Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 March 1945 — Page 1

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14, 1945

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| STREET

off Wash.)

Service

ning office till 8:30

Fitted em

BACH

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BONDS? |

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ERIE

BETS LIFE TERM

} jury held out for the death penalty

| Business .....

. Editorials

| Meta Given .

FORECAST; Cloudy with showers ending. late tonight; tomorrow, partly cloudy and slightly cooler,

FINAL. HOME

SCRIPPS — HOWARD §

VOLUME 56—NUMBER 4

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1943

tered as Second-Class ‘Matter at Poftoffice , Indianapolis, 9, Ind. Issued asliye except Sunday

“PRICE FIVE CENTS

Others Here Receive Bloodstained Clothes; Stimson Promises Probe

By VICTOR PETERSON Following disclosure in The Times Tuesday of blood-stained clothes being sent families of men killed in service, two more local cases have come to light. In one. a captain's bars and cap were flecked with blood. In the other a muddy, bloody wristband was received along with a shrapnel-torn identification card. Both came from the army serv-

" {ce .forces, Kansas City quarter-

master, army effects bureau. Yesterday the bureau termed the first disclosure as “most un-

Mrs. Georgia I. Miller « . « “There has been quite a bit of dissatisfaction...”

Shame-Stricken Father Kills POLICE NAB TWO Son, Foiled Trying Suicide IN WILD CHASE

Times

SOUTH BEND, Ind., March 15.

Special ~-Jumbled. wartime emotions touched

off a family upheaval here yesterday. Today a 17-year-old son lay dead, Youths Flee at 80 Miles an

shot by his father—shame-stricken

because the youth had been dis-

honorably discharged from the merchant marine,

The 43-year-old slayer, Joseph

Sygler, a war worker, told police.

he killed his son John because he thought the boy had * ‘caused a black

DEGRAPHENREED |

Wiedenhoft Slayer Will Appeal Case to State

Supreme Court,

"Kttorheys for Charles DeGraphen« reed, convicted lug-wrench slayer of Gus L. Wiedenhoft, South side florist. announced today they will

[mark on the family name.’ Immediately following the tragedy, | police found the father sprawled dazedly across his bed, the fatal rifle levelled at his own head. The elder Sygler was murméring over and over to himself: “Is he dead? Is he dead?” Then when police started to entér the room, Sygler screamed: “Get away or I'll shoot myself.” Police Sgt. Clement Hazinski said he averted the suicide by leaping | upon Sygler and ripping the rifle from his grasp. Sygler later told the officers he had tried to kill himself “biit said the .22 caliber rifle had jammed.

Overstayed Leave *

appeal the case to the Indiana supreme court. He was found guilty late last night bya criminal court jury of 11 women and one man. Judge William D.| Bain immediately sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Composure Unruffied

The life sentence was a compro-| mise by the jury, which deliberated | seven hours. Seven members of the,

and argued the question two hours. The defendant stood.stoically before Judge Bain as the sentence was read. His tomposure has been calm throughout the trial. Beldom has his gum-chewing faltered, even when the state in the latter |

(Continued on “Page 5—Column 6)

taste acts Somerton

YANK, RED BOMBERS | RAID SAME TARGET

ROME, March 15 (U. P.).—Amerfcan and Russian bombers raided the same target area in' northern Hungary yesterday. Russian light bombers and Yank fighters reached the target at Ersekujar, 55 miles north of Budapest, first but were still over the area] when groups of Liberators and Mustangs arrived. Two German Me-109's attempted to attack the Soviet planes an were shot dows down by Mustang Hwy

SHOWERS DAMPEN TOUCH OF SPRING

LOCAL TEMPERATURES 54 55, 12 (Noon).. 60 (pm... 00

The mercury hit 70 yesterday afternoon, the highest this season, but today’s showers brought the temperature down to 60. Rain is forecast for” tonight with slightly cooler weather tomorrow. Just six days from today spring makes its 1945 debut,

TIMES. INDEX

WILLIAM HUFFMAN

Cpl.

