)—Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, who struck the first air blow at Japan with a handful of Mitchell bombers more than three years ago, returned to the Pacific war today at Hie head of a new Superfortress eighth air force. Doolittle announced that his U. S. eighth air force, whose flying forts and Liberators helped knock Germany out of the war, has moved into Okinawa for the final phase of the war against Japan. The flying general told correspondents his reconstituted eighth air force, comprising Superfortresses and escorting fighter squadrons, will be ready for its first B-29 strike at Japan by mid-August. He revealed that about half the veteran eighth air force that fought the battle of Europe has been redeployed to the United States, with •the rest remaining in Europe as an occupation air force. His new command, he said, will be formed chiefly from a nucleus of officers and men of the existing 20th bomber command, plus personnel from the United States. Ultimately, Doolittle said, the eighth air force will be built up to about the size of th? 20th air force now operating from the Marianas. Doolittle said he did not believe air power alone could win the war against Japan, but that it might, in conjunction with other Allied services, force the Japanese to quit without an invasion. "lAt least we hope so,” he said. “We may be able to save the lives of lots of American boys.” He disclosed that Thunderbolt (Turn To Page 2, Column 6).

Truman Urges Speedy Windup To Conference President Truman Hopes To Return To Washington Shortly Potsdam, July 23 —(UP) — The Big Three conferees were reported moving swiftly today toward decisive action on the problems of peace in Europe and war in the Pacific, under urgent pressure from President Truman to wind up the conference by mid-week. The conference slate was believed to have been swept clean ot all prelimianry details, paving the way for the three slate heads to act on the major economic and military issues at stake. Early decisions were expected on overall economic policy for postwar Europe and details of the occupation of Germany, and it was considered likely that Mr. Truman would place the most vital military question the defeat of Japan before premier Stalin and prime minister Churchill in the next few days. The news blackout on the inner workings of the conference continued and there was no official word on when the meeting was likely to be concluded. But it was known that the President, in his capacity as chairman of the Big Three meeting, was driving at top speed in the hope of returning to Washington this week to lay his report before the senate before it adjourns. Mr. Truman’s desire for a quick conclusion of the conference apparently was traced to the belief that unless it can be finished by July 25 it may drag on until the first of August’ That theory was based on the probability that Churchill would return to London on July 26 for the election returns, necessitating a postponement in the deliberations if they have not wound up by that time. The ibig staffs of experts brought along by the Big Three were working day and night and the conference heads themselves took time out yesterday only long enough for Mr. Truman to attend the protestant and Catholic church services !held for American troops in Berlin. Afl er attending the pro test ant service conducted by Chaplains Ernest E. Northern, Midlothian Va., and Lawrence Nelson, Sara-

(Turn To Page 2. Column 5) o Edward J. Kenney Is Taken By Death Former Resident Os New Corydon Dies Edward Joseph Kenney, 82, a former store proprietor and resident of New Corydon (Kenney settlement), died last evening at St. Joseph’s hospital. Fort Wayne, of complications. Mr. Kenney was born in Cincinnati, but spent most of his life in Adams county, retiring from the mercantile store and farming business several years ago. He moved to Fort Wayne seven years ago. Surviving are the widow, Mary Ann Kenney, and three granddaughters, Mrs. Justin E. Arata, the Misses Rita and Marjorie Welsch and a son-in-law, Henry Carson Welsch. The body has been moved to the Tom Mungovan funeral home, 2221 South Calhoun street, Fort Wayne. Funeral services have not been arranged. Burial will be in St. Mary's Catholic cemetery, east of Geneva.

r Buy War Savings Bonds And Stamps

Price Four Cents.

Destroyer Spearhead In Double Strike As Main Battle Force In Security Blackout Guam. July 23.—(UP) —Destroyer spearheads of Admiral William F. Halsey’s allied fleet reopened the attack on Japan with a double strike into Tokyo bay and the Bonin islands today while his main, battle force raced through stormlashed Japanese waters under an ominous security blackout. The four-day silence blanketing Halsey’s combined fleet ended explosively in the early morning darkness when the gune of an Allied destroyer squadron wrecked a four-ship Japanese convoy in a 20minute running gun battle off Tokyo bay. Almost simultaneously, another destroyer flotilla ranged off Chichi island in the Bonins, 725 miles to the couth, and shelled the town of Omura. Tokyo broadcasts said the waters around Japan had been hit again by a howling tropical typhoon similar to the one that damaged a big segment of Halsey’s fleet in June. There still was no word on the whereabouts of the scores of American and British battleships, carriers and cruisers that blacked out. last Thursday morning after a tremendous 10-day air-sea bombardment that littered eastern Japan and its coastal waters with the wreckage of 412 ships and 566 planes. But alarmed Japanese spokesmen said Halsey's main force was moving in for new and perhaps heavier blows. One enemy report said American patrol planes had hem spotted over the straits of Tsushima, the 120-mile passage- between western Japan and Korea where a Czarist Russian fleet was ambushed and destroyed by the Mikado's wai*shipe more than 40 years ago. But this time the. Japanese had little except their reluctant air force to intercept the attackers —■ if Halsey intends to force the straits into the shipping-jammed sea of Japan. A communique revealed that the 32,720-ton Nagato, one of the four known surviving battleships in the imperial fleet, was one of the 412 vessels smashed up by Halsey’s raiders in their 10-day foray along the east coast of Japan. The Nagato was heavily damaged in the Allied carrier strike on the Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo bay last Wednesday. Other development s in the spreading pre invasion attack on Japan included: 1 — A fleet of 75 to 100 superfortresses unloaded almost 500 tone of fire bombs on the huge Uhe synthetic oil plant in southwestern. Honshu late last night. There was no aerial opposition and only weak anti-aircraft fire and all the army B-29s returned safety from the attack, their 96th major blow at Japan and their 11th against the enemy’s dwindling oil resources. 2— Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle assumed command of a new U. S. Eighth air force in the Okinawa, equipped with superfortresses and supporting fighters for a share in (Turn To Page 5. Column 6) O Undue Significance Given To Surrender Warnings To Japan "Washington, July 23 — (UP) —■ Director Elmer Davis of the office of war information said last night that the press had given undue significance to a give-up-now-or-else warning broadcast to Japan over the weekend by the OWI. Davis denied that the statement signifed any new development in the United States attitude toward the Japanese. The warning was voiced by navy Capt. E. M. Zacharias in a Japanese-language address over OWI facilities Saturday night. Davis eaid the speech was the twelfth in g series by Zacharias and that all were “within the frame work ot the U. S. government policy as previously announced.”