Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 August 1942 — Page 13

‘SECOND SECTION

PORT MORESBY “MOSQUITOES /AND AIR RAIDS’

Life: Is Dusty and Daring And New Guinea’s Fate Depends on It.

By GEORGE WELLER Copyright, 1942, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc. "AT AN ADVANCED ALLIED BASE IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, Aug. 6.—Until you have been bitten by your - first New Guiriea mosquito and have seen your first Japanese air raid against Port Moresby you cannot claim that’ you belong upon that northern island ‘which still blocks Nippon’s * | progress southward. Port Moresby itself is a surprise. Where is that steaming green hell tied together with vines and creepers and infested by hundreds. of wild animals and savages? Cer=tainly not in Part Moresky.

Hills Brown and Bare

\

By Ernie Pyle

5 > : : Their entertainment in Belfast consists of dancing, | going 6 movies, drinking in the pubs, walking aim- TAP OY SAGA

lessly up and down the streets, or sitting on the grass ‘How the - Lost Battalion

in the City Hall park. Of course the soldiers dont all go to. Belfast by Of Desert Front Stuck It Out to End.

any means. I have found that lots of boys in isolated camps actually prefer one or another of the smaller cities, where they have grown to know the people andl have become regular attendants at the local dances, pubs and teashops. One or two trips to Belfast, ‘just to see the place, usually satisfies most of | them, As 1 have said before, there is no such thing over here ‘as an immense camp of thousands and thou-$ sands of men like the camps back home. Anything more Yoen a few hundred in one camp is unusual By RICHARD, MOWRER Copyright, 1942, by The Mdianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc. . EL ALAMEIN, July 28 (Delayed by Censor).—This is the story of the lost . battalion of Ruin Ridge—a story full of gaps and devoid of details but a story which would not have been known at all if it had not been for the resourcefulness and courage of an Australian sig-

here. Everything for Mobility nalman by the name of Turner. * . Turner was one of those in the

VERY ' LITTLE NEW construction has been done in creating the camps. Our soldiers have largely taken over camps that had been ‘used by the British. British standards of army comfort are not as high as ours, and very few Americans over here have the battaliog of an Australian brigade who went in with the moonlight| attack of July 26-27 and took Ger‘man positions on top of Sanyat El Miteriya—otherwise known as Ruin

Hoosier V oh bond SOMEWHERE IN NORTHERN IRELAND, Aug, 6. =—The American troops in Northern Ireland work hard, but they have plenty of time off too. The avrage soldier, uni¢ss. he is standing guard or on y Aajichen duty, has levery evening to himself. If his amp is close to a town, he can go to town for the evening. If not, he sits around camp, but he has no duties to perform. In addition to that, every soldier. has a 24-hour leave about once a week. Formerly the bulk of these leaves came on week-ends, “with the result that the camps were weakened on Saturdays and Sundays, and the cities and towns : were crowded with soldiers. But now a new system is in effect, * and an equal number of men go on leave every day of the week. There are no more soldiers in Belfast on a Sunday than on a Tuesday. The men themselves | it better too, for there iJ little to do in the cities Sunday. Also, if they all go to town at once the competition is too heavy and most of them have to go without girls, and just wander the streets. In one camp I know of there is no such thing as Sunday. Well, there is Sunday, but it may come this week on Thursday, next week on Saturday. : German bombers will never find a true week-end lull in the American operations over here, either in the sense of work stoppage at the camps or of cities congested by soldiers on leave.

The Camps Are Small Ones / SOME CAMPS NOW run their 24-hour leaves tibn noon one day to noon the next. That means the boys ‘san catch a train or bus from the home camp and be in’ Belfast by mid-afternoon, have a high time until midnight or after, get a cheap, clean room: from the Red«Cross for the night, have breakfast, catch a ‘train in Hid-morving apa } be back+-in camp by noon Teady to go to work.