According to Helen Sygler, teen|age sister of the slain lad, the |flare- -up came -after lengthy argu-| (ment between father And son over | the son's dischafge ' from the merchant marine ¢wo.ntonths aga

from the merchant cause he always leaves.” Helen said her

service overstayed his father had been

“make the grade” ever since the! youth's home-coming.

Hour After Alleged Robbery Attempt.

After a chase of five miles

(Enemy Radio Tells

usual” and said it represented an apparent violation of regulations “unless the cleaning of the garments Lvould have destroyed them.” Meanwhile, Georgia I. Miller, acting. secretary of the American Prisoner ‘of War society, today charged fhe Kansas City bureau has not returned to the families all personal effects of prisoners. Speaking for herself, arid on behalf of the society, she said: “There is quite a bit of dissatisfaction among families ‘of prisoners of war in respect to the return of personal effects.

WASHINGTON, March 15 (U. P.).—The army is looking into a report that the blood-stained clothing of an officer killed in ac-

tion were sent to his parents in Jndianapolls.

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson said today that the investigation was being made at the request of Rep. Louis Ludlow (D. Ind.). He said he would reply to Rep. Ludlow when the facts were avail#ble.

“We feel that there is either a great laxity or pilfering in the process.” “Without notice, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Ketter, Danville, early last week received a small package from’ Kansas City. It. contained the dirty and bloody wristband of their son, Pfc.

Billy Ray Ketter, a D-day veteran killed in action on July 20, 1944. Also énclosed was his shrapneltorn identification card and a booklet of family pictures. They never have received a $79 watch of which he-spoke in letters just before his death. “It was a horrible shock,” Mrs.

Ketter said. “1 washed the band before my husband could see it. “And while ours was bad enough, it doesn’t compare with the family told about in The Times who received their son's bloody clothes. “It is inhuman to send such things home, There are but few mothers who could bring themselves to destroy the last clothes that touched their son,” she said. “So there they are to look at and to think about. “They should send home what the man appreciated and en-

joyed. That would be a comfort,” she said. By coincidence the Ketters' shock was even greater, They had just learned that their only

"other son, Pfc. Jack, was fighting ~ with the marines in Iwo Jima.

“If public knowledge of our experience will save other families from similar grief, then we. are happy in that,” Mrs. Ketter said. Shipment. of such articles from ‘Kansas City is not new. Last summer Mrs. Margaret Miller of Shelbyville received her

(Continued on Page 2—Column 1)

Of ‘Massive’ Russ Attack Waves.

By ROBERT MUSEL United Press Staff Correspondent |

LONDON, March 15. =T1he German radio indicated to that the Red army h a bridge across the Oder 33, miles dues east of Berlin, and

men and arms were pouring! over it in “massive Soviet attack waves '

The Nazfs broadcast a Transocean | news agency dispatch which German artillery scored eight di- | rect hits on a. bridge near Lebus Oder river town 10 miles south of captured Kuestrin. Whether the bridge was a pon{toon span or a permanent struc-

(ture was not disclosed. That it

said |

OUR PROGRESS LEADS TO HOPE, ENGLAND TOLD

‘Utmost British rtish Strength to Help Defeat. Japan | Is Promised. |

LONDON, March 15 (U.| P).— Prime Minister] Churchill said today that German well may be defeat-| ed before the end of summer

| through south Indianapolis, police Withstood at least seven direct hits or even sooner.

captured two of three youths who were. found trying to break into « filling ‘station at English ave. and Brookville rd. early today.” When Patrolmen George Kahl and Joseph Fowley spied the youths at the station, the suspects dashed for a nearby waiting car and

sped away,

The fleeing suspects raced 80 miles an hour to Sherman dr, turned south for two miles and hit a telephone pole, breaking it off. This didn’t stop them.

Lose Control of Car .

Police officers, gaining.on them, began firing their revolvers as other | squad cars joined the chase. A total | of 15 shots were fired—but the sus- { pects still kept going.

