5. JULY 13 ^ VOL. 4, NO. 4 19 4 5

By fhe men . . . for the men in the service

M^fy^* liitalfcjt: i^^^j^flipl^

By eVAN WYUf »U (PR) USCOR YAlitK Staff CdrrMpendMir

OKINAWA, Ryukyvs — The skipper of the de- stroyer stood on the bridge, his head thrown back, peering through glasses at the ack-ack fire bii^ on the horizon. "They're at it again," he said. lie lowered the glasses and pulled his basel>all cap down over his eyes. 'They're licked, but they keep coming back for more. Now it's suicide planes with suicide pilots — the Kami- fcozcGoips. Means 'divine wiaci' they tell me. Kkto with a little flil^t training hopped up with the idea of joining their ancestors in the most honor- able way possible."

He smiled and the lines of fatigue and strain made deep furrows in his weather-beaten face, "^t's a weird business; something that only a Jap would dream up. Almost every day they claim they've sunk another hundred of our ships. Ac- tually we shoot most of them down 'before they get to us. Some get through, of ooune. They're bound to. A few hit U they only knew how few, maybe they'd quit"

'Itie deebr^FO' vna the VSS Neweomb*. She had taken the worst the fcamtlcaze boys could offer. Seven Jap suiciders had hurled their planes at her, determined to destroy the ship and them- selves in one big moment of beautiful everlast- ing glory, niree .had been shot down. Four had connected. The Newcombe still was afloat and most of her crew still were alive. Some of them were sitting cross-legged on the deck below play- ing cards. They didn't look as if they were very much awed by the attention of the Japanese Navy's .qiedal attack corps.

THE wpather that day had been good. The iVeti>- combe, patrolling ofF Okinawa, slid easily through the slight swell, her crew at battle sta- tions. The air defense had passed word that an attack by Jap suicide planes was expected, but the afternoon wore on and there were no visitors. The crew, restless from their long stay at the guns, watched the sun drop down toward the horizon. It would soon be time for evening chow. "Bogies coming in ahead." In the turrets the men atretcbed out on the deck tieside the guns leaped to their, statimts. On the 20s the gunners who had been dozing in their ■ harnesses snapped erect. The electric motors whined. The gun muzzles arched around, sweep- ing the target area. The destroyer shivered as the throbbing engines picked up speed. The seas began to curl away from her bow. In a moment the Newcombe was knifing through the water at better than 25 knots.

"Bogies in sight, bearing three zero zero." What had been mere specks in the sky grew suddenly larger. They were Japs, all right. A whole swarm of them. One detached himself from the group and headed for the Wctucombe. The can's heavy guns challenged him. Dirty brown bursts appeared in the sky. One Jap bore through them, jigging from side to side as he tried to line up the ship in his sights. He was a suidder, de- liberately trying to crash the ship. The NeuHxmibe shook as her 40s and 20s joined in. Their bullets hammered into the Jap. He faltered, lost control and splashed into the sea 400 yards away.

Another plane trted it The Netoeombe's guns blazed savagely. The second plane disappeared in a wall of ack-ack. For a moment the gunners thought they had him, too. Then he burst into view, much closer. A yellow flame flickered along his left wing. He was starting to burn out but still he came on. Commander Ira McMillian of Coro- nado, Calif., stood on the wing of his bridge, eyes fastened on the approachin^'plane. At the last minute he shouted an order. In the wheel house the quartermaster spun the wheel. The speeding destroyer heeled over in a sharp, rivet-straining turn. It was too late for the Jap to change his coum. Th&e was a qplash and a great ball of yellow flame as he plunged into the sea at the spot where the Newcomhe had been a moment before.

The bogies buzzed warily about out of range, seeking an opening. One thought he saw it. Zoom- ing up. be made a quick diving turn, levelled out and came in low, the belly of his fuselage a few feet above the waves. The iVeiocotnbe's 5-inch bat- teries pointed. A burst threw the Jap down against the water. He staggered, recovered and kept com- ing, Comdr. McMillian barked his order for a change in the course. But this time the onrushing plane swerved freakishly in the same direction. For an instant the men of the Newcombe had a glimpse of the pilot hunched for«^c4i¥f |}>t>c<^-

The USS Newcombe managed to bring down file first Jap suicider and to dodge the second. The third plan9 connected and left the crippled destroyer easy prey for two more hits. With all power and communjccrtions knocked ouf, the tin can still survived.

pit, his begoggled face an impassive mask. Then the plane shot past them, ripped through the gun mount and shattered itself against the afterstack. There was a blinding flash. The Newcombe shud- dered and rolled heavily to starboard.

ON Che signal bridge Richard Hiltbum SM3c of Tacoma, Wash., was flung high into the air by the explosion. Before he landed unhurt on the deck he caught a glimpse of the bits of plane, guns and men ^ing in aU directions. Wounded men struggled to gain their feet Others lay mo- tionless, already beyond help. Escaping steam roared from the bioken pipes. But the Neiocombe had been hit before. The rest of the crew re- mained on station. Up in the wheel house the quartermaster wrote carefully in the ship's log: "Plane hit our stack, causing damage not known at present." A mile behind the Newcombe an- other ship saw the flash of the exploding plane. Altering her course she started for the scene at full speed.

She wasn't the only one who saw the plane hit the Hemcombe. One of the bogies noted it toa He iMtnked around and came for a closer look. He

probably wasn't expecting much opposition but a surprise was waiting for him. The Weu)co?ribe's guns still packed a punch. The startled Jap veered . as the 5-ineh batteries opened up. He wasn't quick enough. The burst hit him. He caught fire. His wing dropped off and he spun into the water.

From his post on the bridge wing Jesse Fitz- gerald SMlc noticed the ship's photographer lying helpless on the platform half way up the undamaged forward stack. Running aft he climbed the ladder to the platform. As Fitzgerald beat over the photographer, the Newcombe's gunki ' -^started again. Whirling around he

but two planes attacking, one from the port bow, the other from the port quarter. As they closed in, the guns in their wings started winking. The bullets richocheted from the laidge and whined around Fitzgerald.

Aboard the Newcombe the gunfire rose to a crescendo. Again Comdr. McMillian tried to dodge at the last minute but the ship had lost too much speed. The planes were upon her. One buried itself in the base of Fitzgerald's stack; the other dove into the hole made by the firs^ suicider. There was a tremendous explosion. A giant fist seemed to descend upon the Nciucotnbe and drive her down into the water. Men and gun tubes alike disappeared skyward. The heavy steel hatches which had been tightly dogged down were blown off their hinges, twisted like sheet metaL Engulfed in flame and billowing black smoke, the Afeiucombe lost headway and slowly came to a dead stop in the water, all her power and com- munications knocked out.

Up forward the dazed men picked themselves up and stumbled out to see what had happened to their ship. The bridge and forward portion of the Neu>combe were relatively undamaged but the flame and smoke amidships hid the stern from view altogether. Shielding theii faces from the searing heat, the men tried to peer through it Was the stem stiU there, they wondered. There was no way of knowing. "Stem is gone." someone cried and many men believed him.

Signalman Fitzgerald had ducked at the last minute. Miraculously he and. the wounded photog- rapher were untouched by the explosion. Looking down, Fitzgerald found the base of the stack sur- rounded by burning gasoline and wreckage from ! cnt cf l.ie planes. Above him the coils of wiring tt^i^^^whipped about crackling

»n bottle ftomef fHf^

ftk of the carrier Sarotogo. hit by kam'ikaies off Iwo Jima.

and spitting, showering the decks below in a cascade of blue sparks. Fitzgerald took his man down the ladder and found a path through the buiaiiig g/aaoSiae to the forward part of tbe ship. He applied a tourniquet to the photographer's bleeding leg and then rushed back to the bridge to help put out the fires in the signal flag bags.

Men on the other destroyer had seen the second and third planes hit the Netocombe, had seen her go dead in the water half-hidden in the clouds of smoke. As the distance between the two ships narrowed they could make out figures stumbling about in the dense smoke that covered the New- combe's stern. Other figures lay along her star- board deck waving feebly, too badly hurt to move. Into the smoke went the other destroyer.

At almost collision speed she swept up along- side the Neiccombe. There was a grinding crash as the two ships came together. The men jumped across and made the ships fast. Fire hoses were snaked across the rails. Powerful streams of water leaped trota their nozzles and drote ^e flames iMick from the prostrate men. Rescue parties rushed in and dragged them to safety.

The suicide boys were not through. Another plane was roaring in, headed straight for the Hevfeombe's bridge. Looking up, Josc^ Piolata Wllc, of Youngstown, Ohio, saw the other de- stroyer firing right across the Neiocombe's deck. The gunners did their best but the Newcombe's superstructure hid the plane from their sights. On both ships the men watched he^lessly. This was the kiU. The Newotnbe could never survive an- other hit.

But the battered, burning can still had fighi m her. Incredulously the men of the IVeti'Combe, crouched on her stem, struggling in the water, lying wounded on the deck Ig^rd their ^hip's for- .

ward batteries firing. There was no power but the gunners were firing anyway — by hand.

The gunnery officer stood at his station shouting the range data to the men in the isuwmd S^baih turrets, in the No. 2 turret Arthur McGulre GMlc, of St. Louis, Mo., rammed shells with broken, bleeding fingers. His hand had been caught by a hot shell while firing at the third plane but be was stiU on the joik The Japi had the New- combos bridge in his sights. It looked as if he , couldn't miss. The burst from McGuire's gun caught him and blew him sideways. The hurtling plane missed the bridge by a scant eight feet, skidded across the Newcombe's ruptured deck and plowed into the other destroyer.

With a gaping hole in the afterdeck and the portside a tangled web of broken lines and wildly sprouting fire hoses, she drifted slowly away.

WrmouT water to fight the fire still raging amidships the Newcombe was doorned. But the destroyer's crew eontained some notoriously obstinate people. Donald Keeler MM2c, of Dan- bury, Conn., was one of them. Keeler had been at his station in the after steering compartment. He was knocked down by the explosions but got up and put the Mp in manual controL When it became evident that all the power was gone he joined the crowd on the stern just in time to hear that the after ammo-handling rooms were burn- ing and the magazines were expected to go any minute.

Keeler elected- to fight the fire. His only hope lay in the "handy billy." a small, portable pump powered by a gasoline engine. "The engine was started like an outboard motor — by winding a

It started, and then again sometimes it didn't.

Groping around in the blistering heat, Keeler found the handy billy. Carefully he wound the rope around the flywheel, held his breath and yanked. The engine kicked over and kept going Now Keeler had water. He and Don;iid n^. r

WTlc, of Portland, Oreg., took the hose in tlie No. 4 handling room and went to work on the fire. Malcom Giles MM3c, of San Jose, Calif., and Lt David Owens, of Waukesha, Wis., joined them. The four men got the fire under control. Then they dragged the pump forward.

The No. 3 handling room was a roaring furnace. Steel dripped like solder from overhead. In the galley next door the heat had already trans- formed tiie copper kettles into pools of molten metaL Flames shot from the ammo hoists like the blast of a huge blowtorch. It looked hope- less but Newcomer shoved the hose in the door- way. No sooner had he done so than a wave came overside and doused the pump. The chattering handy billy splutter^ and died. Keeler rushed back to the pump. Again he wound the rope around the flywheel, gritted his teeth and yanked. "I think I even prayed that second time," he says. "But Uw dUBB i^lng poMPfd rig^ off, some- thing it wouldn't do agidn in a, iniwea yean."

The men went back into tite lindling room. They kept the hose in therey t)4E&i8' turns. The magazines didn't blow up.

VpHMTward the saUofB w«* todM to flcht tlit Are with hand extfaigulshen. A withering blast of heat drove them back. Their life jackets smok- ing: their clothing was afire. The Newcombe's doc- tor. Lt. John McNeil of Boston, Mass., and Edward Redding QM3c, found one of the crew battUag^ttB flames with hair ablaze, half blind from Uie blood dripping from the shrapnel wounds in his face and forehead. With difficulty they dragged him off to the emergency dressing station in the ward- room. Many of the pharmacist's mates were 0H|. of action. Men with only first-aid training helpief ' McNeil, mix blood plasma for the burn cases.

Earl Sayre CPhM, of Roseville, Ohio, was trapped on the stern unable to get his casualties forward. He was working on a fracture when .someone tugged on his sleeve. "Blue Eyes has been hit bad. Looks like he's bleeding to death."

Blue Eyes was the youngest member of the crew. He had come aboard claiming 18 years but the men had taken one look at him and decided he must have lied to get in. They teased him by calling him Blue Eyes and it became his name. Now he lay on ^ dcdc, blood aputting from « vein in his neck. Sayre h^d no instruments. He knelt down beside Blue Eyes and stopped the flow of blood with his fingers. He stayed there while a second plane came in and hit the other de- stn^er 20 feet away. He stayed thin« tar almoat an hour longer until they could come and take Blue Eyes away and operate on him and ssrve his life. But Sayre had saved it already.

The resf of the Japs had been driven off. It was beginning to get dark whiea a ray of hope came to the exhausted men of the NetOcombe. Keeler's volunteer fire department seemed to be holding the Ares. Perhaps now they could save their ship. But the wave that had stopped the handy billy was followed by another and another.

The Newcombe was sinking. The weight of the water that the hoses had poured into her after compartments was dragging her down. The rising water moved steadily forward. It reached the after bulkhead of the forward engine room. If it broke through, the JVewcombe was done for. And the bulkhead already was leaking.

Back on the stern Lt. Charles Gedge of Detroit, Mich., and torpedomen Richard Mehan of Verona, N. J., Richard Spencer of Roddick, Pa., and Joseph Zablotny of Boswell, Pa., had neutralized the depth charges and dumped them overside. After them went the wreckage, smaidied equij^nent, anything that would Ii|^ten the stem.

In the forward engine room the damage control party shored up the bulging bulkhead. Water oozed from it but it held. With less than one foot (tf free board betwe^ aea uid her declo, .the Nevoeombe Stopped sinking.

Now the blinkers flashed in the darkness. Other destroyers were coming alongside. Over their rails came men with fire hoses and pump lines, doctors and pharmacist's mates with plasma and t>and- ages. Tugs were on the way. The fight was over.

The Newcombe's men had answered the ques- tion: just how much punishment can a destroyer take? The 'answer was: just as much as any gang

4

rope around the flywheel and giving it a <|uif^|-i | |^^.|^«^~«fa|r| dish out, provided her crew never ti^g^ I^i^e,aU ojt^^rd motor engines sometimes" . stops trying to save. her.

ines sometimes^ stops Ixying to save he

Red Army troops in Austria have come from a devastated land and they're bitter about the German farms still untouched by war.

By Pfc. IRA H. FREEMAN YANK SlafF Correspondent

KoEKLACH. Austria — "I can't got any placi- with thcst» Russians,", the captain in charge i)f the last British outpost here said with a sigh. "When I go to sec them about over-ex- tending their zone, for instance, they won't pay any attention to business.

"They throw their arms around you and drag you in for a drink Toasts are proposed in a language you can't understand at all, but the vodka starts flowing, and in a little while what you came for just fades away.

"I won't drink with them anymore. But 1 don't seem to have much greater success anyway."

There were two road blocks on the main high- way to Graz, the large Austrian city held by the Russians. One was set up here at Koefiach by a company of London Irish Rifles, witli armored support at the limit of the British zone of occu- pation; the other, a double gate, was maintained by a Russian unit at Voitsberg.

The road blocks were erecti'd soon after the junction of the British Eighth Army with the Third Ukrainian Army of Marshal Feodor Tol- bukhin In between were two miles of "no-man's land, " where there were no troops at all.

At the Russian barrier, a lone sentry waved vehicles to a stop with a little square red flag, like a danger flag. The sentry was one of those spare, grizzled riflemen we saw often among the Red troops here, a man about 50 with a large, drooping mustache These older soldiers stood guard, or directed traffic with semaphore flags, oi drew housekeeping details at billets

Even these middle-aged soldiers looked rugged, with the ruggedness that comes of hard labor rather than athlete training

With considerable yelling in Russian, the road guard passed us on to a colonel in blui" ridmg breeches (other officers and enlisted men wore khaki), who ushered us into a farmhouse the unit had requisitioned

We were seated at a cloth-covered table and the colonel said to us '.s-c'iiinpp.s, Rusjtfci." A KP

Ha

— ^

■r

with a big white apron over his uniform began loading the table with chow and liquor. He clicked his heels and stood at attention each time he put down a plate.

