La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959, June 01, 1945, Image 1

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La Grande evening observer., June 01, 1945, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextA Community Newspaper ; For Every Member of the Family ESTABLISHED ISilfi u 3,200 Tons of Fire Bombs Hurled On Industrial Center GUAM, . June 1 (UP) Japan's three greatest cities lay scorched by 'Superfortress fire bombs today as the I5-2!)'s followed tip their demolition of Tokyo and Yokohama by starling' raging conf.'agralions in Osaka, Japan's greatest industrial center, and second largest city, with a 3,200-ton incendiary attack. Returning airmen reported that smoke from burning Osakn billowed five miles into the air and radio Tokyo admitted flames still were scourging the city many hours after the l bombers had left. Highlights of Truman Message WASHINGTON, June 1 (UP; Salient quotations from Presi dent Truman's message to con gress: "There can be no peace in the world until the military power of Japap is destroyed with the tame completeness as was lhe power of the Euro pean dictators." "No one can recount the' suc cess of the forces of decency in this war without thinking of the one man who was rtiore respon sible for victory than any other single human being-Franklin D. Roosevelt." "The damage to our ships and the loss of our men (from Japanese suicide attacks) are becoming more severe. In lhe future we shall have to expect more damage rather than less. There ca.inot be evon a partial naval demobilization until the Japanese are defeated." "The Japanese surface navy has been reduced to a fraction of its former self ... A large part of this success is due to our pres ent carrier-based airpowor . . . . (these carriers) were laid down in 1940 a year and a half be- foiv; we entered the war. Had they not been started then, our fast advances in the Pacific could not have occurred until much later." j "The Japanese air force will bo shattered by our army and : navy fliers as surely and relent-; lessly as the luftwaffe. The con centration of Japanese industry, so long an advantage, will now contribute materially to Japan's i downfall." "All our experience indicates that no matter how hard we hit the enemy from the air or from the sea., the foot soldier still will have to adva ice against strongly entrenched fanatical troops. There is no easy way to win." "War production remains the paramount consideration of out national effort . . . We must not slacken our support of the men , 1: who arc now preparing for the i final assault on Japan. ' U. S. Submarines Sink 14 More Jap Ships in Homeland Waters WASHINGTON. June 1 (UP) U. S. subamirnes in Japa nese waters have sunk 14 more enemy ships, including five combat : vessels, the navy an nounced today. The late.it submarine bag in cluded one destroyer, three small patrol vsscls. one coast al mine Iruvr. one large tank er, five medium merchant ves sels, two medium fielghtcrs, and one small merchant vessel. These sinkings binught to 1,142 the number of enemy ships sunk by I'. S. subs in this war. In anoth-r announcement, the navy for the fiist time icccal ed details of an action by an I ra:i. ... ... :nj:.tnJ nnl.ln had suffered the same fate as the port and industrial center of Yokohama, attacked Tuesday. Intelligence reports of 21st bom l;er command revealed today that nearly nine square miles of Yoko hama have been burned or dam aged just under seven square miles being attributed to the Tuesday attack. Fires Burn for Hours A joint communique issued by the headquarters of the J-rpanese central army district and the Osaka gartison five and a half hours after Tokyo said the raid started, reported that tiros "grad ually were being brought under control." The announcement said the fires centered in noilhwost Osaka and in the neighboring city of vimagasaki. ' It claimed that 47 U-2!)s had been shot down- and li.i others damaged. Port is Attacked Another Tokyo broadcast said 1! Mustang fighters, possibly from the bombers' escort, strafed the port of Shingu, 00 miles southeast of Osaka, and the southern tip of Kii peninsula be low Shingu. Because of overcast skies, bom ber pilots returning to the Mari anas said tho assault on Osaka was almost a "milk run" com pared with previous big attacks on the enemy homeland. Hundreds of thousands of a new type of fire bomb packed with jellied gasoline were drop ped into the densest concentra tion of war factories in Japan in the methodical parade of destruc tion. Fires took hold at widely-scal- Icred points at first, then mer- fccd into great conflagrations that consumed everything in their paths. It looked as Ihough it v.