Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 December 1942 — Page 17

e

nd

v Hoosier Vagabond

WITH THE AMERICAN FORCES IN ALGERIA— A. two days of loading American soldiers toutd our troopskip, and of hoisting aboard thousands of bedrolls and barracks bags, at last we sailed. Tt was a miserable English day, cold with a driving | rain. Too miserable to be out on deck to watch the: pier Slide away. Most of us just lay+in our bunks, indifferent even to the traditional last glance at land. Now it was all up to God—and. the British navy. \ Our ship carried thousands ot officers and men and a number of army nurses. I felt a little , kinship with. our vessel, for -I'd seen it tied up under peculiar circumstances in Panama two years ago. I never dreamed then that some day I'd be sailing to Africa on it. . The officers and nurses were assigned to the regular cabins used Hy passengers in peacetime. But all the soldiers were quartered below decks, in the holds. The ship had once been a refrigerator ship, and now all the large produce-cerrying compartments were cleared out, and packed with men.

“A Shortage of Hot Water

- EACH COMPARTMENT WAS FILLED with long Wooden tables, with benches at each side. The men ate at these tables, and at night slept in white ‘canvas hammocks slung from hooks just above the tables. It seemed terribdy crowded, and some complained bitterly of ‘the food, and didn’t eat for days. Yet many of the boys said it was swell compared to the ‘way they came over from home to Britain. Sometimes I ate below with the troops, and I'll have to say that their food was as good as ours in the officers’ mess, and that was excellent. Some

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

THE YOUNGSTERS who sell newspapers and magazines are pretty quick to figure out clever little stunts to win public sympathy—and customers. One of our agents reports seeing a 6 or 8-year-old walk into the Saratoga bar, selling magazines. He pulled a new stunt, one with a patriotic angle, on everyone standing at the bar. First he would tug on a man’s sleeve. When the man looked dewn he would see the ragged urchin standing beside him and giving 'a very military salute. Next the youngster would hold out a magazine—and usually make a sale. It worked particularly well with men in uniform. . . . As the workers were leaving for home the other day out at RCA the company handed out some 8 by 10 inch posters in pretty colors, with stickum on the front, and reading: “Quiet Please—War Worker Sleeping.” They were for night shift workers to paste in their windows at home. But the next day a lot of them were found hanging on desks all over the engineering

q department,

Our Weather Dept.

. THE HEAVY SNOW storm Tuesday evening caught Mary ‘Jo Ross at the home of her sister, Mrs. John Kleinhenz, without galoshes and wearing shoes with open toes. And she had to go downtown for a meeting of the service men's center cadettes. . Undaunted, she Just_hor rod a couple of oiled silk milk bottle top povers and them on her toes. She arrived downtown pr: Sines ‘® Sihgle wet toe. .'. One of our readers reports Superman is in town. He gets aboard a streetcar at 53d and.College about 7:30 these near-zero mornings, bareheaded and minus

+ gloves, muffier and overcoat. He doesn't even button . up his suit coat, and Just stands there on the corner

{

‘Washington

v :

WASHINGTON, Dee. 17.—American military equipment is showing up very well on the whole, and superbly so in some instances. There is plenty of invention and new design and rapid improvement, We have always been proud of our mechanical ingenuity but a little apologetic about our military ingenuity. Nobody can tgke anything away from the Hurricane and the Spitfire or the heavy truck-horse bombers that Britain has made in numbers that would be astounding to our public. In fact, considering he industrial capacity with which Britain began the war, what she has done has been an industrial miracle. : So when we brag it is not to minimize what Britain and Rusas Have done industrially. It is to try to set straight our own achievement, which is still so much underrated in this country because of a defeatist psychology after Pearl Harbor.

Changes Being Made All the Time

: OUR GEN. SHERMAN TANK has shown itself to

Telegraph Orders From the Front

crowding is unavoidable. Its bad, but I don’t know how else you'd get enough men anywhere fast enough. ' The worst trouble was a lack of hot water.- British standards of sanitation are so different from ours that the contrast is sometimes shocking. It took ' days of scrubbing with sand. to get the kitchens and toilets halfway clean. The water for washing dishes was only tepid, and

there ‘was no soap. As a result the dishes got greasy,

and some troops got a mild dysentery from it, The Amerjcan army officer, much to their credit, continued to raise so much hell about the ship that by the time we left it things were in much better shape.