We ate good Russian rye broad, sweet butter, salami and a kind of plain cookie. The vodka was served separately by a young officer, who got bawled out by the colonel be<'ause the first round wasn't good enough; after that he put out swell, smooth, powerful stulT.

True to the reputation of the Russian Army, the colonel and four or five officers surrounded us for the wet welcome all foreigners apparently must undergo. The lieutenant kept filling our three-ounce glasses with vodka. Each shot was chased by a goblet of Austrian beer and a tumbler of excellent white wine from Sevastopol, in the Crimea. We got none of the champagne and caviar the Red Army is supposed to live on.

The colonel said he was from Sibirsk in Siberia. There were also Ukrainian and Don Cossack units in this part of Austria. This unit was a guards infantry regiment.

In contrast to the enlisted men and some low- er-ranking officers we saw later, these Rus- sians were well-dressed. The colonel was so anxious to make a good appearance that he slipped away for a quick shave.

The Russians expressed pleasure that Hitler

and Mussolini were dead, regret that Roosevelt and Willkie were also dead. They mentioned Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company. Morgan, Hoover, Dewey, Ford and Paul Robeson, the Negro baritone whose son was brought up in the Soviet Union; apparently they wanted to show they knew something of current history in the States. With one exception, the Russians we met in thiS area seemed very enthusiastic about Americans.

One Reil Army man who spoke German said America had given the Ked Army 7,UUU Airaco- bras, 5,000 tanks, 10,000 other vehicles and mil- lions of boots, all of which "vas gut, gut,"

The Russian officers and enlisted men wore their medals all the time, not just the ribbons. Nowhere could you see an undecorated officer, and most of the EM had medals too.

The Russian medals are five-pointed stars in red enamel, with the profile of Lenin or Suvorov or whomever the order is named for engraved in the center. The colonel had six.

The colonel gave us a pass to go through nu- merous road guards on our way to Graz, where we hoped to get permission to continue to Vien- na and pick up a Red Army interpreter. The pass was not necessary; the sentries, seeing the white star on the hood of our jeep, snapped to attention and saluted as we roared by.

ON the way we stopped at a small Russian bivouac to change a tire. A Red GI mechanic provided tools and pitched in to help without being asked. We walked through his bivouac in a large yard behind a house. The canvas shel- ters looked flimsy, inferior to our shelter halves.

Gear was scattered over the area, and food lay uncovered in the warm air. Apparently Russian GIs don't have to police the area as much as American GIs

The iiiechani<- was working in his regular khukis, which, of course, were begrimed with automobile grease. We noticed no fatigues.

All the Austrians we met were terrified of the Russians occupying the country and they told horror tales about Russian ofTenses against ci- vilians. But British PWs who had been liberated by the Russians said the Red MPs maintained strict discipline among Soviet troops and added that the Russians treated them and the American PWs fine; "couldn't do enough for us, I'd say."

Graz had been fairly well worked over by Al- lied bombers, but was not too badly wrecked. As we drove around, looking for HQ, an Austrian woman ran to the jeep, crying in English:

"Americans? Thank God, you have come! The Americans will come to Graz? The RuMki will go?"

A Russian girl traffic cop directed us to the

YANK, rW Awmy Wmakly, pwtfkofioM hmtmd WMfefy by BroiKh OMn, laforinflf ran 4 fdvcotron DiWiion, Wof D^partmmM, 70S SatI 4M Strtt, Mmw Ymfh 17, M. V. Rvprodwcf ion righit ravfrkfad o« iiWi'lu*irf m tiML ■MSllbMd on thm adfforM pof. iKtmtd « axwid clou nraHar My t, 1942, at tin PoX OMc* or Nrw York, N. T., iimdmr Iht Art ol Marrtt t, It7f. Micriplian pri(« SI.M yMrly. PrrMad in tl— U. i. A.

Original from UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

YANK Thm Army Wmmkly • JULY 13, 1945

KommandatHT in the city hall on the main platz at the town. Those female MPs must have been eUouAed \)y the Red Army personnel section for their eflSciency They certainly were no pin-ups— short and dumpy, with huge busts. The ^Is packed autoautia aaHu^Mpa and tmded strictly to business. The male MPs, even those dvecting traffic, carried rl^es on their backs.

The center of the main platz was full of Red Army vehicles, mostly GI jeeps and trucks we had sent to Russia on lend-lease.

fttrpis varying from a squad to a platoon in size were marching through the streets of Graz, armed with rifles and tommy guns. The men carried their weapons at sling arms, even when marching in close order at attention, and they were singing, just as they do in the newsreels. Singing made it unnecessary, as well. as impos- sible, to count cadence.

They sang in harmony, not all on Jthe lead, as American troops do on the rare occasions when they sing at all. The tenors and typically Rus- sian baritones could be heard giving out with their different parte. When a patrol had to i»use to let cross traffic by, the men marked time and kept singing.

"Russki never sleep," several Austrian families in a village outside Graz protested. "They march on the roads all night past our wiiuiowa, singing at the top of their lungs. ITiey do it iwA to keep HB awake and scared."

.And liriving through the eotmtryride at 11

Sock at night, we passed a company tramping highway and shouting their Slavonic tunes, -fiut the Red Army had the singing habit years liefore it reached Austria.

Sometimes they made whoopee that kept the neighbors up; once some Cossacks climbed on Jjtmr horses with a bottle or two and rode around ■Hm edges of Koeflach Aring into the air.

The entrance to the ornate City Hall at Graz was blocked by a large group of Russian GIs hanging around, some lying on the sidewalk in the doorway, apparently awaiting a formation. They looked shabby by our standards, p«iia^ because their blouse Witt so tUll and ima gathered loosely at the waist by a gtcthm belt,

and because of the baggy pants and spiral puttees.

But the Red Army had come 1,700 miles cross- country from Stalingrad to Berlin, fighting for every inch; 'you would not expect much spit- and-polish on the Russian soldier in Naziland right after VE-Day.

The sentry on duty at tlie Xommandatwr di- rected us to the second floor. Outside the office of the town commander it was the usual mad- house found in military government offices dur- ing the first hectic weeks of any Allied oeem>a- tion. Red 'Army officers were buttling in and out, while a lot of bewildered civilians wandered about waving applications and permits. Other civilians, who had apparently given up, were sitting dejectedly on benches around the walls.

A couple of young Austrians who wore red arm bands were dofng liaison work. In spite of their nervous ineffieiency we got in to the town commander, a major general.

THE general . was the only fat man we saw among the Red troops. He was enormous. He ramA have weighed 250 poundis, a huge barrel of a man about 60 years old. His big, round head was entirely bald, not one hair even at the temples. He chain-smoked Jerry cigarettes and gave frequent grunts as he listened to our story. He had the biggest collection of fruit salad of any Russian officer we saw.

Unlike the Russians we met earlier, the gen- eral did not welcome iis with embraoes and vodka. While we were explaining what we want- ed, the general closed one eye and bored a hole through us with the other.

In the end, we did not get clearance to Vienna or anywhere else in Russian bands. We got the bum's rush back where we came from, the Britidt lines at Koeflach.

As we left Graz a small parade of Ukrainians headed by a band passed through the platz. Most of the men in line were infantry, many with the shaven head characteristic of the Russian soldier.

Their rifles ^ere bolt-action, the metal parts finished aiclcel4ttight rather than gun'-blved. Contrary to stories yoo used to hear, the bayonets were not welded to &tK muszle to iet^ the men

from using the blade as can openos. The bay- onets were removable.

Some of the infantrymen carried tommy guns, said to be their favorite weapon. Their guns had drum clips and looked heavy.

The Rui^ans use a-lot awre horses titan we do. In ihe parade there were cavalrymen wear- ing high leather boots, followed by horse-drawn antitank guns. There were some .30-calibei, water-jacketed machine guns, similar to the Brit- ish Vickers of the same size, but these weapons were mounted on heavy steel two- wheeled car- riages instead of the tripod the British and American armies use.

"We've got to run out to see our Russian friends again," the British captain in charge of the Koeflach outpost said the next day. "They came over the mountains during the night and put up a new barrier that seems to be three miles within our zone.'*

The British jeeps and two light tanks \ound the new Red barrier on a secondary road at St. Martin, a hamlet near Koeflach A hard-bitten Cossack cavalry platoon had set it up and had moved into a farmhouse there. The British got the usual noisy welcome, and the Russians crowded around.

"No. no, thank you, no schjiapps," the captain insistecl. "Why have you set up this road block?"

When this was translated into German for the Cossack major, who knew only a little of that language, he 'said firmly, "mein posto, metK posta." And he turned to show the British his equipment and to examine the British tanks. While the fruitless conference was going on. the tiausfrau came up, weeping because the Russian horses were grasing in' her crops.

The little, dark-skinned Cossack major howled at the horses to startle them out of the field. Then he hammered the air with his fists:

"German bomb, bomb, bomb . . . Dnepropet- rovsk kaput . . . bomb, bomb, bomb. . . . Rostov kaput . . . Sevastopol (caput, Stalingrad (caput, iFieningrad (caput . . . houses gone, farm gone, peoi^ Ie gone . .

Ife lodked angrily at the umlamaged Austrian

The Mw Jttwiih RMiyor appeintwi by MO got is knttw fha OwiMnslM now

governs from the very intimate per- spective of Nazi concentration camps.

By Sgt. HARRY SIGNS YANK StafF Correspondent

EmnnasN, Gbimany— Fritz Israel Strauss, the BtteryemeUter of EtUingen, walked across his private chambers in the Rathous to the windows overlooking the town square. He stared ■down for a moment, then turned around.

"Yesterday," he said, "a man shook my hand in the square, an important man in the town, the owner of a large clothing store. Two months ago, if he had seen me, he would have reported me to the Gestapo; he would have sent me to my death. Today I am his Buergefmeister, and he shakes my hand. A strange business, eh?"

He walked back to his handsome oak official chair and sat down, a iriiort, stocky, egg-bald mah with a pugnacious jaw and a bladi mustache flecked with grey. He looked older than his 42 years; "twelve years playing hide-and-seek with the Gestapo ages a man," he said. He was hard- boiled and aggressive and he talked with the concentrated vigor of a man who had waited a long time to get something off his chest He rested his hands palm-down on his desk. "It's a strange business," he repeated. "Like a strange dream " Ettlingen is an industrial town of 12,000 popu- lation, a dozen miles from Karlsruhe, the ca^tal of Baden in southern Germany, tiench tro(^ of the Seventh Army swept into the town on April 16, and Strauss "got out of his hole" in the cellar of a farmhouse where he had been hiding for three months before the town's capture. French Military Government officials at once offered iiim the job of Buer germeister, or mayor.

'Relieve, me, I didn't want the job," he said, "lliree times they asked me to take it. Twice I refused. The third time I accepted. Perhaps it is a duty I owe — not to them," and he gestured with contempt toward the window,' "but to the dead of tlie concentration camps, and the half-da«d Wlio were left behind there." Ettlingen was under fire for four days before JVa capture, but the French "aim must have been poor," because there was little damage. Most of ^ was in the wMicers' Uving.wnla&.Oadng the ^ffew days of occupation there was some looting by the troops, a couple of rapes and a few other excesses — "a small measure of repayment for what the V/ehrmacht did to France." The French MG officers were highly cooperative and they escorted Strauss to his office, opened a bottle of wine and said: "The town's problems are in your bands. Get to work."

He got to work. The first thing he did was "clean out the vermin" — fire immediately the 50 party men who had worked in the town govern- ment and public services. He appointed a new City Gmiacjl of Ave: one Gonmunist, one Social- ist, Ote Sodial Democrat and two Catholic Party men (there were two Catholics appointed to the Council because Ettlingen is more than 75 percent Catholic) and appointed each man head of a department: health, utilities, food supply, labor supply and housing.

He located Nazi party men from lists found by &e 116 and organized Nazi work squads to dig graves for the French and Germans who had been killed in the fighting in and around Ettlingen; he made them clean the debris from the streets and do other emergency labor.

IN LESS than two weeks the town's water aiid electricity and other public utilities were func- tioning normally. For awhile there was a food shortage; the mayor requisitioned six trucks to get food, and especially potatoes, from the farm- ers to feed the 12,000 regular population, the 4,000 bombed-out refugees and the 1,000 French troops stationed around £ttlhigen. He helped UNRRA officials, who were operating camj^ for the 3,500 displaced persons Who had been slave labor In Ettliagen's industrial plants during the .war.

The schools had been closed; he obtained p>er- mission to open them three days a week, "not only for the sake of religion, but to take the children off their mothers' hands." The Council organized work-groups of children from U to 14 years old to kill potato bugs—a great danger to the crop

MOf «

YANK Tto anmf WMUy • JUIV 19, IMS

year — and groups of 14-to- 16-year-olds to 'Work on' farms and in forests and to collect loose 'Vamunition and firearms. Each of the work ^flroupa was put under the leadership of boys care- ndly picked from trusted Catholic and Socialist families.

The town's industries — paper and cellulose .aiiUs, machine-tool plants and iron-worlcs — were so they would be ready to operate wlien railroads were running. All property bad been owned by the Nazis was put in trus- teeship, and the mayor recommended that it be turned over to those who had been robbed and persecuted by the Nazis, or to their families.

TBXir renamed the Nazi streets: Adoi/ Hitler Stranc was diaafed to Heiiiricli HeiM Strassc; Bsrst Wessel Stnuse became KiemoeUer Strasse.

Other streets were renamed for left wing Party men, workers and Catholics who had been mur- dered by the Gestapo or SS. All party IxMks and panqihlel* wm takmlbsn the adimlib IttwariM*

dunpL

■Vc did' not bum them, iMeawft in ^w^Btt^ Strauss said.

Now the stores are open and life la iioniial» as normal as life in any German town ean be afteit 12 yeai^ of Hitlerism.

Tlie mayor paused and hxdced hnid lor » Aeeaent "You are thbiUng I am wen pliNfsed with myself, that I am saying: The work is done; the Nazis are driven out, the people are repentant, the streets have been renamed, and now we can start a fresh new life.' You are wrong. I'm not fooled. All this work could be undone in ttie time it talus to nail up a new street sign."

He smiled bitterly.

"A friend of R»ine came to see me when I assumed oflSce and said 'Fritz, why do you retain your middle name Israel, which was a badge of shame under the Nazis?' and I told him it helps me refresh my memory."

He Ut a Cheeterfleld and pulled furioudy. "For 11 years Fve hated the Germans. During these patt five weelcs, I've learned to deepise thwu. You

sec these people walking in our streets? A pleasant people; men smoking their pipes on the street comers, women going to mwlEet liolding their little girls by the hand A pleasant, friendly people — and all rotten in.side.

"They come to me at strange hours with their tales, late at night, when no one is watching. The other night one man came to me and whispered: 'D6 you remember wtien Hugo Leichteiler, the Socialist leader, was denounecd to the CScstiqio? Hans Mwdlir lethenan.' Tbay betray each ottier, these Genaan^tfa^r balnqr their nation and their Christ"

He banged his fist on the desk. "There is one language Nazis understand: the fist in the face. There is one hope: hard ceaseless work. I would take all the 9,000,000 party members and send them to Russia, France, Poland — to all the coun- tries they destroyed — and force them to rebuild for as long as 20 years. You must teach Nazis that they are a defeated people; you must jam their defeat down their throats."

Re paused. It is not a question of revenge. We who have suffered from the Naiia are bejrond thoughts of revenge. II is a question of savhlg the world from another war.

"You Allies do not understand the Germans. You are too soft You hire 'experts' who are Party men to work in the Military Government offices. These experts recommend other Nazis. Soon you luve a ring of Nazis in the MG offices, in wlUcfa each man vouches for the others and makes alibis. In Karlsruhe the French appointed a finance commissioner who was a Party man from 1031; in otiier placet even SS men iMcame MG pohMi."

,He looked at us. "You come from a naition where decency and honor are accepted like the air you breathe and the water you drinlL But moet of tile Germans Itave lost their sense of honmr; even their capacity for guilt. You have seen the posters of the concentration camps all over our town? The people look at Stem as if theae camps were in another world.

