Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 December 1943 — Page 13

Galoshes have been promised for weeks ictuaily from day pe to day, but me rains are two months old and galoshes aren't here yet. “I'd give my pay roll for a pair of galoshes,” one soldier said. “They're supposed to be on a ship already in the harbor,” another cannoneer said, “And sure as hell the jerries will sink it before they get them unloaded.” Me Dozens of times a day the subject of galoshes ‘gomes up. : “My feet haven't been dry for six weeks,” one soldier said. And another one spoke up: “If you take a shot of that lousy cognac they sell in Naples, it will dry your socks as soon as it hits bottom.” :

Three Boys in Crew Only 20

LITTLE CPL. JOHN C. GRAHAM, from Dillon, 8. C, sits on a water can before & bonfire scraping the mud off his shoes before putting on his leggins. He gets off onto the subject of overshoes, of course, and one of the other boys says: ’ “Oh for God's sakes, stop talking about overshoes, that’s all I've heard for weeks and I'm sick of listening to it.” : “Well,” says Cpl. Graham, “you got to talk about something and it might as well be overshoes, You - Just can't sit around all day with your trap hanging

Cpl. Graham is nicknamed “Peewee.” He is short

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

,. TWO OF THE GIRLS at the power and light company offices came over to The Times Clothe-A-Child the other day and got a couple of small children. After fitting them out with new clothing in liberal fashion, the girls took the youngsters to the : : light company office and from one ho department to another, One of the youngsters, a preschool-age girl, was highly impressed with her clothing, Everywhere she went she would say: “See my new coat! See my new shoes!-See my new dress! See my new panties.” The child’s delight amused everyone

crew is ancient. How to Start a Battle

* time by gambling. Our battery got paid for the first

SECOND SECTION _

LEE

MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1943

don't the the crew is Pfc.’ Lloyd Iowa. He Man.” That's because he is 35, which

LIKE SOLDIERS everywhere, the gun crews kill

time in two months while I was with them, and immediately a poker game started in every crew. Our crew even brought a shelter half and spread

it on the floor of the gun pit and played right there while waiting for further firing orders, As Sgt. McCray said, the best way to bring on a firing mission is to start a hand of poker, And sure enough, they hadn't played five minutes till the firing order came and everybody" grabbed his cards and money and scrambled for the shells, . While they were playing one of the boys said, “I wonder if the Germans got paid today.” And another one sald, “Do you suppose the Germans play poker, too?” To which another answered, “Hell no, them guys ain't got enough money to play poker,” which was probably a little misconception on his part, since most of the prisoners I've seen had money in their pockets. The boys will bet on anytihng. bet on whether I would come back to this theater or go to the Pacific. They've got bets on when we’l] get to Rome, and when the war will be over, and a couple of them were betting on whether Schlitz beer was sometimes put in green bottles instead of brown. They came to me to settle this but I didn't know. This is the regiment, incidentally, that had a pay

day just before leaving American more than a year ago. They left the States with around $52,000, and:

when they arrived in England and turned in their money for foreign exchange, they had $15,000 more than they started with. They “had taken it away from other outfits on the ship at poker, ‘ Dumb, these hilibillies,

}

says “Step back, please”—why they won't do the same | thing on streetcars and busses. No comment, . . , Joe] Rimstedt, the OPA tire rationing officer, has been | wondering for some time when and if Uncle Sam is | going to want him in the army. But he's in no doubt | how his 6-year-old ‘son feels about the matter. A| group of youngsters were having a club meeting at Joe’s home and the subject of his being drafted came |

up. The older boy who was “presiding” decided to! °

take a vote on “Whether Mr, Rimstedt should go into the army.” Everyone voted no except the Rimstedt boy, who voted yes. “You must have misunderstood the question,” the “chairman” said. “No,” replied the!

