Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 October 1942 — Page 9
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E Hoosier Vagabond
SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND, Oct. 24—The 50 enlisted men now studying to be second lieutenants at the army’s new officers’ school over here are a finelooking bunch, but there is none of the puppetlike n ormity about them that you find in a picked parade unit. They are all sizes, with all kinds of faces. * You have
freckle-faced Texans, guys from
“Joisey,” bookkeepers and farm‘ers, tall one and fat ones. There are even a couple of bald heads They are a good cross-section of America. But one thing they have in common, and that is a pride in being chosen, and an eagerness for learning that I've never seen in students before. It occurred to me while watching their faces in lass that it’s a shame college students can’t have the same hot desire to learn and progress. Several of hem have told me, “We learned more here in two weeks than we did in-two whole years in the army’ They work so hard that they've all lost weight
‘| YESTERDAY, FOR INSTANCE, they had drill and hard exercises in the morning, four successive
| After lunch they had two hours of indoor practice and lecture on the Browning rifle, outdoor machineinstruction, some bayonet practice and more
study. “That left them one hour before “lights out” to wash clothes, shine shoes, clean guns, etc. No liquor is allowed in school, and they leave camp oply on Sunday. -But that is largely theory. For most of them need all day Sunday to get caught up on .clothes-washing,. letter-writing, studying and just generally recovering from the strenuous week. They are taught unbending strictness, so they can instruct others the same way when they assume commands, but there is no. dramatic -viciousness in their schooling.
Some of ’E'm “re Drafteees
THE CANDIDATES wear the same clothes they wore as enlisted men. On all their jackets you can
see the dark patch where their chevrons used to be.}
One boy told me he felt naked without those stripes. on his sleeve.
On the left shoulder they wear an oval green patch | - with the letters ‘OCS” in yellow. That means “Offi-
cer Candidate School.” On sqme of their coveralls they had painted the chevrons on ‘with black paint, and of course they can’t get that off. Each day one of the candidates is appointed company commander. He has to act just as though he were already an officer, and give orders. Sometimes a man gets pretty embarrassed and stammery at first. When he finishes, all the students are called on to tell what he did wrong. Some of the students are draftees, in the army only a few months. Some are regular men with several years’ service. One has been in the army 17 years.
A large detachment of regular soldiers is assigned
By Ernie Pyle
to the school to do the ordinary work of a military|z
camp.
all those things. } If they do it well enough, maybe they will go to
They do the cooking, the lawn mowing, the; ‘range-building, the map-making, the guard duty, and |:
a gu PNG SA se mii
After supper they had two hours-of compulsory officers’ school too some day. The student- -faculty war council at Butler university is sponsoring This old wash pail set on a smoking stand is the trophy in the inter-fraternity scrap drive at Bute the sale of war bonds and stamps and in the first two weeks sold more ler. Here the five fraternity presidents gaze longingly upon the prize. The men are (left to right) Robert
than $2000 worth. Here, Jane Mottern, a junior, purchases some war Pitcher, Delta Tau Delta; William McCleod, Sigma Nu; James Seller, Sigma .Chi; Scott Dukes, Phi Delta
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i nous OF THE WEEK: Police Major Herbert . Roy Fletcher, better known as Cap Fletcher, this city’s chief air raid warden, an old-time ‘cop. who e busting out of official retirement as soon as he found that they needed someone to boss the air raid setup. Cap Fletcher knows this city from top to bottom. He knows it from the viewpoint of a police veteran with 28 years’ service from the lowest rank to next to the top. Since his retirement in 1937. he’s been secretary of the Police & Firemen’s Insurance Co. At 62, he’s husky and vigorous,
still looks every inch the police-
man, A little under 6 feet, he ‘weighs about 240. He’s full faced, wears glasses, has kindly blue eyes, . a .pleasant smile and gray hair that’s getting pretty thin. He has broad shoulders, walks with a rolling gait. Jy nature, he’s rather serious though genial. He's jually shy and retiring for a veteran cop. An hquake wouldn't excite him. He almost never
Cap Fletcher
RBERT FLETCHER'S one big obsession is fisht his cottage—Shangri La—at Shafer lake. Be-
cottage is on a point, right where Keene creek s the lake, and his favorite fishing spot is on d of his dock. Sometimes he: baits two or three
‘action that way. Inny part about it, though, is that although he
ashington
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24.—We have suffered so many | ‘military blows beginning with Pearl Harbor ~ that those who take their medicine straight, without sugar ‘coating, haven't had much that was pleasant to
: swallow, Finally the tonic comes in the remarkable
performance of our flying fortresses. . Regardless of whatever means the. Germans may devise against them in the future, these heavy bombers are for the time being proving one .of the major favorable surprises of the war. Although some had earlier questioned the .effectiveness of these bombers and called them flying targets, they are restoring
dearly loves to fish, he can’t stand to eat fish—at least not the fish he has caught.