"The non-Party man blames the Party; the Nazis blame the SS; the SS blames the higher officers; and the higher officers blame Hitler, who is dead or escaped. But I tell you they are all guilty, all except the few decent ones who are left In Ettlingen I could point the decent ones out, one by one; the handful of workers, Social- ists. Communis^, Catholics and tlie priests who remained faithful to their trust

*%ven many of. the men who wet* in ofllGe before "33 have learned nothing. They took pen- sions from the Nazis, and lived their small shrunlcen lives in fear. They are banlmipt' toa" Bwr Strmss was bom in Freiburg, Baden. His febgie lived in Baden for more than 1,000 years; "^eW roots are as deep in the land as the trees of onir Black Forest." He grew up and went to sdiool in Freiburg, then moved to Karlsruhe, where he opened a store. During the '20s he was an active anti-Nazi. He wrote articles for Social- ist newspapers toA became liea^ of a fraternal association of 30,000 Ba4«l fVwm,^M wtacn vm are known to be alive now.

In 1933, after Hitler got in power, Strauss left for Paris and married the following year. In 1939 he received a telegram from his father informing him of his mother's death and asking him to re- turn to Germany. The wire was a Geitapo trap. When Strauss crossed the border at Kehl, near Strasbourg, he was picked up by the agents and thrown in prison at Karlsruhe, and sent from there a month later to a concentration camp at Kislau in Baden. There were no charges.

He was kept at ICislau 'for five months, re- leased and returned to Karlsruhe, where he opmed another store. In 1037 the Gestapo picked lum V9 again vid sent him to the Dachau camp for seven months. There were no charges.

In 1938 he was released and returned to ICarls- ruhe Just in time to watch his property being de- stroyed b)r mobs who rioted in Novemi>er after a Polish Jew killed Ernst von Rath, the Nasi mil- itary attache in Paris.

Straufs smiled grimly. "That was the beginning of the more active hunt- ing season."

From then on he was on the move, hiding in one town after another, in forests and deserted farmhouses. Most of the time Iw hid in and around Ettlingen, where his Catholic wife and - small son were living with her parents.

During all these years he was not permitted to go out of the hiiuse in daylight or use the phone, or speak to German Aryans. When the war started, all the Jews in Baden were sent to Po- land except those who tied married Aryans. He stayed, because his wife was Catholic "My father was not so luclcy," the BKcrgcrmeistcr said. "He married a Jewess. He was 70 years tHA when they sent him to Poland, and he did not live to arrive there."

IN Jantjary, 194S a bribed Gtttapo agent in- formed his in-laws that all persons in Ettlingen with any Jewish blood were to l>e taken to Da- chau or shot at once because the French were approaching. Strauss and his 8-year-old son went and hid in the cellar of a farmhouse near Ett- lingen. His wife brought him food in the dead of night FHoids— "the faithful few"— supplied the food from part of their rations. They knew he was alive but it was understood they were not to ask any questions. He remained hidden in the cellar for three months. "On the day the French came I waUtad out of nqr hale to Hvedom and my wife." Hie urn ndsted. 1t|r wtta^" he repeated softly.

"You come from America, where such things cannot happen," the Buerpermeuter continued "Perhaps you will find it difficult to understand women 4ike Frau Strauss." •

They had met in Karlsruhe 15 years ago. where she was working as a secretary. Slie was pecttgr.

blonde and vivadous; they had gone out on dates, fallen in love. A jrear after he left for Paris she Joined him and they married. They lived in Paris one year— "one wonderful year"— and iriien he was trapped in Germany and titrown into prison she returned to live in the "greater prison" — Germany — to he with her husband.

The Bwergermeister hesitated. "My wife is Catholic and I am a Jew. You understand what such a marriage meant in Hitler's Germany. But we respected each other's traditions. We had common tastes, and a common lowt al the ^assnt things in life."

During the years he was hunted, the black years of 'Nazi terror, she was his closest conu'ade. When he was in prison and in the concentration canqw she went from official to official to obtain his release. And wlien he walked out of tlie imIs- on gates, he found her waiting. During all that time she refused to go to the movies or attend concerts; "a terrible thing, because she loved music so; she wflidd net fe -Mirwliewi without me, and natun^ t was nriUAten to go atqr- where."

WHEN Strauss was in hiding, the Gestapo sometimes picked her up and questioned her; they broke into the house at all hours of the night and day, stole jewelry, papers and even ^wir macdiage license. Three times they put her in tile tortere chamber of tlw Ettlingen Gestapo headquarters, to frighten her into revealing her husband's hiding places; and at last they ac- cused her of espionage.

Frau Strauss, nevertheless, helped the Jews publicly. When they were rounded up to be -de- ported to Poland — and almost certain death- she made up food packages and took them to the railway station and gave them to the women of the families who were leaving. She helped the slave laborers of Ettlingen with gifts of clothes and food and cigarettes when clothes and food and cigarettes were hard to get

Her circle of friends quickly dwindled. Women sh6 had grown up with, former schoolmates, girls she went to church with and on dates, turned the other way when they met her on the street. Storekeepers often refused to honor her ration cards, and the butchers gave her the cheapest cuts of meat When she walked on the Street tiM Matf hoeanwis et IttStoigMi rtieatad "Jew's whore."

Now she sits in the spadous private chambers of the Buerger-meitter, a pleasant-looking, well- poised, soft-voiced woman, who back home might be the head of the town's charity club or of the Parent-Teaclier Association.

"They are v^ cordial now, my old friends in EttUngnn." said Frau Strauss. "The storeke^iers cannot do too much for the Buerpermeitter's wife. And my neighbors' children are so anxious to play with my son." Her voice faltered. "Scarcely two months ago they threw stones at him with cries of 'Jew's bastard!' And yet he is a child. He likes to play."

A little later we visited the Btterpcrmeister in his public office, less grand than the private, formal surroundings of the mayor's cfllcial office. There was a great deal of activity. PMVie Wwe coming, in, going out; many stood outside the door, waiting their turn. '

A woman came to to complain that Jier neiSh- bor's dog was bittog the children; another that her husband was mistreating her. Others com- plained that displaced Poles were getting dnmk and insulting German citizens. There were re- quests for food ration cards. The fluergefinsister listened patiently, made his decision in qid^' final tones. His face was a mask

Members of the Council came in with problems of housing and labor and food. Mayors from a local town visited him for advice; ofllcials of tlie French MG came to confer.

"A very able man, that Strauss," a French cap- tain told us, "A man of courage. I told hhn that he may get hurt one of these days by some Nazi fanatic, but he only laughed. I find it difficult naturally, to admire a German, but I have a great admiration for the Buerpermeister. Per- haps it is because I eanaok think of Urn as • German. In reriHy.. he fsu^ fliem as bitlettr as we did."

When we went up to Fritz Israel Strauss to say goodbye he said, "I have a farewell gift for you," and he took from his wallet a frayed yellow cloth in the form of a six-pointed star, with "Jude" in black across the center. "I wore it here."- he said, and he plaeed it below his heart

Ettlingen

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Gl HORSE TRADE

By Cpl. JUO COOK YANK Staff Correspondent

NORTHERN CuuiA — Four of US l^t KuDming. China, in u-'/iitapeot earrii^ .^t was loaded tu the limit. It carried extra drums

of gasoline, foyd enough to last j month, bedding rolls, a sack of mail and' anothci . more important sack. The second saek held several million dol- lars in Chinese currency, just part of a largei sum destined to do a special job.

A vital phase of China's war against the Jap was connected wHK our (grip and with other trips like .it. The millions were to be delivered to a group of GIs in Tibet and in the unexplored part of China inhabited by the Lolos — fierce, black- caped characters who con.sidoi it sport to rob and kill. Our party wa.s bound for Lololand. armed with two shotguns, two 45s and an Ml. but wi would have fell better with a bract of machine guns. That much cash makes you nervous

The Lulos and the Tibetans have good noise.- and the GIs at our dcitifWltiwi were there to buy them for CSibtfu Chbta needs horses in girding herceU for a aqiweae-pUy actUmijl. the Japs a> the poasibWtar <a no inva^on of China's eastern eiia« - grows stronger. One look at Chiita from a plane will answer any question about the need for horses. There are only a fe%v roads good enough to handle the weight of trucks to cany supplies to the fighting fronts, espieially if these fronts should move farther east. The only feasible way to get supplies through is to paclc them by horse. Hcvse tradin|( was our military aasignnMit. Out of Kunming, we swung onto the newly opened Burma Road. We stuck to it for three houi .'^ and then turned off to head straight north. The U. S. Army convoy trucks we left behind us on the Burma Roa'd were the last American ve- hicles we were to see for over a month except for another weapons carrier and a jeep that were in u.se by GIs at the horse-trading encampment.

We had three days of roller-coaster riding be- fore we sighted the very blue waters of the Yel - low River. Part of the Chinese Navy — we had naver thought of a Navy so far inland — ^ferried UK acKMC After that, mow fomiti this time dotted with flimsy wooden bridges.

Many of the bridges bore sciu-s of fire and we knew we wrrt- nearing the Lolo country. We had heard that some of the Lolos had been on a ram- page not long before and had burned down a number of bridges so that they could waylay any vehicle held up by one of them. The Chinese llf igr h«^ toiici us that Iwd bridges were down, but that new ones were n^ar completi<»L Their G-2 was correct for we found all finished bridges and were rea.ssured at evidence that communica- tions were better than we had thought.

All that money in the.se surroundings still wor- ried us. When we pulled, into a small town to stay overnight our relief w^ almost audible. Sgt. Willard Selph. of the vetarinaty outfit

which does the horse buying, parked the weapons carrier and we unloaded our stuff in a building erroneously called a liotcL UpBtate* H boasted bare rooms, littered ttifh egg shells that must have been there iar weeks. light came into the rooms from rat holes large enough to accommo- date a small, foolhardy dog. The windows were paper-covered holes in the wall. This was the only available lodging in the town, so we parked our gear and our millions and left Maj. Earl Bitter to guard it while we hunted up a recommended restaurant.

We walked through dark, narrow streets and halfway to the eating place in this blackness came upon a sight that dashed my appetite to bits. Hanging just above our eye-level were eight human heads, strung up on a cord between two poles. Wong, our interpreter, evidently wanted us to get the full effect for he said nothing until after we had seen them. Then he told us the story: They were (he heads of savage Lolos brought back by friendly Lolos as prizes of war from a battle of the week before. He further ex- plained that "white" and "black" Lolos war peri- odically because of crimes committed by the latter. We thanked him.

We pulled out the next day when the town was having its annual Buddha-washing festival. The citizens wash the statue on a certain day every year and the cleaning is done by a selected man and woman, the "living Buddhas." The lucky couple is car.'-ied up to the statues in a long pro- cewioa and they bring everything with them in ' ilie way of oil and trinkets except soap.

WE found half the men on the horse-buying assignment, when we arrived at the camp, considering their job in the light of a rest 'camp deal. These are G3s who have been through the misery of the Salween campaign which helped reopen the Ledo-Burma Road. Even this out-of- the-way spot looks good to them now.

The GI who looked and talked more like a cowboy than anyone else at the camp was T-4 Michael Brutcher of Wilkinsburg, Pa. He was a steel worker there, but when he shipped to this theater he was put into a veterinary outfit; why he doesn't know himself. Brutcher had be- to the outfit that was rounding up, buying « deHverfaig horses to Ledo for use by Mer- Ts Marauders. He was doing the same job when »e saw him.

Two westerners in the detachment— Pfc. Wil- ham Hightower of Stephenville, Tex., and Pvt William Nealon of Denver, Colo. — have the tough- est job in the whole assignment. They are the pack leaders and, when the desired number of are bought in the area, Hightower and with a string of Chinese mafiLS (care-

takers) lead them to a coUecting point aome«ii«r« in southern China.

When the time comes for shoeing tht herd be- fore it heads south the job will fall to T-4 Nor- man Skala, a GI blacksmith from Elgin. 111.

The crux of the job — buying the horses — is not so simple a matter as dipping into the millions of dollars and waving a flstful of cash beftt« the eyes of the horse owners. Horses and guoa are the most highly prized possessions of the Lotos and they won't give either of them up sinq>ly at the sight of a wad of moola.

The first step in buying is for the GI traders to go into a town and get in touch with a magis- trate, for a magistrate in this country has power of life or death over his people. They ask him to spread word that Americans are in the city to buy whatever horses are for sale.

"The owners then bring their horses into town and they bring with tbem a mayadza, a profes- sional horse broker. All deals are made through the mayadza, never directly with the owners, although the owners are present most of the time to keep an eye on the progress of the trading. It the bargaining is successful, the broker shouts, "Maria'." to the owner. This means "Sell!" If the owner agrees, the mayadsa drops the halter on the horse and the deal is closed. You don't own a horse until the moment the broker lets loose the halter.

Both brokers and owners drive a hard bargain. Maj. Charles Ebertz of Auburn, N. Y., who has

done most of the buying here, a practicing vet in civilian life, reports case after case where he spent three to four hours=buying one horse. Occa- sionally, sellers will pull fast ones. Once a GI buyer discovered too late that he had paid a good price for a club-footed horse. During the sale the animal had been standing ankle-deep in straw.

In some instances money is no good at all. Almost all the Lolos would rather have silver blocks than folding stuff and that poses another problem for the GIs, who have to go out and hunt up sufficient silver blocks.

Tibetans, on the other hand, will take money if they have to but prefer barter goods and the things they ask for have caused many an issue head to be scratched. They are moved by fads and the last Tibetan fancy was for yellow felt hats. For such a hat a horse owner in Tibet would trade his best nag. Col. Daniel H. Mallan of Har- risburg. Pa., head of all the horse-buying groups, made a special plane trip to China and back to procure yellow hats. He couldn't get any felt ones, but yellow-painted helmet, liners came close enough to buy a few horses before the fad melted away. A trip we made with one of the trading parties

ment routine as practiced by the Army in China.

We drove first as far as we could by motor to a amafi toi^ to which our saddle horses and mules had been driven the day before. Their

arrival had spread the word of our mission be- fore us. When we arrived at the town at 0900 there were crowds of curious spectators whoiiad been waitipg for 9%i)sr hours. Tbisy mobbed our track bjr the ntm^breds and helped us saddle 6ur horses and load our gear.

Just as we were ready to shove off, half a dozen of them grabbed us by the arms and led us to a hovel that looked like a HoUyaraod opiimt den. There they brought out a huge black jug and poured each of us a bowl of their very best rice wine, stored away for special occasions like this. It was liquid dynamite, but, as soon as we took a sip from our individual bowls, our hosts refilled them. Dish after dish of food followed the wine and the meal was interrupted constantly by toasts. As soon as we finished one meal, another party was on hand, dragging us to its hovel. Everyone wanted to entertain. Everyone who_ had a deli- cacy on his own dish wanted us to take a bite. Two hours went by before we could get our show on the road. '

WE reached the Lolo village we were seeking late in the evening and, although we were dog tired, our eyes opened at the sights that greeted us. We had heard earlier that there was sickness among the Lolos and in the village we saw four tribesmen stretched on the ground in the last stages of something. It wasn't until the second day that we found out the nature of the plague. The four had been having a party an rice wine 10 times stronger than that we had sam- pled down the road and were recovering from the inevitable attack of DTs.

The youngest son of the tribal chief, Lo-Tai- Ing, came out to greet us. He bowed gracefully and in very good English repeated that favorite GI expression about "blowing it out." That was all he could say in S^igli^ and it reminded us of the story that a bomber had crashed up country and its crew had never been heard of. We were nervous again.

Wong immediately announced the reason for our visit He told the IaIos ^t we had silver to buy horses and that we came bearing gifts and medicine.

The tribesmen tied our horses and took us to a room in the mansion of the chief. In a matter of minutes we were backed against the wall by a stream of Lolos who pushed into the room to get a look at the Meigwas — the Americans. They stared at us, checking their own features against ours, and mumbled among themselves. They felt

1 feive a rough idea of typical horse procur^-.i|'| |tj^ '.enti re of "ppr skins and measured our wrists,

VERSITV OF MICHIGAN

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ankles and necks. Then they took turns standing beside us to compare heights. They were amazed by our wrist watches and pocket knives, but our guns WP'e the main attraction.

After they had concluded the inspection to their satisfaction, some of them took Wong aside and told him they would like to have « shooting con- test with us. Maj. Bbertz agreed and said he would stack his Ml against any of their rifles. One of the young kids brought out a piece of tile and took off for the hills nearby. He placed the tile, which was to be the target, about 300 yards away and then the chief came up with his rifle. H& took five shots at the tile, but every one was eithtT too abort or off to one sidc^ Ibi]. Ebertae took hii torn. He ptit one round in his Ml, ad- justed the sights, took aim. squeezed off his shot and splattered the target to bits. Every Lolo around jumped with excitement. We were in.

