Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 August 1945 — Page 15

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. MONDAY, AUG. 20, 1945

NA BOY

TROOP

DESPISED HITLER

Sixty Per Cent of Youths

Held wu U. S. Prison Camp,

All Under 17, Agree on-Fuehrer as World's Greatest Tyrant.

(One of

a Series)

By EDWARD A. EVANS Scripps-Howurd Staff Writer

ATTICHY, France, Aug. he world’s greatest tyrant?”

20.—“What is the name of

, That was one of the questions asked in the written f examination given recently to 7000 German boy prisoners of war in the unique “school of democracy” being conducted ' near here by the American army. s

The answers were interesting and, perhaps significant. Eighty-two per cent of the young veterans of Nazidom's beaten arm“des, none of them more than 17 years old, named Adolf Hitler as the world's greatest tyrant. Among 14-year-olds Hitler got an almost unanimous vote. Fiften per cent named Nero. The other three per cent scattered their selections among Napoleon, Attila, Herod, Himmler, Jesus and the Emperor

. A . Mr. Evans

of Japan. Another question: “Is it true or false that the best propaganda: is the truth?” A large majority of the older boys, and almost all of the younger ones, wrote “true.” 2 o

o HERE ARE some translated ex-

LOCAL SAILOR HOME ON SURVIVOR'S LEAVE

Seaman 1-c Donald Cooper is home on a 15-day survivor's leave. He was aboard the cruiser U. 8. S. Pittsburgh when the ship was damaged in the typhoon June 5 near the Philippines. The Pittsburgh had her bow torn off by the force of the storm. No men were lost aboard the cruiser and no ships were sunk by the typhoon.

and Mrs. J. W. Cooper, 2229 Station st. and has been in the navy since May 28, 1943. He served in the Eu-

ropean theater as an armed guard aboard Liberty ships and in the Pacific at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

cerpts from German-language com- | positions which the young prisoners

have been required to write as part of their classwork: “Although the end of the war means a great joy for us, our liberation from Nazi domination is perhaps an even greater joy, for the | Nazi regime is of course to blame for this awful war.’ “The news of peace has made every one of us very happy. And | why? Because life now has a! meaning again.” “Some sunshine has come to | my life recently, namely, by being taken prisoner I escaped death. Opportunity has been given me to ~again continue my training for my life's work.” | “Stalin and Hitler were two great | statesmen. Bach wanted world power. So we have hed war for six years. Russia and America have won the final victory. The Nazi leaders have run away or killed themeselves, Now We are sitting behind barbed wire, looking dumbly at one another.” un " ” “IN MAY a cry of jubilation went through the world: Peace! Peace ih Europe! Germany surrenders! But many lamentations and tears were mingled with this cry of jubilation. Mothers mourned their sons, wives their husbands, children their fathers. -- Those men had died in battle because of the crazy idea of one man, but on the other hand they died for the freedom of all nations.” “We enjoy especially the walks the Americans allow us to take in the countryside surrounding this camp. Just not to have the barbed wire before our eyes, just to look at the green and blooming landscape outside, is probably one of the nicest things anyone could give us.” Lately all of the boys have been | required to attend, in groups of | about 400 each, showings of a “Nazi | atrocity” film. It is the only movie hey have seen here, ” ” n OUR PARTY of American corespondents was present at one howing of this film. The German ounigsters, smiling and chattering, rowded into the corrugated-iron heater hut and sat on the dirt loor. But as the picture began 1ey fell into a silence which beame deeper and deeper as the horors of the German concentration amps appeared on the screen. Later, we. watched them leave the heater. They were not talking ow, or smiling, They looked nxiously into our faces, We asked ome of them what they thought pf the picture. This was their tandard reply: “We never knew that such awful | hings happened. It is unbelievable | hat Germans have done this.” |

NEXT—Is the “school of democacy” succeeding?