2 FOR. . : P ARTY

I've heard of one!f

ADE FLIGHT IN 11 PLANES

Secret Code Used to Arrange Takeoff for Cairo And Tehran,

By S. BURTON HEATH Times Spécial Writer

AN EAST COAST AIR BASE, Dec, 20.—~When President Roosevelt

flies to far places, to meet the uncles off to war fighting: Ameriea’s enemies.

heads of allied nations and armies, | plans are made in such secrecy that the flight is referred to only by a i a secret code designation. Yet obviously there are people outside the coun-| cils of the mighty who have to] know, Flight/ crews may not be| told anything] more than that] they are to carry] “V.I. P.” — which | Maj. Bryan is army slang for | Very Important People, But when the papers are filled with surmises that President Roosevelt is going] to confer with Prime Minister Churchill, Premier Chiang Kai-shek | and Marshal Stalin, and then a whole flock of army and navy brass

pretty good idea what is in the wind. . 250 in Party There were 250 members of Presi-| dent Roosevelt's party going to Cairo and Tehran, They included | political and diplomatic personages whose pictures are familiar to most us, plus a nice assemblage of military men of whom the lowliest were army colonels and navy captains |

8 Ula:

——————

Delores, Vernon Stevens Proud of Service Flags:

Father Is in War Work |

By VICTOR

PETERSON

Delores Ann Stevens and Vernon “Skipper” Stevens ara mighty

proud little kids.

And well they might be for the 3-year-old daughter and the 5-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon E. Stevens, 519 Cole st, have eight

“

Now that might come pretty close to a record but to top it off

their father Is in essential war|————

work at Allison's, But, of course | you can't forget grandma, Mrs. Minnie L. Cook, ’ Four of her sons are part of the; fighting uncles and while they are off in service she, at 56, has gone to work. Her job is to help make] parachutes, So it is a fighting family with| mother, Mrs, Stevens, trying te hold them all together on the homehearth front. Naturally, as the only niece and | nephew, Delores and “Skipper” are| co-apples of their uncles’ eyes » » » - AMONG THE men in service are a private, a seaman 2-c, an aviation | student, a flight officer, a chief electrician’s mate, a chief petty of-|

{hats show up, flight crews have a ficer, a captain and a corporal

Cpl. M. G. Cook is stationed at Camp Claiborne, La, with thie engineers. June and was employed by LinkBelt in civilian life, Another of Mrs. Cook's boys is a real navy man. Chief Petty Officer William N. Cook bas been in the navy since 1918 when he got in on the tail end of the first war at the age of 18. For a quarter century now he has

{sons of the late

He has been in service since | [He is Chief Electrician's Mate Le-

The fourth of her brood is not her own son but she has raised im since a baby. He is Pvt. Paul ¥ Cook Chenoweth who is in Omaha with an engineering unit. He for-

'merly worked at’R. C. A,

the Mra,

The four other uncles Mr.

are and George Stevens. Seaman 2-c¢ Paul F, Stevens has been in the navy for two years, Trained at Great Lakes, he is stationed at Brooklyn hospital In New York city. He was an automotive stockman in civilian life, n » ” FLIGHT OFFICER Beryl H. Stevens is ready to go overseas if he has not already done so. A co-pilot of a B-24 Liberator bomber, he has finished his training. He has been in service for a year and a half and formerly was associated with the continental Optical Co Then there is an “old salt” at 35.

Roy G. Stevens who has been at sea for nine years and has plied a half-million miles in the Atlantic and Pacific { ” . 0» | CHIEF STEVENS was only 17 {when he enlisted in the national guard and he did a five-year hitch

They used 11 Douglas Skymasters been ‘a test pilot and at present is; with the 152d infantry. Then came

Rimstedt youngster. “I think daddy ought to go. He'd | yrought together from air lines stationed at Providence, R. I.

look so nice in a uniform.”

» ~ »

[the navy. Wearing five service bars, | he was at Attu when the Yanks took

Wear Fighting Unifors

Delores Ann and Vernon “Skipper” Stevens cen. plays he Is fly. ing with one of his fighting uncles, she holds her penny wir stamp bank,

G. Cook

P. F. Chenoweth

{which were using them under Air | Transport Command contract. The, AVIATION STUDENT Vernon F. over and was in on the landing at

"President himself used the same COOK is the youngest of the four boys | Kiska, plane that took Secretary of State at 20 and is now in training at the

who saw her, A little later an ‘ordinarily dignified widow walked

The Stateiouse Scene into the company’s customer his-

not least is Capt.

h! 49 e. J

tory section—in which only women work, Imitating the littIé girl's childish treble, she began: “See my new coat! See my new shoes! See my new dress!” And then, raising her skirt about a foot above her knees: “See my hew panties!” She looked around at another door. There her horrified gaze fell upon a rather shy and retiring official of the company who had just stepped inside. His ears were as réd as beets. 'Muttering: “What did I come in here for anyway?” the widow

fled from the room, «

Lake Fish Salted

FOR A LONG TIME, Wade Swiger, head ol continuity. for WIBC,.has been Jonging for a taste of salt fish, ‘such as lake herring in brine, but he can't seem to make anyone around here understand what ~ he wants. At the fish markets, he says, he gets such _ Feplies as: “Salted lake fish? Why lake fish aren't