We slept in the Lolo village that night and in the morning the chiefs son came to Wong with word that the tribesmen were goihg to kill two bulls in our booor nd did wc waat to watch the slaughtering? The Lolo method of kiUing animals isn't pretty and we didn't stay out the whole show. What we did see was enough.

One Liolo felled the first bull with an axe and.

as it wavered to its knees, he pounded over the heart, on the back and on the lefs, screaming

every time he swtmg the axe. The Lolo onlookers hopped up and down, delirious with laughter. While the bull was still kicking, a second Lolo slit its throat. We were supposed to accept Itus sacrifice with deep t^preciation.

The killer's axe miaaed ite target on the second bull and the animal got away to the hills at a fast pace. The Lolos gestured excitedly to the major that they wanted him to shoot the run- away. He brought it down with a single shot, the cleanest execution in Lololand in a long time. We checked' out before the final details of butchery.

That evenitig the Lolos fcHted on the two bulls. They sat in circles, about 20 to the circle, eating the beef from massive bowls, one to each group. They had only one eating tool, a spoon which looks something like a tiny niblick. It is used for the soup which is served at every meal and one spoon does for a whole circle of diners.

Their eating must rank among the world's mMtaA. ^nth aooae 300 Hps smarking in enjoy- ment at one time, it aotmded as if you were stand- ing near a lake listening to the slap of the waves against a row of moored boats. They did not in- vite tu to join any of the circles and we did not

regret it They dUd fadag us some unoooked liver and tripe to /take back to camp with us.

Our quarters while we were with the tribe were in the corner of a large room on the second floor of the chief's mansion. The house is still abuilding and Wong discovered that this marked its fourth year of construction. The Lolos them- selves know nothing about carpentry and such work is done by Chinese th^ have CBptureil ana enslaved. Farming, too, is a slave's job, and the Lolo warriors are left with little to do but drink rice wine all day.

After the bull feast, the chief paid a visit to our quarters. A bearer brought a large kettle of rice wine and placed it at the chief's feet. We had to drink because the major planned to make a token purchase of a few horses. It was a quiclc deal, for its one purpose was to impress the Lolos that we were in the market for horses.

Even before the deal was closed curious Lolos began to jam the room. They squatted against the walls and watched us as the ^ie( had a second meal after selling the horses. Tlie chief ate with chopsticks this time and we shared some beef and pork with him.

The smell of bodies in the room was stifling. The tribesmen squatted close to us, constantly feeling our muscles, touching our faces and rub- bing the hair on our arms. Their faces were strange and distorted in the candeMght,

They took the jungle knives out of our belts and seemed content to sit and hold and stare at them. They inspected every single item of our clothing. The zippers on our fleld jackets were something they couldn't believe. When we smoked they were not so much attracted by our ciga- rettes as by the matches .we used to light them. Thqr light their own pipes with Unit arad metaL

When Wong informed the «hief that we had to leave in a few days, he tried to persuade us to stay longer. He wanted us to remain in the vil- lage long enough to teach his people some Amer- ican habits and maybe a few words of K"gT'i>h He and all the tribesmen pumped us with endless questions about the United States and about the whole outside world. When we told them about American farmers their first questions were: How many guns does an American farmer have? How many horses? How much silver? They wanted to know if there were any beggars in the U. S.

THK Lolos themselves are_ not yet certain that the world is round. They" asked us for proof of the shape of the world and for proof that the globe spins. If it spins, they reason, why don't people fall off and why doesn't the water spill out of rivers and lakes? They believe that the chief's house, a three-story structure, is the last word in modem biiiMing, When we told than about skyaciapeis and New York, fhey rei^iaed to believe us

The chiefs right hand man told us that the Lolos had seen a few airplanes. If the Americans could make such things from reading books, be said, then the Lolos were going to get books. Hie chiefs brother, considered the most dariqg man in the tribe, offered tbe ma}ar his best botse and the title of godfather to hii children, if he could have a plane ride. The major said he would try to arrange it. We sensed something more than curiosity in the brother's request. It seemed pos- sible that he was preparing to unseat his brother and was banking on adding to his personal pres- tige in the community by taking the death- defying risk of air travel.

'The evening's Lolo version of a bull-session finally folded and we slept The rest of our stay with the tribe was Ivgeljr a matter of psepaung to leave for camp.

The l^olca contfatoed In thrir ciwiwKy about v and we continued to observe them. lOie IdOla wo- men, we discovered, are attractive — ^whatyaaeUi see of them. Only their hands and face^andaeaae^ times their feet, are visible. They seem qmte in- nocent of bathing and the dirt on their hands has undoubtedly' been untouched by water for years. Possibly they observe the Tibetan castom of but three haOis per Mtetime once at tairfh. once at marriage and finally at death.

This allergy to bathing was a major obstacle to our interest in the Lolos. We could observe them with enthusiasm while our lungs were full of fresh air, but enthusiasm waned with longer, closer contact

Our mission had been finished with the buying of tbe horses. We packed our gear, including our kidney and tripe, mounted our horses and headed back lo the GI camp.

RSITV OF MICHIGAN

HOME

By Sgt. SAUL LEVIH YANK Staff Cerr»spond*nl

ON May 20, Capt. Joseph G. Stone, a big, red-headed doctor from Cicero, UL, walked into the anteroom of the 6th Fid4 Hospital at Prestwick, Scotland, carrying a little

list of names. Another one of the smooth North Atlantic air passages that ATC had been provid- ing for the wounded since June 1944 was getting under way.

Stone checked off the names, and T-4 John JI. McKim of Elwood City, Pa. chalked up another departure on his blackboard.

Mhiutes later the big ramp was pulled up to the open bays of the C-54, and 20 men were carried aboard. Half an hour after Stone had read the names off his list, a wide-winged plane was climb- ing north out of Scotland.

Aboard as flight nurse for the first leg of the trip to Iceland was Lt. Sylvia Roth of Phila- delphia, Pa. She had made five trips across the Atlantic and had earned lots of flight time flying over the Continent when we www noirilac wounded men from advanced flekta behind ttw' front lines to hospitals in the rear.

The 20 patients, comfortably set up in tiers of four litters, included a Ranger; a TO battalion beutenant who bad been shot three times at dose range by a German soldier, and a 20-year-old platoon sergeant. Of the 20 patients aboard 19 had been prisoners of the Germans. All 'of them represented the tail-end of the war in Europe and they proved that the last bullets were as dangerous as the other ones. And on VE-Day they were in hospitals celebrating with ther- mometers and bedpans.

They had been hit with plenty of trouble' in their service overseas. Most of them lay in their litters very quietly now as if not to break the spell of tUs magic that was taking* them home. "Hus day there was lots of sunlight over the broken clouds and bits of bleak water showing below. Lt Roth spread a comforter on the floor and some of the men clambered down from the litters. The nurse and the soldiers played cards.

Lt. James PoUitt, who had commanded a platoon of tank destroyers in the 821st TD Bat- talion, wanted only to smoke, which was exactly the one thing he couldn't do aboard the plane. Outside of that he didn't mind talking. He was a tall, level-headed guy who didn't look like he'd ever feel sorry for himsell He had charged a Tiger tank in a jeep, not because he was looking for a posthumous Medal of Honor, "but what the hell could we do? You can't drive a jeep away from a Tiger tank so my driver and I just drove down to it, pulled up alongside and climbed on top. We had a carbine and a .45 between us. We banged on the turret until it opened and we had them prisoner."

"After that I yelled Kummen raus or .some damn thing to every German who might be listening, and by God it seemed like hundreds of them came out of houses and woods. I told them there were lots of Americans around and to disarm. They kept looking at us but no other Americans came. Finally they had it figured out right, that there was just the two of us and they jumped us. This one guy grabbed my .45. He slwt me three times from a distance of abont 10 feet the first thne it wat through 0w dM*t and

I remember going down on one Icnee and saying to myself Tm never going home.' "I was shot three times but I guess none of the

shots hit anything important. The one through the chest didn't touch my lungs and just grazed a rib. The second one through the neck didn't touch the jugular vein. Tb» iMt smashed UP my right arm a bitr atMl tliiifa about flttl^ bothering me now.

"See this," said Pollitt, flexing his flqgoi. Be couldn't make a tight flst because the nerves in his upper right arm hadn't thoroughly healed yet. And he would carry his Purple Heart around with him the rest of his life in the form of a little scar In his nedc

Lt Roth, who was sitting at a window wtOtlliC sun suddenly blazing through into the plane, tapped Pollitt on the shoulder and said, "You sit down here, and feel that sun on your back."

"No, you keep sitting there, it's all right," said T»ollitt.

"You sit there, just sit down and feel that siu, it'll be wonderful on your back."

Pollitt sat down, rubbed his stubble of black beard, and gazed out on unbroken, fluffy white clouds that moved to the horizon. The clouds made a bed the size of the world. He said he was fDing home to Pawtucket R. where he had a wife. Pollitt left the States before the baby was bom, he said. The kid wasn't well at'lnrth. Now he was coming home after his 5-month-old son, whom he'd never seen, had died.

THE navigator came back for a minute to say that we had a good tail wind and the flight would ■only be four hours today. Somebody asked the nurse if high-ranking officer patients acted any differently than the enlisted men on these flights. Lt. Roth thought about that one for a moment and then said, "I wouldn't know, they all seem the same in pajamas."

"Generals are usually the meekest and mildest of the lot," said Pfc. Donald Ackroyd, the flight and traffic clerk aboard. Ackroyd, whose home town is Webster, Mass., has been making these trans-Atlantic flights for nearly a year. "Tell a general that he's gotta stop smoking, and he al- ' most breaks a leg putting out that cigarette."

Meelu Fidd was clean and bare and filfi of sunlight when the plane landed. It wasn't too cold in Iceland that day. The Forts on the field looked nice and peaceful with their guns sheathed in canvas, and the searchlights which used to watch for the big Focke Wolfe 200s that bombed long ago as far north as Iceland looked as if they hadn't been used for some time. May two years ago in Iceland saw the Forts and the B26s lined up nose by nose as if snifling the cold grey skies for the take-offs to Eng- land and combat. But this May was VE month and even Iceland looked good.

'When the gangplank was pulled alongside the plane, the fuselage be- came as busy as Grand Central but the move- ments up and down the gangplank were purpose- ful and dBcient Doctors, a new nurse, Red Cross girls, orderlies and an- other ciew came aboard. There were tureens of hot food, fresh milk and ice cream. Pollitt and the yoimg Ranger officer, Lt. Douglas C. Campbell of

YANK n* Mrmy Wm^kly • JMLY IS, IMS

ValleJOk Calif., who had been wounded on the Saar while with the 5th Ranger Battalion, went off the plane for a quick cigarette Lt. Roth and the new nurse took their hair

down just before take-of( and had a shop-talk powder-room conversation. They talked about the last pass in New York before grabbing an eastward flight and Lt. Roth thought ImT flifM tuiiform at Prestwick would probably be OOt tX the cleaners when she got back there.

Then Lt Roth made a neat little good-by speech and the men looked at each other as if they were losing a very old friend.

The second leg from Iceland to Newfoundland was the long one, eight and a half hours and go- ing from sunlight into darkneii. The navigator came back for a moment very satiafltd with tho flight. He talked about the trade winds, the old winds of Colimibus and the clipper ai^i aeroH the Atlantic. Men fell asleep.

THEY stirred on their litters and rubbed their eyes in the night over Newfoundland. It was a clear night. The mountains below showed streaks of snow and jagged edges but it was all remote from this hospital ward in the air. Landing in Newfoundland was to feel already the American current of life. Pollitt and Campbell went over to the terminal building and tried out tlieir new currency in the niclKls and dimes that could buy tomato juice, coffee and hamburgers. It was very ' interesting. All you had to do was to drop some of these little pieces of metal on the counter and say hamburgers and coffee and there they were in front of you. A copy of today's New Yoik Tijnet lay on a bench and you could look over yesterday's box score at the Polo Grounds.

On the plane itself they had nm up a big can- vas pipe which fed warm air into tlie waist of the plane while the doors remained open, anoUier piefe of American engineering.

The last leg of the flight from Newfoundland to Mitchel field saw nobody daring to get openly restless at the idea of home. It was a conspiracy of silence like watching a no-hit, no-run game in the making. Four hours later the U. S. showed be- low us in enormous patches of electric light.

The black magic <» this flight was coming to an end. The flaps came down for the last time, the plane turned off the base leg, the electric lights came up big and the landing was easy — routine magic to the very end. They lowered the litters from the plane by means of a portable lift pow- ered by a motor that chugged up to the plane. The gay that had charged a Tiger tank with -a Jeep because he had to; the gay. and lively young Ranger; and the baby-faced platoon sergeant who was going to try out school again, came down on the lift and were carried over to waiting ambu- lances. It was 0400 in the United States of Amer- ica at Mitchel Field, Long Island. Twenty wound- ed soldiers were home for whatever was in it And there was a fine cool wind blowing tlie way you mnember it used to be in New ITork City years ago— a cool night wind after a long hot day.

The nurse and the soldiers played cords.

DspMidcnts chmI Points

Dear Yank:

I have read your article on demobilization but nowhere did Lfind an answer to my jproblem. I know iliat I will get a point a month for each nuHCtth of service pltis an extra point for each mmXb Qvezaeas. Bowever, since I never even got one battle star, I have very few points. What I would lika ta kaoK ia» where do my dependents rate so fe* as poiiits are concernedT wm I be allowed points nnr ntv twin sisters aged nine, my mother, my wife and my two-^ear-old son? AU of them get aUotments so there is no questioa but that they are dependent upon me. •Hhiiii -Pic. THOMAS «. OKIWN

■ Onhr yevr son will gat ynu any peinli. ChddfM aie ' riie only dependents who may be counted toward the point (core under the plan. Eo^ chHd, up to a maximum et thra*, counts for 13 polMi.

Playwrights

Dear Yank:

Before entering the Aamof I was just beginning to get going as a writer. I had sold a couple of short stories and was working on a fuU-Iength

play. I even discussed the play with a well-known producer who indicated that he might be inter- ested in buying it. As things stand I would need at least three month.<; after I am discharged to complete the play. What I would like to know is whether a playwright would be considered a man in business for himself SO as to rate unem- ployment compensation.

Holy -S/Sfll. RICHAU KRAMER

■ As you probably know a self-employed veteran is en- titled to unemploymeat compensation under the Gl Bill of Rights if he earns (ess than $100 a month from his busi- ness. In such tt case he receive* the difference between what he cams (wliieli in yoar eoM wouM be zen^ and $100 a month for up to a maximum of 52 weelis. The Veteran's' Administration says that if you are "fully en- gaged as a playwright" there is no reason that you could not be- considered in business so as to receive the unem-

PilM M

What's Your Problem?

letters to this departinent should beor writer's full name, serial number and military address.

pleyment poymeht*. However, to be sure of recalviiig llie money a vetimHi inuti be fully engaged as a writer and could not be a writer one week and fill in at a dark bi a itora the nexl week.

Insurance BaiMfidariM

Dear Yank:

My father who is 87 years old and very ill is the beneficiary of my GI insurance policy. His doctor tells me that he cannot be expected to last very long. If he should pass away what happens to my insurance if I am killed in action? Assum- ing that he may die before anything happens to me, who would get the benefit of the insurance in such a case?

Mamnm —Pvt. JOSEPH W. BEIL

■ If you do not name a secondary beneficiary your in- surance will be paid to the following in the order named: 1) to your widow, if living; 2^ if no widow, to your child or "children (including odoptod children) in equal ihares] 3) if no widow or child, to your other porent; 4) If no widow, childran or panntt, to your brothers and litton (including thow of tho hoff-blood), in equal ihares.

SaldlM^s Dabts

DearYAnK:

MCjr wife and five obildren receive a total family allotment of $160 a month from the OfBce of Dependency Benefits. You can guess how tough it & for the six of them to live on that amount. Now, to add to our troubles, our loeai furniture company has been heckling my wife for the money due on our living room furniture. We owe so little on the total bill that I feel sure they will not try to grab the furniture, but they have been high-pressuring my wife. Their latest move was to threaten to get a court order and attach the family allotment from the ODB. Can they get away with that?

