Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 September 1942 — Page 11

DNESDAY. SEPT. 2, 1942

[oosier Vagabond

UBL, Sept. 2.—Although Ireland is uncomfortclose to the war zone, there is not a great deal

physical evidence of war's nearness. There are . onal concrete road blocks across the highways—-

but not frequent nor strong enough to be important if invasion came. There are soldiers on the streets, but not a drop in the bucket to what we see in

our own cities at home. There are rows and rows of ‘concrete surface shelters in the streets of Dublin. And there are black and white signs, the same as in England, pointing to basement shelters. Dublin has had only one slight bombing, more than a year ago, and hasn't yet figured out whether it was a mistake or not. i Irish soldiers wear an extremely heavy and baggylooking uniform of light green. All Irish soldiers are supplied with green knit gloves, and they carry these * buttoned under ‘the epaulet on their shoulder, the fifigers hanging down over their back. There is no blackout in Ireland, but at night the cities are dimly lighted nevertheless, to Conserve ‘electricity. I have seen no guns anywhere.’

* Old Sick and Comfy Pyle

IRELAND, LIKE ENGLAND, has never learned 3 the fine art of keeping warm. There is practically

: in summer—at least I do. Ireland’s climate was a surprise to me, I thought

3 they had a lovely, soft, sunshiny summer, something

ny about like Virginia in springtime. But actually

? i Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

t JOHN R. FERREE, chairman of Draft board 6, + gob a letter the other day from a man who said he

5 . was a member of a vocal trio. The man added that '% the .two other boys couldn’t sing without him, and

thus were dependent on him. So he was listing them i on his selective service questionnaire as his dependents. board studied the matter for probably a full minute and then decided the other boys would have to form a duet and get along as best they could. . . . Convinced ‘that people phoning a business firm or public office pay no attention to what the telephone operator says to them, Virginia Miller of the Welfare department’s public relations office decided to try an experiment. Yesterday she 3 at in for a short time on the switchboard. Instead % of just saying “welfare department,” she greeted the ¥ first four callers with “heil Hitler.” And, she says, # not one of them commented or even hesitated. They F just went ahead and asked for the person they § ed. Now she's really convinced.

§ Young America Dept. THERE WERE GUESTS present and John K. ‘Ruckelshaus, the 6 foot, 4 lawyer, heard his young ons raising a ruckus upstairs. John hastenéd up“8 Wtairs and ordered them to be quiet. Just after he & had stepped outside the door and was starting down,

¥ he became conscious stricken over scolding them,

and decided to go back and “make up.” He stepped back to door just in time to hear, in a childish ‘W@od night, sour puss.” Rather confused, tiptoed back downstairs. . . . Young Easley Black‘wood Jr. the 9-year-old plano virtuoso and mathematical genius, has hay fever. The other day, it was thering him worse than usual and young Easley asked his father: “Dad, d'you mind if I swear?” And when his dad said he “guessed not,” this example

ashington

. WASHINGTON, Sept. 2.—This war has raced with such speed that we are still having trouble adjusting ourselves fo its pace. . A few hours after Hitler struck at Poland on Sept. , 1939, President ‘Roosevelt ‘held a press conference. He was asked if America could + keep out of it. Mr. Roosevelt replied that he not only sincerely hoped so- but believed we could. He said every effort would be made by his administration to keep us out. ©. Then came the stage when Britain was going to finish the job if we would furnish the tools. We were going to produce out of our fantastic abundance and other people would win the war. Finally came the attack on Peart Harbor which took us in for full-fledged war. © Even then we still thought that our abundant materials would be our chief contribution although not

land Did the Same Thing

~ SINCE THEN IT has become apparent that the allies will have to lean heavily on American combat forces at sea, in thé air and on land. Since then it has become apparent that our vast quanities of raw terials are not without limit. Indeed, we have run

We have run into limits of manpower. Long befare je are fully mobilized, we find war production factories being severely crippled by the drafting, of al workers. Some lags now are caused by that of skilled men. Other lags are caused by shortmaterials.

tually it is not a shortage of manpower or a

of materials. We have plenty of hots, - But ‘e not distributing them ‘efficiently.