Custard Pie Fan
HE SAYS HIS favorite fish recipe is: Clean fish|
well, roll in corn meal, fry until a deep brown, put on a big platter, garnish with green beans (his pet antipathy), open garbage can and dump contents therein.” He has a weakness for fried chicken and custard pie. Born near Monrovia, he attended Plainfield high schoo] (not the Boys’ school, he reminds folks), starred in football both in high school and at Earlham college. Then he came here. His first job was with the Indianapolis & Vincennes railroad. He joined the police force in 1909. As a policeman, he worked on or directed many of the biggest police cases for years. He was shot in the hand during the Hohlt Dry Goods robbery 15 years ago. A few years earlier, he shot and killed Hell Cat Thomas, & notorious bad man, in a gun battle in which Hell Cat killed Sergt. Maurice Murphy.
Too Young for Golf
CAP FLETCHER doesnt give a darn for golf, says he’s “not old enough to play it.” He enjoys football -games, will play auction bridge occasionally, but doesn’t like contract—says his chair gets tired. He hasn't any time for movies now, what with attending to both his insurance business and air raid duties. His movie favorite used to be Greta Garbo— now it’s Alice Faye. He likes squirrel and rabbit shooting, likes to take along cold biscuits to nibble on. One of his favorite pastimes is raiding the refrigerator, especially after reading or working until late in the evening. And he’s quite a guitar player. Sometimes he even accompanies pieces on the radio. .
By Raymond Clapper
bombsight of accuracy which is still regarded by airmen in Europe as almost unbelievable—so accurate that the saying is almost literally true that if you can see it you can hit it. The British developed the slower, lower, bomber capable of carrying more bombs than ours for mass night bombing over Europe. But always the bomber over Europe was regarded as a big lumbering carrier of explosives to be dumped. It had either to slip in at night or surround itself with protecting fighters if it went out in daylight. The bomber, whether British or American, never was regarded as a destroyer of other aircraft to any such degree as the fortress and Liberator have become.
Note This One Caution
to make things hum.
things in the fire. They are:
stamps from L. Harold Burr, a sophomore.
Scrap Metal, Bond Selling Top Four-Point Program
The student-faculty war council at Butler university is beginning -
Cooking strictly on the front burners, the council now has four
1. The interfraternity scrap metal drive.
2. Selling of war bonds and stamps. 3. A drive to get students to donate blood to the Red Cross. 4. Preparing air raid precautions. \ The council was named about a month ago by Dr. M. O. Ross, presi-
dent of Butler. bers.
It is composed of 10 students and nine faculty mem-
Concerning the ‘interfraternity scrap - metal drive, it might appear
that nothing has been gathered as yet—but actually the five fraternities have been working frantically
to gather the scrap and each has
hidden the old metal it has col~ lected.
As to the amount any one of
them has collected, that can’t be
ascertained. ~ They're keeping it a “military secret” until next week, when they will drag the scrap out onto the campus. Then the winning fraternity will be awarded the trophy—an ash tray consisting of an old wash pail mounted on a smoking stand. Recently the “blackout” - king and queen, elected by the students, were crowned. and presented flashlights. They are: William Witt, sophomore, and Jackie Blomberg. They were crowned at the all-school mixer. This was sponsored to focus attention on air raid precautions.
Seeking blood donors, the council this week had the Butler Collegian carry application blanks which students were asked to fill out if they will donate blood to the Red’ Cross. ‘The council has thrown its weight behind war bond sales and in the first two weeks its small sales booth operated, more than $2000 in war stamps and bonds were sold. Student members of the council are Robert Goodwin, Betty Murnan, Martha Hostetter, Elizabeth Meyer, Wilma Gray, Frank Celarek, Norvella Judd, William Mortimer, Shirley Anne Einbinder and Suzanne Masters. . Faculty members are Dr. Charles C. Josey, Dr. Elizabeth B. Ward, Prof. George F. Leonard, Prof. Charles J. Anthony, Dr. William J. Moore, Paul Ross, Dr. Albert Mock, Dr. Karl S. Means and Prof. Kathryn J. Journey.
Theta, and Harold Mossey, Lambda Chi Alpha.
. One of the first to heed the council’s plea for blood donations
Chandler, a junior.