‘Few Knew Where They Were Going

INSTRUCTIONS FOR “BATTLE STATIONS” in case of attack were issued. All officers had to stay in their cabins, all soldiers had to remain below." Troops in the two bottom decks, down by the water line, were to move up to the next two decks above them. We correspondents knew . where we were going. Some of the officers knew too, and the rest could guess. But an amazing number of soldiers had no idea where they were bound. ! Some thought we were going to Russia over the Murmansk route. Some thought it was Norway. Some thought it was.dceland. A few sincerely believed we were returning to America. It wasn’t until the fifth day out, when the army distributed advice booklets on how to conduct ourselves in North Africa, that everybody knew where we were going. The first couple of days at sea we seemed to mill

By Ernie Pyle|

X—'It's the Prince of Wales'

Monday, Dec. 8: A group of us were drinking at the Raffles bar around noon and figuring on how we could all

get up to the front in a hurry.

After tossing the war back and forth for about an hour, three of us left and went into the dining room for lunch—Gallagher of the London Daily Express, Tom Fairholl of the Sydney Telegraph and myself. 1 was eating my ice cream for dessert when one of the Malay clerks came back to the dining room and said I was wanted on the phone. ' I went out. It was Maj. Fisher, one of the officers ‘in charge of facilities for correspondents.

“Do you want to go on a.four-day assignment?”

“What is it?” I asked.

around without purpose. Eventually we stopped completely, and lay at anchor for a day. Finally we rendezvoused with other ships and then at dusk—five days after leaving London—we steamed | slowly into a prearranged formation, like floating | pieces of a puzzle drifting together to form a picture. By dark we were rolling,

as though he were in Florida, It gives everyone else :

the shivers just to watch him,

Pedestrion Pick-ups

~ ARCH GROSSMAN of the Inter-State Coal is annoyed when he sees motorists deliberately pass up pedestrians standing and shivering on car stop corners these cold mornings. Mr. Grossman, who lives at Carmel, picks up the first people he sees on his way to work here each morning and can't see why others shouldn’t do likewise as a bit of patriotism. What if an occasional woman does turn her back? No “use getting mad and passing up everybody else after that, he says. Especially service men. . .. “Move back, please; move back,” the operator of a Central ave. trackless trolley sang out the other day. “Indeed I won't,” indignantly retorted a fair to middling-aged woman; “I paid my token and I'm standing right! here until I get off.” And she did, too, paying no attention to the snickers of her fellow passengers.

Around the Town

THE INDIANAPOLIS Clearing House association, which deals in bank checks, is having the same old trouble again this year. People are confusing it with the Christmas Clearing House. The latter is housed this year with the Council of Social Agencies in the Lemcke Building—MA-2401. , , . Sergt. Don McClure, the pencil pushing marine, is back from Parris Island, assigned to the local marine recruiting office. . + + The Southern club will have its annual party Saturday night at the I, A.C. Decorations will include sugar plum trees and regular Christmas trees. Toner Overley and Wallace Lee did a fine job of stringing popcorn festoons for the trees. However, Bob Stith and John Niesse accused Overley of eating more popcorn than he put on the string. . . . By the way, one of the. house rules of the I.A.C. is “No dogs.” The club doesn’t give any reasons, but will make arrangements to keep dogs in the rear of the basement,

By Raymond Clapper

several hundred minor changes pending on one airplane model now. Battle sometimes reveals need for a quick change. and a heavier gun has to be improvised out of a weapon already in production, The ordnance branch is a kind of whipping boy for the army, although its task is only to get out the weapons. For instance, a big inside row is going on over the so-called trackless tank, Gen. K. H. Campbell, chief of army ordnance, is being accused of killing off the trackless tank because it was not invented inside the army,

