IR E
Published Every Thursday at
Cottage Grove, Oregon
Established August 15, 1889
....................... E ditor. Publisher
W r M A R T IN
...................
Subscription Rates, Cash in Advance
Subscription rates, cash in advance. No subscription fo r less than 3
3 M ok
6 M ot.
months.
1 Yr.
C o tta n e (g r o v e £ e n t m r l
1.25
................2.00
In Lane-.Douglas Counties ....
1.50
Outside This Dist in Oregon
...... ...............2.25
1.75
Outside Oregon in U. S .......................... ................ 2.50
Fbreign Rates on Application.
1.50
...............2.00
Arm ed Porces in U. S.
1.00
Arm ed Forces Overseas ..................... ................ 1.50
Entered at Cottage Grove, Oregon, as second class m atter.
NATI
ORE
P u n is c i
IREI
.75
.90
1.00
GOD IS
MY
CO-PILOT
1.00
By COL.
ROBERT L. SCOTT
AL É D IT O R IA L —
S S O C IA T IO N
WNU Feature«.
(Continued from '••• w eek )
CHAPTER XVIII
! AT I
So Johnny glided to the held with
SHALL GERMANY HAVE A HARD OR SOFT PEACE?
No sensible m in i w ants this world to he embroiled a g a in ¡his missing engine, and then we
in such a war, for another w ar like this would not only destroy heard him say that he couldn't make
..........b » . ¡,
whole civilization. We all agree that w ars must be stopped. fairly bright but evcn al ,ha, i knew
that the germs of w ar must be destroyed before they are given that Johnny had to be mighty good
the opportunity to incubate . . . hut 'how to do it is the pro- and very lucky. Then I wondered
hlem. The idealist leans tow ard a soft peace. The realist insists whether or not he was wounded
upon a hard one. But regardless of our sentim ents, the British Silhouetted against the light from
and Russian« are going to have a voice in the d e c is io n -a m i J»«
their sufferings and sacrifices will determ ine th eir thinking JkinX d oJer S ChSese juniis on
W'e who live in com fortable American homes and in cities the river and t saw the gpiasb Dl
still unharm ed by bombs cannot know the real terro rs of mod- the
wjth its wbeels up. hit ihe
ern war. To u n derstand its tru e m eaning, all we need do is siang Kiang. Down on the ground
use our im agination ami change shoes for a moment with a they heard his engine give one more
Russian, a Germ an or a Britisher.
, dying gasp, as with « surge of power
F o r example, if von wi re a resident of B ritain you would -p ro b a b iy from fu
i
i
r
i i i
..<7«« i
him over tne
know the
m eaning
of war. v You would
have 1:..
ln e d i . suffered
Ugt low
of pitch—it
0>< maits lifted
of the
Junks and
and endured it.
_
let him level off to skid across the
In B ritain home front casualties have been extrem ely iurface of the river,
heavy. Before the coming of the super Nazi V-2 rockets, the
We came m an<j landed now, for
total casualties exceeded 136,000 persons. And one out ot every the ground crew had gotten the
three houses had been dam aged or completely destroyed. En- smudge-pot boundary lights set out
lire blocks were wiped out bv a single Y-l buzz bomb.
to mark the runway as well as the
Men work long hard hours in factories, and hours that bomb craters We gathered togeth-
i i i i
i
... lawk«,;., er fast with the boys who had stayed
should
be spent . i • l l sleep
are of ent.imes ..»n:«.
utilized i ♦ to v ,.i
clear
debn., on
ground an<J talRcd abou, ,he
and restore essential services. Almost everything is rationed. An great battle j remembcr Tex Hill
egg is a rare delicacy. Men w ear shabby clothes and taxes a n shaking his head and saying. " I'm
fa r higher than in America.
afraid Johnny didn't make it. Dog-
Out of a population of 47 million people. 5 million, or one-) gone, he was a good boy." We all
th ird of all her men betw een 14 and 64. are in the arm ed forces.! felt a sinking In our hearts. We
Almost half the women between the ages of 14 am i 59 are in waited and we kind of prayed too
the arm ed services, fulltim e civil defense or in industry.
