Founder'of American Rangers
Still Very Much Alive to Men
By UAL BOYLE
NEW YORK IJH A great lead
er never quite dies altogether.
He lives in the spirit he kindled
among those who followed him.
So it is that, in a very real
way, William Orlando Darby,
founder of the American Rangers
in the second World War, is still
very much alive, although he died
two days before the war closed.
‘•Even after all these years we
can't think of him as dead." said
Charles Contrera. who served as
driver-interpreter for the bril
liant young West Pointer from
Fort Smith, Ark., whose career
was ended at 34 by a German ar
tillery shell on the Italian front.
“To us he was almost a God.
To the men he seemed super
human. He was wounded three
times, but we never really be
lieved he could be killed—he had
been through so much."
Hollywood recently "discov
ered” Col. Darby, an officer many
believed was destined to be Army
chief of staff, and Warner Bros,
has told part of his story in a
notable film of battle action
called. "Darby’s Rangers."
Contrera was one of a num
ber of former Rangers who at
tended a preview of the picture
here the other night. Now 38.
Contrera is an upholsterer by
trade. He and his wife. Lucille,
have bought a home and are
hoping to adopt a baby.
He rarely fights the war any
more “except sometimes at night
in his sleep," said his wife, but
when he does think of it, his
thoughts turn always to Col.
Darby.
Charlie was one of the first to
volunteer when Darby was given
the assignment of creating an
elite spearhead force for the
Army, a force comparable to the
U.S. Marines, but smaller.
As a FFC, Contrera landed
with the Rangers in Africa, but
it wasn't until after the group
had stormed the beaches of Sicily
that he came to know Darby
well.
"He wanted a driver who could
also act as an interpreter,” Con
Ukraine Pravda
Assails Religion
MOSCOW Wi—The newspaper
Ukraine Pravda, official com
munist party organ for that
Soviet republic, said Monday that
while religion persists in the
Soviet Union primarily as a
curiosity, it remains a problem
and must be stamped out.
Religion persists among “un
stable and uneducated” elements,
the paper said, and anti-religious
lectures alone are not enough to
combat it.
“All the forces of ideological
influence must be mobilized in a
struggle against religion — the
cinema, radio, television and class
and individual discussions,” the
newspaper said.
Some of the restrictions on re
ligion were relaxed in the Soviet
Union after the death of Stalin
in 1953, but atheism remained
the official doctrine of the ruling
Communist Party. In recent
months the party has returned
to the offensive against religion.
: trera recalled, “and when I NU1
him I could speak a couple of
Italian dialects he said, ‘get be
hind the wheel. Let's go.'
“I didn't know what that would
mean to me-^or I mighf' have
kept my mouth shut. We lived
on the front line. We were in
tight squeezes all the time.
“The Colonel liked to do his
own reconnoitering for his night
attacks. When we couldn't go
any further by jeep, we'd climb
aboard donkeys. And when we
got to places in the hills where
even the donkeys balked, we'd
jump off and go on by foot."
Contrera remembers later in
Italy how. day after day. he had
to speed his jeep across a 75-yard
• open area of road swept by ma
I chine gun fire.
“The Colonel got a kick out of
| timing the enemy fire and beat
I ing it," he said. “We could see
the bullets kicking up dust be
hind us, but nothing ever both
| ered him. And, somehow, I felt
safe with him."
Only one time did Darby ever
Ironic Twist Throws
Communist in Prison
SEATTLE {Jfi — A woman who
renounced communism and turn
ed state's evidence became
through an ironic twist Monday
the only person to serve time in
prison from the Northwest’s
celebrated Smith Act trials of
1953.
Mrs. Barbara Hartle, for years
a leading Communist Party func
tionary in this raea, recanted aft
er her arrest, pleaded guilty and
testified freely against the six
others also charged with conspir
ing to teach and advocate the
| forcible overthrow of the govern
: ment.
She and four others were con
victed in October, 1953. one was
acquitted and one took his own
life during the trial. '
Monday the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals in San Fran
cisco reversed the convictions of
Henry P. Huff, 58; John S. ;
Daschbach, 42; Terry Pettus, 52, ]
and Paul M. Bowman, 34, and (
freed them. They cannot be re- ;
tried.