Franc* -S/Sgt. LEN t. BROWNLEE

■ They cannot. Family ollotmeDts paid by the OOB may not be claimed or attached by any person or agency to

collect a debt. If the furniture company should try to get rough ond grab the furniture your wife can ask the court to hold up its action until you get out of service. As a Gl you ore ontMed to lha< protaclion undor the SoMleis' and Sallen' CMI Relief Act.

Former Bookia

Dear Yank:

In coniiecti<m wMh a loan mder te GI BHI

Rights what chance do I have with the following background:

Prior to my entry into the Army in 1939 I was employed as a bookie, a little deal which the public of those days considered a bit shady and illegitimate. Though I received a substantial in- come 1 came into the Army dead broke as a re- sult of bad investments.

During my entire time in tiie Anajr J 1 no time under AW 107, thouf^ I hav« &iS al

difficulty retaining grades. I have been all the way up the ladder twice, up to technical sergeant, and at the present time am optimistically l(Mking forward to my third climb. Do you think 1 would be denied the privilege of a loan in view of my pre-war occupation?

I am married to a former member of the , and We would like to know if we can i rights to the loan for the purchase of m < the financing of a legitimate bustaiesBT

Hawoif

the AMC

Digitized

■ YANK cannot tell you whether or not your bank or financial institution will consider you a good risk. How- •vef w« can tell you that the business^loan regulations state that a veteran must be able to satisfy his bank and the Veterans' Administration that he. has a reosonabla likelihood of success in the business he is planning. Since the government guarantees only fO percent of o loon of up to $4,000 for each vet, the bonk xHll hot to be conwineed that the money is In good hands, there ate no MstrieHens ogoinst two or more vets going into business or buyiflO a home together ond with the help of your wcfe't guaran- tee you may be able to swing the deal.

(JMlV£RSlT¥Oi= MlCHiGAN

O'Donnell Calls His Shots

ii^Hls outfit," said Tommy O'Donnell as a I sudden gust of desert VA'ind blew dust in our faces, "is never going overseas."

I reached for another bottle of Schlitz and Tommy rolled down the side of our pyramidal tent. "You see," he explained, "we've been too long in the goddam desert. With all th)S dust in us we ain't fit for combat."

I stretched- out on my cot and Tommy said, "They're gonna use us here for experiiQeittal purposes— that's what We pull a maneuvei^ <i#^ week and then they use the-same thing ia Eu- rope the next. That's why all our mail will soon be cerwored. And boy, they're gonna keep us busy. Three-day passes are- out. It's gonna be goddam tough, pal."

After we had left the desert and neared the completion of our ninth month on Oahu. Tommy O'Donnell said to me as we downed the rem- nants of the contents of a bottle of '99: "South Pacific, my eye, we've been so long on this rock that a little more heat would kill us, W^t every man in this outfit woidd ke^ over ^(pMl la that hot sun. •

"Pal," he added, "what we all need is a dis- charge.'

The rumor was cuDent that we were going to Leyte but Tommy O'Donnell wouldn't be- lieve it.

"You see," he said to mc as we sat in the hold of our LSM, "this is going to be a dry run. I'll lay two to one that they land us on Maui."

After four weeks of steady seasickness, Tommy O'Donnell scratched his wrinkled face. "We're making a circle," he said excitedly, "watch and see — we're making a circle."

We circled in Leyte harbor for awhile until the -beachmaster signalled us to pull in. Tommy O'Donnell, mounted his duffel bag. which was over half his size, on his shoulder.

"Two weeks the island's been secured," he complained, "two weeks and they land us here. Buddy, I'm finding a big hole to sleep in. "There's no telling what might happen."

After foiu* weeks on- Leyte — four weeks in which we had not heard a shot fired or a bomb fall — after four glorious weete <tf disking tuba and corn whisky, Tommy 013(^ell said to n» as we walked down a muddty l^cloban street, "^ey don't have any use for tanks in the jungle. They're making MPs out of us."

Several days later we were briefed about an island. They told us it lay somewhere between the I%ilippines and Japan. The people were of mixed Chinese-Korean -Japanese ancestry. The China sea bordered it on the left, and we weren't going to learn the real name of the island until we were on the ship.

Tommy O'Donnell, who knows his geography well. said. "That sounds like it might be in the Ryukyus Islands — but I don't think we'll go there because they've made it too (jbvious.

"We," he said, "are going to hit China."

Tommy, although an originator of many a ru- mor, is himself not gullible to those inspired iQr other persms. When we boarded the LSM.

"Min la Owpl^ M wlMt do yen onribMa yo«r

PX

Contriburions for this page should be oddressed to the Post Exchonge, YANK, The Army Weekly, 205 East 42d Street, New York 17, N. Y.

"Break it off on the end."

.-Ci>l Fronk R. Robinion, Ft. Monniouth. N. I

everyone believed we were going to an island in the Ryukyus, but Tommy was busily studying his Chinese-^Ameriraa language boe^ which he had purchased in Los Aligeles.

On O-day minus one as our swetvfjy neared the Oktnawan shcne, Tomsny ODomi^ his ehin resting on the deek's rail, admitted, "Yes, we're goiag to OUnawa — but this outfit is so damned rusty that well never get to fire a shot."

That night we took a final sip of Elthyl alcohol thanks to the accommodating chief pharmacist's mate aboard ship and later we sang aongs. Tommy didn't sing. He drank.

After we surmounted the coral reef the fol- lowing morning. Tommy said to me over the in- terphone. "I'll bet there's a million dead Japs in those tombs up ahead."

All day we didn't fire a shot and Tommy's pre- diction would have been right if a Jap hadn't looked down the barrel of our 75mm gun about midnight. Davis, who had been sleeping in the lank spotted him and fired a round of AP into his skull.

The shell did not go all the way through but it was enough to kill the Jap.

During the next week. Tommy O'Donnell didn't say a word about what was going to hap- pen. He was too scared and too busy fighting.

When finally we did get to Test aaa. total our score we had accounted for aevm 1^ artillery pieces and 150 Japs.

"We're just goddamed lucky," Tommy O'Don- nell said.

'3ut we ain't going back to the front," he told me as we drank from a Jap sake battle which much to our dismay contained water, "because we're battle fatigued. I know I ain't one to go back. Ba^4y, Tm all shut."

"^ep, ifs been a great rest period," I said to the crew as we moved to the front. "I only wish it could have lasted loQCer."

Tommy O'Donnell spirted a Jap mortar po- sitian near Shuxi Castle aoad lad Ids gimaer fire a few xouads into it Tlie mortar was knocked out and Tommy said, "^m a damnSd good thing they didn't blow our bc&ds off.** '

When Tommy saw a wounded doni^ibasr near the tank, he got out and gave him flat md while Jap shrapnel fell close. Then he lam^it him up through the escape hutch of the tanlr. 1^ this they gave Tommy O'Donnell a m»^*a^

"They're making a big mistake," lie mattered when his name was called, "but five pmnts is five points in anybody's money."

"Now," he said. "I can go back to the States."

You know what that means — -Tokio.

Oikmowo

I must go down to Delhi ayain To see all the Wacs and the Waafs And all I ask is ii ten-day leave And some travel-time, perhaps; And the wind will blow and the scotch will flow And the chow will be steak, not spam. And the sack will be soft and the floor-not dirt'. If Tm late, who gives a damn?

I must go down to Delhi again Where there's no such thing as mud, Where the streets are paved and the men are shaved

And the girls are as many as men. And all I ask is a long, cool drink And a pretty girl by my side And a long good-by and a drawa^>ut sigh As 1 lake the Road in stride.

fmlio -Cpl. IRV MAROBt

'^•'ra out at rad poliils— 1 hep* you don't mltid

talcing pOl lock." -a C Alfred Zolon. Corl.bod AAf, N M

CHAMGE OFADDRESs:;;;;^:

■cfibet vnd iMve chmpetl y^tt vMraH^ VBiLiKi €MyMi

lo9«riwr with the moflinfl addrMi on your lotatt YANK »o notify ui of th* change. Mail il to YANK, Th« Army WooUy. aOS Ead 42d SirMt, Itow York 17, N. Y., oad VAMK wM fahw ymt *• wmr pmit ml the wmM.

-Pfc DAN OOU

INCIDENT

Earth will outlive her pockmarked face. On some dim midn^bt, far fnwn xmm. All that troubled our anyry race Will wrinkle a history ctoldent^ brow.

AAf, Lm. ~*/S^tmSBX

by Google

'...'ncn iJMlVERSlTI

mir MHiTArr ,

01= MlCHiGAN

Basic Training

By Sgt. WALTER Bf RNSTBN YAMC Staff Wrilwr

CAMP Wheiier, Ga. — ^Basic infantry training has changed since the days when people still thought they were getting out in a year. It's smarter, better tau^t and move realistic. It has to be. When trainees finish their cycle now, they don't go out on maneuvers. They go right overseas and into the line.

Hiis policy was started when the decision was made not to form any more new divisions, ^lat was long before VE-Day. Everything is done now on the replacement system.

This system will continue during the war against Japan and, according to Army Ground Forces, the training cycle will also remain basi- cally the same as it was before Germany was defeated.

Emphasis will be placed on new weapons, says AGF, and there will be some variation in the use of old weapons, "as their use conforms to lessons learned in the Pacific." But otherwise the same fundamental methods of killing an enemy will be retained and the main changes will be those normally made in keeping the cycle constantly up to date.

Back in IMl, when Camp Wheeler was set up as the first Infantry Replacement Training Center, its basic training cycle was 13 weeks. After basic training, the trainees were shipped to divisions, where they learned to work as a team Today, Wheeler is still turning out infantrymen, but the cycle has been upped to IS weeks (for quite a while it was 17) and the men go out as individual replacement

This plan is based on ^mple necessity. A cer- tain number of men are continually needed over- seas and the WD figures a constant iS-week

training program of replacements will take care of the quota.

This whole business of replacements has caused a lot of bitching, particularly by combat men overseas. Most gripes, however, seem to be caused by the incurable fact that men can't be sent into combat knowing already what combat is like.

But there have been more specific complaints: Men trained only as riflemen being sent to heavy weapons companies or sent into the line without a chance to know the men they are fighting with, or left to grow mold in a repple depple until they forget everything they knew, or just sent up front without knowing what the hell is going on.

These complaints appear to have some justifi- cation, but the faults don't lie primarily with the IRTCs. The IRTCs have no control over replace- ments'once theyve finished training. The only job of a center like Camp Wheeler is to make infantrymen out of civilians in a very short period — on the basis of a curriculum handed down by Army Ground Forces through the Replacement and School Command.

They do this job well enough, according to most of the ex-combat men who are now cadremen and instructors here at Wheeler. Many of the cadremen with whom I talked think the course could be in^roved one way or another, but on the whole they feel this particular IRTC uses the

c

chauffeurs.

Oril:|in^^l from UNIVERSITY Of M

15 weeks about as well as could be expected.

This is actually saying a good deal, since 15 weeks is not all the time in the world. There have

been many changes in the curriculum as the Army has grown up, and the course, nearly everybody agrees, is being improved all the time.

For instance, the tactical emphasis used to be entirely on company tactics; now it is on squad and platoon tactics. There used to be little hve firing; now there are 14 more firing V^^f"^ than there were a year ago. Trainees used to- spend only three days in the field; now t spend two weeks in bivouac, with 16 hours night work each week. There used to be six h^ of military courtesy and much close-order this has been cut down, although many men think it could be cut even more.

UNDER the present system the first six W— — are given over to Branch Immateriel Tram- ing. This includes military courtesy, sex hyg»ene, mines and booby traps, malaria control, map reading, marksmansh^ and other fundamentais.

The next nine weeks are specialized. Wheeie is set up to train 18 battalions each c^cle mcma- ing one heavy weapons and one sP*^~jf",, talion. The remaining 16 are all The specialist battaUoa includes two a«»*^^ of chauffeurs, one eomoany of messase c««w

personnel and one company of l»ioneer troofw.

During the specialized weeJu, trainees in the rifle battalions get 79 hours in Tactical Training ot the Individual Soldier, which takes In scouting and patrolling, cover and movement, hasty forti- ileatioaa and not-so-hasty fortifications. The men get M iKNira on the tMjronet. 103 hours on the Ml, eight on the earbiae, 48 on the BAK, 62 on the light mnrH" (nn, M on the fiO-mm mortar, 74 on tabttef and eifbt on close combat and infiltration eouTfes. All the hifantry weapons are fleld-fired ^ and live ammunition is used in the infiltration course.

Most of the formal instruction is handled by officers and it ia done .strictly by the bonk. If It iant in tlie FM it ian't taught, even if it worked for you from Bougainville to Luzon. But the im- portant tiling ia that the FMs are constantly reviaed according to lessons learned in combat.

Reports from overseas are received and studied all the time. Their recommendations are incorporated into the manuals. The system may be rigid in the sense that no deviation linMi the FM is allowed, but the manual itself t» defi- nitely flexible, and the instruction is always ud to date. '

Because a program as big as this one must be standardized, enlisted cadremen do. nat iftm struct, although they implement lectunt W advice in the field and coaching on the range TW» lias fOd aonae of the former combat men.' who claim that they are not aUowed to pass on what they've learned by experience, but it seems Frt*iL^'^"/,.*^"' '^■ve men leaving

15 IRTCs full of specialized combat knowledge familtar only to a particular outfit The ^ Mjv that a trainee would onfy become confused tt he were taught In the same cycle by men who na Mme from differen- theaters bringin« with th«n a-conlUcting variety of methods.

Some of the cadremen claim tiiat this '"»Vot for a situation in which a young ofllcer without any expenence tries to tell trainees what to do When men with combat experience are forbid- den to do w. About 30 percent of the officers have been overseas; the rest may be over age. limited service or fresh out of OCS. Iliew n^ lecond lieutenante are sent to IRTCs mainly for erne.

U^O^ «, th^ ^ ^

The t^diing here u done on the committee

Aysten. similar to that of the Intoitry School Bidi battalion has a mortar coinlitfttw^ Ml'eani-

mittee and so on, made up of cadre oflken and

enlisted men who teach only that specialty. The only trouble with this system, according to the major in charge of battle courses, is that the penonnel of the committaea U not paonaBMit Qflkers are always bdOg shipped out and the members of the committee changing.

Two nights a week cadre officers and men must attend Cadre School. Instruction is dis- cussed at these -sessions, so that all the instructors will know what is expected of them. Practically aU_ the cadremen I saw disliked thi-; ^rVi,,ni claiming that combat men : j • ■ ^^.j •ji^.jj' mouths without Laving the manual pulled on tncxn.

0 «KL?«'"'^.tl cadremen as to

W particular, of the course itself, although most of them tMnlc it quite adequate as a whok A

SSug"h iTaly ^fd'^^A'^r'^' ^'^^

bette^yeaV^mbJ^^'^e'did'w^^^^^ trained. But there's too mudi thU .1^ . T

|^^rs^7piirbtt*rthrM

the men can see right there why it's^^i ^otZ in^t2r.i!i "!2^'r"f,'!^ Wth Division

•aacn these men is to stanrf ''""s

front like a bic-a8ae<l VtirJ -Hj ^ oe out In follow the m" they always

r~'"~™ THey throw the stufl at ttw

tealneet too faat and tUqr don't let SfovSiS

Today

It's only a 1 S-waek course, but it's more ramplete and better taught than it used to be four years ago.