ACTUALLY GEN. CAMPBELL revived interest in the eight-wheeled trackless tank after it was scorned by armored force officers a year ago, and he got it tested by a board of field officers from the armored, tank destroyer and cavalry forces. They recommended it be dropped. The machinery was too - complicated, they thought, for rough field service. When someone accused the ordnance chief of suppressing ‘the invention, his retort was that he would get anything the armored force wanted. “If the

Co.|

“I can’t tell you what it is, or where you are going, but

I must have an immediate yes or no and you must leave at

once. At once.” I hesitated for a fraction of a second and said,

right, I'll take it.” I came back to the table, took another spoonful of ice cream and remarked to Gallagher and Fairholl: “That was Maj. Fisher. He asked me if I wanted to go on an assignment for four days. I don’t know what it is and he "can’t tell me. I said I'd ge, but I don’t know. I hate to leave | Singapore when this story is just beginning.” “I agree with | you,” Gallagher ' said. “I would not go.” “That’s the way I feel about it, There is no time to ask New York if I can leave town and there’s no one to cover CBS while I'm away.” Just then Gallagher was called to the telephone, and as he left I said to Fairholl: “I'll bet he is going to have the same problem presented to him.”

“I wouldn't go,” Fairholl said. “Singapore is where the story is at the moment and I know my office would raise the devil if I pulled out.” “Well, Tom, I know mine will too, but I'm going to ride with it for the moment because Fisher said they'd be here in a minute and pick me up.” ” » » GALLAGHER, EVEN more red-

faced than usual, rushed up to the:

POLYNESIANS IN MARINE CORPS

Natives Know Jungles and Make Fine Scouts,

Commander Says.

'By ROBERT C. MILLER United Press Staff Correspondent

Cecil Brown

A SOUTH PACIFIC BASE, Nov.|

29 (Delayed). — The only native troops now serving under the American flag are a group of barefooted Polynesians who form a marine corps battalion on this United States occupied island in tne South

Pacific. The devil dogs of Polynesia, their officers told me today, are just as big and just as tough as theit brethren from the mainland. Their

“All |

- en.

forte is jungle fighting—they have been learning it from birth.

pine scouts who gave heroic account | of themselves on Bataan, these troops are directed by white commissioned officers but have their own non-coms.

table and grabbed hold of my arm.

“Cec,” Gallagher panted, “it's the Prince of Wales We're going on the Prince of Wales. We've got to pull out right away. They're on the way now for us.” “Wait ‘a minute, Gallagher. 1 thought you said you wouldn't pull out of Singapore at this moment?” “But it's the Prince of Wales! They're just asking one American and one Britisher to go.” Gallagher was breathless. “Yes, it sounds swell, Gallagher, but cool off. We go out there for four days and come back with nothing. Meanwhile Singapore and this whole damn war has gone uncovered.” “I know, Cec, I feel the same way,” and then he slumped into the chair. “I don't know what to do. What are you going to do?” “Gallagher, it's a chance, but why don’t we take it? When we get back we'll probably be fired and then we'll start a newspaper or radio station of our own.” “Fine! They're coming for us right away to go to the naval base.” I dashed up to the second floor, grabbed my new portable typewriter, some carbon and paper, threw a pair of khaki pants and an extra shirt into a small handmade bag which my wife had bought for me in Rome for an anniversary. Fortunately I had about a half dozen extra packs of film for my Plaubel Makina. I tossed the camera into the suit-

. pase with the film and an-expos-

“ure meter and dashed downstairs.

Women Subdue Last Male Citadel

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 17 (U. P.).—The Racquet club, exclusive masculine haven for 53 years, has become a victim of the war. The board of governors is preparing to admit the ladies. But there'll be plenty of restrictions. The innermost sanctum of the club will not be violated by wom-

A The ladies will be confined to about one-half of the first floor — and out-of-bounds will be marked in red. Visiting hours are 4 p. m. to midnight. They must be accompanied by a club member and must use a side entrance. The concession to the ladies— the governors pointed out—is only temporary and may be withgrawn at the end of the war or even before: . Alterations are now being made

i for the club’s first. powder room. Developed like the famed Philip- | Edit

IRVINGTON CHOIR TO GIVE OPERETTA

Forty girls composing the. choir

At the docks in Singapore where the British warships tied up . . . what powerful ships, what tremendous guns, what a fine-looking gang of men who manned them!