{suggested the possibility of its being | ‘some: solid structure which the Russians might have seized ‘in a coup similar to the American capture -of the Remagen bridge over the Rhine, &

Claim to Break Up Attack

Transocean said the concentrated {bombardment dispersed - Russian |concentrations “preparing for action in the centers of gravity of the Soviet offensive at Kietz, Klessin, and Podelzig.” - Kietz is ‘three miles southwest -of Kuestrin, Klessin is eight miles south of -Kues-" trin, and Podelzig nine north of

He also pledged Britain's utmost strength “to the last inch and the | last minute” in the ‘war against Japan. aie} 4 “At the same time, he inferentially warned the United States and Russia that Britain has no need of advice on how to conduct her affairs with the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations. Britain is entitled to claim assistance from her allies toward recovery after the war, He told the annual conference. of the Conservative party, but she must not base her economic life on their indulgence of favor.

’ | Frankfurt. Between Frankfurt and Kuestrin, | the Nazis said, the Russians were! attacking repeatedly in assault waves. Thus Marshal Gregory, K.

“We Are Led to Hope . NE

“The progress of the war leads us all to hope that the giant foe, lagainst whom for more than a year

Circling back into city streets the=gp yoy appeared to have fused his|we stand alone, ‘unflinching and un- | She said John had been ejected SUSPeCts finally lost control of their pridgeneads west of the Oder for dismayed, will be forced ifito. un-|

and crashed over a sidewalk into a | lawn.

them.

Inthe 1300 block, Fletcher ave.,|

‘pe. Car at Laurel st. and English ave. the big push against Berlin.

Other ‘German bfoadcasts ad-

conditional surrender or beaten to | the ground in: chaos. and ruin,” he

» " .

Please Read This Story

By WILLIAM H. STONEMAN

Times Foreign

Correspondent

| If You Feel Optimistic, |

LONDON, March 15.—Please this story.

don’t: take any serious notice of

But if you must know, allied experts, military and political,

are now guessing that the war will be over at the end of May. | “Possibly by the Fourth of July.” What they all seem to recognize’is that we will have to

cross the Rhine at a great numbe

a fuli-scale offensive against the Germans.

This will take time. The fi join up with the Russians. y= a IF AT the same time, toward Berlin is a great

the R

We will have a rugged time

forces in the south before we finally win the war in Europe.

OUR BIG trouble, of - course, time been. able. to “destroy the enemy” completely—either in battle, ‘or By bombing the German cities: If anybody now: says that our campaign has gone according to plan and that our expectations have been fulfilled, he is either

an ignoramus, or a liar,

THERE IS NO SIGN OF ~ MILITARY GI COLLAPSE

6>Weeks’ Bugss Not Borne Out by Fact.

success, In any case, it is now believed that we will be very lucky "indeed to destroy Germany's power of resistance in north Germany.

Or sometime this summer.” r ot points before we can launch ghting will be fierce before we

ussian offensive across the Oder they—of course—may join us:

cleaning” up the remnants of its

: » » » has been that we have at no :

Yank Bombers Hit Berlin Area To Aid Soviets

LONDON, March -15 (U. P.).—| More than 2000 American bombers and fighters attacked military tar-

{gets in the Berlin area foday in

By LOUIS F. KEEMLE United Press War Editey

Optimistic reports from British 21st army “headquarters that the

mitted that the Russians scored said in referring to approaching] 3 They leaped out of the car and deep ‘penetrations in the defenses) victory over Germany. [ed of the Wer In Europe is possi distraught over John's failure to| ded on foot with officers pursuing|of panzig, Gdynia and Koenigsberg. |

The intensity of the concerted |

“Should the war in Europe end | before summer ends, or even soon-|

| Red army onslaught ‘against the | er, as it may well do, we shall have |

The climax was reacied when Sgt. Albert Beck and Patrolman | last fortress cities behind the ad- | reached a considerable distance in

the family was “preparing to eat! supper. Sygler. told police his Son) handed him the rifle and mock ly dared him “to go ahead ne shoot if you think I've disgraced! your name.’ Sygler then allegedly grabbed the {gun and pumped a bullet squarely int6 John's heart at a distance of | about 12 feet.

a look" of shes: OHIO Surerintendent Speaks TIN SALVAGE RECORD

amazement on his face, the victim, according to his sister; muttered: “Oh, Dad, I wish I never did it,” and fell to the floor. The sister said her father had been “picking on” his son, John; earlier that afternoon. She said the!