-ould be Tokyo and Yokohama all over again. Irn-lir SpsSlftll fit J- 1 1 J OCBB1U11 Ul 'Big Three' Looms W A CM I Nf: TON lone 1 (UP) prcs;tlcnt Truman told his news conference today he could now say definitely that a oig three conference will take place in the not-too-distanl future. Mr. Truman also said he has : been in daily communication ; with Prime Minister Winston Churchill regarding the crisis in the Levant. He said, too, that he expected the San Francisco conference to end within 10 days. He still rejected any suggestion I that tho big three meeting might expanded into a big four or big live conference, including France or China American submarine on patrol in Japanese waters. It toid how the IV S. S. Salmon was pounced upon by four enemy escort vessels af ter it hod helped another sub marine sink a Japanese tanker. Badly damaged in the resulting barrage of depth charges, ihe Snlmon ro.;e to the surface and duelled with the Japaner-e con voy at ranges as close as 50 (yards. At one(piiint( it the running Iflljle, the Japanese convoy be came confused and started fir ing on '.heir own ships. The sub forced two of the enemy craft to (lee before a rain squall broke off the battle. Main Jap Defense Line On Okinawa Rent By Yankees Final Conquest Of Island Seen In Two Weeks GUAM, June 1 (UP) The 10th ni my smashed the last vestiges of the main Japanese defense line on Okinawa today and by Tok yo accounts threw two more di visions into a battle for speedy conquest of the southern tip of the island. Radio Tokyo said eight Ameri can divisions possibly 120,000 men in all were attacking the last 20,000-odd Japanese holding the southern end of Okinawa. American forces on the east coast already were within two miles of the south coast and hud outflanked deeply new enemy defenses in the inland hills. American front reports indi cated the complete conquest of Okinawa may take another two weeks or more, but told of only five army and marine divisions in line. The collapse of the main Jap anese defense line was completed with the encirclement of its last 1,000 diehard defenders in the Shuri area. A Pacific fleet communique re vealed that tho 10th army was killing the Japanese defenders at the rate of more-than 1,000 a day. Church Leaders To Assemble Here For Conference Members of the Union stake of the Latter Day Saints church will assemble in La Grande to morrow for the quarterly con ference, which is expected to at tract more than 500 memheis from northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. Sessions will b-3 held in the LDS tabernacle beginning at 7:.'i0 p.m. tomorrow, when the wel fare of the church and returning veterans will be the piincipul subject. A priesthood meeting is set for 9 a.m. Sunday; and a women and girls meeting will be held simultaneously. General sessions will be at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Dr. Joseph F, Merrill, a mem ber of the council of twelve, and Fenno B. Casto. n leader of wel fare work in the church, both of Salt Lake City, will attend the conference. Dr. Merrill is widely known as an electrical engineer and edu cator, having been active in these fields for many years in addition to being one of the leaders ol the church. County Receives Funds for Fairs Apportionment of $938.84 tc Union county from the millag? tax for county fairs was an nounced today in Salem. A to tal of $52,430.50 was allotted to Union and ten other counties through the secretary of stale's office. The money was collected on the basis of all taxable properly amounting to more than a billion dollars, as equalized by the stale lax commission last year, and comes from the twentieth of a mill tax. Baseball Results By United Press NATIONAL LEAGUE Philadelphia 5 15 5 Pittsburgh G 7 1 Barrett, Karl olid Mancuso; Roe, Butcher and Lopez. O AMERICAN LEAGUE Diftrnit . 4 8 0 Boston . -. . .. 