In This Corner—the ‘Fightin’ Crocketts’

Port Moresby and its surrounding hills are brown and bare, with only scattered trees. The town stands upon a small promontory jutting out into the Coral sea. The whole 30-mile semicircle around it has been dried by the South Pacific autumn until the hilly countryside is as withered, dry and brown, as America in November. Upon this relatively open country, with its large blackened patches, caused by grass fires, Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Australians and Amerijcans have disposed themselves in the manner best calculated to puzzle Japanese bombardiers and navigators.

The fighting Crocketts, you might call them.

MOTHER HAS 5 | SONS IN SERVICE

Holds Down Job In War Plant; Opens Home to Butler Sailors.

They wear about every type of uniform America clads her men in and they're spread pretty much over the country, and the world, too, for that matter. All in the services. And so when the postman rings at Mrs. Ethel Crockett’s home at 419 W. 49th st., it might be a letter from any one of five sons. Like this: Harold—He’'s 32 and a first lieutenant in the army medical corps at. Ft. Knox, Ky. Irving—He’s a marine of eight years’ service and now is & staff sergeant, stationed, at San Diego. Irving is 29.

Second Hitch in Navy

“Clear and Healthy”

This might be the Sudan or Libya, as far as appearance is concerned. Shorts, shirt, boots and socks are parade dress. and there are no: parades. ;

One sees even dispatch riders on motorcycles wearing only shorts. Troops rumbling along on trucks are distinguishable principally by the helmets of rounded American variety against the Australian washbowl style. The climate now around Port Moresby is clear and healthy with the prevailing southeast monsoon blowing in from the Coral sea. But thére are mosquitoes, and

David Irving

DEATHS IN BUS CRASH NOW 13

Paul

Salvage Drive Solves Problem { THERE HAD BEEN something

same bang-up living facilities they had in the camps at home. - The army isn’t bothering to install more than the barest necessities, because of the underlying prinwill be in the same place next week. They are almost as fluid as though they were in the field with the enemy close at hand. Everything is improvised and ready for moving on a moment’s notice. Ridge because of the remains of a in an army office over here. The walls are bare, the! tumbled-down house at one end. floors unpainted. The letter baskets are gasoline tins} The moon was so bright that cut in half. The desks are merely rough boards night that the Australians, advancnailed together, with legs on hinges for quick folding. Telephones can be detached and carried away in a were “visible to the Germans and few seconds. The sergeant-typist has to fire a coall had to fight a long part of the way| stove as well as type his reports. , to their objective. Under heavy It sure ain’t like $hings used to be back in Wall| anti-tank and machine-gun fire through the minefield and took 120 prisoners and sent them back. n S1 © n ian apo 1S By Lowell Nussbaum Athmunition Cut Off The Australians got to the ridge. ONCE AGAIN we find ourselves explaining that ports, and everybody looked around to see if there The signal way flashed back for our Profile-of-the-Week victims don’t know that were any marines present. At the very top of the Jutle SA on. Two ammunithey're to be written up. Instead of talking to the balcony stood a young fellow in a dark uniform with | 50 Tiers were sent forward. person we're writing about, we get our data from highly polished buttons shining brightly. He was the their friends and ask the friends to keep it all a only figure standing in the balcony and you can bet the Minefield Wisin es under. insecret so we can surprise our sub- he got a big hand—the longest and loudest applause stopped and on ey avers ject. of all. As the applause died down, the young man and decided to run the hr kl that the Profile “victims” have to his hand and grinning broadly, In a moment or two,|nit and caugh i meet, pretty rigid standards. The the crowd caught on that he was an usher. And then|which i er Sa judgment on who is to be “pro- they all started laughing—at-least all those with a|through the minefield. “When the filed” is made right in this office * sense of humor. Bren gun carriers next attempted lot of factors enter into it—The see them clearly by the light of the individual’s success in life, his (or A GUY WITH MORE patriotism than guts (he|blaze. The Bren gun carriers could her) personality, our own advance” didn't have the courage to tell us his name, even in|not get through. More urgent reknowledge of him, his contribution confidence) reports over the phone that there isn’t|quests were coming from the batthings that it would take a whole guard motor armory, and that’s the entrance used |munition. Sappers endeavored to column to Msg them. by draftees reporting for induction into the army. make another breach in the mine | We just up the records to see how many The only flag is over on the Madison ave. side, says|field despite severe casualties. profiles we've done thus far, and you'd never guess our _caller. . Russ Campbell, secretary to Mayor Then, from Ruin ridge there came —was the 140th, The first one, back in December, and some citizen asked for “Mayor Myers.” “Youwll|aPpparently had been put out of 1939, was on George L. Denny, the lawyer. Bishop have to wait until Jan. 1,” said Rysés. The caller|action. At dawn two crack German Titus Lowe was the 100th. We think Indianapolis mumbled confusedly, and said goodby. units counter-attacked, while Geris pretty lucky to have so many men and women 5 man tanks surrounded the AustraTry Both Pairs, Evan