(Coniinued on Page S~Columm 6)

INAUGURATE MALAN | FOR HIS THIRD TERM

At Ceremony.

The No. 1 j6b-of American education is “to teach boys and girls, men, and women, to live together . 4n'| { peace.” 1

boy left the kitchen to play records This was the, theme of Kenpeth| {C.

| (Continued on Page S—Column 4)

sescnsnmtsoe—

Hoosier Heroes—

KILLED IN GERMANY

Three Wounded in Europe; Two Are Prisoners.

An Indianapolis infantryman has been killed in Germany. Three others have been wounded in action: In addition, two are German prisoners. KILLED Pfc. William Huffman, R. R. 3, Box 45, in Germany. WOUNDED

Ward ‘R. Tucker, Keystone ave.,'in: Italy.

1852 8.

Amusements.. 22 Jane Jordan.. 21 24! Movies ..a... 22] 27 Fred Perkins . 27 Ernie Pyle ... 16 Peter Edson.. 16 wee 20 16 20 Harry Hansen 16 Inside Indpis. 15

Comics Crossword 15 27. Ration Dates 14] Mrs. Roosevelt 15 Wm. P. Simms id Sports . Tom Stokes . 2 0

i Womns News.

15%

Pfc. Edward D. Jackson, 225 S. Fenton ave., in Germany. .- Pfc. Jamés A. Turner Jr, 122 E. Ohio st.,, Apt. 511, in Germany.

_ PRISONERS

Pfc. Harvey Yansel, 3332 Robson st., of Germany. ai

8. Sgt. william a Stevenson, 2222 Union st; of Germany.

x (Details, Page Three)

Wht

Ray, superintendent of publi¢ in‘struction of Ohio, speaking today at the statehouse. The occasion was the inaugural ceremony of Dr. Clement T. Malan, | Indiana public Instruction superinngs

| (Continued on “Page 2—Column 5

{vanced lines was aimed at the quick | destruction of the German pockets | preliminary to the final attack on | Berlin. Moscow said Marshal Konstantin |

(Continued on inued on Page 2—Column 3)

'SOUTH SIDE BREAKS

our journey.” He said large numbers of British soldiers now abroad would, have to| be returned to Britain after Ger-| man's defeat despite commitments n the garrisoning of tlie Reich and in the war against Japan.

Other Optimism Noted

in Europe may end within «six|

ble within six weeks are not borne {aut by discernible facts. Neither are they supported by| | Prime Minister Churchill's speech | in which he said only that “it may | well be” before the end of summer | or even sooner. Any estimate of a total German | defeat before June would have to| be based on-the expectation of a| military and political collapse. Of! that there is no sign. The Russians are only 30 to 40

{the Oder river line, the principal

| months coincided wtih a wave of|remaining barrier betore the capi-|

The South Side broke its own tin| Optimism throughout, Britain ‘and tal.

salvage record yesterday when eight | [ge carloads were collected by | city trucks, |in September, 1942, when six car-| loads were picked up in one day.

|B. Tex said a shortage of freight | united resolve of every man and}

| on the Western front. [

It is quite possible that Berlin |

gne of the most powerful blows yet struck in direct support of the Red army. 3 Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle sent upwards of 1350 Flying Fortresses| and Liberators at German key-|

massed Russian forces hammered | | the capital's defenses some 30 miles| to the east. More than 650 Thun-|

| derbolt and Mustang fighters Cid

| the trip.

The big rail yards at Oranien- | | burg, 20 miles north of Berlin were |

among the-day’'s targets. R. A. F. Out in Force A vast fleet of Royal Air Force|

heavy bombers headed out of Brit- | Churchill's prediction that the war| miles from Berlin and are smashing |#in this afternoon in a miles-long| army

procession toward Germany. During the night, the R. A. Fs] heavies struck a shattering double blow ' at the tfoop-jammed com-|

"NAZIS REPORT YANKS AND REDS "BOTH ATTEMPT BREAKTHROUGHS

» " »

REPORT 5 U. 3. ARMIES STORM REICH DEFENSES

Churchill's Goal: Summer Victory

New 15th in Action; Nazis

Claim; Push on 200Mile Front Claimed.