| number of letters about boys in the service. One| T r- quoting a letter from his boy who has just received]

E national student Sorvies assembly. : One of them, Wing Comm. ScottWalden, was decorated for his ga he ictbe sia. Avainer, a very young Capt. has Jesently

The -

. manpower. Might there not be room now for some

.many pants and therefore run short of coats. An

- Which she is doing.

that it is man's greatest privilege to be called upon to serve his country in time of war. 354.1 am sme] \

By Ernie Pyle

the summer is dark, grim and cutting. Sunshiny days are rare. And there is a piercing chill in the air. It makes nice healthy Irish cheeks, but personally I prefer to be sick and comfortable. Incidentally, so many people are traveling over these days, you might like a suggestion or two on what to bring. So I'll tell you what I brought, and what I forgot. This list is for England not Ireland. You can get most ‘things in Ireland, except cigarets and matches. I brought—A carton of cigarets (that’s about all you can get by with); a carton of book matches; two extra tubes of shaving cream; four bars of soap; a flashlight with extra bulb and battery; two pounds of cube sugar; two dozen chocolate bars; and six pairs of silk stockings for the ladies.

How to Be Sir Galahad

I FORGOT TO BRING—{wo more pounds of sugar; a pound of tea: a cigaret lighter and fluid; and lipstick and hairpins for the feminine gender. All travelers to England these days, if they are good planners, take along a handful of lipstick to give away as presents, for lipsticks are practically extinct in England. It is even quite the thing nowadays for an American to give lipsticks to a man in England as a gift, for he in turn can give them to his girl friends. Since I forgot to bring lipsticks, I inquired for them here in Dublin, ‘quite hopelessly. And it turned out the city was crawling with them. There is no cosmetic shortage whatever. ; So I loaded up with lipsticks, and am now in a position to become the man of the hour when I set

foot in Piccadilly. You too can be a man of the hour.|

Don’t wait. Rush out now, buy a box of hairpins, and then swim rapidly toward England.

of young America Hipped off with “blank blank the blankety blank,” only he filled in the blanks. Dad just listened with amazement—and perhaps secret admiration. The words had a familiar ring.

Old-Fashioned Army Fun

COL. FRED BORUM, .commander of Stout field, made a trip to Zionsville Saturday evening to visit with the men of his headquarters squadron while they were there for a week-end encampment. Before he left, the men told him they had a present for him. They led him out to where it was. It turned out to be an army toilet seat, regulation except for the fact it had two stars on it. The fellows assured him he soon would be wearing a major general’s two stars. There was a gift there for Col. Reed Landis, too. It was the same, except it had one star. When Col. Borum walked out to get in his car, one of the men played “for he’s a jolly good fellow,” on an accordion, as 40 or 50 others performed a snake dance around the colonel. Can you imagine that in Germany?

Around the Town

DR. FLETCHER HODGES stopped in at the Trimble oil station at New York and Meridian sts. yesterday and felt right at home. His visit brought back old memories. since the station is on the site of his old home. It was quite a coincidence that while there, he met the granddaughter of the man who originally built the house. She is Mrs. Clifford Arrick. . . . Within the last few months, 40 out of the 225 doctors having offices in the Hume-Mansur building have left for the army or navy, reports manager Paul Robertson. . . . We hear Dr. Russell S. Henry, past president of Rotary, has received a commission, as lieutenant commander in the navy. - That'll make 41 out of the Hume-Mansur. . . . The local boy scouts are sewing on buttons and practicing eyes right in preparation for a review on the occasion of a visit by four British king scouts Sept. 24. The king scouts —equivalent of our eagle scouts—performed yeoman service in: England during the big blitz.

By Raymond Clapper

thing. She drafted men into the army without much regard to industrial needs. Then two years later England released men from the army to mine coal, or to go back into war factories. We have some questions of that kind that may have to be decided shortly. We may have to delay some types of industrial worker, hold them in the factories until the time comes when they are needed for mechanical work in the army, and then shift them without putting them through the routine military training.