LIEUT. REYNOLDS of Maj. Fisher’s staff, was there, screaming his head off. “Come on, come on, Brown, we've got to get you off. You're holding us up. Hurry up.” We jumped into the car, drove two blocks to the Capitol apartments to pick up Lieut. Abrahams, the admiralty photographer, who was going along. Abrahams was a bit disorganized, so we lost about five minutes. Gallagher told Reynolds to send ‘his typewriter, which was at the

- public” relations office, out to the

naval base in another car to try to catch up with us en route, Reynolds said he would. “Have a good time,” he said. “Listen, Reynolds,” I said, “if anything happens, send all my stuff; it’s all there in my room at the Raffles hotel, Room 48; send all my stuff to CBS, New York. Just address it CBS, New York. “Nothing’s going to happen. Don’t be silly.” “All right, I hope not. But if it does, send it to CBS, New York.” The Malay driver stepped on it, and when we were almost near the naval base we saw another car with one of the conducting officers. ‘We signaled to it and stopped in the middle of the road,

and Gallagher got his typewriter.

WOMEN HIT BY

NAZI JOB DRAFT

Many Taken From Russia, France May Be Next,

London Hears.

LONDON, Dec. 17 (U. P).—A ministry for economic warfare spokesman said today that Germany’'s severe labor shortage may force the Nazis to draw heavily upon women from occupied countries that already. have provided 500,000 workers for the Reich’s heavy industries and agriculture. Many Russian women are being shipped to Germany from occupied | territory, and the Nazis probably will draft French women next, the spokesman said.

He reported that 16,000,000 women | now were employed in Germany's war effort, but added that the

were more than 5000 industrial ac- |

cidents daily, caused primarily by | fatigue, Like Britain, the spokesman said, Germany also had. drafted

We pushed on and got to the dock at the naval base where the Prince of Wales was tied up. We carried our stuff up the gangway and onfo the wide, expansive quarter-deck of the Prince of Wales. Capt. Leach, the skipper, was there and we shook hands heartily all around. “Very happy to have you with us,” the captain said. “We don't have much time. One of thé men _ will take care of your bags.” ” ” ”

Transfer to Repulse

THIS WAS the real thing. How powerful this ship is! I thought. What tremendous guns! What a fine-looking gang of men! “We must hurry. We have the "launch all ready for you.” “Ready for what, Capt. Leach?” I asked. “They're waiting for you on the Repulses-and then we're going to move out.” “On the Repulse?” exclaimed. “Yes,” Capt. Leach replied. “But, we're going on the Prince of Wales,” I said. : “I'm sorry, there must be some misunderstanding. The arrangements were made or you to go on the Repulse; “But they sald ft #as to be the

Gallagher

Divorce Granted To lfona Massey

HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 17 (U, P.). —Blaming “terrific domestic quarrels ‘which made me look 10 years older,” Hungarian film actress Ilona Massey yesterday divorced Alan Curtis, actor. Miss Massey told the court that Curtis “liked to drink and argue and the combination was so hard on my nerves I finally had to be placed under a doctor's care.” Miss Massey is the former wife of a Hungarian-land owner, the late Nicolaus Szavozd. She married Curtis in Hollywood March 26, 1941, and separated from him last Aug. 19. A property settlement provided that Curtis keep his ranch in Mendocino county and that Miss Massey retain their home here.

