Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 April 1943 — Page 15

Hoosier Vagabond

An NORTHERN TUNISIA (By Wireless) —I was aw’ : "from ‘the front lines for a while this spring, livin.

with “other ‘troops, and considerable fighting took: ‘place while T was gone. When I got ready to return to Bld frjetius at. the front I wondered if I would :

i which- ey now talk about Killing. i They have made the psychological

‘transition from the normal belief

that ‘taking human life is sinful

“over to a new professional outlook

“where killing is a craft. I think I am so impressed by this new attitude because it hasn't been necessary for me to make this change along with them. As 8 noncombatant, my own life is in only: by occasional chance or circumstance. tly’ I need nol: think of killing in personal an willing to mie is still murder. Even after a winter of living with wholesale death and. vile destruction, it is only spasmodically that I seem capable of realizing how real and how awful this waris, = :

Killing Becomes a Pro Josoion. MY EMOTIONS seem dead and crusty when pre-

sented with the tangibles of war. I find I can look on ' casualties were Wounded or died fighting.

rows of fresh graves without a lump in my throat. Somehow I ‘can‘:look on mutilated bodies without

Sinching or feeling deeply. .

1% is only when I sit alone away from it all, or lie

a night in my bedroll re-creating with closed eyes t I have seen, thinking and thinking and thinking, that .at last the enormity of all these newly dead ~ gtrikes like a living nightmare. And there ‘are times when I feel that I San stand it and will have to leave.

is behind. It was left behind after his first battle. His blood is up. He is fighting for his life, and killing now for him is as much a profession as writing is for me. He wants to kill individually or in vast numbers, He wants to see the Germans overrun, ‘mangled, butchered in the Tunisian trap. He speaks excitedly

. of seeing great heaps of dead, of our bombers sinking ' whole shiploads of fleeing men, of Germans by the shoumuds dune misetably in a Spal Tunisian ole * caust of his own ereation.

Experience Makes the Soldier - IN THIS one respect the front-line soldier differs

from all the rest of us. All the rest of us—you and | me and even the thousands of soldiers behind the}

lines in Africa—we want terribly yet only academically for the war to get over. The front-line soldier wants it to be got over by the physical process of his destroying enough Germans to end it. He is truly at war. The rest of us, no matter how hard we work, are not. Say what you will, nothing can make a complete soldier except battle experience. The 1st infantry division is an example of what our American units can be after they have gone through the mill of experience. Those boys did themselves proud in the semi-finals—the cleaning out of central Tunisia. Everybody speaks about it. Our casualties included few taken prisoners. All the other

“They never gave an inch,” a general says. “They died right in their foxholes.”

I heard of a high British officer who went: over!

this battlefield just after the action was over. Anjerican boys were still lying dead in their foxholes, their rifles still grasped firmly in: firing position in their dead hands. And the veteran English soldier remarked time and again, in a sort of, hushed eulogy spoken only to himself: . “Brave men. Brave men!”

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaim

MANY DOWNTOWN office workers, including yo women, are carrying their lunch to work with them these days. It’s the result of increased prices in restaurants, and the reduced variety resulting from | mtioning, + » . Beer drinkers are likely to wake up and find a beer shortage one of these days because of a shortage of bottles. It seems folks are so.prosperous mow that they just can't ‘be bothered returning the bottles to get a refund of their deposit. . « + Jake Feld has a suggestion for helping the Red Cross, Jake picks up pedestrians on his way to work each day. Many of them offer to pay. Undoubtedly, he feels the same thing is happening in hundreds of other cars each morn- : ing. And 'so, he proposes, why not have the Red Cross place a barrel at each approach to the Circle and let people who get free rides downtown drop their dimes in the barrel. The Red Cross would get the money. . . . The OCD salvage committee i8' co-operating with the government in a program to salvage duck and goose feathers to make sleeping for soldiers. If you have any old feathers or pil16ws, why not call Mrs. Bess Gutermuth, Ta. 3493? Pgne’ can tell you how to dispose of them.