! sent Captain Wang, our salvage
B ritain has lost tw o-thirds of her pre-w ar commercial fleet, man- °“’ ;J ° aee ’ “ he c‘, d
any
and her m ilitary and sea casualties to tal more than 600000. reporU out and kap, wajtjng on
These things must l»e stopped. An enduring peace must be a,ert Just when we had really
lxiilt. W ill a soft peace o r a hard peace for the Nazis assure given up hope, we heard the sound
the fulfillm ent of a happy, peaceful fu tu re ! W hat do you of sharp explosions. All of us ran
out of the alert shack, to see the
th in k !— (Selected).
— '— --------- ■
--------------------------- — |
M rs. R uth Apana of San F ra n -
cisco, C alifornia has been visiting
M r. and M rs. N a te Compton her m other. Mrs. A. B. Sm ith,
were dinner guests o f M r.
and
Mrs.
Anna
Bolton
returned
Mrs. Sam Mackin last Sunday.
home Sunday a fte r visiting her
Mrs. W . A. Hem enway has been son and granddaughter in P o rt-
ill w ith the flu.
land.
T h e Cedars Ladies club w ill gvhireni too
iD aoJw Fhoc ;ao
meet w ith Mrs. Read H e m e n w a y -------------------------
F ebruary 13th for
an
all day
Stretch Easily
meeting. A potluck dinner w ill be
Knit dresses and sweaters stretch
held at noon and members are to if hung up. I t ’s better to lay them
tie out a com forter fo r the host- on a bed to air, then fold and lay
css.
them away in a drawer.
Cedars
i
WE ARE NOW PREPARED TO DO FIRST CLASS
AUTOMOBILE PAINTING
Fast E lectrical S erv ice
DEPENDABLE SERVICE—ALL WORK
GUARANTEED
UNION SHOP
LEE’S ELECTRIC SHOP
633 North 9th Street
Phone 224R
□
M A R T IN M O TO R S
*
Pontiac Sales and Service
E L E C T R IC A L W O R K
WE NOW HAVE A N EXPERIENCED ELECTRICIAN
BESIDES MYSELF TO DO YOUR WIRING.
ALL KINDS OF WIRING AND ELECTRICAL WORK
DONE PROMPTLY.
BRISBANE ELECTRIC
1049 East Main
Phone 73
CITY TRANSFER & DELIVERY
A n yth in g Hauled Within the City Limits
P hone 252
T H11 HSDAY, FKHKVARV H, I94ft
S b A u .u .i,
strangest sight that we ever saw.
even ln China.
A procession had entered the field.
The Chinese sentry had passed the
crowd of people and was himself
holding his thumb in the air calling
"Ding-hao—ding-hao." In the midst
of the procession and surrounded by
children shooting Chinese firecrack
ers in celebration, was a sedan chair
carried on the backs of the villagers
of Hengyang. And Johnny Alison
was in the sedan chair—smiling.
While we cheered too and some of
us even got some firecrackers from
the kids and shot them off. we
helped Johnny out and heard his
story.
He'd hit the river like a
feather-bed. he said, and had swum
ashore, having to kick off his good
American shoes to make it. As he
crawled up the bank of the river the
Chinese had rushed upon him, think
ing he was a Jap out of one of the
bombers. Johnny said it looked as
if they were going to cut him up.
until he remembered the one word
of Chinese that he'd picked up. He
yelled this—one that sounded like
"M erugay," which means "Ameri-
can." And when they read the Chi
nese sign that each of us carried on
the back of his flying suit, which
asks aid and protection for the
American who has come to help
China fight, they realized who he
was. Just the man who had shot
down the three enemy ships. And
from then on he was the hero of the
town.
Johnny Alison had a couple of
burns on his hands Ynd legs where
some bits of the Japs' explosive bul
lets had hit him. He'd been slightly
cut on the foix head when, on land
ing in the river, his head had hit
the heavy metal of the gun-sight.
But the scar that would leave would
be a common one after the war, for
every fighter pilot flies along with
his head just inches behind that
hunk of steel that contains the lights
and prisms of the modern gun-
sights. Just the slightest accident
and it is out there to split your head.