0 9 0 Wilson, Pierce and Richards, Swift, Oneill, Barrett and Gar bark. Cleveland 2 5 1 New York 14 0 Smith and Hayes: lievens, Kleine and Garbark. Q (at Oflrf LA GRANDE. OREGON FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 1, A n tp n n n f u u - WANTS SUGAR CZAH Rep. Clinton P. Anderson, chairman of the house food committee and secretary of agriculture elect, who recently warned that a serious sugar shortage confronts the nation unless a sugar "czar" is appointed. His appointment to ihe cabinet was approved today by the United Stales senate. Jap Massacre of Baptist Mission Group Revealed NEW YORK, June 1 (UP) Eleven Baptist missionaries and a nine-year-old missionary's son were beheaded by the Japanese, in lhe Panay hills in the Philip pines on Dec. 1!) and 20, 1943, tho American Baptist foreign mission society disclosed today. The society said the deaths were documented, officially, but the news Ind been withheld un til now by the war and nivy de partments for security reasons. Torture Reaveals Hideaway Dr. Jesse Wilson, secretary of the society, said the missionaries fled into the hills when the Jap anese invjd-.d the Philippines. There they established a settle ment callc-;i "Hopevale," which ministred to Filipino guerrillas. The secret of their hideaway redoubt finally was believed to have been learned by the Jap anese by torturing a Filipino guerrilla, Dr. Wilson said. The war dejartment notified the society of the beheadings in 1944, Wilson said. He said that those beheaded were: Miss Jennie C. Adams, nurse, of Page, N?b. James H. Covell, a professor of Athens, Pa., and Le Roy, N. Y., and his wile. Mrs. Dorothy A. Dowel!, evan gelist, Denver, Col. Miss Signe A. Erickson, teach er. Warren, Pa. Dr. Frederick W. Meyer, phy sician, New Haven, Conn., and his wife. Rev. and Mrs. Francis H. Rose, Norwich, Conn., and Lowell, Mass. Rev. and Mrs. Erie F. Rounds, Eau Claire, Wis., and Richmond, Calif., and their son, Eric. In addition to the missionaries, Wilson said he had received re ports from other missionaries that an unknown number of lay civilians had been beheaded or tortured at the same time. Jap Atrocities Are . Declared Worse Than Those of Germans SEATTLE, June 1 (UP) Atroc ities committed in Japanese pris on camps are far worse than those in Germany, Col. K. S. Min atsinjhi, attached to the agency general for India in Washington, said today. "We must not treat the Jap anese kindly," he declared. "We must finish them as a military power." The Indian officer was in To kyo on Pearl Harbor day as a military attache to the British embassy. He was released from thj Jap prison camp in a diplo matic exchange. The IJ-J!!I raids on Tokyo prob ably will hasten the end of the v.(a$. he said. "The Japs cannot take tho-.o raids." he said. "They will think very hard in tin- fate of thi'-rh whether or not they want to fight to the end." Wallow Covafci 1915 Russ Stand On Trusteeships Is Opposed By U. S. Abridgement Of Rights At Issue Between Powers SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 (UP) The United States delegation to thu United Nations conference today agreed to stand firm against Russian efforts to elimi nate from the trusteeship form ula a section which the Russians say would freeze the present status of mandated peoples. Cmdr. Harold F. Stussen, who prepared the working paper on international trusteeships which is now Ihe basis for conference consideration of the subject, met with the delegation for nearly three hours to be certain it would back him in his determination to retain the principles of the dis puted section. The trusteeship paragraph which Stassen is determined to defend provides: "Except as may be agreed upon in individual trusteeship arrange ments placing each territory un der the trusteeship system, noth ing in this chapter should be con strued in and of itself to alter in any manner the rights of any state or any peoples in any terri lory." Soviet Russia contends that this paragraph has tho effect of "freezing" the status of mandat ed peoples. Labor Endorses Building Measure, Hits Foreign Labor PORTLAND, Ore., June 1 (UP) The Oregon state federation of labor executive board objects to the importaiion of Mexican labor and to use of German prisoners, in agriculture and industry. J. T. Marr, secretary, was in structed in a meeting yesterday to request government officials to return German prisoners to their own country at the earliest prac tical time, since hostilities with that country are ended and use of the PWS "borders on enslave ment," according to the board. The group recorded support of the state building fund measure coming up on the June 22 ballot, and endorsed state support for public schools, with equitable distribution of the Oregon sup port fund. It opposed earmarking of reve nues, except gasoline or other lax used wholly for benefit of those paying the tax. Marr .vas told to take steps toward initiation of a bill lo re peal the ciaret sales lax on the November 1940 ballot, if the cig aret sales tax bill is not approved in the election this month. Masonic Croup To Attend