AMY MEDICS GUARD AGAINST EPIDEMICS

Times Foreign Service LONDON, Aug. 20.—The specter epidemic which haunts an underourished and weary Europe is reving the closest attention from llied army doctors following an nseasonable outbreak of infantile ralysis in Belgium. The Belgium epidemic, centers bout the cities of Liege and Verers on the Maas river, is now Inder control and its seriqusness is hpidly decreasing,” Belgian governpent officials here report. But the fact that the usual contiental appearance of this disease hme In August instead of October, lus the exceedingly high mortality

| | | |

preentage of one case out of four,|)

s alerted Anglo-American doctors to renewed vigilance, Troops are forbidden to take furughs in the stricken district— here the number of cases is now duced to 160—-and stockpiles of rum are being increased. Allied soldiers always have haat} reful refreshers to immunization | hots and army medicos looking | ead to winter dre not so worried pout troops as about civilians, akened by six years of poor food

Seaman Cooper is the son of Mr. |

NO DELAY FOR HIGH POINT MEN

Pacific Yroors & to Perform Only Military Tasks.

By HERB PAUL Times Foreign Correspondent MANILA, Aug. 20.—The surrender of Japan and occupation of that country ‘by American troops is not expected to delays the movement homeward of doughboys with a high number of discharge points. Machinery set up for returning high point men was operating smoothly on Okinawa before the Japanese surrender, and I found the same condition exists in. the Philippines. Brig. Gen. G. C. Stewart, transportation chief of army forces in the Pacific, said “Manila can handle vast numbers of troops returning to the states, and our corps will move

[them expeditiously.”

No Rehabilitation Work Maj. Gen. Hugh J. Casey, chief engineer of army forces here, said “under no circumstances will men of the army engineers be kept overseas for purpose of repairing or building anything not directly the requirement of army forces.” Gen, Casey made the statement in explanation of the difference between military engineering effort and civilian rehabilitation and their effect on possible retention of engineer troops in the Pacific. He said engineer troops will not not be used here or elsewhere to restore civilian enterprise. * Engineer troops were taken from home to defeat the enemy that threatened the United States. The enemy fo longer is a military threat, but certain installations must be completed and facilities

| THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Flight of 'Oldtimer' Credited

With Helping

By GEORGE WELLER, Times Foreign Correspondent CHUNGKING, Aug. 20.—One of tHe war's oldest but least known heroes may be revealed now that Japan has collapsed. He is Lt. Col, Paul “Pappy” Gunn, leathery-faced veteran flier in his fifties. Pappy Gunn, in March, 1942, accomplished an overseas flight which may have saved Australia, Gunn pledged this writer never to reveal the details of this flight until Singapore fell or the war ended. American Flying Forttesses evacuated the staff of Sir Archibald P. Wavell (now Lord Wavell), supreme commander of all United Nations forces in the southwest Pacific, from falling Singapore in February, 1942. Thereafter the allied lines fell back into Dutch Indonesia, which fell in early March. Needed Jap Data It became imperative that the allied forces in Australia should know what Japanese naval forces were concentrated in Malaya and Indonesia for guidance as to whether the Japanese would attempt to strike or land in western Australia. Java was then barely in range of nonstop return flights by American Fortresses, but Malaya and

provided for support of army of occupation throughout Japan. The confusion that appears to exist - probably is due to the fact that in two circumstances engineers will engage in work normally civilian, ‘ First, in a dire emergency such as Manila presented, the army will supply food, water, hospitalization and shelter to civilian population to