Running Short of Coats

THE THOUSANDS OF truck and tank repair men, for instance, need little or no military training. They will be doing the same work in the army that they do in civil life. There may be instances in which such men would contribute more to the war effort by being held at their jobs until the army in the field has direct need of them at their regular trades. Possibly we could conserve considerable industrial manpower in that way. Similarly with materials. Certain current programs for military equipment are apparently far in excess of needs during the nex{ year. Suppose these men scaled down so that the scarce material could be released for immediate needs. I have heard some illustrations from reliable sources that make one think, as some hign officials think, that there is room for considerable revision of production schedules to that: end. ‘We laid out: our production programs on the assumption that there was no limit to materials or to

new agency or office that could reconcile the real Deeds or the armed forces with the supply of maSs?

We have a limited amount of cloth and must cut our pattern to that. At present we are making too

agency powerful enough to strike balances in such dileuimag may be the answer.

By Eieanor Roosevelt

I had a press conference this morning and later

went up to Senator Glass’ office, where Miss ‘Mariel

Apel had asked me to look at bust of the president, In the course of the last few days, I have had a gentleman from Trenton, Mo. incloses a clipping a commission as a lieutenant in the army: “I feel

to give all 1 have.” ee ; How magrfificent these boys are. Lét us

a Oe a tus lips that

continue to give “all they have” in serving their coun uy in time of peace.

George Weller, correspondent in ‘the Southwest Pacific, has for:

warded a unique log of an American submarine in Far Eastern waters. This log, handiwork of D. W. Van Horn, 24-year-old seaman aboard : U. 8. submarine, has been passed by the censorship in Washington.

By GEORGE WELLER Copyright. 1043, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News,’ Inc

~ SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, July 14 (Delayed) .—American submarines engaged in the tough task of interrupting Japan’s inner lines of sea-borne communication live by electric light. Often, for as long as from four to six weeks, some

never see the sun.

They almost forget what a sunrise

or sunset looks like, and the warming touch of -noonday

rays. they hunt back, too.

In testimony that the life a submariner leads has its own excitements—not all of ‘them dangerous—here is the

They are hunted continually by destroyers—and

journal of D. W. Van Horn, a 24-year-old seaman aboard one of the submarines in Pacific operations. Van Horn, whose hailing port is Chula Vista, Cal, is a sharp lookout, often to be seen on the bridge of his submarine by night, binoculars pressed against his eyes. But he sees a lot of other things, too, and puts them down. Here is his story from Cavite, P. 1., south to *‘somewhere,” unretouched by censorship except for the elim-

> 2 td ® OFF FORMOSA:

enemy.

- ination of operational details which might be of use to the

Saw our first ship Dec. 9—Turned out to be a tanker. Dec. 13—Crash dive to escape attack. Dec. 14—Bob and I mixed cocoa and shot the breeze all day. Morale of crew good; nobody seemed worried much.

Dec. 18—Patroling as before. We heard four depth charges from

away off. Heard screws off port bow, came up for a look, sighted four troop transports, one heavy cruiser and three destroyers about one-half mile away—made ready forward torpedo tubes for firing. Forced to dive before we could attack. Stuck our nose out about midnight; all clear more or less. Saw steam vessel accompanied by tin can. Skipper fried a long shot (in dark). Missed--what the hell, we can’t always be right.

He Was ‘Hypnotized’

MANILA. Harbor very full of smoking and burning steamers. Bombers had already been holding field day in our absence. Spotted 18 enemy bombers overhead in two formations of nine planes. I stood on the bridge practically hypnotized as I watched the bombs fall. I could see my initials on the biggest one. We turned with- full left rudder and bombs ° fell ahout 50 feet from stern. We dove down to bottom and lay there for next hour or so, then.

Br Sha e to fuel. “Capta ¢ hold of three cases of cold beer some:

place and all hands had 2 a bottle— sure tasted swell.