The “blackout” king and queen are crowned at Butler university and presented with flashlights, Duane Joyce (right) presents the to the Red Cross was Ruth flashlights to “King” William Witt, a sophomore, and “Queen” Jackie
Blomberg, a junior.
OVERTIME FOR U.S. FAVORED
Senate Civil Service Group Approves 44-Hour Work Week.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (U. P.).—
XI Col. Strlitmov Terror in Any Man's Army.
him” and Smirnov broke into a
hit them. Then a Russian woman told us the German general was
roar of laughter. By LELAND STOWE y 2. Copyright, 1942, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc. ,
WITH THE RED ARMY ON THE RZHEV FRONT. —ULieut.-Col. Anatole Alexandrovitch Smirnov wears the
The senate civil service committee has approved legislation setting up a basic 44-hour week for all government employees with time-and-a-half pay for overtime to begin after 40 hours.
our confidence while possibly introducing a new element in warfare that may have an iportens
living in the town hall. That was my borscht.
A Build Like Tunney’s a
BUT THAT 1S getting ahead of ‘ ‘Hit Him Once’ the story. It really begins, I sup-
OUR BIG BOMBERS are so heavily armed that they can outrange approaching enemy fighters. In formation they are able to cover the approach of the enemy from any angle. Therefore the big bomber, with its devastating load, is now showing that it can range in daylight far out beyond the limits of short-
; sent to hi
No one was prepared so heavy on the bomber to destroy enemy
onts Almost Unbelievable
| LILLE RAID showed that bombers cannot te care of themselves, but can hand out deadly . The unofficial reports passed were al-
believable. Both in Europe and in the Pacific the fortress has shown itself to be an animal with
meet the enemy in daylight far from our es and to turn him back, as OWI explains markable report on American aircraft.
ed with a variety of experiences that tell you about tim. In the first ; lexplain that I find myself this evening in England because, & short time ago, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, realized that we in the United States were just beginning to go through some of the experiences which the British people have undergone during the last several years. Her majesty felt that it might be valuable for me to see with my own eyes the work of the women in Great Brit ain, and so she wrote and asked whether I would care to come . here, : : ‘was assured that I would be given full freedom to see eyery-
| thing in the way I felt would be most useful to me.
[realized | t once: this would also give me an opportunity to [see our armed forces, which have been country in such great numbers. I hope very much that what ; see may mean something the mo hers, wives a ; tationed here. I hope, too, that the’ to ste the work which the women
attack also.
nd sweethearts of our men
range escorts hitherto regarded as necessary to protect bombers from enemy fighters. The fighter plane has been regarded as the weapon to use against fighters. Will the big, heavily gunned bomber become also a major weapon in destroying the enemy air force in the air? That is the possibility that appears now. One caution should be noted. Although the allied air campaign over Germany is showing possibilities beyond what many earlier thought likely, few who are qualified to judge believe that Germany can ‘be defeated by air alone. Precision daylight bombing will be able .to damage production and transportation. Mass bombings are evidently having a depressing effect on the German population. There is reason to believe that this may become an important factor during the winter. Yet there is little likelihood that air attack, no matter how extensive, can reduce Germany without ground
But it begins to look as if we can count on the air for a great deal more than had been expected by those who argued that, since the German's couldn't break England by bombing, we could count on it for little against Germany.
By Eleanor Roosevelt
are doing in Great Britain, may also be.of use not only to our women at home, but also to the children who also have a share of the sacrifice which is made. Now you have the background and the reason for
the visit. There was some delay in my departure. The trip, across what has now become a very small pond indeed, was as comfortable and as delightful as possible. No one knew I was actually arriving, in spite of newspaper rumors. Since Miss Thompson and I traveled under very unimaginative names and our bags looked like everyone else’s, there was no easy method of identifying us. But, as I stepped out of the plane, I heard someone say, “Why, there is Mrs. Roosevelt!” : The countryside looks as green and as calm as ever, but every now and then in the city you come upon a heap of ‘ruins and someone casually says, “a bomb fell there.”
Our Ambassador, Mr. Winant, met me at the ;
airport and on the train trip sketched for me the
things which had been planned for the next few]. days. .I shall, of course, do the more formal things|: that must be done, first. The king and queen mét|: me at the station together with a number of offi-}
Committee chairman William J.