Born on Easter Sunday

‘WALTER BEPLAY, 821 N: Ritter ave, will celebrate his 57th birthday Easter Sunday. Mr. Beplay was born on April 25, 1886, which also was Easter Sunday. This is the first time since then that Easter

“3A has fallen that late in April. . . . George Diener of

the phone company’s information department, is leaving May: 1 to go with the Sidener & Van Riper advertising agency. . . . Dr. Horace M. Banks, pathologist at Methodist hospital 15 years, has been commissioned a major in the army medical corps and reports for active duty May 6. . . . Harry Reid, street railway president, will “kill two birds with one stone” next week when he goes to New York to attend the

- Mexico

WASHINGTON, April 22.—There is considerable evidence that the unprecedented meeting between President - Roosevelt and President Manuel Avila Camacho at Monterrey will lead, at long last, to §sn'inely close relations between the United States x and Mexico. There is every reason why they should be the best of friends. Of the 20 republics between us and Cape Horn, Mexico is the only one to share a ‘frontier with us. As President Avila Camacho: said, geography has made her a § natural bridge between Latin and - Saxon cultures. If there is any place where the thesis of good neighbors should work, it is along the Rio Grande. The sordid fact, however, is that relations between the two neighbors have seldom been any too cordial. As often as mot, they have been the reverse. The blame is about equally divided. - Now. there is real ground for hope that a genuine 5 ge is impending. There has been, of course, of A Sohsiderable amelioration in the ‘past year or so: “7Y Disputes ‘which have bedeviled the two countries for years are signs of settlement.

Roosevelt-H oover Agree

+ MEXICO HAS demonstrated, by casting her lot with the united nations, that she thinks fundamentally as we do. If we can’t get together now, something must be radically wrong with one of us or both. One fault. underlying our not always cordial relations with Mexico and other Latin American countries lies very much on our own doorstep. That fault has been one of diplomatic indifference. I say “has been because I think the fault today is largely

cured. The real beginning of 8 change in’ this respect

occurred about a dozen years ago. It was inaugurated by Herbert. Hogver, His first move, not as president

a ot Meio Though the news of his we Visit nad only heels nigunted 4

exhibition ‘which they dedicated to me.

United States C. of C. convention. He's a delegate from the Indiana state chamber and also a councilor representing the Indianapolis C. of C. . . . Mrs. Florence Stone, the well-known press agent, is nursing a very sore wrist, She sprained it "lalling upstairs.”

Around the Town

A PROMINENT Indianapolis. businessman bet a friend $50 the other day that the war will be over before April 13, 1944, He has another bet: that it will be over by Jan. 1, as far as Germany is concerned. . «+» The governor's chewing tobacco problem is solved. The fellow that sent him a year’s supply of Mail Pouch has exchanged it for the governor’s favorite, Beech Nut. . .. The Indiana appellate court, reports Justice Wilbur Royse, will be closed all day tomorrow in commemoration of Christ's death. . . . Bob Oblinger’s Kiwanis publication, reports that Kiwanians Carl Spickelmier and Ike Hoagland are vacationing in Florida, separately, for several weeks. . . . Lots of folks

noticed our reference in .Monday’s column to “Martin

place.” Yep, it was Morton place. We should have known better. . . . Fragmentary conversation overheard in front of Block's: “So I got on my bicycle and went for the nurse.”

The New Operator

A NEW ELEVATOR operator reported for duty at the Traction Terminal building the other day and,

as is customary, he was told to go down to the|-

second floor and have his’ ‘pictare taken for identifica~ tion purposes, He left and was gone for several hours. The superintendent found he hadn’t shown up at the photo shop. So a search was started. The fellow was found sitting in. a dentist's waiting room. It was learned the dentist came out once and asked what he wanted. When the new operator said he wanted his picture taken, the ‘dentist assumed he wanted his teeth X-rayed and told him he’d have to wait his turn. , , . Lyman Hunter and Roger Beane have been nominated for the presidency of the Indianapolis Junior C. of C, They're getting their organizations set up apd you can look for the fireworks most any time now.

‘By William Philip Simms

but as president elect, was fo hi Central and South America. I accompanied him on that trip, and I know from many talks with him en route the importance he attached to closer ties with that part of the world and his genuine desire to bring them about. President Roosevelt and his predecessor in the White House may not have many ideas in common, but this one they share in full. The good neighbor policy which Mr. Hoover began is being implemented almost daily by Mr. Roosevelt.