Mrs. Hartle, star witness for
the government, served 2012
months at the federal women's
prison at Alderson, W. Va., and
was released on parole in Janu
ary, 1956. She retired then to
comparative obscurity on a chick
en ranch north of Spokane.
Huff was Pacific Northwest
chairman for the Communist Par
ty, Pettus Northwest editor of
the People’s Daily World, Bowen,
a party functionary in the Seattle
area and Daschbach chairman of
the Washington State Civil
Rights Congress.
Karley Larsen, an official of
the International Woodworkers
of American, was acquitted. Wil
liam Pennock, head of the Wash
ington Pension Union, committed
suicide while the trial was in pro
gress.
The appellate court decision
Monday represented a setback
for U. S. Atty. Charles P. Moriar
ty of Seattle, who had recom
mended that the convictions of
the four be dismissed and they
be retried.
'Keep Warm and Happy’
MAUD
HUNTINGTON
FUEL CO.
997 Oak St.
DI 4-1211
DI 5-6262
loose his composure. That was at
Cisterns, on the Anzio beach
head, when a German division
surrounded and largely destroyed
two battalions of Hangers as he
was trying to break through to
their rescue.
"Don't give up. Infiltrate back."
Darby kept pleading into the
field phone. “Don't give up! Don't
give up! Don't give up!"
"When he was told the men
couldn't infiltrate back because
they were trapped," said Con
trera, "the Colonel put his head
down on his arm and cried for
several moments. He broke down.
He had always put the safety of
his men first, and he couldn't
stand the thought of what was
happening to them.
"But none of us ever blamed
him. It wasn't his fault."
The last time Contrera ever
saw Darby was when the Colonel
came to visit 119 surviving
Rangers at Camp Butner in
North Carolina.
"He never made a speech to us
—just talked to us one by one.
or in small groups. He was very
sad.”
After 11 months on the Army
general staff in Washington
Darby returned to the Italian
front as deputy commander of
the 10th Mountain Division. A
German shell killed him soon
after, as he was inspecting front
line positions.
“I have never before or since,
looked up to a man as I did to |
him." said Contrera. "After his j
death they made him a Brigadier
General, and that was nice of I
them. He was all soldier."
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TRAFFIC COl* in busy room sepia re Is hard to riml iimlit Rills
presented to the poller force by motorist . on Fpiphuny, the trn
clitioiuil Rift-RiviiiR cloy in Italy.
Proposed Legislation to Require
Unions to Make Records Public
VANCOUVER, Wash ■ ^ Sec
rotary of Labor Mitchell Monday
said President Eisenhower will
ask Congress for legislation re
quiring unions to make their fi
nancial records public.
This is part of a "middle of the
road" labor program which the
President will propose, Mitchell
told a breakfast meeting ar- 1
ranged by the Clark County Re
publican Central Committee
The President's proposal will
Aspergillosis Claims
Portland Penguin
PORTLAND 1ff Portland lost
another penguin from its flock
yesterday. The bird, one of 67
flown here from the Antarctic
last November, apparently died
from aspergillosis, a fungus di- !
sease of the lungs.
The disease has claimed 10
other penguins here and at other
zoos where the penguins were
shipped.
Portland still has nine Adelies, |
smaller size penguins, and 15
Emperors. At least one of the
surviving Emperors is believed
to be suffering from the disease. 1
rail for penalties for union* which
refuse to dolose their records on
handling of union fund* und pen
sion programs These penalties
would Include the loss of th<’ un
ion's tax-free status and loss of
certification as bargaining agents
by the National Labor Kelntions
Hoard, he said.
Two Librarians to
Travel to Meeting
Head librarian, Carl Hlntz, and
documents librarian. Klizabeth
Kindly, will lx- in Chicago Jan.
28 through Feb. 1 to attend the
midwinter meeting of the Amer
ican Library Association.
Hint/, is vice-chairman of the
University Libraries section of
the Association of College and
Reference Libraries and Miss
Kindly Is a director at large of
the ACltL.
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