Late that evening our forces '.

began firing fuel and ammunition: dumps at Cavite and airfield in preparation to declaring Manila an open city. The fire soon became brilliant. We had to up anchor and get the hell out of there. We stuck out like marline spikes in case of night raid. Reports from front. indicate Jap reinforcements coming regularly despite constant submarine warfare we are maintaining against them. We sink five transports and 10 get through, seems to be size of it. Dec. 29.—~Watched Japs through periscope as they bombed Corregidor—must have dropped over 1000 bombs. Only visible damage was destruction of surface barracks which had already been evacuated. Jan. ‘3.—Getting plenty rough, seas coming over bridge all night long, fill conning tower bilges every roll, pumping pumproom bilge continuously,

Sights a Destroyer

: RECEIVED orders to shift patrol. Our mission is to keep Jap reinforcements and supplies from getting through to-‘'south. Underway en route Sulu sea, lookout sighted darkened destroyer. We bent on several more knots and tried to slip up on can but couldn’t ake it. He was making too much speed. Gave me a laugh, anyway. Submarine hotly in pursuit of destroyer. Patrolling as before en route Sulu sea. My striker made one of new dudes eat queen ‘of spades during card game argument. We know that there is most likely a destroyer patrol waiting for us. Hope our. string of lugk holds out. Surfaced after dark and spotted large merchantman -about 5000 yards distant’ making about © 8 knots. He changed course several times, making it impossible - to close him. We were. submerged 80 came

_ had news for someor nose. After: they'd r el two minutes thought - we scored

make ‘it last.”

all day with plenty of ashcans. We figure that ship we attacked last

night really made wires hot .

screaming for her escort.

We are really getting shy on ra-

tions—rice and corned beef is about the standard meal—only feeding two meals a day now. We are now going to Balikpapan definitely. Japs are trying

to take this place over for its fuel

supply, which they must need ‘pretty bad by now. We expect to find fleet concentration there tonight, and it’s our job to break it up with subs. Crossed the equator about noon submerged. My third time across, although it’s the first time I've gone under the equator. Jan, 22. — About 10 o'clock,

while on: surface, heard noises

astern. We submerged. As tincans passed overhead, all hunting us, we heard churning of large screws just astern. .We commence trailing screws after the torpedo screen which we calculated to be heavy cruisers.

We finally tracked him to a

range of several hundred yards, then let go with everything— four “tin pickles” with plenty of

for

another miss; then “blocey!” A pause and then two more explosions a little further away. Resulting confusion was terrific. Pandemonjum reigned on the topside. Destroyers were c¢

around like bulls, the rest of the -

convoy scattered like quail!

It seemed like two of the cans were picking up survivors while

others were trying: to pick us up,

..but not for the same reason. -

We ran quiet and let them go by.. We headed south where several more of our gang were waiting with itching. . trigger fingers.

Later we surfaced, tired, wring-

ing wet with sweat, but happy, and why not? :

Skipper | Licks His Chops

SAW MAKASSAR straits. Jan. 25.—At 9 at night heard bombing of Balikpapan. We sighted new type Jap de-

stroyer close aboard and we dove

in hurry Just after sunrise we came up to. periscope depth for look around, the captain made his observation. First thing skipper saw was subchaser, then another, then large destroyer with another subchaser. We ducked periscope and then took another look. Skipper licked his chops and said: “Oh-oh, a transpo ” We let go four fish. About 50 seconds later we felt muffled explosion, a hit! We got away clean. We made a turn across the equator, turned and crossed again heading south for the gory battlefield, ° Our forces have practically annihilated the large Jap convoy and ‘we're: still attacking—hope we get. a shot at something. We wired “boss” and told him we're

running out of chow. He came

back and said “stretch it out and

losing appeal for us—and how... . Jan. 30.—Screws were heard

ahead just as we were preparing -

for a routine dive.

Made the dive and took a look

periscope. : "Four destroyers went boiling |

over us at full tilt. Too many

in their

Rice is rapidly .

"As soon as the tanker went up

we went down followed immedi-

ately by tanker, which went down several thousand. feet or so and leveled off on bottom. Smaller ship hurry. Since we've sunk our third ship, possibly four, we've been nicknamed “Jesse James of Makassar Strait.” Found out today that fleet bombarded Jap naval base at

~ Marshall islands yesterday. font : 8 o ” x

Food Rations Cut

" TODAY 1 have reached sedate and decorous age of 24 summers

* —no hits, no runs—I've quit

counting errors. Food situation is rapidly getting no better. Surfaced into a “night as black as the inside of a hat. - Feb. 6.—Received orders to proceed to entrance and bag what-

"ever we can. : Very large force

believed there, including battleships and cruiser. Went on reduced rations today, no sign ‘of being called in. Drinking water is salty. Our new station is in waters that have not been surveyed. We are more or less surveying them to 100 feet. But if we “discover” a submerged reef we probably won't live to report it. Lying to, waiting for Jap fleet to come through. We didn’t wait long. At 5:15 the advance guard of tincans was sighted—we never figured on quite so many. There were 12 destroyers coming through in pairs, followed

_ closely by heavy ships.