_ malt water fish. Whadda: you mean?” Personally, we

can't think why he would yearn for such a delicacy, but since he does, we're willing to help. Anyone know Where he can satisfy his longing? . . . One of our feminine readers wonders why, if people automatically step back in the elevator when the elevator operator

In Washington

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20.—The war department is in the midst of a campaign to help the infantry get its share of the glory in compensation for the dirty Job it has to do. Along with this is a rumbling murmur of discontent from some younger tank oflicers who fear that armor is being side tracked by the high command. In the Pentagon, they have come around to the glorification of the @dughboy in the mud. The war department recently devised infantry badges, three inches long and half an inch wide, a miniature rifle mounted on a field of infantry blue with- silver border. That is the expert infantryman badge. Then a wreath is put : around it for a combat badge. 3 1 Doughboys who do a reasonably good job may be sure of winning one of these badges. _ They are frankly the result of a feeling in the war department that the doughboy does the dirty fighting in the mug while the other branches get the medals. It was decided to give him something he

‘could strut on his chest. ‘The Backbone of the: Army’

{| THE WAR DEPARTMENT its publicity matepial describes the infantry as “the backbone of the

with pay increases ranging up to $216 a year.

The new rating of the infantry ‘is put <by the:

leaves other services, especially

of people, feeling very much neglected,

‘My Day

WASHINGTON, Sunday, Dec. 19—On

" the infantry to stay in there, It is therefore doing

. one question that lingers and that must be at the

WE'RE RUNNING into competition from a new oordell Hull to M w for his mo-| University of Vermont where he :s mentous conferences there, and | studing to become an army pilot. ice before Pearl Harbor.

source. , . , The Hoosier Sentinel, the state Demo-

cratic organ, Friday carried an intecesting column | 4) ot has carried many other world When he first entered service #|

~The Statehouse Scene—by Ray E. Smith, secretary to the governor. , , , Ray reports, for instance, that | “on the average, from three to five mentally unbal- | anced persons come to the governor's office each week | to see him, Some say they have received a special | message by radio that the governor wants to talk to them, , .". Most of the mentally ill have a persecu-| tion complex, thinking somebody is trying to poison | them or do them bodily harm. . . , One woman phones periodically to demand that the governor make air planes quit flying over her house, . . . She screams into | the phone with realistic fright that every time she! goes out of doors they “drop worms and bugs on her.” | .'+ « Along another line, Ray tells a story about Roy | Lanham, the accommodating blind concessionaire in| the statehouse rotunda. Roy was listening to a woman talk and talk about her soldier son, Ray reports. “Finally, encouraged by Roy’s attentiveness, she drew a picture of him out of her putse. Roy gazed upon it and was lavish in his praise of the “fine looking young man.” The mother left happily. She never discovered Roy was blind.” , . . How about doing a guest column for us some time, Ray?

By Raymond Clapper

of them are critical of Gen. McNajr and say he is known to be critical of armor and to believe that infantry attacks are what will overcome the enemy. That, say some of these tank officers, is going to cost | more lives than if armor was given greater recogni- | tion, They are becoming quite agitated about what they considered the neglect of armored warfare by! those now" in pontral of ground forces. That compldint is considered by some in the Pentagon building as an understandable result of high morale, or a special form of “localitis.” Armor drew strong interest in our army after the early German armored successes in the lowlands and France: Their phenomenal success with the air-tank team set our people to work developing the same doctrine. We feverishly began a vast tank program and the organization of armored divisions.

Controversy Among the Experts

IN TIME, however, emphasis swung again to the infantry on the basis that it would have to cut through the mountainous terrain and actually take the ground. Limits were seen to what air could do and to what nks could do. The buildup of the doughboy began earnest, It is pointed out how.the doughboy must stand up to the fire of every weapon from the pistol on up. He must live in the dirt and the wet and the cold. | He must stay at it day and night, He doesn't have armorplate to protect him, but stands exposed. The army wants a lot of infantry and it wants

ta in

everything ‘possible to build up infantry spirit now, with combat badges, pay promotions and a general campaign of glamorizing, : That all seems to make good sense, There is just

bottom of the case the tank people are trying to make

“Those are matters for military. men. I only report that a ‘controversy fs developing among the experts.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

people, | ficially comes

figures acioss the oceans. The planes used are not reserved for such special purposes.- Ordinarily they are busy carrying freight and ordinary men and] women about their humdrum but! necessary war business, ‘

Hot Plates Installed

When it is to be occupied bv the President, his Skymaster has some special fittings which, in the interest of security, eannot be described.