BRITISH PRISONERS GET SCIENCE BOOKS

By Science Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17.—Scientists who are prisoners of war in

Prince of Wales,” Gallagher insisted. “This makes all the difference in the world,” I said. “If nothing happens on this show, we can't even mention the Repulse be-’ cause the name has never been released here and our stories would have to be that we were out on a unit of the Far East fleet, which. was headed by. the Prince of Wales. In other words, we'll have no story at all.” Gallagher said, “Can't you find room for us on the Wales?” “Really, I'm terribly sorry,” said Capt. Teach, “but there just isn't room.” ; “We'll sleep on the deck,” Gallagher said. 4 “I'm terribly sorry, but we're’ just jammed up. I have 1760 men on board and we just don’t have an inch of room. You will be very comfortable on the Repulse. It's all the same. We're all going on the same mission.” Gallagner and I scratched our: chins and looked very downcast. “Well,” Capt. Leach said, “you talk it over,” and moved away.

Tomorrow—Ahoard the Kepulse in the South China sea, “to see what we can pick up or roar up.”

(Copyright. 1042, by Random House. Inc gigtriouwa by United Feature Syndicate,

BOOK RECORDS WAR ON BRITISH

Home Ministry” Publishes Detailed Story of 1940-41 Raids.

LONDON, Dec. 17 (U. P.).—The home ministry published its detailed ¢# ir of the battle of Britain yestexday in a 161-page elaborately illustrated booklet, “Front Line, 1940-41.” t' The official publication is divided’ into three main sections. The first deals with the onslaught on London, the second with the ordeal in. the provinces and the third with army and civilian defense. The account begins with the dropping of the first bomb, which fell on the Orkneys Oct. 17, 1939, and gives a graphic account of. the. devastating London raids including those - of September, 1940, and the spring of 1941.

45,000 Bombs Dropped

“For years,” the book said, “Londoners had been instinctively aware of the shape of things to come. Now

| Britain will receive from their British colleagues outside the barbed wire copies of scientific journals, reprints and other reading matter that will enable them to keep their trained minds alive. until peace

of the Irvington Methodist church will present a Christmas operetta, “The Magic Gift,” by Bryceson Treharne at 8 p. m. tomorrow in the social hall of the church. Mrs. Paul Mozingo is to direct,

Only Unshod Troops The battalion is the only armed force in the service which does not wear shoes. If they have shoes when they enlist, the shoes are

thousands of women for auxiliary duties with the air force to free men for the fighting fronts.

Lb fi sss ts,

CLUB GIVES XMAS PARTY

be such & good mousetrap that our allied soldiers want nothing. ‘else—and the Sherman is going to pack an even: stiffer wallop before long. Gen. Arnold says we are going to bring new weapons into the air war.

they understood that things were coming to them and they were ready.” ~~ In the 11 months between September, 1940, and August, 1941, the

armored force wants an 18-wheeled vehicle that will run side-wise, we'll try to get it for them,” Gen. Campbell said. There must be close participation of the military in production for the reason that changes in equip-

Factories ‘are producing new weapons, new models, new gadgets, tricky stuff like that belly turret for the flying fortress that some of us curled up in at the

ment come almost on order now from the front. For instance, if our fliers work out a new bombing trick, it may require immediate changes in the bombs,

taken away. Most of them never

wore shoes, however.

Mrs. Wilson Patterson will be accompanist and William Woods will supervise stage setting. Proceeds

A Christmas card party will be sponsored by Old-Age Pension Program Club No.‘ 3 tonight at the

brings them the opportunity to return to their homelands and take

publication estimated, between 45,000 and 55,000 bombs were dropped on London.

up again the constructive work

Briggs: factory in Detroit a few days ago. The battalion was conceived bY | will be donated to the service commands| “Front Line” includes typical pic~ °

Army’ ordnance and other producing branches in the services are working very closely with industry. Changes are being made constantly—there are

My Day

. NEW YORK CITY, Wednesday. —We had a short but very pleasant meeting: of the Chi Omega achievement award committee yesterday. 1 cannot remember ever arriving at an agreement as quickly as we

did on our choice for this year’s award. I always. en-

Joy meeting with this . group. In the course of conversation, several questions came up, which I have been thinking a good deal about of late. What is the place in the war effort, I wonder, of “ older women who are trained in " business or office work of some kind, who are college graduates, still quite able to do a full day's work, and yet not apparently wanted anywhere? Of course, I realize that this would not be so if we actually Deeded every bit of manpower we had'in the country. I saw in Great Britain how everybody is‘needed, even the hysically handicapped are used. also talked a little of the unrest which seems

wr at the

t time. I am receiving a number of letters ‘girls who feel they should leave college and go What, they call mos active: services. achity