That was no outfit for a lone sub to tangle with—we went down deep while they passed overhead so close we could hear their -screwbeat right through our pressure hull—that is close! Now we’ll:have to risk any divebombers: that. might be scouting ~ for their force, because we have to warn our forces at Soerabaya. Well that. over with. Surfaced in broad daylight. I had the watch, so I got to see the Jd the ‘wooded beach-

al Jumped up’ and "took a “look, 000. ‘We dove so quick that I had a salt water shower when I closed the hatch.

No More. Baths

SOERABAYA is warned now so it’s up to them. - - - Bathing is a thing of the past. We are using airconditioning drain water to wash dishes. Fresh water is for cooling and drinking —not even supposed to fill a cup to brush aur teeth any more.

Chow is about shot, we're hav- .

ing stew and more stew. So: are getting braver as chow gets shorter , . . : We got our recall to Soerabaya. That’s a d— good thing.

SOERABAYA.~We sighted a

‘Dutch destroyer. He made a chal-

Jenge and when I tried to answer my very pistol wouldn't fire. He challenged again. I was sweating in anxiety. Finally it went off. Feb. 14-21.—In Soerabaya onehalf of the crew went to “rest camp.” I missed out. . The time spént on aboaid ‘seemed light the continuous working party with plenty of air raids to break monotony. We had about two raids a day, one in morning and one in afternoon. In between these raids we worked like mules, provisioning and fuel-

ing ship, with a little liberty now

and then. I came ashore with a Limey sub sailor; in the Shanghai bar, when three bombs, struck about 15 feet from us. It killed the one ‘waiter who hadn’t run for the shelter, knocked my friend and me flat on our faces and broke all mirrors in bar. As soon as the raid was over

I picked myself up and bought ~ champagne for the house.

I also had dinner at a Dutch

‘petty officer's home. We couldn't

understand each other at all untd we'd had a few beers: Feb. ‘South Pacific post. This day was ‘the beginning of 12 days of perfect liberty. There were five or six

shoved off in -

21.—Arrived at another :

HOLD EVERYTHING

" them for us to attack alone, ree X : 3

we allowed them to go by.

"Surfaced and sighted two ships, | | _

Al]

4) ERA RA

girls to every guy and people all treated. us swell. We thoroughly enjoyed entire stay. i 8» 2

Submerged All Day

WE MADE a large Jolly Roger with white skull and bones on a

_ black field and three white tor

pedoes representing ships we had sunk. We steamed out of channel with our Jolly Roger flying.

The passing: ferryloads of peo-

ple really shouted and cheered

after they caught sight of it and

realized its significance. Finally we were free of channel and underway to give Japs hell. Submerged all day, we surfaced into a 60-mile gale, mountainous seas tossed us around like a cork in a flushed toilet bowl. Monsoon must have driven .us far from our original position. To-

night has been especially black .

and raining. As raindrops fall in

water around boat, it looks like:

hundreds of matches being struck,

because the waters in this ocean

dre so phosphorescent.’ Had a real scare shortly after

surfacing. When we surfaced we

caught a whole bucketful. of mackerel which were flopping around: on deck. We had come ‘up underneath a school of them. Patrolling as before — taking stock of war, so far things don’t

look so well, although our short-

‘handed little Asiatic fleet has certainly done well for itself. So far Japs have taken Manila,

other Philippine ' islands, Borneo,

Celebes, Java and all rich Netherlands ‘islands and Singapore, supposedly impregnable, British stronghold. They are at this writing attacking New Guinea and have already taken the north end of the island. They are bombing Australia’s northwestern coast daily. We have had several sea battles with them. Ship for ship and man for man, we have proved ourselves superior to Japanese in quality although they are greatly ‘superior in quantity.