Fi.ld firing th« M-1 in combat patrol clauM, TIm Him <«M.in. largaH which pop up bof^a Ike

men talk to them. They should have at l«o.t one hour . week f or a buU awSmTt^*^ trainees and the combat melr^ ^ ***

PraS? ilrh °' 'eth Division in

rxance. The weapons training is aood w .u don't get enough time on the Ml inspections are a waste of tlmf ^ ^ they Should inspe^l'^e m^u^ ^

chS:;.\rotJ!irt£"ira »«h They teach theM ^yl a hpf. '^JT think they onETC lS wt£ U"*' "1**" ^ I think theyVw WMiT I. . ■ ^^^V Place They don't Tet^Jrlv ^n""l« ""^ PatroU^ .hould ^ t m^^"Vp"Z'colJ^*^

A platoon sergeant JiL u j ^'"P'** work." 43d Division to O^pJ^^ Jl ^^O^'^h ^he get half Mough^L52?a2 1!.'*/ ".T"^ ticaUy all wedid to ihf p2?ia**"""« of work. One good Z'? ^

instruction in first aUi'n^u » A rifleman from the" Jf »>»«<ly "

nap and natrol ^^'u *r^'^">°n said: "More

instruction in fim alTiCtV ^

A rifleman from the" Jf »>»«<ly "

map and patrol work AU„ "'""^ ^'<^- "More

films are out o late The v'.hrl,°* ^'««'4

better movie.. ^.if''""^'* more and

course, is M^ut th!„ 1^ b^tOe

"»t. They Iwid enough^

training." set womt mmm^iZ

.hJ^w'KaS'^""- that there

chicken. An S^^SS^hT^ha'^'^f"'?? *"'* ^^''^

ji^L'p. .^w^^^ry\re i^s^-s ^

ttto, we get m more of that work toaS^ w^J^ d|^ and we would squeeze in more 11 wI c^SS The bivouac period is also not ra^Z,^^ but you have to NiaaaSta* these men were alldv^m." ^ That is what you hear all over Wheeler: Time tune, tun* Everything in the course must necessary, because there is no margin tor error I found only two major differences of opinion Jetween enlisted cadremen and officers on how the time is spent at this IRTC. The cadremen feel that there is too much formal discipline, and that this time could be better spent on weapons or tactical combat work. The officers feel strongly that this dlac^Iinaty tegbint H tmim^ sary to make a soldier.

Then most of the officers to whom I spoke, partictilarly ttwae removed from acttial contact with the men, felt that the 22 hours given to Orientation could Y>e cut, and the time allotted to other work.

Practically all the cadremen I met thought that _ the orientation hours were a good idea. Tbeu

:_j • "Tf'o good because it maKcs

" . I .

Kood because a man " But -tbear-all

kSlrf orfiwrtrttaa. P«*»«

reasons varied from "It's the blood boil." to "It's should know wlki**^ thought that

was valuable. ..-ohasis on orientation.

On the whole, this e"P»;"^^dication of how slight as it U. f^fL'clfaL^S The cycle at infantry t'*"*"** ^ ^ the individual in.tia- Wheeler tries ,*''f«jf'friS to raake him f^l Uve of each V*'^- J*,^up. he is also a man ;Lt while he»P«li*^i^self and. it necessary.

that while who must

look OWt

tt^t during the ft';^„"'ot'\ra!n^''s rute^'^S.Sit3Ss2,-f-er^

lieutenant . to ta>te orders to thiols-

7:!!rirans^dleri»

first W.?«X.

American^ going on. * Infantry

pMsed only „ot being pa'd

,e is told:

"^.S't

tn

baa

cban*****

^Jriqiii ";' ■! " iTi

(JMlV£RSlT¥Oi= MlCHiGAN

YANK l> nklltlMd oMkly by ilx enloUO ■MH «f tiM U. ft. Amy Md It (»r ule ofily to .lk*H ia U> >r«4 unlML fturln. Intirn. (Ularn M»4 •Umt •illarld Inm YANK nay ka NX If tlM« an IM raatrMad k> law ar

•JmH! ratalatlaai. aravIM iMm m*lt il •l«aa. rakau aataa aia a>ian«< an* ••aaMa arlar aarailulaa Hat kaaa vMttmmj^tm

arlar aari

ta ba rayrarfucaa. Eatir* IMS, by Cal. FraaUla S. ky U. ft. aillltary aaaaara.

■AIM EDITamAL OFriCI 3H IA«T 4M BTRCET. NEW YORK 17. H. Y.

EDITORIAL STAFF

■amlM E<ltar. BtL Jaa KcCartby. FA: An DIraalar, «<t. Artkar Wallkaa. OEML: Aialt. tM taatlaf Edilar. BfL Aamt Laak. AAF: Aaalalaat An olraaM. M. Rdak XIala. Mti. : rialaraa. %tl. Laa Hatallar. Ara><.: raalaraa. tft. BartI Emm. lat.: Svarti. Cal. Taai Skakaa. FA: Oaawaaa E4llar. ML Al Miaa. Exr.; U. t. E<ltar, tit. Hilary H. Lyaaa. CA: AiiMlata E<ltaf». (at. laka Hay. lal.; C>l. Mariarat. Oaaii. WAC: Sfl. Ralak Bayia. AAF: Cat. Ma> Nataak. TC.

WASHINaTON. Sft. Barratl Hfaara. mtt.. >tt. N. H. OllakMI. Cafr.: Cal. J>ka Haaar. 9ll<k. CA.

FRANCE. Ml. MarU Mllltl. AAF: Ml Wllllaia Frarar. AAF: Ml. Ma<k Marrlu. lal : Ml. t4 Camlafkaai. lat.: Ml- Haward Bfadlc. Sil. Caraa: tft. Allaa Eakar. AAF: Ml. R<l Kaaqr, Arari.: lit Rakarl MaPriaih Wk- Carpt: tit. Mak I. MmWm, Mad.; Int. tmrm ■ann, AAF: c*i. nt eia. nit: cat! HanrI KalBwaar. CA: 1^. Daka ilyan. FA: Ht. OnM Wkltiaaik. AAF: PM. DkaH Barwr.

BRITAIN, Ml. Durbia L. Haraar. CA: ML Eart AMaraaa. AAF: Sft. Fraak Br«afL Maf.: «•!. Fraaali Barka. AAF: Cal. laak Cafalaa. CA: CtL Edaiaaa Aalrakat. lal.: Cal. Ta« FlaaMn. AAF: Sft. Rafalpb Saalaff. AAF.

AUSTRALIA-PMILIPPINCB. ML Ula- yalle Lubt. AAF: ML Ckwk Ratba. DEHL: Sfl. Daailai Barfilafl. OEML: tfL OIU Haalay. AAF: ItL (tula «. Saana. lal.: tft. Rafar Wraaa. Mi. Carfa; BfL Ckarba O. Paanaa. Eafr.: Bfl. Mm Mataaf. Maf.: tft. Maryla Faali, Eafr. : Cal. Jaa Btataaaltl. Ealr. :

HaaMlllan. FA: Pfi. Dala Kraaiar. MP: M>.

Qaarfa Bakar. ftlf. Cam: Cal. Fraak Baak. AAF: Bit. Rafar W. Caiaaa, CA: ML Jaak Cr«aa. Maf.; tft. Llaaal Watkall. Eafr.

6IHTRAL PACIFIC, tft. Larry MaMunn. CA: nt. Saarta Barat. Ma. Caraa: Pit. Itki O. Araiilraaf. laf.: tft. Bill Raaf, lal.: Cfl. laaiai Gabla. Ariaf.: CpL Taf Bwraan. DEMI:

(PR

CPkaM.

Rabertt Sli. USNR:

U3NR. tiai Li.li wiiua. BIf. Caraa.

MARIANAS. Cal. Ta* O-Brlaa. DEML: Sfl. DM Farm. AAF: SfL Jaak Rffa. DEML: Sal Paul Shman. AAF: Pit. Jaitia Cray. Raayart. Robcrl Schaaru Y2«. UBN.

ITALY. Ml Harry Slaai. AAF: tat. Oaa Pallar. AAF: Sfl. NalMa Gruaaa. Eaar.: Cfl. Saarat Barratt AAF: Pit. Ira Fraaaiaa. Cay.: Pit. Daaa tkaw. lal.: ML Daa Bralaihurit. AAF: Pit. Waraar Walt. tlf. Caraa.

INDIA-BURMA aaf CHINA. ML Paul Jakaalaa, AAF: Sat. Gaaraa J. Carbelllal Slf. Carat: ML Davt RItharftan. CA: Sal. Walttr Pattn. AM: Cal. lad Caak. DEML. ALASKA. Sft: Ray Daaiaa. AAF. MANAMA. Cfl. RItkarf Daatlaia, Maf.

AFRICA-MIDDLE EABT-PEMIJtH BULF.

HAW, DfffM Mafitt B»<X)Sl!

■

^^Caaaiaadlat OMiar, Cal. FraHlhl B. Faia-

£aa«tl«i OMcar. LL Cal. latk W. Waakt.

Batlaau Mariaaar, Ma|. Narth Bifkta.

Prtturtmaat Oihar. Mai. Btrald J. Ratk.

OVERSEAS BUREAU OFFICERS. Frantt. U. Cal. Cbarlat L. Hall, Caat. H. stakMy Tkaaiaiaa, aulttaal: Srilala. Maj. Hairy R. Rtkarti: Auttralla-Plilllaalan. Lt. Cal. HvaM a. Hawlay: Canlral gaath PatlSt. LI. Cal. iaaaa Eaalaftr; Mariaaaa. Mai. laatut I. Crataiar: lUly. Caat. Havard Caravtll. LI. latk Sllrar. •tala. aailtlaM: Banaa-lafia. Caat. Hartid A Barraffka: AlMka. CmL Brady E. Clay Ir.. 'r«k. CM. Frt* aGdata^a: Paaaaia. 11. Charlaa H. E. tiaktlalalf : MMfla Eatt. Caat. Kaavltta Aaita: Paarta Rita. CaaL FraiMli

This WmK's Cwr

THE. OrtaMiifl a lleiw by rtw hoof is ,T-4 Nmidii Ikala, « U«di«Blrii fraat'Bgin, IN. H» it in a dctatbRlwit of iBldhia «li« Mr* aaiian*d ts bvy horaM' frwa A* lolw In CMm. Slwy and RMfB pictam on pogat 8, 9 and 10.

PHOTO CREDITS. Catar— Cal. Jad CMik. a—INP. 9— Atau. 9— Sal. Dia Bralabaril

«— Pit. Wiiatr Walt. a. I A id— cai. Caak. II IS— Mflff PaiaUi CPkaM. II 4 17- BHaal Ctrif. IBoVAMK. at— UflHttal. 21- INP. M BIf iiiitiw «a«ifal HtSHaL Cal n— War WilaiaWg AftkaiHy.

The life MUitair9 .

Dear Yawk:

I wondpr whether the brigadier gen- eral who sal Jted Gen. JodI and the other Nazi crim'.ials will also touch his fore- head rev jently to the ground and say "Banzai* as he receives Hirohito's sur- render.

Sucb action is traitorous to the spirit of Tfiomas Jefferaon and a direct slap in the fatie to every. American soldier who is aghting against htiman degradation. He saluted both a man and a uniform which represent rnggnmbaa and torture camps. It was a enffhapttMe action and demands an apolocy.

Fronco ~Mt. LIONEl DWIM

Dear YAin:

A few days ago our unit was subjected to one of the most disgusting and dis- graceful pieces of military procedure ever heard x>f by as. Ouf battalion was formed i dress right, dress, and open ranJcs) and a common German "slut" was allowed to walk among us in search of a Gl who she claimed had raped her. For- tunately, hei^ scrutiny was to no avail, but the impression upon the "defendants" wearing the uniform of the U.S. was lasting.

Since when does a conquering nation allow such disgusting spectacles? It seems that we wearers of ttiat proud uniform deserve bettor treatment after all the heartaches, destruction and misery these barbarous Germans lave tooii^t upon the world. Have we aa^ OUT mS^Bcs dte so that we can be tu/i ei such onfragB- ous procedure?

Gariminy .MeNMHTt. MIMNMnH.

Dear Yank:

I've always considered it a great privi- lege to wear the uniform of Uncle Sam - It wasn't tiecause I thought it was a tai- lored masterpiece but because it used to fitand for an American soldier. I- no longer have that pride which for so l6ng made all foreigners envious.

rm a patient in • nar area hot^td and the other day I saw an American ex- prisoner of war, liberated a few days be- fore, who was on a stretcher carried by four German prisoners. The Germans were wearing the very • uniform that should be our pride. The American looked up and seeing the Ameni an uni- form, said 'Thank you," not knowing he was thanking the fellow countrymen of men who beat and starved him during his imprisonment.

Not onlv does it hurt ttie pride of the fellows who fought for that unijtonn but it echoes in the hearts of all those who died to make our uniform what it is to- day Not only is this feeling common among combat troops who have fought, them but every soldier who took the oath to flght against all enemies and defend his country has the same feeling. Franto — Pfc. K. D. HOUCHENS

Compufseiy Twining

Dear Yakk;

To add to the age-old discussion of post- war military service for youth these few points, I think, should be taken Into con- .sideration.

A year of Army life would broaden the mind of an individual to the point where a more complete outlook toward life could be obtained.

It has in my case, I'm sure. I'm now with the — th Bomb Group in India. The splendid ofScers and men of the — *t Squadron have made this the cream of my Army life, the whole 13 months spent in the Army considered. Maybe six months of this duty could l»e offered to our youth of America now in school. Il would put to practical usage our early studies of geography. A half year over- .seas would help us understand world problems more readily. Also it would strengthen the most important object of all of us, the home!

... A student who wishes to continue his formal education as well as tte hi- borer will benefit alike in the respect that the Army will finance a trip over our country and other countries that he might not otherwise have been able to afford. If the student wishes to be am- bitious, he may enroll in the USAfl, the oraanization we all know looks after the soldier's education.

Then again, the standing armies' and - our forttaed bases would dfiwmirage any nation planning aggression.

This is a pf oblem that shcwM Iw'ltir tied while the war is still 'on by tta Rnhl ftghting it and by the students wh»*ij|||r be affected. They are the future. li^pmH' decide for themselves. Iruiia

Dear Yank:

Discussions of post war military train- ing usually overlook the most important question; that is. what sort of training it will be. Training of the type we have experienced will have two outstanding faults: first, it will interrupt normal aca- demic training and, second, it will be of doubtful value.

Wlitary training as we have experi- enced it iuis been a distorting influence. We have learned how to avoid wwk, to distrust our fellow men and to dislike the Army for its blunders. We have learned that taking the initiative gets you into trouble. Such training is of negative value in the training of soldiers and is dangerous to the conduct of a free soci- ety; you don't make soldiers or citizens by cutting grass with razor blades and rrarbr^ig^tbe battolion for soot in the

What we need is an intelligently planned and capably led training pro- gram without Army tradition. A program in which new ideas will have a chance and ignorance will not be at a premium. Intfia

Sumniet Uniforms

Dear Yank:

If we are the best equipped and best dressed Army in the world, why can't ttie War Department give us a decent dress uniform for summer? I gladly wear the khakis to work becauae.any oJd civ^ man bricklayer would use mam to dean out a sewer. But. when I and seven mil- lion other GIs have to wear them to church— well. I can't Jielp but tiiink that

the EM uniform must be the result of a board of brass— sharply clad in pinks and tropical worsted.

If the wool shortage Is the reason, maybe the QMC can reclaim some of the millions of itchy OD .shirts which they were so anxious to msue. Or if the cost would forbid, maybe the rules could be changed so that EM buying their own tropical woolens could Wear them with- out going around the bloiilc to dodge an UP. Or better sUU, maybe they could allow us to resurrect one of our civilian blue suits for special otT-duty occasions. Mwnpkjf, r—n. -He. JOHN P. HOKR

Pre Afasfca

Dear Yank:

In answer to Pvt. Hackenbruck's letter on Golden Alaska, Pvt. H. may be from Alaska but I'm afraid he has seen very little of it. He is certainly no authority on it.

As for his statement on farming, has he heard of the Matanuska Valley, the Homer farming district, or the Tanana • Valley on the Yukon? This does not in- clude the families all the way from Ketchikan to Nome who raise their own gardens every year. The season lasts from four to seven months not two and a half as Pvt. H. states.

Who is he trying to kid about the ter- rible Alaskan winters? They have them in the Arctic, but Aladca is not lust the Arctic. How about the Winters In some of the Statet?--

He Btatei that mining Is stabilized. Maybe gold mining is, but the other minerals In Alaska have been hardly

touched. There ia plenty of mIniQg i to be developed.

Salmon fishing has been fairlr wdl stobilized. yet what about other fish and also clams and crabs? Has Pvt. H, ever read about the possibilities of the Uni crab? The Japanese were canning betece the war around 90 percent of the crabs used by the U. S.

As for the lumt>A tHisiness being nil wait until Southeastern Alaska gets started.

, Transportation Is not good, but it U taikiwoviiig and ahaU kec» Imnmvlng as the population increases and demands call for it to improve.

Prices are high but has Pvt. H. ever visited the Pacific Northwest? Also. I believe wages compensate for the cost of living.

As for a stake when you go to Alaska, it's all right but not necessary. Thou- sands of people and families have gone to Alaska wlttt no stake and have sur- vived— many to become quite well-to-do.