I asked Johnny why in hell he
went so close to the bomber forma
tion, and he grinned and said, " I
was scared I'd misa one of them."
Our salvage crew worked and
worked at the job of raising the P-40
from the bottom of the Siang-Kiang.
But with the fourteen-foot depth and
the swift current, they had more
than modern engineering with the
limitations of our floating equipment
could accomplish.
Under Captain
Wang—Chinese-American and ln our
1 Army—they floated barges out to
the spot and tried to tow it ashore
i with lines. Then they lowered steel
drums, tied them to the ship, tried
to pump the water from the sub-
I merged drum* and thus float the
P-40— but everything failed.
During all the work of the Amer
icans with windlass and block-and-
tackle, the Chinese villagers, who
j had offered their services long be
fore smiled and stood by. We asked
ourselves: What in hell could the
Chinese coolies and rivermen do if
we, with our general knowledge and
advanced civilization, couldn't raise
the ship? We went on and failed
for three days, and then to the per
sistent Chinese we said, "Okay, go
ahead.”
We watched them float raft after
raft of long thick bamboo poles to
' the buoy that now marked the spot
where Johnny's fighter had sunk.
Mentally we set down the raising
of. the shin as ipiccssjble, and cot
ready to mark it off the list
But
the Chinese went on cheerfully with
their work. I »aw them pull them-
»eve* down Into the riv e r with
ropes tied to the fighter, taking with
them an eighteen-foot length of bam
boo. They would slide thia under
the wing of the ship and lash It into
place with grass rope. Hundreds of
times they did this, until a perfect
mat of bamboo was under the entire
wing of the little P-40. Then they
lashed the mat to the fuselage and
‘ started another row under the wing.
Through it all we smiled at the wast
ed elTort. and I heard men say. "Oh
well, there are lots of Chinese any
way Let them work."
But toward the second days
Cose, I began to wonder, and that
evening as darkness settled over the
river 1 went out to watch their tire
less labor. Suddenly there was a
movement among the rivermen to
tighten the four cables that tied the
lighter to the barge, and I taw the
’ canopy and the prop of Johnny's
, fighter ship rise above the surface of
the river. Involuntarily I cheered,
and I fell a lump in my throat as
if I had swallowed something: as
_ talk _ to
_ .......
I tried to
the ........................
officer with
m# j felt mv ||() <rcnib|e With emo-
tian.
‘
" But
-----
the -------------------------
Chinese never cheered
-
or got excited: they remained as
stoical as ever. They seemed to
know that they were going to be suc
cessful. and had merely been wait
ing for the crazy Americans to quit
playing around with all the strange
gadgets.
Clan losing ships- Munetlmv
lots died In the unequal battle
SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT—OFFICE OF THE COUNTY CLERK
July I, HM4 Io December « I. 1944 >■»«'•
One day In August. Johnny Alison
GENERAL FUND
was leading six P-40's to Intercept
Num ber Claims
Ace,
hi
nt
a larger number of Japanese com
19
.....
...........
ing In against Hengyang from both Advert Islng
2
Hankow and Canlun. When Inter Agriculturist
ception was made, the Japs had Assessor
......... 95
................................
flfty-three planes.
They were In Audit mg
three waves, so of course Johnny
87
<' ii i-uit ( 'oui i
didn't get them all together and let
IHti
Circuit
Court
(Special)
them take shots at his little force.
178
He circled in the sun, waiting fur Clerk
12
the opportunity to strike, and get Coroner
sway with all his ships. Then It County Court
66
came.
He dove through nine of County Dues
2
them, and his six planes shot down
176
County
Kurin
four of the enemy. In his second
7.3
attack, after diving awuy and climb County Owned Lands
KN)
ing back into the tun, he sent four Court House
¡M
of his six down against them and Defense
then come on with the other two, Dependent Children«* Inst.
29
just In esse the enemy should follow District Attorney
55
the small'attacktng force out of the District Sealer
4
fam iliar "circling movement'' thut
l-’l<-<-t i. hi
1254
the Jap with his ever superior num
Emergency
........... ..........
bers always went into.
1
Emergency
Relief
......... ..