. who is not doing the

by telegraph orders back to the factory. The way war is now, it leaves no place except for open and quick minds. It’s only in politics that you can still get by with talking. in your sleep,

By Eleanor Roosevelt

To me it seems: that this should depend entirely upon the needs of the gountry, Jooked at from a long view. as well as the immediate situation. If we need ‘an increase in certain groups of specified occupations at. once, I think the manpower commission should tell the people, and that should include the women of ‘the country, where these particular: workers are .needed and may be: found. I believe ‘that good: minds and young people with potentialities for development in the sciences, the professions and in executive work of all kinds, will need" trained minds more than ever before. College gan give this training in a shorter period than would be possible if one waited for the years of experience, which some of 'us have had to accept as a substitute. I do not feel that any girl should stay in college, maximum of work. I do not feel that, in these important yeams, girls should be chosen for college purely on the basis of whether they can afford to pay for this opportunity. They should be there because 'of the potential value which they will bring to the nation. If they have thi added training, the nation sHeuld be willing to pu something toward their development. This morning I am going down to tell the joint legislative committee on nutrition as much as I can

marine officers before the United States entered the war. Recruiting was slow until the first few Polynesian marines began walking the streets wearing rod piped caps, snowy white shirts, red sashes and khaki dresses with insignia on the hem. Then recruits showed up from all part of/ the islands. Rookies were trained at boot camps under conditions identical to those in the United States. The battalion was called up for active duty on Dec. 7, 1941. “Maj. ‘Herbert R. Nusbaum of Los

Angeles, battalion commander, said |. most of the men are employed on |

beach defenses and as guides and scouts. Their pay Is the same as that of other marines.

‘Make ‘Nasty’ Fighters

“Ordinarily these Polynesians are lazy, happy-go-lucky people but when angered they bscome maniacal and are plenty nasty fighters,” one officer said. “They can crawl through the jungle like a snake, know all there is to know about wood craft, and are excellent jungle fighters. We are developing them into snipers.” Sergt. Sianava R. Seva'Aetasi was first to join the battalion, its first corporal and row its first sergeant. Son of a royal family of the islands, he is tattooed from knees

men's church centers.

McKinley club house, 2217 E. Mich-

about the British experience in nutrition. Then w take a train back to Washington. iis

10. waish as a sign of rosalty and manhood. :

FUNNY NY BUSINESS

| 2

2

22,7 77

SD pls ae 2

TRON ORY > a 1 i i. /

igan st.

from which dictators’ tore them away. In a fairly recent issue of the London scientific journal, Nature, which has just beer received here, is a notice of the formation of a small o ‘ganization for this purpose. An appeal is issued for contributions of back issues of scientific publications for most of the imprisoned scientists have not had a chance to see results of British or American ‘research that have come

to be made up.

near: Oxford. He states that the work of supplying scientific reading matter for British prisoners of war in enemy hands has “been carried on for some time by the British Red Cross and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

HARVESTER PLANS CHILDREN’S PARTY

The annual Christmas party for

. | children of employees of the Inter-

national Harvester Co.'s Indianapolis works will be held from 10 a. m to 4 p. m. Sunday in the works’ assembly room of the office building. Entertainment ~ will include the

‘| showing of Christmas season mo-

tion pictures and music by the WIBC Haymakets.

out since the ‘war began, so that | there is a, good deal of lost time|

Leader of the movement is John R. Baker, who lives in the country |'

tures of London burning, taken from the dome of St. Paul's cathedral and showing battered shops, flats and hospitals, with firemen “in the heart of the furnace.” Street pictures show falling walls and charred automobiles. Pictures taken after the raids show people sleeping in crowded subways. :

HOLD EVERYTHING

Gifts will be|