BULLETIN PARIS, March {5.—Five American armies were reported storming the Rhine and Saar basin defenses of Germany today in a co-ordinated offensive along a 200-mile front from Duisburg te the Karlsruhe corner of Alsace. A flood of German reports and allied front dispatches indicated that a general offensive to crush the Nazi armies in the west was irk full swing along the entire - southern half of the Western front. : Ofteiany: it was disclosed that the U. 8. 3d and 7th armies were driving gobi armored and infantry divisions into the northern and seuthern corners of the Saar basin. To the north, the U. Si 1st army struck e¢astward from its Rhine ‘bridgehead in a power drive that may already have cut. the Rhine-Ruhr-Berlin super-highway and split the German front east of the Rhine. Berlin said the sewls: formed U. 8..15th army had joined in the battle in the Remagen bridgehead east of the Rhine, . The Nazis also reported that the American 9th army had gone over to the offensive force its springboards on the west bank of

stone objectives around Berlin as| ‘he Rhine opposite the Ruhr.

The German Transocean news agency said shock troops of the 9th army attempted to force a crossing of the Rhine opposite Duisburg but were ‘“smashed” on the river bank.

By BRUCE W. MUNN United Press Staff Correspondant

| PARIS, March 15.—Berlin |said the new American 15th had gone into battle (east of the Rhine today, join|ing with the U. S. 1st army in {an all-our offensive to break

Concerning Japan, Churchill said: | wijl fall within a few weeks, or that | munications centers of Zweibrucken | out of the Remagen bridgehead

Britain must repay subjects” by the Japanese.

There may be less blood and few- |

| junction, with the western allies. But it is apparent that the fall}

| American ground forces. Eleven-ton British bombs, biggest |

“infernal | lthe Russians will have surrounded | and Homburg, 15 miles southeast of {and split the German armies of The previous high was | cruelties perpetrated against “British | it and -swept on beyond toward a |Saarbruecken, in direct” support of|the west.

Jittery German broadcasts said a massive force of perhaps 180,000

er tears in the months to come, he of Berlin will not mean the end of |in the world, collapsed six and per-| American troops and hundreds of City Street Commissioner Luther caiq but physical sweat and the organized German resistance.

The remnants of the German

haps eight spans of the German {Ruhr's vital Bielefeld railway via-|

tanks was battering eastward {through the wooded bluffs overlook -

cars slowed today’s pick-up some- | every woman to give all that is in| forces caught between the arms of |duct yesterday, the air ministry an-|ing the Rhine. |what and, combined with the heavy him will be required “long after the two-way, squeeze may disinte- | nounced today salvage, would mean that the drive | the last bomb or cannon has ceased grate with Surprising suddenness, |

wouldn't be completed until sometime tomorrow.

Scotch Rumors—Here's How Cage Tickets Are Distributed

Literally only a handful of Indianapolis residents will sit in on the final high school ‘basketball series at the Coliseum Saturday. From the crowd of more than 11,500 only 1178 ticketholders will come from the state’s most populous city. Figures were released today by Commissioner L. V. Phillips of the LHS A A + They scotched the annual rumors which drift in from outstate that: Indianapolis claims the major share of ducats for He cage classic, Broad Ripple, oné of the * four finalists, of course, received the most tickets.