The little force of fighters knocked
1
down another Zero. But one of the I'm - I '.I I. s.l
2
P-40's was in trouble. Johnny said Four-H Club
later that he had seen the enemy Fruit Inspector
. .
......... 34
ships following the Forty, but Health Department
109
thought the closest one was another Health Officers
11
P-40. Too late he realized the error
.........
2
Home
Demonstration
Agent
and went to help the pilot, whom he
44
knew by then to be a boy named Indigent Soldier
..... 60
Lee Minor.
The Zero rode the In san e
........
2
American lighter's tail and shot It Insurance
down with cannon, and the P-40 Justice Court
..... 139
burned. Johnny watched tur a chuta Juvenile Deportment
97
to open, but nothing happened.
Museum
.. 46
As we drove out along the high Predatory Animals
.....
7
way thut afternoon—Baumler and Public Welfare Commission
6
Alison. Jack Belden i f Life maga
1
zine and I —we were hoping by aome Rodent Control
School
Superintendent
..
.....
....
.
77
fluke that Minor had bailed out and
204
that Johnny hud failed tu see him Sheriff - General
do it, but we suspected that we w r it S heriff - Tax D epartm ent
112
merely being optimistic
The fa r S heriff - Jail
103
ther we drove down the road to the Slaughtered Animal«
.... 58
South, toward* the battle area of the
..
6
State Industrial Accident Com
morning, the more we expected wh.it
Surveyor
.... 70
we found. Finally we saw It.
I'hlstle
.. .39
Four Chinese coolies were walking
43
towards the nearest village, carry- , Treasurer
ing un object la.-sied to poles, and
.3636
TOTALS
carrying it in the old way of the
East, with the poles over their shoul
ders. The thing they were carrying I
DOG FI ND 1
... .. 31
, was wrapped In grass matting, but <"3«lms
I saw the bare feet sticking out. We Enforcement O fficer
12
stopped the Jeep and called to the S**'**. ^’',mf*’nsatlon
..
6
3
coolies. Jack Belden spoke to them
1
In Chinese and took the cover from Misevlluni-oux
the face. It was Lieutenant Minor,
TOTALS
........ 53
and of course he was dead Hix ship
in exploding had evidently thrown
ID
him out and opened hi« chute, but
A nim al*
the explosion had killed him. He Bobcat
.... 24
1
had definitely not crashed with the , Coyote
24
ship, for there was hardly a mark Cougar
7
on his body.
-Seal
,
, Wrapping Minor in his parachute,
TOTALS
....... 49
1 we ,ook hiT back ln a rU ke? Ch!'
ncsa bus that we commandeered
FUND
We knew we’d miss Minor and men Bridge
252
like him. He'd been one of the up- Construction nnil Maintenance
1472
and-coming younger pilots, and hud Emergency
already shot down one Japanese Insurance
1
Right of W ay
plane.
6
We took Minor's body to the Cath I S tate Ind. Accident Com.
Amount
»1,185 22
4,090.00
7,311 92
2,613.62
1,559 85
15,038.95
302.68
5,096.13
176 77
M 26.63
3,586 2«
5,019.85
1,035 47
979.37
2.732 50
196 12
12.540.55
2.00
358.79
2.800 00
1,160.56
8.939 IS
42.50
1,500.00
1.470 92
622 15
519 89
1.285 60
,3.675 70
1,286 IS
838 63
50,772 50
400.00
3,164 78
7.803 OS
12,024 73
3,730.15
1.123.97
682.98
2,574.16
2.431 »7
3,008 27
■ ■UN.
They had floated the 9100 pounds
of P-40, and now they towed it to
shore. Our salvage crew put the
wheels down in the water, and with
the aid of about a hundred coolies
the ship was pulled up the river
bank and then out to the Odd. We
counted eleven bullet holes through
the engine and in the cockpit. Next
day the ground crews began the
work of repair. Days had to pass
before an engine from another dam
aged tighter could be installed, and
more time had to go by before
we got it completely worked over.
But in the end it Dew again in com
bat against the Japanese— thanks to
»180,90050
labor of good mechanics, and the
—
---------
the _____
bravery
of a _---------
gallant -----------
officer, the _
unswerving patience and devotion of
» 62885
those brave Chinese coolies and riv-
913 6«
ermen who had never heard of the
24 76
word "impossible."