Need More Official Visits

WE HAVE given up our protectorates over Cuba and Panama. We no longer claim any right to meddle in the affairs of our neighbors. Dollar diplomacy is a thing of the past. The Monroe Doctrine, with all its corollaries, has become a hemispheric doctrine behind which the 21 republics of the western. world stand all for one and one for all. ' But all this, however ‘excellent, is only groundwork. True, the soundness of it has been tested in war,

“for all but one Latin American state has either

declared war against the common enemy or broken off relations. But, as President Roosevelt indicated, the full import of what has been done will not be

felt at once. That is why he and his host

President Camacho, spent most of their time discussing post-war affairs. From now on it is not merely a matter of common ‘sense for the chief executives and other high officials of the different Americas to exchange

visits whenever the occasion demands, but a positive

duty, For no matter what the post-war peace lineup is to be, it is already abundantly clear that the Pan-American league of nations—Canada included—

is destined to play an extremely important role in it.|

The closer their understanding, and the better they work together as a team, the more effective

they can make their collaboration both regionally any b

in the world at large.

By Eleanor Roosevelt :

Meéxican oithestra playing Mexican songs which, as the | foreign minister murmured in my ‘ear, are meant] . for moments of peace and reflection, such as sere-|

aos froin 45, a Ol th oat

nades at midnight.

Jater, ins gress id out at the miliary, camp | ‘school

the ‘children of the of rey, . gave ‘an ‘Girls 1

r~ ‘costume danced very charmingly, al he

‘thousands of boys and girls went through a drill with

ny poles and dumbbells. One group sang a beautiful ~ song called “Americas Immortal,” which was written

Bly; by a ‘Mexican author and dedicated to all. the | The pupils of a military school went through some}

, very excellent, drill. The little boys at the end of

- their identity. U. S. planes!

goof

‘By Ernie Pyle] 14

But to the fighting soldier that phase of the war]

‘Miraculous’ Says Casey, When All Planes Get Away

From a ringside seat abdard an escorting U. S. cruiser, some

little distance from Tokyo, Robert J. Casey, noted war har. Joma # ent of The Indianapolis Times and the Chicago Daily News, eyewitnessed a deckload of American bombers take off from a carrier

for their historic bombing of Japan (April 18, 1942). Sitting there on top of “Shangri-la,” Bob Casey wrote the following step-by-step,

graphic account of the happening, perhaps the most talked of

event since the war began.

By ROBERT J. CASEY Copyright, 1943, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc.

_ AT SEA, Monday, April 13, 1942.—Clear sky; rolling

sea; white caps; cold.

This morning we met our pals, the U. S. S. Hornet and other vessels of the ‘task force. Cmdr. Chappel came in to tell me this glad news after a bitter cold night, and also to spread the tidings that we are on our way to bomb Japan, possibly Tokyo—most likely

Tokyo.

The ships are now scattered over the nearby ocean

with us, so closely that all seem part of a common

ttern

with us, and all, as you can’t help but feel after the loneliness of the past few days, part of a common arrangement for defense. This is a big force, now and in spite of all the old traditions of maneuver, a force that the Japs

would hardly dare take on without twice the number of ships and at least an

even break of airplanes. News of our mission was all over the ship when I got down to the deck at 9:30. It seems that the operation orders were transmitted by semaphore, which virtually everybody aboard ship can read. I have learned-that at sea in a man of war there is no such thing as hush hush, Among the odd bits of informa-

tion that came to light is the fact -

that the Hornet is loaded up with

North American B-25 medium , bombers. .

These things carry a crew of five, have a top speed of about 300 miles an hour and a cruising range of more than 2600 miles; ; they ‘are powered by two 1600 h. p. Wright Cyclone radial motors. They are army planes and very. definitely not designed for carrier operation. They can take off —sometimes with effort—from a mile runway. we must take it for granted that by some miracle they can also take off from a deck. But as we figure out for ourselves after a’ while, no miracle could set them down again on a carrier. This expedition has all the elements of mystery as well as novelty, ” ad »

Boy, What a Surprise!