liaker Rites Members of Eastern Oregon commandery. Knights Templar of La Grande were completing de tails for car pools for the drive to Baker Saturday evening lo participate in the Kniglrls Temp lar ceremonies, beginning with dinner at G:30 p. m. Dewev Accepts Bid to White House ALBANY, N. Y., June 1 (UP) Governor Thomas E. Dewey, 1944 Republican presidential can didate, has accepted an invita tion from President Truman lo confer at the White House, it was learned today. Dewey, it was understood, wrote the president a letter ac cepting the invitation. Dewey's office declined to make the letter public. o Weather (Data for 24 hours ending 7 a m 1'i-mperatures: Maximum Q '71 (P Minimum 44 Forecast: Partly cloudy tonicM-il rind .'itiirrt.-iv art X) RESIGNATION REJECTED President Truman today an nounced he has declined to ac cept the resignation of Judge Samuel I. Rosenman, above, special counsel to the late Pres ident Roosevelt, who recently expressed a desire io leave lhe administration June 15. Tru man said Rosenman will ro main at his post at least until victory over Japan. Rosenman Will Remain Advisor To Chief Executive WASHINGTON, June 1 (UP) President Truman nnnuunced to day that, he had declined to ac cept the resignation of Judge Samuel I. Rosenman, special counsel to the chief executive. He said that ' Rosenman. would remain at his post at least until victory over Japan. Rosenman, an old and trusted friend of the late President Hoos evell, loft a supreme court Julge ship in New Yory City lo become an important and hard-working member of Mr. Roosevelt's White House organization. Mr. Truman praised Rosen- man's "self-effacing zeal and pa Iriotic devotion" and asked him "to stay at your post at least un til V-J day." Rosenman, who had completed arrangements to return to pnv ale life, cancelled them and re plied lo Mr. Truman's letter with "Aye, aye, sir." French Halt Firing On Levantines On Order From Britain PARIS, June 1 (UP)--Fiance oidered her troops in Levant to cease fire and retire into their barracks today, presumably end ing an undeclared miniature war that had entlamed the midellc easl. Syrian sou ices estimated thai at least 400 persons had been killed in lighting between French troops and Syrian irregulars in Damascus and JIama alone. The cease fife order complied lo thi- lelk-r with Prime Minis ter Churchill's virtual ultimatum of yesterday to President Gen. Charles De Gaulle. Churchill had ordered British forces in Ltvant io intervene to prevent further l.loodshed. A spokesman for De Gaulle' peisonul advisory cabinet con firmed that the order had been dispatched lo Levant. A Bey routh dispatch said the French had instructed their commander to "play ball with the British." The French cabinet met this morning to consirler the situation. Tin re was a possibility that il might decide lo withdraw all French lioops from the country. The strong tone of Churchill's message shocked members of the government. De Gaulle was said io have been "furious." High School Croup To Flay For Elks C. M. Shenill and M. C. Lynch, co-chairmen of the EIk's ball Mhcduled for Saturday night, lo ony announced that the Aristo crats, the high school dunce Kind, has hern engaged to play for the efeiision, Dancinjf will comnu nee at i) p.m. Th.t)will be the last dunce i f the season, Ihe next to 1m- held in the fall. divide and Conquer! Policy Told Nation in; Presidential Speech: WASHINGTON, June 1 (UP) President Truman today culled for renewed national effort iti tho war against Japan. He said the American force to be used there will bo morrt than double the size of the present army in the Pacific. This apparently meant that an army of nearly 4,000,000 will be used to subdue Japan. . . :l He threatened Japan with a steadily-increasing; air war ' and urged Japanese civilians to leave their cities "if they wish lo save their lives." r.; Mr. Truman set forth his views in a 9,000-word special message to congress on the status of the war. It was an appeal not only to congress but to all of the " nation against any letdown from a false sense of feeling '. that the job Is just about done. While telling in great detail ol elaborate plans, for intensifying the war against Japan, the presi dent noted that the strength of the army would be reduced from t!,300,000 to 0,'.IU8,000 in the next year. Forces to be Doubled "By maintaining our army at I li Is size," he said, "we shall be able to more than double the force we now have in the Pacific and hurl against the Japanese and overseas force larger than the 3,500,000 