I believe if hte will check his seven facts, Pvt Hackenbruck will Ihid all of them from 2S percent to 100 percent off the beam. Maybe he should see his ni^ AlaAa and tlum do bla talUag. Coap Homo, TBiia* -Ph. N. I. CONMO

Dear Yank:

I read with great interest the letter by G. P. Hackenbruck on the folly of going to Alaska to live. I think I can appreciate it t>etter than most since Hack and I were in the same company for several months in Alaska. So tor several months he tried to sell me on the merits of Alaska, and the rosy future I would liave if I went into partnership with him.

However every time an article is pub- lished extolling the wonders of Aladca. Hack gets scared. Frankly he don't give a damn how many GIs would be disap- pdinted — the thing that worries him is that Alaska is going to be cluttered up and "spoiled" by thousands of people an- swering the call of the wild. 1 would ap- preciate Yank publishing my address so that Hack may write me and give me hell for exposing him. Camp Parry. Ofcia — M/Ssl. DON A. WIMCK

Sports in MfulHftiig

Dear Yank: Cheers to Stanlajr Trmik tor his hooast

approach on the necessity of sports fn

wartime.

A burr in the rear.s of Ted Husing. Liarry MacPhail. et ai for alleging that professional sports are so great a morale factor for servicemen and that the pres- ent battifea were won on the gridirons of American colleges. It is true that soldiers discuss sports and paid players: gener- ally the talk centers around the suppos- edly physical deferments of athletes.

Leave us look at the. picture: From what sources do Messrs. Husing and Msc- Phail derive their Incomes Organised Sports?

trHain — Two CoHoa* Ml*

Salvage and Waste

Dear Yank:

All you hear around here is "don't waste equipment," "don't steal equip- ment because someone needs it," "WBt give clothes to the people." "dont do this and don't do that."

Yet when an inspection comes around and there are a tew surplus Item:; around, there's no saving. The stuff is either thrown in the trash, buried in the sand or thrown in a creek.

The same way at POE. When we got rid of all imnecessary items, there were hundreds of pairs of civilian shoes, thou- sands of ties and all sorts of clothing and equipment dumped into trash cans.

Why can't some kind of salvage dump be set up. especially at POEs, and all that excess stuff be shipped to the needy people in the countries devastated by war?

Pkilippinoi -Pfc SAM CHISUN

Poets Cornered

Dear Yank:

I cannot understand why the poetry appearing in Yank, and written by ser- vicemen, is of such uniformly poor qu*'' ity. It isn't difficult to write % erse which, even though not great or profound, is at least readable. Perhaps the fault Ue in the selection of contributions, thougo I rather doubt that. Perhaps a few hints would aid our neophyte Miltons:

1) Avoid complicated rhyme schemes.

2) Avoid forced rhjTnes and meters.

3) Avoid the "sing-song'' effect of an overly symmetrical meter pattern.

4) Attempt to utilize ideas as w>«3^,; feet you, and not in relation to tlie way Shakespeare might have done it.

5) Bemember, above all,_that i»etry .duai be read— unless it Hovn across the page all effort is wasted, w

JWlV£RSlT¥Oi= MICHIGAN

tundity i.i secondary, and must come only a/ter food reading is achieved. Sini> pUcity is desirable — the use of complex verse should be attempted after no sim- ple expression can be found. For example: "Arise, ye tuns oi other worlds, Arite. funwr. djwtwlr Of ev«r MmNc sMMSflM agrth

''•s-Sad Sack."* fniitrated in hU own attempts to become an oUteer, is goinf to tie a broom to my taU.- Ifll take more of a man .tliaa you or tboee like yon (» <te that, m MeAf.

Mane AAf. emlt. ^t. I. UNC

Or:

So long as '

It Utere.'

'*/ am that which tiegan — Out of me God and Man — Out of me the agei roll]" Good verML exeeUent or eventual I v powerful aiMi profomid vera*- aiiouid appear in Y«itK to mateta Aid contrast witli iU I

Camp PhMkm, Im.

Landing Cnidits

Dear Yank:

In your recent "'Chronology " of the Ja^l War. the listing for November 20. 1943 was -Marines invade Tarawa and Makit)' uid the listing of June IS, 1944 wa.s "Ma- rine! land on 6aipan in Marianas."

it has been called to our attention that tneae two items are not entirely correct. UlOM the lasth Infantry RCT of the 27th Inbntry Division took Hakin, and the 27th Division also participated in the landing on Saipan

2d Lieutenant Burrill VSMC, in the Marine Public Relations Office, verified that no Marine units were "J*™!'??'.''* invasion, and that

the Z7th Infantry Division made the joint landing with the Marines g

Disthargm Km

Dear Yank:

Yakk hat never, to iny knowla^

pan.

s going onto Sai-

Waihhtgtoa, O. C. -U. CoL PAW t JOMES

DrMnff Btterd

Dear VAtoc

The members of our comnanv think that in all probability thTteOng i^-

in New Caledonia we drove a total at 1.703.073 miles and hauled IflSJM toads of troops and cargo. Al the present time we still have over 80 percent of our original vehicles and only 20 percent of these were new when we received them Our vehicle strength is 50.

tt this is not a record, we would like to hear from anyone who can top It. Until then, we will not be resting on our Mjirels, but piling up more miles and hauling more troops and cargo. Meriei.as -Cpl. JAMES A. OHHMO

Officer Unafraid

Dear Yank:

In reply to Pvt. Charles Kolber's let- (er, "Jobs for Officers" [advising oBlcer veterans not to mention their commis- ■iion when asking for a job. — Ed. I. it seem.s to nn- that his bitch is dut to his own land other former ' business- men's! inability to get into CCS. He doesn't mind being "on top" and di-sh- mg it out; he jusfcan t "take it. "

Believe it or not. Pvt. Kolber. I hap- pened to be an offlce boy before I went irito cadets, and I'm not ashamed of it. When this war is over and I'm out look- ing for ;i job, 1 won't be afraid to admit having t>een commissioned during the war. Nor will I be afraid that some

• "Jfjy l«ae inw«e rfSj dit-

« tMtjis^ I'l^ut c; JtfiTo; ~m\u'i.Ji'g:;!''"-'''""«™-

^f' -nUNRM.IIfM

Limp and Uny

Dear Yamk:

I have often read your Btail Call erinM and wondered why'some ule fluo^ wrote, but something happen^ 'iSry hat made me feel that I had sometf^M

.nHrfL ° h'"" ""^I'cal ofRcers and

fliir*i. ' goltlt>ricker" when he taUs out on sick call legitimately' Ou? S2J2L"*S?f "A** "»ke up all in-

sist fil^Hi.r* w'^henlcs that we?e *S, io-called "goldbrickine" as a punitive measure to di5;oSrage aM ing out for sick call. It teenu to me that while a few men

-0«MMWMriMUl*

•All. liaMrf by iMM Mhen.

Point Sysfem

Dear Yank:

l^ve Just rctunMd from seeing the Armed Forc^fSktw* Two OowS and One to Go" tojm 0M haw the point ys**"* , works. We are indignanl and disillusioned.

The point system allocates no credit for combat time. It gives credit for bat- tle stars. For six months of some of the bloodiest flghling of the war we have received one battle star. Our division left the States last September and has held the record for the longest continu- ous time on the line of any division in the ETC. Of our original company of 190 men there aren't more than 30 with us now, and few of those have not been to the hospital at least once. The company

has been reorganised three times. For qtMcl that the will And out why and they

that we get one battle star. idU do it. We have been nmjceted to

Compare that generous offering with this ktaid of thing before, hut fed Hut

the case of one of our reinforcements this topt 'cm ail. We are wondering who

from an ordnance outfit in France. Be ween the eegtoi and the puts in that

was with us m the attack for two days family. How's about it. feUom. what do

and was sent back to a hospiul becauie you fliHifc*" .

of an aching side. He was in the vicinity ^ . ^ „ ^ ^ Wbbi MHmM) < at least 20 miles) of the battle lines in ""-^ France and sD^nt twn Aaw in ^^m^u.^

MUST Ota. ftar«WMft.

Swimming Segwflulfal

Dear Yank:

India's hot and GIs here built 4 swim- ming pool. It was used by outflts f rS^

Of ditXi'Tring" ha't" ?r""i don.^ W. There i^ls ''nteT ^any'

^ hours when thToaS iJ!tt&*^ by Negroes. senaritSw ' ueed

tay he 1, 'a the Pool iw-S S^

a^a fS,"}* that the Negro

this than I .L"'4J?A "•<>■•? PO daboJ;

this than I am. Thei 'ri!»^. ^'^o"' anybody getting lfflr'2£i./!'r«"»ber ot their skin wtSnuStf faw** «»»«»r draf t, or whwTSSa*^""" *«> the handed out. Wat faefatg

Umifd Service

■ ai leasi zu miies) or the battle lines in France and spent two days in combat. For that he is entitled to wear four bat- tle stars The ordnance gets 20 poinU '"rcombat. The infantry gets Ave

the consci-

SS?^"3f" & '"'""try who. while wereinthlfi'^*'"'*'"* that thev refuti? S'.!2^'*l.»"tflt in the Army, rtr??^**' «** married and have chil-

body, but is MSL&SisS~ f«eedly set aside whmSRbSS.*"^ w«ilrS^^**

D«ar Yank:

listed man ''n^eeds'^r mi"" ^''J' « «- dU.tu.rgeandrn^^^ee'?^^

neXSi- Ca^t,?""^ in our flew ' '^^'&^BB^^'^- J'^'^^^Hefe-ara^f ^een

have been men th^i"^J^ diachlrgld 't«d «»-vice* onW tod"'*"?}'^ • "m-

— is that fair ^fL""iS.'?'*'" "» PoinU manently dianittli««?V "re - per.

some of us get^'^«,^j What ^ut to the^r^^Jf>' °V".eas dSty '

of the good Job?^" SSU* eft*"« »ome "-especUve dlsabilTuM VJ.""""* °' their

that thinrrSt^'SliS'W^ th^°.L"'«"" 'W^™te^?y'in»?

of diflferent ranks. The nuirxber of

points ail officer holds is not the onlv . «»« . CloiWt,. fw Uk»nM»i »„

or^^.'. determine whe?he^ Un«erviceab?l A?^y d^uSfg it^

^i^^} "'V^ released. An officer ^""f reconditioned for distribuu"

" PoinU and ^° needy civilians in libera?^ E.U'

If he is nMded m the prosecutiori of the war he will not be released. Mihtary neceaeity ia the coveming

Dear Yank:

Us boys in the ETO have a gripe to make. It seems that in your Victory Edi- tion our friend. Sad Sack, is getting a raw deal. He has fought through Africa. Sicily and the ETTO and is now about to t>e transferred to the PaciAc. Gen Eiaen-

Sicily and the ETTO and is now about to t>e transferred to the PaciAc. Gen Eisen- hower recently made a - statement that men who fouvit in Africa and the ETO' would not be aUM>«d to the PadAe. If this is the ease then why ia Sad S»A l>e- ing shipped to the Paeillc?

Gmrmany

JUUAN N. OMItWI Gb returning from overseas on nos-

_ , J J Dltal ships will get whole milk, m-

■ If the Sack were married and had sj*" powdered kind. no»-

three children (and who d marry ^ . Army has discovered a new

him?), he'd have 36 points. His serv- j^od of quick-freezing cow jiiice.

ice record has been missing ever j^Yj^yii 30,000 pints of frozen whole

u,as caotured by the Blue ADout , y shipt>ed monthly

Arvo*. I

now I

•n^uuiiionea tor distrihiitir>r> *

^^"iZL'*.^*;*' 0"iy cloth- ■

Ing absolutely unfit for further Army use will be distributed. ,

MoH»itol n*ett. The U. S hospital- ship fleet, which has returned near- ly 60.000 sick and wounded GIs to the U. S.. will be ifK:reased 50 per- cent in capacity by mid-summer, according to an OWl report. The Army expects to " bring home all ETO sick and wounded able to travel within three months. After that, most of the 20-ship Atlantic fleet will be diverted to the Pacific.

• fMMl for Hospital Ships. Wounded GIs returning from overseas on hos- pital ships will get whole milk, in-

ice record has been missing since he was captured by the Biu Army in the Louisiana maneuvers.

Officer VafraM -.-^^ and^Seattle Sffi?e° the froiW"

^^^r^l^iuthisArmy^-V miik^'^'ot^y^t^^^^^^^ Mnp '^H^'WrSfct°U Jf^-rpry the average

S I'h-arS -T'-f «S

W C?rTe°a"n';Vn Kln^S^-ttle, AccordUjg to the l"^g-"t^Sl^'na%S^lTk^^^^^^ real

nonmiliUry "•^JT ^ter^ Tb» Dolicy be maintalnwi the of-

Srflsted men .»houtd inst« ^P^j^g their

Vt» noncomml~ioi^^^n,ted by »«" fMM» M e«w«-H

1 IfflBl » •

?0 pounds. IS t"^^ oo*« throws out ^ °„icals. «hJ^Sl la^" flammat''^ ..^,.«et i,Ke "^i" bomb

r^^ r volcano. ,-^i;;gr%"»^i£

uSeS one of^^the ^ ^,^^^w

by for

the ciatioa

^^^^

and cl»n»

"VetTf

•IHieav- .

' '^ci i nal fro m

25 y?.

aga

inst the

the

Prank Groham'M tomphie hittory of the Bums from t893 fo ttramh Rickey mixes plenty of anecdotes with its collection of important fOtfSf itffW9S wmS 'h'^^CS*

By Sgt. JOt MkCMmt YANK Staff Writer

ArxEH Frank Graham wrote "The New York Yankees" and "McGraw of the Giants," ' two of th« best buoball books ever pub- lished in this country, his friends naturally de- manded a similar job of research on the growth and development of the national pastime in the Borough of Brooklyn. His command performance, "The Brooklyn Dodgers: An Informal History" (G. P. F>utnam's Sons; $2.75) is now disappearing from the book stores under people's arms.

Ymir reporter recommends this Dodger book because your reporter happens to be a sucker for the kind of baseball history Graham writes with plenty of dialogue and plenty of small detail about who was on second and who was on third during this or that importaat tentag. But Gra- ham's treatise on the Bums hasnt as much ex- citement or drama as his reports on the Yankees and John McGraw.

•nie Dodgers through tHe years have perhaps played more colorfu) and amusing baseball than the Yankees and the McGraw Giante but they have never produced reaUy great teams like those at the Stadium and the Polo Grounds. A carefully exact and objective reporter like Graham can't very well be expected to write a great book un- less he IS writing about a great team. The peculiar qualities of the Dodgers would be better handled by somebody more concerned with comic effects rather than with scores, batting averages and league standings. It is a pity that Ring Lardner - isn t here to take on the job.

Nevertheless, this informal history of the Dodgers— and how could a history of the Dodgers be anything but informal?— has a lot of comedy in It It begins with the beginning of professional baseball in Brooklyn in 1883 and continues through that strange period in the 1890s when the Dodgers played their games in East Ntw York, and the eras of Ned Hanlon, Willie Keder, Hughie Jen- nings and Nap Rucker when the dub wat known u the SiverlMi mt bofif its lut at Wash Park.

; WathiagtoD

Thoae were the days. The people who lived in Ginney Plats across the street from the park rented seats on their fire escapes at a dime a head. Growlers of beer from the nearby saloons were hauled up to the fire escapes on ropes. Terry Mc- Govern, the fighter, worked out with the team every morning and Giant fans were afraid to follow their heroes from the Bronx to Brooklyn.

Then Graham takes you on through the admin- istrations at Ebbets Field of Charley Ebbets, Ed and Steve McKeever and Larry MacPhail, ending the book with the coming of Branch Rickey.

THC pages devoted to the MacPhail years contain stuff th<t*S pretty fresh in our memory— the constant firing and rehiring of Leo Durocher; Billy Herman's remark about Brooklyn baseball enthusiasm, "Every day it's like a World Senes game around here"; Mickey Owen's fafnous m^^ of Tommy Henrich s thW "^^l*"^^* Series; the denunciation ol >f "You are an applehead! .j,. «Pf"*{y55aU wms applehead and a counterfeit! ; the bMnSaii wot on942 and Durocher's statement

beat him by two «--.f,Vwe?X?tL?UK "We won 104 games d dnt we^ rin they want me to do? W.n them "U^

And of course Dan P^^^jhe Dodgers, poem. "Leave Us Go BortWrw^ ^^^^^^ Rodgers." which became Broo«yo wng:

I

anUers' movie roles

SO many of Evely" ^"^^ been have been in ^'''ll'fj'^^^^^^^ dubbed ' The Horror Q en- ,^dyh^^^

as you can 9^^^^ 5 ,,et 6 .nch«

co^d^e^rr** ^ But tchen the trees blossomed aaain MtuJ^urgatroyd Darcy, the b«Uc of Cornar.