Otherwise the only special comfort|

provided for this particularly distinguished party was hot plates, so that meals could be heated en route, One of the few outsiders who did not have to rely entirely upon guesswork as to the party's makeup was Hal C. Stover, veteran Douglas field service man and C-54 expert. In his office at an east coast A. T.. C. base, where he works closely with

the army, Stover received a call 5

from the operations officer. “Drop everything and come over at once,” he was told,

Checks For Takeoff

When Stover arrived, he was informed that some C-54's “with V, I. EB, aboard” would arrive at a nearby base the next day, and was asked to go there and check the planes for the Atlantic hop. Stover flew to the designated base and was there when the first C-54 arrived. “JI saw a flock of admirals and generals,” he said, “but I was so busy checking the planes that I had no time to chat with any of them, “The first ship took off a short time later and disappeared over the water horizon, Soon - another, Others, one by one, came in, were checked, and took off. “There had been much newspaper speculation. about the President's meeting with Churchill, Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek, When I saw a high proportion of - America's war leaders heading overseas it didn't take much intelligence to know that they were heading for that fonference.” ’ The President's plane was piloted by Maj. Otis Bryan, who until recently was in charge of Transcontinental & Western Air's A. T. OC. contract operations. As a civilian, Bryan flew President Roosevelt to the Casablanca conference, A few weeks ago he was commissioned a major, He has more than two miilion miles in the air to his credit,

WINTER OFFICIALLY STARTS WEDNESDAY

. By Jeience Service ASHING TON, Dec. 20. — The

shortest day of the year will begets are breaking records with the

Wednesday, Dec. 22. Winter of-

to the northern hémisphere that day at 12:30 p.m,

"|paign the P-40s made 32 raids on

1 |shot down.

year ago he was in the ground crew. Prior to entering the army he was employed at the Herff-Jones Co.

And last but

Ercell- Stévens, who went into serve

And now, well he is somewhere {in California is all the family can {say. His work is counter espionage. | Before entering service he was a metal plater,

To Peace By MENRY J. TAYLOR Times Rpecinl Writer

MADRID, Dec. 20 (By Wireless),

dividualism, At ‘least that seems a fair sum=- . " mary of an tended given me today

Gomez Jordana

who is

forthright sentative of Spain and one who is his country's best hope for the improvement of her relations abroad. However, it turns out that what Gen. Jordana most wants from the rest of the world is a clear understanding and belief in Spain's united determination for continued neutrality and independence. She wishes no part of the conflict, nor is she tempted by any advantages which might be gained cheaply through eleventh-hour alliance with the winning side. Because of her neutrality, and not in spite of it, Spain figures that she should have a voice in post-war readjustment, ““This country, which suffered so intensely and so recently, finds hersélf still in the early stages of convalescence,” said the foreign minister. “Agains. the background of her own experience, Spain seeks nothing but peace for-the world. “Up to now, we have succeeded in our policy in spite of our geographical situation and the vicissitudes through which the shifting struggle has passed. As the pendulum has swung back and forth between the . great belligerent

Twenty Indianans who have escorted more than 1100 medium bombers over Pantelleriang§ Tunisian, Sicillan and Sardinian tar-

army air forces’ P-40 Warhawks, And in there knocking down enemy planes are 2d Lt. Daniel H. Owen, 525 Bancroft ave, and Flight Officer Maurice L. Plummer, R.R. 7, Box 540. On their 100th mission on the 100th day of operations, five hits for the Warhawks brought the group’s total enemy aircraft destroyed in the air to 102. . ‘During the Pantellerian cam-

the island with 23 of them performed in five days. On a fighter bomber mission over southern Sardinia, 25 enemy planes attacked the Hoosiers and 17 of them were