IF THESE PLANES can't expect torcome back to the carrier, then it's obvious that they have to come down on land. And whose land? In a day or so, maybe, we shall know all about it and it may well be that any forecasts or guesses We make now will look silly in retrospect. On the other hand it may be interesting to compare today’s fact with yesterday’s supposition and see how closely they resemble one another. Well, anyway, this is how it appears to us at the moment: The planes, no matter where theyre going to land, will fly over

Japan and drop their bombs and

the roof spotters and the ARP wardens and the pursuing bombers and the ack-ack captains and the official photographers will be about three minutes figuring out Big TwoIp us! did

U. S. planes! Bombers! engined bombers! So Army bombers! And those things come from? The makings of a fine incident are there. The boys will have a

‘cabinet. meeting right away and,

unless we are spotted on our approach, (which we shall do everything possible to prevent) they will probably guess every answer but the right one. These are ind planes, therefore, they must have come from land bases, therefore, Russia has permitted this outrage, therefore, Japan is al war with Russia! Could be! ”" » 8

Thinks Russia Involved

gge inlets

}

hit ht :

i Be!

Seeing them here,

may be sent out over all telephones,” he said. “You have probably observed that we have been joined by a very strong fofce. .You will observe also that the carrier Hornet has aboard a full load of fine-looking: planes. These are the very latest thing in bombers. » v ” » »

Historic Event Brewing

“YOU ARE about to take part in a very historic event. For the first time in the history of Japan, the home territory is about to be attacked. This attack will be in force and will undoubtedly have great effect. “Before going into this action, I shall supply you with such details of our procedure as are

- available. From now on, our look-

outs must be extremely vigilant against submarines which are likely to be in this vicinity—that is all for now.” - It's odd the amount of mystery

syour:‘can work up about things

that you can see but can’t hear.

‘There is no end of speculation ‘over the carrier, cruisers and cans

we picked up the other day. We have a fair idea of what their inhabitants look like, even of what they are going to eat for dinner tonight, but for all that they might be people on another planet. Where have they been? How did they pick up their load of planes without tipping “off the German or Jap agents? - Where did they load? Have they, per-

haps, been based ‘on Alaska? None. ,of the answers would make any

difference if we knew them. But the guess work helps to while the time away when the sea is rolling and the wind blows free.

» # o

0dd Noises Fill Ship

AT 6 P. M. WE were in a roaring tempest and odd noises filled the ship—not including the contribution of somebody practicing on the trombone—the usual creak of strained rivets, the bang of iron doors, plus the breathless whispering of the tumult outside, the off-stage conversation of the wind, the clatter of sliding gear . . . roll and pitch and smash! I've known few evenings like this. Dinner—I1 suppose that, under the circumstances, I should make note of it—was fried chicken, ice cream and cake. There was no overpressure in the wardroom at-

mosphere, Uncertainty was there, - of course, and puzzlement. You'd

not expect anything else where nobody knows anything and thinks he may be dying tomorrow in some unforeseen and novel fashion. The wisdom of .disclosing a new technique of attack to send 16 planes over Japan is not vigorously defended. The executive thinks we ought

to augment the performance with

a hammering operation against the few and badly-protected of the Jap fleet still left in this

_ neighborhood. Ard that's. the Way

1 feel about, it." ; Sd April 18 (Saturday). = I got up at 4:30 a. m. Went on . deck at 5 o'clock, to face a howl-

units’

ing wind. Sky:gray. Sta pitch |HoLD EVERYTHING ad si

Doolittle *wires a Sapna’ medal to the fin of a \ 500-pound bomb which shortly thereafter returned 4a:its Nipponese makers {uu blast of destruction; This sereiuony’ task place ult the’ deck uf: the! Horne}

Just. before. the bombers took off.

First off, Brig. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle “bounces” his B-25 bomber off the U. 8, aircraft carvior | Hornet, riding in heavy seas, to lead ‘his flight of bombers on the Tokyo raid April 18, 1942,