ciple of mobility. No outfit knows today whether it * Youll see very little conventional office equipment ing through the enemy minefield| Street. Austfalians cleared a passage ey reached the passage: through Incidentally, we'd like to say started walking down the stairs with a flashlight In| Both ammunition carriers were by Inside’s Board of Strafegy. A Around the Town to get through, the Germans could to civic affairs and so many other ga flag on the S. Pennsylvania st. side of the national|talion on Ruin ridge for more amhow many. Last Saturday’s—on Dorothy Buschmann Sullivan, swears he answered the phone the other day|n0 more news. The wireless sets meeting our high standards. And we haven't more lians. No news came from the iso-

than scratched the surface yet, either.

~The Seat Service . »

AT THE END of the Horace Heidt stage show at the Circle Sunday afternoon, the band played the theme songs of the various military forces. First, that of the air force, and six or seven boys in uniforms stood up in the balcony. They got a pice round of ap-

\ plause, reports John Hull, 1325 W. 23d st., who also of the Colonial Furniture store, has a letter—one of

was seated in the balcony. Next the band played the navy and the regular army songs, the sailors and soldiers, in turn, standing and getting a hand. Finally the band played “The Marine Hymn,” Mr. Hull re-

Washington

THERE'S A SIGN on a house in the 300 block, N. Capitol, that’s indicative of something .or other— probably exhausted patience. It reads: “Mr. and Mrs. Wilson lives here. Residental ‘purposes only.” « « « Lou Young offers Evan Walker another suggestion on how to Higks cuflless trousers hang on pant hangers. Hang twe pairs with the same hanger, suggests Lou. Thanks; we'll try it ourselvas. .. . Allen Kahn,

those new microfilm affairs—from Robert Hicks, of the store staff and now with the army in some foreign port. The letter geceived here is just a photo of the original. It’s quite legible.

By Raymond Clapper

lated battalion.

* Rigs’ Small Portable

“We

+ Paul—He’s 25, a first class seaman, serving his second hiich in

< fhe. navy. The Australian arthlery or down a box barrage around the Ruin ridge positions to hold off the Germans. Dawn became daylight and the sun rose. : Then a faint wireless message broke the silence. It was from Signalman Turner upon Ruin ridge. Apparently he had succeeded in rigging up a small portable set such as is carried on a man’s back and two-way conversation was possible in Morse code. Under shellfire, Turner’s message came through: are in trouble, send us some armor.” “What is your trouble?” asked brigade headquarters.

“David — A 93-year-old ensign serving as a naval air corps flight instructor at Crosse Isle. Jim—A staff sergeant in the army glider corps at Grand Forks, N. D. Jim is 22. But Mrs. Crockett has even more fightin’ material at home. Her son George is 18 and he’s got an idea he wants to go into the navy signal corps. '

‘Seventh Son Married

A seventh son, Austin, is 31 and married. He’s employed by the New York Central. June, Mrs. Crockett's daughter, is 16 and lives at

53 Others Injured in Grade

Crossing Tragedy in Mississippi.

. CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss, Aug. 6 (U. P.).—A check of hospitals and infirmaries today showed 13 persons killed and 53 injured in a grade crossing collision of a New and an

Orleans-to-Chicago bus Tllipois Central passenger train.

Officials of the Greyhound bus

company, operators of .the vehicle

lacking every morning for children on the Ellenberger park playground, . There was, of course, the daily opening ceremony. Included im it was the taking of the.oath of allegiance. But that wasn’t quite as it should be for the flag was missing. : But everything is all right now. Recently: the children staged a salvage carnival at the park to raise funds "for additional Pp ayground ‘equipment. Their ‘profit was $1025 and the first thing they bought was an American flag.

ead. stopped at the! LOUISIANA WOMAN

moquitoes mean daily quinine, Mosquitoes Real Peril

i: “The idea of how consistently ; ma--‘{laria must be. fought may be

gained from the fact that a course of quinine must be followed for six weeks after leaving New Guinea in order to prevent hot and cold chills. War’s procession marches here without ending, not only along the roads but overhead. Almost every bomber, fighter and interceptor in the American = stable, capable of handling the vicious Jap navy zeros, has' passed overhead at one time or another. Then comes a moonlight night.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.—Even though Republican administration. politicians may not be overly grateful for it, the ad- Undoubtedly the Democrats will try to cash votes vice which Wendell willkie is giving to his party votes on the war issye if the Republicans leave the might, if followed, strengthen both the country and slightest opening. Last winter Ed Flynn, Democratic the Republican party. What Mr. Willkie has just national chairman, began pointing ‘in that direction proposed is to take the basic is- when he said that only a major military defeat could sues of the war and international be a worse blow than the election of a hostile con-co-operation afterward out of the gress. Later President Roosevelt tried to take the current political campaign, He bite out of ‘that. suggests that the -. Republican But in the climax of a political campaign you can’t party throughout ' the country expect fairness or restraint. The club that Flynn pledge itself to three principles as pointed to will be used by some without doubt, on the follows: plea that only a Democrat can uphold the hands of First, that the United States the war president. must fight [this war in union with other countries until the last Like Judging a Witness vestige of totalitarianism and aggression is destroyed. BY ITS HESITANT attitude toward the adminisSecond, that we follow through tration foreigh policy before Pearl Harbor, the Re"80 victory with no thought of appeasement or Publican group in congress left a good many doubts. compromise, no hope of peace, until complete victory The votes and speeches of that period are being 15 WOR. ; hashed over for campaign purposes now. Third, that when the war is over we must set up ~ MA#RY Of us have had to change our minds in the Anstitutions and methods of international political last few years. Events have forced it. What a man and economic co-operation, some sort of joint inter- thought before Pearl Harbor may or may not be a national police force, to prevent a new spawning of reliable key to his worth as a public man. A good military ambitions. man can be inistaken. ; * This business comes down to something like judgThere's Point to All This ing a character witness. You take into consideration not only what he says but you try to size him up be- } MR, WILLKIE hopes that. program will be incor- yond that as to whether he can be depended upon. \ porated in all Republican state platforms. He sug- But fair or not, you can't keep pre-Pearl Harbor recgests that all candidates for governor, and for ‘the ords out of the campaign. Mr. Willkie's proposal United States senate and house of representatives, would tend to reduce that phase of campaigning to adopt it as a pledge. ~ strictly individual instances, and to establish the ReWould that make, the Republican party a mere publican party in the role of loyal opposition. rubber stamp? Mr. Willkie argues the contrary. He The principle of democracy would gain new v'ndifeels it would clear the party so that it could make cation if it were possible for us to go through al: eenstructive criticism of the war effort, attacking in- nation-wide campaign this year maintaining unity on efficiency, delays, political hedging at Washington, the deep questions and at the same time free debate and handling of price control and rationing, without and choice regarding the men we wish to trust with being open to political Sharges | of obstructing the war responsibility,

"Over the cloud coverlet one hears the creeping motors of the Japanese bomber.