men who united with our ultics to crush the Wehr. macht and the luftwaffe " The president said our milituiy policy for the defeat of Japan calls for: "Pinning down lhe Japanese forces where they now are and keeping them divided so thoy can be destroyed piece by piece." "Concentrating overwhelming power on each segment which we attack." "Using ships, aircraft, armor, artillery and other mateiiel in massive concentrations to gain victory with the smallest possible loss of life." "Applying relentless and in creasing pressure to the enemy by sea, air and on the land, so I hat he cannot rest, reorganize or regroup his battered forces or See TRUMAN . , . Page 5 Drive Opens To Crush Last Japs In Trap On Luzon MANILA, June 1 (UP) Amer ican and Filipino forces opened u drive today to annihilate 20 000 to 1)0.000 Japanese troops trapped between them in the Cagayan valley of northern Luzon. A spokesmun at Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters an nounced thut all hope of escape fur the Japanese the biggest remaining enemy force on Luzon had been cut off by Filipino forces moving down from the northern coast. Several hundred Japanese who attempted to fight their way across a river between Apinii and Tuguegarao on May 20th were turned back with heavy losses by the Filipino fighlers. the spokesman disclosed. Merciless Slaying of American Airman Told at Germansr Trial ' AHRWEILER, Germany. June 1 (UP) A witness tesli fied at the murder trial of three Germans today that he saw German civilians shoot and beat an American airman lo death when he parachuted into lire rercn irorn a cripprcu oom ber last August. The first trial in American occupied territory of German civilians accused of war 'crim inality openid before a mili tary commission in a tiny courtroom of the Ahieweih-r city hall. a Peter Kohn, a crane operator from the town of Priest; Mat thias Gieiens, a Priest railway worker; and Untthias Drein, blacksmith anir ruial police man, were-cused of (WiurTlcr ing the flyer whose identity never was established. The Gi rmans pleaded not guilty. Anything to Sell? Thousands of People Head This Paper Daily RUN A CLASSIFIED AD TO REACH YOUR BUYERS Phone 600 FIVE CENTS . ; ; College Graduates Are Bid Godspeed1 At Evensong Rites As a prelude to their gradua tion today from Eastern Oregon college, members of the senior class last evening participated (n the traditional Evensong on the stairway lo the institution in the presence of a large crowd. Com' mencement exercises were oon-, ducted this afternoon in the col lege auditorium with Dr. Wins low S. Anderson, president of Whitman college at Walla Walla as the principal speaker. Evensong presented an impres; sive spectacle of the young men and women, guided by the tor ches of education, departing upon tho path of life. Graduates who today received degrees in various phases of their academic studies were attired "ft cup and gown, while the cndt nurses whose courses have been completed wore the white uni forms of the profession into which they soon will become full Hedged members. n The dresses of undergraduate girls gave a colorful touch to the striking picture of the partici pants on the stairway to tho In stitution. ; Queen Kay Andrews Buck of La Grande presided over the ceremony, attended by her court, consisting of six prince3es and two chroniclers, und nccompani merit for songs typical of the school, the region and the sea son was provided by an aug mented college orchestra. Northwest to Get No Fuel Increase: WASHINGTON, June 1 (UP) Civilians in the Pacific norffl west can expect no increase In fuel oil supplies until V-J day, Ralph K. Davies, deputy petro leum administrator, said today.- The end of the war in Europe has not relieved the problem of either home - healing iuel oil consumers or industrial fuel oil users in Washington, Oregon af)d western Idaho," Davis said. The chief witness for tlte prosecution was Nicholas Nos pes, 74. He said he saw th airman shot in cold blood, then clubbed mercilessly while he still bled from the bullet wounds. " " Nospes said he was cutting wheat in a field near Preist, 60 miles south of Coblenz, when the American parachuted down from the crippled bom bcr.. Townsfolk rushed to the scene of the landing, Nospes said. Peter Back, a semi-c.VP-ple, hobbled from a motorcycle, dnw a pistol, and shot the airman in the head. Back has not been found. Gieiens trembled violently f-M'hen Nospes testified that he ierens and Kohn, who ha only one arm, beat the airman with a club and a humiv.er after Hack wounded him.