ing. T stood it for awhile and then went down, half frozen, to the wardroom for coffee. The place was filled with officers, but nobody was. much concerned with the weird action in which we are theoretically taking. part. Water is rolling .down the decks, sometimes & couple of feet deep. ; A's hard keeping upright. 7:00: Breakfast: ack-ack alerted. Mysterious surface craft reported to the north, ‘May be a destroyer. After a moment's. hesitation, the assistant gUNREry officer is allowed to eat his cakes in peace., * 7:45: Report something sighted off our port bow. Object unseen by plane patrol. We verify. It’s a junk or sampan, or tfawler. Considerable activity aloft. I go up into the wind. ' 8:00: Cruiser swings out of line to port. Starts firing almost immediately. Terrific barrage with 15 six-inch guns. Shells are tossed ‘like machine gun bullets— eight salves in the air at once. Flashes ' run around ship like lights oh an electric sign. 8:10: Dive bombers attack. Trawler visible momentarily against whiteness, of shell geysers. She seems to be about 600 tons. Hornet signals: “Preparing launch - aeroplanes.” =. (It’s obviously now or. never—now that the Jap patrol has picked up and possibly reported us to Tokyo.) "A criuSer chases Jap tub to horizon, slapping shells at it génerously. 8:20: First bomber off the Hornet. Miraculous. The carrier is diving, deluging deck with white water. .The big plane is just about catapulted as the ship lifts out. of the sea. . 8,» ”

off Without a Hitch

QUIET, on the horizon. There hasn't. been a hitch. All have shot straight up in the teeth of the hurricane.” A kid in the corner of the pom-pom section waves’

"and clasps his hands over: his

head. Another kid blesses’ himself. ‘The captain's 'mess-boy, , who was on the search light platform with me, bowed his * head as the last’ B-25 climbed into the gray and out of sight. ‘We'll never see him again,” he ‘surprisingly

nosed over on the deck of the Hornet. The crack washed out the plane, but apparently did little damage to the pilot and’ his aides. Another plane fell into the sea astern of the Hornet. A de-

stroyer picked up the crew.; It .

was difficult to see how ‘many planes got back to, the carriers, which were rolling like yachts. .

.» 8 »

News From Tokyo

2:30: Tokyo announced the raid. ‘Unidentified planes had bombed Tokyo and blasted numerous school, hospitals and shinto-houses. “The 'quick-acting Japanese ack-ack had immedi ately knocked down nine of the raiding .planes—but, at the moment, ‘nobody was - able to say whose - they were. | : Such reports continued throughout the day. One bulletin—the only one which attempted to fix the nationality of the bombers said that the capital had been raided by Chinese, American, Russian’ planes, This identification was later dropped and the night report left the mystery unsolved. The D (Nazi official news. agency) reported that Yokohama had also been bombed. The BUP (British , United Press) said that Tokyo. had been a target for big bombers presumed to have come from carriers operating in Japanese waters. What price our great finesse? All through the night, we continued to high-tail it directly eastward at 25 knots. It looked as if we were going to withdraw from this action. What else we shall do, ‘if anything, knows. . Today’s ‘ radio broadcasts from Tokyo didn’t give many details of - the raid other than those of yesterday which ' were . meager enough. But Bheys did go sa far as to say that all the bombers were American. (The official Jap ‘pictures have been developed, I guess). 'They seem to have . ahgndaned. their claim to a bag

. ‘of . nine ‘planes. It becomes very

: plenty of constérnation.

definite ‘from their manner of

speech and. also: from interrupted

messages. on the Japanese broadcast band thdt the raid caused It is le’, that,” with tons of

gfe" Ef.

if fs

nobody

decks aren't long enough to launch such planes as these. : The war leaders, Tojo et “al, went over to visit the Son of Heaven during: the afternoon and explain the bombing, Their ape pointment was for 4 o'clock and | at that time the fires which the bombers had started in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka and + Nagoya, were under control. These fires, the commentator cagily an nounced, had been caused by “the alleged bombing.” TOMORROW-Some more re= action from Tokyo.

MEDALS SENTON TOKYO'S BOMBS

‘Goodwill’ Tokens to U. S. Officers Returned in Doolittle Raid.

SAN DIEGO, Cal, April 22 (U, :

of honor attached to it, Lt. (jg) Robert Noone, former signal officer of the carrier Hornet, revealed hott night. 4 Those medals, Noone ‘said, were presented to American army and: navy officers over a period of years as tokens of “goodwill.” Enough of them had been donated so that each bomb had one. : “There were a lot of ‘other thin on the bombs,” Noone said. * Ne

| painted ‘them all up, with slogan

and almost everybody autograph them. - We. were’ proud to take p in the venture.” : Noone, whose home is at Aubu dale, Mass,, is a patient at the x hospial. here.

FREIGHT TG

BUFFALO, April 22 w.

BS. Great Lakes freight traffic forn