What a Target! WE MADE OUR regular peri--scope observation, looked all ardund, all clear; then suddenly spotted masts of a large freighter. We immediately sounded battle stations and started our approach. Our first look showed him to be “hulldown” on the horizon and were not sure we'd be able to close him for shot—we changed speed te full.

Finally, we were close enough

to see we would have plenty of time and that our target was about 8000 tons and was unescorted! This is the first time we've had a shot at: anything without the sea being lousy with tincans. Just as we finished our maneuver the target went churning past our stern. That was the last bit of chasing those screws ever did because we fired our torpedoes. The first explosion sounded, followed closely by a second. You should have heard the captain shout when the target started blowing up. The “exec” took a look and then the captain told me to take a “look if I wanted to. Boy! Did I want to? 1 took & 10-second look. Freighter was going down fast by stern. The stern was a little high in the water but was coming apart.

It was evident that the ship's

back was broken. She sank completely inside six minutes. Surfaced with beautiful moonlit night, surface smooth as glass, very few clouds in sky. !

A Night for Love

IT'S HARD to realize that on such a night as this there are people steaming around this Java sea with murder in their hearts.

‘Nature intended such nights as

this for. : pitching woo : and lots of it. Nothing sighted all day. we’ re

beginning to wonder whether we ‘should not have stayed in that

other place instead of coming ‘here. At least there. was. some ‘traffic over there.

When I went on watch I figured

pedo room. to stand by their tubes,

Then “fire,” and our sleek, streamlined torpedoes were sped on their message of destruction. We figured that there should

be a quick torpedo run. When too

many seconds had passed, we were sure we had missed. We knew we were in for a beating because as: soon as that can saw those torpedo wakes across his bow he'd be. on our tails in a flash. 5 u 2 »

Captain Pleased BUT A FEW seconds more and

the destroyer realized fhat there was a nasty old submarine in the

vicinity, because we hit him with

one “fish” “just forward of his bridge. The. captain was walehing and shouted for joy when he spotted

that huge column of water shoot i

up. It was then I heard him say: God, our target was a mer‘chait ship and here he is! | | Stand by the other tubes.” We had somehow been switched from our original targets after one periscope look and shifted to

the destroyer escort which he had not even known was there. That “can” was with the freighter to

protect -him from’ :a submarine.

attack, so when we sank him the

“skipper” of ‘the freighter didn’t.

know what to do: or where to run first. By the time be decided to make all possible speed away we had started our approach. . : At first we. calculated his speed ‘too high. We were getting short of torpedoes. As his track neared closest point of approach the scaptain said, “fire one,” and Bob jumped up to the tube and it with the ‘hand-firing key. ( says it wasy her personal to that did the: trick.) : It did the trick all right—a few hundred pounds of wallop close and tender connection with target just forward of amidships. We didn’t have a chance to pick up. within 16 minutes:

merchant ships this week.

Pacific fleet wants to get in on

this war out Here it had better hustle before this little sub force sinks all the Jap fleet. ok We aren't getting any assiste ance from our surface craft. - all any more, as they are t00 sma in number to operate in enemys waters as we're doing. = Patrolling submerged toda; have five more days to do on enlistment, but I guess Tl .around for awhile yet—yeah quite a while. ‘Patrolling as before. I Just ; pened to think that although are a few miles off shore

" could easily swim to the b&

we weré sunk while on surf wouldn’t- do ‘us much good, cause the jungle over here* tains lions, tigers, gorillas, constrictors, and all sorts of man-eating inhabitants, includi wild men, which would eluding make short work of any simple= minded flatfoot who would b dense enough to swim over there, I see that I'm about through this log which I originally figu to last through the war: : Today my shipmates can calling me “citizen” as my tract with the navy has expired. I am now a civilian fighting with

the duration—Editor’s note) Andther ; 4ay- Pauling

ct miei WAR BON]

i lighted : whistle ‘buoy 18 like a floating light house than az thing else. It weighs several ton

is’ moored to warn ships at sea

operates: a flashing light. The re is. operated hy suction, created the rise and fall of the buoy in ‘water. he device eosts Shouts

A, LK

ships. were 3