Bombs Cause No Damage:

The searchilghts seek the raider along the edges of the cloud behind which he circles. We pattered forth in pajamias; 2 some with tin hats on and stood about watching the anti-aircraft. fire twinkling among the stars. 7 The bombs fell almost: four miles away and were without effect. . : There was nothing to indicate the fact that the Japs are richer in airdrdines than ourselves and that their outposts are only about 55 miles away. 4

Holds New Guinea’s Fate

Up there in the mountains where the monsoon deposits its burden. of rain-heavy cloud, ‘everything is green, thick and: tangled. Somewhere below on the range’s far side are Australian. forward troops, midway in the enemy’s country, giving him restless days. Port Moresby’s life is-dusty and dutiful, is daring and dreadful, and New Guinea's fate depends upon it.

Gourmets' Club

Relaxes Its Rules

VICHY, France, Aug. 8 (U. P.). —France’s famous pre-war “cent kilos” club has relaxed its rules because its members can no longer make the weight requirement under drastic rationing regulations, it was announced today.

home. And. that’s how the fightin’ Crocketts stand, as of today. Even Mother Crockett herself, a widow for 14 years, is in the midst of the war effort. She's & matron on the night shift at the CurtissWright propeller plant here and her name is on the payroll deduction plan for war bond ‘purchases.

Lots of Visitors

Across the street. from: Mrs. Crockett’s home is the navy’s signal school in the Butler fieldhouse. Likely as not, when some of the gobs aren't busy learning the navy’s codes, they're over at Mrs. Crockett’s, chewing the rag about the navy and this or that. They just drop in. “I enjoy having them, tco,” she said. “Some of the boys’ mothers have stayed at my home while they visited their sons.”

“Tanks in front of us and on our flanks,” Turner tapped back and gave map positions so the artillery could regulate its fire.

Letting Jerry Have It

The artillery, knowing where ‘to fire, opened up with new heart and with all it had. Then Turner came through again. “Your fire on right flank too close in: move it over 200, yards.” Then, “There are tanks behind us.” “Are you sure they are not Brilish?” brigade headquarters quevied. The answer came back, “They're Jerries, rock it in (let ’em have it). The ‘artillery let them have it. Then “We are down to one-third strength.” “Stick it, Mac (the commander’s nickname).”

“It Is Surrender”

The battle raged on Ruin ridge. Then Turner came through faintly again: “We've got to give in.”| | At 10:03 o’clock that morning Turn-| : er sent his last message: “It is sur-| Recently the Honor Emblem asrender.” And he tapped the tra-|sociation presented Mrs, Crockett ditional going-off-air signal: Va, Va, | With the award for mothers with and that was all. . four or mqre sons in the services. That night an Australian officer | It's an sofia eagle with chevwho had been caught by the battle |rons and At the bottom is a silver near the ridge and had hidden all|bar containing five silver stars. day came back and said that on the] It’s one of her produest possesafternoon of July 27 he could still|sions. ; hear a single Bren gun firing atop] The veteran of the fightin Ruin ridge. An intercepted enemy Crocketts, of course, is Irving, the message in the afternoon had re- leatherneck. He enlisted in the maferred to a non-commissioned offi-|rines eight years ago after two cer and 10 men holding out at their |Y€aIs of pre-medical training at post with a heavy machine gun and |IRdiana university and was staa light machine gun. That was the tioned in Hawaii for three and aj last of the lost battalion of Ruin|Dalf years.

crossing. just. before the accident| yesterday. ‘A ncrthbound freight| train passed, they said, and then the bus started across, into the path of a southbound passenger train. The train hurled the bus from, the crossing witn such. force that it struck and seriously injured a pedestrian, Katie Mae Young of Hazlehurst, Miss. All available ambulances in the section were sent to the scene. Most of the dead and’/injured were taken to Jackson, 35 miles north of here. Thirty-eight victims were treated at one Jackson hospital and at least 15 were reported by another. Clayton Smith, Whiting, Ind., was among’ the seriously injured.