To noigtn UNMttd sinir ikia refrain:

Leave «s oo root /or the Dodgers, Rodoer*,

Thev re VMying ball under the liahts.

Leave tu cut out all the juke jemts, Rodffers,

Where itfCM Iwen toostin' our niffhts.

Dancin' the shoff or the rumba is iHIlv

When toe can be rooting lor Adolf Cimilli.

So leove us go root for the Dodger*, Rodcwrs,

Them Dodgers i* my gallant knights.

But the book also gives an equal share of atten- tion to the Wilbert Robinson Dodgers, the Casey Stengel Dodgers and the Burleigh Grimes' Dodg- ers who, although they were never as natimiaUy famous as the Leo Durocher Dodgers, were often more entertaining. .

These Bums of the 1920s and 1930s included such characters as Jacques Fournier, theveteran first baseman, who with Dazzy Vance, Jess Petty «!a gSs during the Robinson regime gave the t?«hiL flret real flavor of daffiness. One day a

jiJnrand^ne'^uspitc'.e^

HoSy^o? tSta^Jwho^a. that Sent was approachmg the 1^**. "On the inside," said Fou men ^ Hornsby

ing to him on the o Herman.

tagged out was much too good for Herman "

ouSeT-a-s '^t:^T^z-.::^:rSh -

"^«V~V«mg the Dodg"^s foT'the^N^w^ Yo7k

^th?rrbrtr«y"baT^'^^

Graham tells how the Babe cornered Meany one day and made a bet that if a fty ever struck him on the head he would walk off the field and never come back.

"How about getting hit on the shoulder. Babe*" Meany asked.

"Oh, no," said Herman seriously. "On the shoul- der don't count."

Another time Herman had a long conversation with Joe Gordon of the New York American, also one of his outstanding critics The Babe pleaded with Gordon to stop treating him like a clown on the sports pages. Gordon, finally impressed by Herman's appeal, agreed that his chances of maUng a living would be hurt if he became too renowned as a Joke ball player and promised to let him alone in the future.

••Thanks. Joe." said Herman. He reached in his tjocket pulled out a charred cigar butt which ht- ftuck in'^to his mouth and fumbled for matches.

•Here's a match/' ^ajdOordon^ Before he '-ba* began to

deeply a few tim«» «» «*

glow and smoke . ,.

•TJever mind, he said. « j ^a^d

Gordon flew into a ."ge. Nobody wlu.

"1°^^"'* rwJk%Taa«- aJound in his pocket can

Times ^^^'rtv^caVDodger storie^ K ^^e of the mo3t typica ^.^j, the Gian ^^^ ^.^^^ Van Lingle Mungo. decided to lo ^ go.

plan

Then

there

y ...

incident

^ Origii

than

who hit t« "I'^ded up on Y";; Dodgers.

said.

(JMlV£RSlT¥Oi= MlCHiGAN

The government has checked and double-checked fhese cMxens of Jap descent , but some West Cedsf neigh- bors don't want them to come home.

By Pvt. JAMB P. O^BU YANK Staff Wrifw

IDS ANCasLKS, Caut. — Out in California's bronze, sage-covered Owens Valley, a couple of hun- dred miles northeast of Los Angeles, lies a cluster of tar-papered barraclcs so much resem- bling an Army base from a distance that the approaching visitor half expects to a see a batch of dust-caked rookies shuffling around in a vague approximation of close-order drill.

This is no military base; it is the Manzanar War Relocation Center, one of 10 such installa- iiorn set up in 1942 following an emergency order issued by the Army, compelling all persons of Japanese ancestry living within 200 miles of the Pacific Coast to move out of Ihe area and, by later presidential ruling, into segregation centers. The order was considered inq^ntive at th^^ , time because Japan, right after Pearl Harbor, held the upper hand in the Pacific, and the Army, iacing a threat of invasion, felt obliged to take any and all steps to guard the nation's safety in time of peril. Last January, however, the ^xav decided that the Japs had been sufBcientty whipped to make the segregation of persons with JapaoBW! blood in their veins no longer neces-

aged to ^T''%°^^,,Sirig 55m v^ere sitting rpre"S°t-Z^^^^^^ they were-be-

relocation centers in preference lo regaining their liberty are afraid of the treatment they'll get at the hands of their former neighbors if they leave the protection of their camps. It is a situation that has been creating a headache for officials in Washington and on the West Coast for the past several months.

Takeyoshi Arikawa, a former produce dealer of Lob Angeles, to oiie of the Japanese-Amnieaiis at Manzanar who has felt it best to stay put Re- cently, seated with some members of his family in one of the bare little apartments into which the Manzfmar barracks have been partitioned, he explained his point of view. "I woilld like to take my people back home," he said, "but there «te too many people in Los Angeles who would re- sent our return. These are troubled times for America. Why should I cause this country any more trouble?"

Arikawa's dilemma would seem awkward enough if he spoke only as a Japanese-bom American, loyal to the country of his ad(vtion but inevitably suspect until proved innocent be- cause we are now at war with his native land. However, what complicates a rational approach to Arikawa's case, which is similar to hundreds Of other «afle^ i* Vm fact that he has ttiree aons

The

in the Army, all volunteers. Rather, it should be said he had three sons in the Army: one, Frank Arikawa, was lulled in action in Italy on July 6, 1944. The other two were fighting right up to VE-Day with the 442d Regimental Combat Team, an outfit that made a distinguished name for itself in Italy, France and Germany and was rewarded by a Presidential citation.

Old Takeyoshi Arikawa is an fssei, meaning that he is a Japanese bom in Japan and, as such, can never under our present laws become an American citizen. His sons, having been born in the States of Japanese parents, are called Ni«ei. Like the Arikawa boys, many other Nisei GIs have turned in outstanding performances in this war. The 442d, for instance, is composed entirely of JVi«ei, and so is the 100th Infantry Battalion, which also fought in Italy, France and Germany and won a Presidential citatioa It reads:

The fortitude and intrepiditi/ displayed by the ogtem find! mt* o/ the l^h Battalion refieet the finest tnuiiKotw of the Army of the United States.

Takeyoshi .'\rikawa. as noted, feels 'there are too many people in Los Angeles who would re- sent OUT) return." NaturaUy, ttom his point of view, if only one person felt resentful to the point of violence that would be "too mEuiy," whereas events in re- cent months have dem- onstrated that there are B considerable somber of persons on the West Coast who don't want the Japanese-Americans to return and who are of the type that will re- sort to strong-arm meth- ods to prevent it.

How large a propor- tion of the population out this way feels com- petent to take the law into its own hands is anybodjf'f guess but judging bjr a recent

« If :

in.-

ih

«£

>8:

/«■

Ik

k: *

t:

9

West Coast vigilantes in the spot it mtlbablv hurt •most. They," he said, referring to the Nisei GIs •re far more in the American tradition than ihJ race-baiters fighting a private war safely at home " Here may be a few of the reasons why so many Issei and not a few Nisei continue to believe that Ujey re better off in concentration camps: In Ptacer County. Calif., a «ang led by an AWOi: Anny private named Elmer R. Johnson dyna- mited a fruit-packing shed owned by a Japanese- American and flred shotguns into a Nisei farmer's

^^"^ ^ over the

hill after being slated tor oveneas duty

Then there was the case of two Nwef ' soldiers cm furlough who were stoned while passing through Parker, Calif., on their way to visit a re location center at Poston, Ariz. And in Poston it- self, a discharged Nisei veteran waa thrown mit of a barber shop. He probably was foolish to en- ter the establishment in the first place since there was a sign in the window reading, Kc . p Out. Japs, You Rats, " but he may have believed that his seven decorations (one of them a Purple Heart), plus the fact that he was crippled, en- titled him to a little consideration.

In the light of such incidents it would not be strange if the Japanese- Americans who were huddled in the safe^ of their wgre^tion campa merely shrugged their shoulders when told that two American Legion posts on the Welt COMt had refused to place the names of Nisei Ob on their Second World War memorials.

Conceivably, the people responsible for such acts are motivated by continued fears of espio- nage and sabotage. If such is the case, however, it is clear on the basis of the record that their fears are about as little grounded in fact as were the hysterics over witches in New England back in the 17th century. All the Japanese-Ameri- cans during their stay in segregation camps have been questioned in detail concerning their knowledge of the Japanese language, the number of trips (if any) they had -made to Japan, the identity of their Japanese -relatim. their re- li^ow aflMoBs and fheir flMOdal toftWMta.

the Army said when it told the Japanese- . , y. ZCl^ *u-„ iPave the camps:

atateiiMnt on the subject by Sec- retary of the Interior Harold h. Ickes, the group, although bel- ligerently active, is not large. ^ After announcing that during

■ four months on the West Coast there had been 24 incidents of violence and intimidation against persons of Japanese descent by "hoodlums" operating on "a pat- tern of pJanneid terrorism," Ickes said: "It la » matter of national eoncern because this lawless minority whose actions are con- demned by the decent citizens who make up an overwhelming majority of West Coast residents seems determined to employ its Nazi storm-trooper uctics against loyal Japanese-Ameri- cans and law-abiding Japanese aliens in spite of state laws and Constitutional safeguards de- signed to protect the lives and property of all th^ people of iUt TOuntry."

Then, paying tribute to the Nisei who at the moment were

engaged in fighting the Japs in the PhilinninM J«n<in uru

and on Okinawa, Ickes needled thelrtlSSSteSS iS?^ "^'^^'^ «>ey Uve-^ht ^iA

West Coast vigilantes m the spot itSSKS ^^^r^f ' ^..'^'^^-V-val bies.

-^jhat -thef^'^srii^:::^

eryone ha, be^n^,^ » day and ev-

bemg nice h»«« ^i."'** " 1 think they're

b

K'oce

oe hypocritical abcmt"

>i» „ ' "'KKesi naval iMsea. "

Government officials say that m^A^^' ' cusations are way off base Tte cans. I learned, do not bre«^ Uki contrary. from 1930 to „^r^^r ' T

sons of Japanese ancestry in the U^ .f' nearly » percent. Far from there l^.n! ''"'??^'* J»panese^mericans on the W^t (^.? " "'2" time of Pearl Harh,,, Coast, at the

them in thl whote u £ and^n"" ""^^ '"'"^

have come in ^ Ja^neL-Am^r'.clrTh * »*W ^^i^Vv"" "^^ ' ^^-^"^^^y'Te

""i «^^ure ^ fertlii^r a^d the^Ht U?„ *° ^ ^ith the

•n^lnstead, considered by agri^i^JiYi^LSS "^on t have to L hv^* P'^"^- '^^v cer!

to be as progressive and adenUfiTT. »• S??** k...>- . ^ ^° oe hypocritical .^"^

on the Pacific Coast ftvmers

O^L« ' 'here's no deny-

not aU the Japanese-Americans had good reasons for hvmg where they did. the fact renTains tha? since Peart Harbor there hasn't been a^ngTe case of sabotage of any significance on the West Coast What 8 more, high-ranking Naval Intelligence omcecs My that Japanese-Americans have been among their best informants on enemy activity.

Life is not easy for those Japanese-Americans who have ventured back to their old homes on the Coast, although when I visited a few of them not loBg ai^ I found them for the moot put hopeful, if not entirely happy. The first place I stopped at was the farm of Mr. and Mrs Hitoshi Nitta, a few miles outside of Santa Ana. Calif. The Nittas were married while both were in- terned in the Colorado River Relocation Center and now have a year-old son. The husband, a graduate of the California Polytechnic Institute, has a temporary deferment from his draft board so that he can get the farm in shape, after which he plans to enter the Army and leave his 62- year-old father to carry on. Both Mr. and Mrs. NitU are natives of Santa Ana and belong to the Methodist Church there. Univer- Nitta's wife, Mary, a graduate t^e Univer - • California, has a brother Pvt.

As the Army said when it told tne japai.«c- ^ southern Califorma. nas a -jL"

i imeri^ St they could leave the camps: ^^Vamagata, who served m Fran^^ with the

•TlHirSSeare the most carefully scrutinued ^^^d. She told me ^hat she and her^usb ZSSitrSAmerica." Cor.pnr.^J^^_^^S'n rr^L^hS^'^^^w? them S^tbeir Uves,

«k. fS«i»rTunent has on each Japanese neighbors wno nau son,_ U.

Her husband agreed "T k.j . -"mui u. •

for a tractor." he^' *° some parts

days is prett; to^g^'tut b"y rCin* ^ iween half a dozen firms I J= "5 "'"""^ ^- of them. They were aU^ci^^ ^^"^ ^ '"^'t to help out. My dad and Tk^"'^"""^ '^'^ *iUing of them before the war Hoi"'' '''"^T^ fellow who ^id hJ^^JtVrV^"''' ^'^^ ""^ Japanese but would^vTl! ° business w.th a Id send arounT a MexLn" k*'^* ' ^^"''^^ 'f farm. I ,M.To thaJflL ' °° Nitta was upset about the death of I » o

Tether" ltA^"'\^^°°L'''"' ^''y^ sol^lT. K ! ^ »*>out Roy's death aT t H„

t^ill °* who'vt been

»oi^ ^/=^»nce. When my deferment U up rm

American soldier with a chance to fight for mv country. You can't bUme people for hating tht enemy of our country. Japan. But I'm an Ameri- can. Mrs. Corry, who has known me since I wa.s a kid. understands that and so do my other Cau- casian friends. Someday, I think the rest of tht country will, too."

I also stopped by at the ten-acre farm of 62- year-old Ginzo Nakada, who lives with his crip- pled wife. Kagi. and tour minor children just outside Covina, Calif. At his age. Nakada doesn't view life as cheerfully as the Mittas do. In addi- tion to the kids at home, he has seven ions in the Army, two of them with the i42d overseas. Na- kada finds it tough supporting his family on bis 10 acres especially since he has few i"*^""^** to help him with the Usk. The G^^f*^*^ requisitioned his tractor and »o"»* •JJSPjg^ ment, and what the Government didnt requlsi- ttott. vandals stole.^ ^^^^^ ^^.^^ ^^^^ ^y^^

minority m America. "-"'"•'T" „egg_American the Government has f Sj^.^-^'^gf SdSntains tt seto free, the f*''^^8f„„^i.%iiuX ticket.

about as much '"f°™^^^"it'est ^"^'^ Few people in the Midwest, m

know much about ^^P^^^fS Althoii«h the them have never J^Ji to the SUtes away Japanese sUrted l«'»"«'*""irayed far from the ba?k in ^^'^Z^ZeZ S^ ot them have Waot Coast, where tne nwj"

Roy Howevw*

neighbors w»u ^oi including Mrs. ^^^uadalcanal. -----^ Corry Jr.. was .'""^j^'leome-lately to the eo«i she ?f'<>'^*°iXrn -rdial. ^ -unity had - were home^ tt: car\. They

or

"•^^ pt^piraropped by m two cars.^. _ "a g'"""^ "Im letter get out f but we

Mr

^^i; didn't care a

SJ.Wr.can nei^hbo^^^^ had against Uie"^ grudges he and j^^^iy. T^hose

"O^- ^'^^ ^wh? There's al ^^f'l^y^ hu-

there-d be ^J«"S!fng and we ''f^; ^o"re" groups

"It tooK " a ving for my family.'

»° ^^'V- ] ^Now I'm almost back to where

Nakada told ^"^when the war is over and

I started 40 years ago When i ^^^^ ^ my sons come back ! ought to ^.^ ^JJ^ things run agam^ but »gm ^^e w«r and so little to work w ^^.^^ ^ „

feel these days, it s hard. ^^^^^^

a brighter .n°Jf„„ ^is outfit had re^' ^tHpe about the citat^n n ^^^^ «t"d toond

by and

breed hrc „ .up vVest |« them out here ^^^^ on the.r^ manure as Ceruu« ♦h<.v're »^

Santa

■TbereU '

UMlV£RSlTYOi= MlCHiGAN