—To the end of this war, and afterward, Spain is bent on a course of | what you might call dogged indi °

exinterview

Foreign Minister Lists Spain's Claims Table Seat Despite Neutrality

‘by Foreign Min- § fster Francisco {

regarded in Washington, j London and here | in Madrid, as a ; repre-

Gen Francisco Gomes Jordana, Spanish foreign minister,

powers in the four years and four months of war, Spain has shown herself unmovable. - We hope con-

fidently that the co-related sovereign soils of this peninsula, which represent the ‘Iberian bloc,’ are to be respected by no impeachment of our. . sovereignty, for certainly it should be to the interests of both sides to respect our Independence fully.” The small-framed, quiet-man-nered statesman really talked with just such precision and full phrasing. Never in his 67 years—most of them spent in military and political service — had he ‘ever before

{submitted to an interview, So In {urging him to break his rule and receive me, I had suggested that he present his views about Spain in his own rich language and as If he were speaking only to Spaniards and not to the world, In that way he might better convey to readers abroad the emotional feeling and thought of Spain today.

20 Hoosiers Break Records: In P-40 Warhawks in Europe

Marsala, Sicily, is 2d Lt. Bruce Cunningham, Hammond. He has the air medal and nine oak leaf Lt. Owen and 2d Lt. Richard W. Dunkin of Huntington both have one enemy plane to thelr credit. Second Lt. Edrl A. Dicker, Anderson, and Flight Officer Plummer have participated in most of the aerial operations over Tunisia, Sicily, Sardinia and Pantelleria, ' Warhawk mechanics include Sgt. Edward M. Kunde, South Bend; Sgt. Howard C. Bohling, Vincennes; Sgt. Clyde A. Sutton, Crawfordsville; 8. Sgt. Merrill R. Miller, Jacksonville; T. Sgt. Edwin K. Anderson, Mooresville, and M. Sgt.

. i B. H. Stevens

F. Stevens

Thus, he combined diplomatic language with colorful national metaphor in declaring that Spain's government is not a copy of any other regime in Europe, “We are Spaniards,” he sald, “and we Spaniards have 3 own charac teristics which date far back and

. which are very dear to us, Spain Is ! not a country without its own ‘so-

lera’—-without its own roots and its own seedwine and its own casks. We do not need to borrow these from others. We use our own national spirit, known for centuries

2 in every part of the world.”

“Grave Error” Spain's position of neutrality, like that of Switzerland and Swed2n, has been of great service to the

‘British. Support

Ercell Stevens KL. G. Stevens

JUGOSLAV KING LEFT IN LURCH

Rival While Still Recognizing Exiled Regime.

By RICHARD MOWRER

CAIRO, Dec, 20—~To all intents and purposes, the royal Jugoslav government-in-exile here exists in a state of suspended “animation, With Britain and other united na tions definitely supporting Marshal Josip Broz (Tito) and his &rmy of liberation, and dispatching supplies

and air support to him rather than to Peter's war minister and guerrilla

warring world, Jordana pointed out, adding: “And Spain's contribution will be even greater and more evi dent when the struggle ceases. “It would he a grave error to shut out from the readjustment of the world - those .tountries which have remained outside the conflict —which have done so regardless of how the victory looked at any time in those long years, Their counsel and participation in shaping the new world is indispensable if the world hopes to arrive at a durable peace. To whatever degree any victorious powers have contempt for those they consider weak, to that degree they will create the germs of another war.” Discussing false criticisms and mistaken opinions of his country, he blamed refugees and emigres for mest of the inaccurate reports about Spain, and continued: “Only a complete distortion of the truth can explain how there are those in the United States, for example, who seem to believe that Spanish public opinion is divorced from the government and does not support its policies and actions. We hear that even the loyalty of the army is questioned from afar,

Cites Support “The truth is that not only is the

faithful to the orders of the chief of state—and I can testify to this as a person who knows perfectly well the interior workings of the army—but it is also equally true that tlils government's present acts

ported by the full weight of public opinion in Spain. | i

and future intentions are sup- |

“We live best in the world with those who understand us best, and |

leader Gen. Draja Mikhailovie, the young king's government cannot continue to dangle forever and - some solution will have to be found soon, © - ; To date the British government continues to maintain formal relas tons with the royal Jugoslav gove ernment. There are no signs that the British intend to ditch King Peter, On the other hand, the British make no bones of the fact that they are supporting Tito's set up inside Jugoslavia as a political and military entity of great assists ance to the allies. & Unlike ‘the situation in Greece where the leftist Flas group Greece's equivalent of the Jugoslav partisans—toes not enjoy allied support, in Jugoslavia the partisans’ fighting value is such that military considerations govern British po toward them, - : 2