Save Australia

Borneo were terra incognita, being hundreds of miles beyond the farthest scouting range from Australia. i The weathered, elderly pilot, whose famlily was captive of the Japs in the Philippines, had already brought out the last living fighter pilots from Bataan in an ancient Beechcraft. Now he of-

fered to attempt a seemingly im-|

possible flight from Australia to Singapore and back. Stripped Fortress He stripped his old Fortress of all its guns and most of its.instruments, crammed the fuselage with extra tanks and took. dglong one scared sergeant as co-pilot. He flew from northern Australia to Java, then up Bangka strait to Singapore. Under intense fire he made a circuit of Singapore straits at a hieght of 150 feet. He then flew back over Borneo, safely bringing full photographs of all the Jap vessels at Sihgapore, Gunn's elapsed time was nearly 50 hours. His wings looked like colanders. But his information told the aliles that western Australia still had a few more weeks’ respite. A daring oldtimer had accomplished what daring youngsters said was impossible,

the extent necessary to prevent starvation, disease and epidemics, Second, the army will supply or repair installations essential to military operations. Utilities, bridges, railroads, cement = mills, rope factories, piers and similar structures have been repaired solely to accelerate supply activities. Brig. Gen, William F. Campbell, chief quartermaster, sald “we have

exquisitely groomed appearance. : And it hold: #s

even color for twelve whole hours! 1.50.

WASSON'S TOILETRIES . .. STREET FLOOR

hd war fatigue.

945, by The a Timag, "and "The Chicago Dally News,

Plus 0% Taz ;

sae ny Barbara Gould

Plans Moon. Trip

SPE

Release of the secret of the atomic bomb has caused R. L. Farnsworth, above, of Chicago, president of the U. S. Rocket society, to petition the government for rights to use atomic energy for rocket plane trips to the moon. Reports say the trips will be “Inexpensive!”

to feed and clothe occupation troops in Japan as well as those in the Philippines and other island

installations until troops are redeployed home.” The job of providing army communications will be greatly increased as a result of victory, according to. Col. James W. Green, signal corps chief,

With that job completed, there |

will be the huge task of repair |

and reclamation of. all equipment now in the western Pacific.

By ERNIE HILL Times Foreign Correspondent QUITO, Ecuador, Aug. 20.—Bewhiskered Sam Sowers runs a gold mine about a day’s travel by mule pack out of Quito. PB He is considered a man of unusual integrity because he ‘gives the peons onethird of the gold # they mine. His competitors pay ad only one - tenth. But he still makes a comfortable living. About two months ago, a priest came through the country looking after the spiritual needs of the people. Briton by extraction,

Mr. Hill

Sam, a told the

prayer book to read on lonely nights. A month later, the priest came back. Sam said he was getting along well but that he would like to have another, in Spanish, so that some of his literate workers | might be uplifted. Last week, when he made a request for a third copy, the priest | became * suspicious. He discovered that Sam had! gone through two prayer books— | cutting up the pages for cigaret papers. Admitting his sins, promised to give his an a "| onus, But he got no more re- | ligious books. . . .

5 2 PRESIDENT Jose Maria Velasco {Ibarra talks with about 40 civilian callers daily, Most of them are | blanket Indians from the moun-

“% |have declined

priest he would like to have a|

Notes From Latin America;

Ernie Hill Visits Ecuador

tains. They come to Quito to tell their troubles to the president. Outside his office, ne has placed a large sign stating: “Be brief. The president under stands short stories better than long ones. Others ar2 waiting to see the president.”

® 2 8 POVERTY-RIDDEN Ecuador is

» | counting on the Shell Petroleum Ca. [to open an oilfield outside Quito,

Wells are being drilled at a location

Shell workers say that they have 2 promising show of oil. But they to reveal in what quantities, If the field is a large one, the country is counting on it to help relieve its unhappy financial i situation, , . a o ” EX-PRESIDENT Carlos Aroyo Del Rio, who fled to Colombia 14 {months ago when he was pitched lout by revolution, claims he has a complaint. He tells friends tha$ he doesn't mind the new president [living in his house and using his car but that he objects to some of his favorite ties making publig appearances on his successor, . . ¢ = o 2 REPUBLICA, an official governe ment newspaper founded late in { July, praised Secretary of State he | JAMES Byrnes when it was reported ©! that he planned to shake up eme |bassy staffs to get men with more practical business ability. Repube lica said it would be an improvee ment over the career diplomats whose experiences in business are

ves