SLAYER WINS STAY

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 6 (U. P.). —Mrs. Annie Beatrice (Toni Jo) Henry today won a temporary delay of her electrocution set for Monday when the Louisiana supreme court ordered .the sheriff and trial court judge in Lake Charles to show cause Oct. 5 why she should not be granted a stay of execution. She was convicted of the 1940 St. Valentine: day slaying of a Houston, Tex., salesman, Joseph P. Callaway.

100-YEAR ARGUMENT

One hundred years of controversy were required to settle a MissouriIowa boundary dispute caused by a shifting river course.

British Girls Drive for U. S.

Given Honor Emblem

i?

5

RA EEN RAR RT]

My Day

$ WASHINGTON, Wednesday. —Yesterday afternoon’

1 stopped at Walter Russell's studio to see the bust of

the president, on which he bad made some changes.

I think it is very good indeed. _ Last evening, I attended two: meetings held at

Teachers college, Columbia univer-:

sity, and I.caught the night train and arrived in. Washington in time to have a glimpse at breakfast of young people, who on their way home from the jinternational Student Service er Institute at Asheville, N This afternoon the president and I shall meet the queén of The Netherlands at the station. This will be her really formal reception in this country. : ‘1 wonder if many cities can “boast of the success which Boston seems to hive with ‘its victory gardens.

Boston actually is pk ptoBiave & tioiy sat en show: at Hort i

ridge.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

winners. Even entries will be permitted from the lowly apartment resident who has grown cme Vegetable in ‘his window box! Boston evidently took the admonitions of the department of agriculture seriously. You will remember that we were told that no time, energy and vital materials were to be used on land which would not, and could not, bring forth a good harvest. [ So they are going to prove that even though Boston is a great city, it is still sufficiently near the soil to have a garden show of prize products. I think they should be congratulated. New England has done another outstanding piece of work through the local civilian defense Sommitiee, in Bridgeport, Conn. The war workers’ wives decided that it was important to give “production soldiers” 2 lunch that would meet requirements of modern nutritionists, and so they started a campaign with the slogan “pack a lunch a man ean work on.” They enlisted volunteer nutrition lecturers and gave demonstrations. They featured pictures of the “kitchen soldier” and the Iuricheons, she packed in

HOLD EVERYTHING

Japs Delay artoigh He hasn’t been home for a visit yet, although he. thought he was going to make it last Christmas. He told his mother he’d be home and she was making plans for a happy holiday. Then came Dec. 7 and the Japs. Now, she-thinks Irving probably will pe .home in September. She’s planning a family reunion

[for the occasion, a sort of mass

gathering of the fightin’ Crocketts

|and all the branches thereof.

Should be something!

|PRESS CLUB TO HOLD "PICNIC ON SUNDAY

The Indianapolis Press club will

and their families Sunday at the Riverside Fish Hatchery,

. to 6 p. m., will include a

have its annual picnic for members|

The day’s entertainment, from 10 :

t dinner,” games, photogra- , casting tournament

Before the war; the club rigidly

k is one of many British gids now acting as drivers

‘headquarters

in London. ° The girls ‘wear khaki

enforced its rule that nobody who did not weigh 100 kilograms, or 220 pounds, could belong. Many famous gourmets were members. Now, it was said, some members have lost as much as 110 pounds, and if the weight rule were enforced the membership: would be decimated. : It was estimated that active members had lost an aggregate of upward of 1% tons.

STENOTYPISTS PICK CITY FOR CONVENTIO

The Associated Stenotypists America will hold a national con: vention here next year, Mrs. Coleman, local chapter chairman, announced today. The convention will be held Jul 16-18 and will be the 10th versary of the founding of the ‘ganization, which was started

anni