Bulow (D. S. D.) estimated the bill
would result in pay increases for approximately 40 per cent of all
federal workers, or about 1,000,000 persons. The rest, chiefly army and
navy civilian employees, already receive time-and-a-half for overtime, he said. . The bill also provides a straight 10 per cent pay increase for postal workers and other government employees who do not have a fixed working week. Overtime pay would be calculated
on the basis of salaries up to $2900 a year, and not on that part of any|
“ber of happy warriors but this
employee’s salary -exceeding $2900.
relish for battle, tops them all.
map of the Ukraine on his face yet, strangely enough, it ‘Dears a surprising similarity to the well-known two-legged map of Ireland. If anybody presented the lieutenant-col-onel to you as a second cousin of the Chicago Daily News’ Bob Casey, or maybe his big brother, the chances are"
you would believe it. The fact is, you’ve seen
giants with faces much like
Smirnov’s on the police force of almost any large Ameri-
can city—but, just the same, you've never met quite the equal of Smirnov. Nor have the Germans. Nor have very many Ukrainians for that
-matiter. In my wanderings I have encountered a considerable num-
six-foot human dynamo with his rolled steel muscles and snorting
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Talk with Lieut.-Col. for five minutes and you wonder if anybody, anywhere, is having as good a time out of this war as he is. Talk long enough to get his story out of him and then it seems most. unlikely. Unquestionaply, the lieutenant-colonel is the cnly man in this whole worldwide war who has captured a German general and brought him back alive—on his own back. But wait .a minute—and also on skis.
» ” ”
Captured a General
THE LIEUTENANT-COLONEL didn’t even mention that little item about skis, at first. It took a little time after we got back to
“his dugout inside the ridge and’
could really chew the fat: Time ‘and some vodka, that is. The trou-
ble was the lieutenant-colonel had
been having .too good a time tell--
ing about his men—about fellows -
like that young corporal from
Krasnodar who has two decora-: |.
tions, one of them for taking up his gun right on the heels of the infantry: in a hot attack. = “Horosho, . eh? : (Good, eh)” Smirnov gets a tremendous kick
|- out of ‘his men . and: maybe: it’s -|- no accident that his artillery bat“talion has collected an extraordi-
nary number of decorations scattered through all the ranks. The lieutenant-colonel,” of course; has
" three: medals: One of them for
lugging in that Nazi general alive and, kicking. “When I caught him in bed he squealed like a pig,” Smirnov said. |
Smirnov
pose, on the riverside quais of Nikolaiev, Antole Smirnov’s native town, - in the southern Ukraine. That is where this Red army giant began collecting his muscle unloading ships and working ‘as a stevedore as a youngster in his early teens. He is blond, of course, and blue-eyed and his hands are half as broad as my portable typewriter. Today Smirnov is 32 but his build would rival Gene Tunney’s in the days when Gene was topping Jack Dempsey. “I always did a lot of skiing,” Lieut.-Col. Smirnov was saying,
“so last winter when things were
a little too quiet, they let me do some raiding behind Fritz’s lines. This time I took 50 men with me. That was up on the Leningrad front. We were raiding a place called Porchovnovgorod, about 70 miles or more inside the German lines. “We got their sentries without shooting—before they knew what
HOLD EVERYTHING
—— ee Le
“Come on! You can knock off
a few Japs and get ‘em for noth-
.“I TOOK FOUR men and poste ed them around the town hall,” Smirnov continued. “The Russian woman pointed out the room ‘where the German general always slept. ; “I hit him once with the butt’ of my revolver and then stuffed a pillowcase in his mouth, tied his hands and feet and brought him down. ’ “I slung him on my back and we got back into the forest as fast as we could. “One of the troubles with these darned Germans is they eat too much,” boomed the lieutenant colonel. - “This Gen. Hoffman wasn’t so tall but he weighed .nearly 200 pounds.” “Gen. Hoffman?” I asked, “was he any relation to the Gen. Von Hoffman who invented the Hoff= man plan for invading Russia?”
” 8 2
Like a Dead Pig
“HE WAS A Lieut.-Gen. Von Hoffman—I -think a brother of that Hoffman,” Smirnov laughed, “Anyhow, I slung him on my back like a dead pig and we started back on.our skis. I carried nue first a couple of miles and ther we shifted him around every mile or so. In order to avoid German troops we had to ski nearly 100 miles before we got back inside
" our lines. Then we delivered the
general. This time Lieut.-Col. Smirnov’s ho-ho-ho filled the entire dugout, . He reached for the vodka bottle, “Oh, Fritz has had plenty of sire prises in Russia all right. But wait until this winter. He'll get lots more. This winter the Germans are really going to get their bellyfull of Russia—but they wont - get much else. Look at my men, Look at the Red army.” He didn’t say “look at me” but he. didn’t have to. After all, you
couldn't help it, The lieutenante