The North side school got 30 for’

its enrollment percentage. Then I was given 37 for whining the sec-

onaliciory eed

the school 615 ore or a total of

742. A total of 705 ‘of these were salable, The’ breakdown”on the balance of the city schools ticket allotment with. enrollment in parentheses looked like this: Cathedral 18 (608); Crispus Attucks 52 (1747) Howe 40 (1321); Manual 41 (1378); Sacred Heart 6 (198); Shortridge 76 (2545); Silent Hoosiers 2 (73); Tech- 151 - (5045) ; Washington 50 (1658); total tickets on enrollment basis of 15,567 were 466. School officials said that virtually every’ ticket in Indianapolis would go to school pupils. © What they ‘do with them is their own | business. There's supposed to be no | “scalping,” however. A Jak# Caskey, coach of the Silent Hoosiers, was asked: by numerous friends for a “Coupla tickets. The school couldn't even provide

|advance Hitler's peace proposal.

to thunder.”

SAYS HITLER PEACE OFFER IS REJECTED

‘Stockholm’ Paper Publishes

Unconfirmed Rumor.

LONDON, March 15 (U. P.).— The Stockholm newspaper Svenska Dagbladet published a wholly unconfirmed report today that Adolf Hitler made a peace offer to America and Britain early . this month and ‘it was rejected. A British foreign office commentator ‘said he had no. information regarding the Stockholm reports of a Nazi peace gesture. The Dagbladet dispatch was writ-| ten by Arvid Fredborg, the news-! paper's -_former correspondent . in| Berlin, He “said a Nazi emissary made contact with “English and American circles” in Stockholm to

Rumors of the move by Hitler

| (Continued on “Page 2—Column 1H ) | (Continued on “Page $—Column 5

Iwo Is Officiall Yanks Seize

By UNITED PRESS Continued allied successes in the| Pacific, including the seizure of two| more islands in the Philippines and the practical conquest of Iwo, evoked an order from jittery Japan today for evacuation of all unnecessary civilians from] its largest cities.

work in Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama,

areas will be used for industrial workers and first aid posts, accord-| ing to Berlin. Iwo, stepping-stone Japan's front door, was officially declared captured. although marines

‘enemy pockets. Japanese dead on Iwo, but Pacific,

two,

‘them for its Pipers; Its i was

coincided 3 with a wave of optimism (Continued on. Page 2—Column 3

: x nf »

fleét "headquarters em asia that its feats. was consery,

invasion- | SS

A Nazi broadcast said the Japa-| adm. Chester

nese evacuation order applied 1|gjajmed himself military, governor| There was no confirmation of the all persons not important to WAr or ywe and “other” occupied islands| Nazi reports that the newly formed .

Official - reports estimated 20,000,

The attack knocked out one of!

y , Captured; 2 More Islands

GUAM, American marines have lost less than 4000 dead in the 25-day

March 15 (U. P.).—

campaign on Iwo Jima, Vice Adm. Richmon@ Kelly Turner indicated today. The Stars and’ Stripes were raised {over the tiny island at a formal | ceremony yesterday morning and W. Nimitz pro-

in the Volcano group. |cured” the southern approaches to|

the main shipping channel through {the Philippines with the seizure of

| They were the 22d and 23d islands,

their new beachhead around Zam= a 9. Mindanao to 30 sq

| They suggested the Americans {already were astride the broad mrili- | tary highway paralleling the river | some five to eight miles east of the Remagen bridge At the same time, front dispatches said the entire German front in the industrial Saar basin was melting away before a surprise offensive by Lt, Gen, George S. Patioiys Amer-~ | ican 3d army. | United Press War Correspouient | Robert Richards reported signs of a general German withdrawal across the Rhine in that one-time Nazi arsenal, which would give the allies

(West Front Map, Page 8)

virtual control of the Rhine's west bank from the Swiss border to the | North sea.

1U. 8. 15th army had joined in the -

Nagoya and Osaka. The evacuated) American troops meantime. se- battle of the Rhine bridgehead or

that, the Rhine-Ruhr-Berlin high- | way had been cut. But latest official reports from

“island &t Romblon and Simara islands in the| the bridgehead said vanguards of | sibuyan sea, southeast of Luzon,

[the American 1st army were about a half-mile west of the road early

still were hacking at two shrinking invaded by the Americans in the today, within point-blank artillery. | Philippines. | mortar and machine gun range of Other American forces expanded! the Nazi speedway. Fe ‘The Germians were reported fall-

. {Continued on Page otf