'222.02
When I first went to China I think
1625
I imagined in my short stay that 1
would gradually change the simple
$1,80554
Chinese. 1 used to rant and rave
about thia and that, and try to show
the houseboys better and more ef
» 97.50
ficient ways to do things. But they
Itrj.OO
never changed, and finally I real
80 uo
ized that they were changing me.
Now in raising this ship they had
used a method three thousand years
$ 279 50
old. I have read since how they had
employed it in Burma, long years
before, when the great temple bell
519,437 20
159,118.66
weighing over thirty ton* was
thrown into the deep lake to save it
9 16
from the heathen. When the heath
en had occupied the land and had
5.83749
hiniself been beaten in due time,
—
■
■ A. . I! ■
olic
mission
across
the
river,
and
probably by the country and by lime
TOTALS
.....................
1730
»184,402 41
itself, they had come back to the bought one of the old. ancient-look
m is z u i
lake, these Chinese, and with bam ing Chinese coffins, made out of
»U N D
boo polos had raised the thirty tons Vtood about six inches thick, with ‘Construction and Malntcnunc
».30 248 X3
410
corners that turned up like a pagoda Bridge
of metal.
13^563.99
132
,
During my stay in China I have roof; they must weigh two hundred 1
watched the Chinese being bombed, pounds. We put Minor's body in
TOTALS
...... 542
»43,812.32
and have seen them go out and pick side and held a simple service: for
IE ««.
their dead from among the ruins of you have to work fast in tempera
Lane County. O regun, here-
their cities. Then wait bravely for tures of a hundred and eight, when i
by certify that the for
tort-going Report ia correct «a 1 verily believe.
the Jap to come again, while they the humidity ia just about a hundred.
IN W IT N E S S W H E R E O F ', I have hereunto net my hand and a f
went on scratching out a road with Then we filled the casket with quick fixed the seal of Ijin e County. Oregon, this 23rd day of Junuary. 1945.
lime,
sealed
it
up
n
our
brother
W B. DILLARD. County Cleric of the County
! their bare hands, stoically working officer, covered It with ten layers of
and watching for material to come
of Lane, Stute of On
Jregon.
over that road with which to fight heavy bricks to protect it from rob
bers
and
rats,
and
left
it
there
to
KEMI-ANNUAL
REPORT
the enemy. Waiting patiently, as
July I, 1944 to December 11. 1944
though they knew that some day wait for the r.exl transport to Kun
(B oth Du tea Inclusive)
they would have a chance to fight ming.
¡T o ta l T ax A Interest Collected
»LH66.5gO.6K
The
headquarters
in
Yunnan
is
the
the Japanese who have tried to ex
Special T urnover ( 12' a % Yield T u x ) ...
1,2?LOT
burial ground for all of our pilots Special Turnover (In L ie u of Taxes) ........
terminate them.
12.31
killed
fighting
against
the
Japanese
I've seen a Chinese woman run
There
on
the
plateau
in
Yunnan
is
»1.H67.N04 IW
into a bomb crater, pull the d »mem
bered pieces of her child together, the only memorial ground the 13rd
COIJ.ECTIONH CIVIL A CRIMINAL DF.PT.
and wipe the dirt from the face of Fighter Group will ever have Our
T otal Auto License Fees Collected
»
1,025.50
her dead husband, a look tif misery pilots lie beneath a gray slate slab T o ta l Legal Fees Collected , . ,. .............
671.15
on her face. Then, when she saw from tlie earth of Yunnan, under the
wings
of
the
Chinese
and
the
Amer-
1
me staring, she stood there and
1,696.65
..........................................
smiled. When I glanced at General lean Air Force, They be there In TotaJ CJollectton»
»1.R69.561.51
Chennault with a question on my the shadow of a little Buddhist tern- |
DEPOSITED WITH COUNTY TREAHURER
face, he said, "Don't interpret that pte which for all practical purposes
(T ax D epartm ent)
wrong now. Scotty. She's showing is the Christian temple of our God.
Captain A J Baumler was the ,J.u,y I a
t 31 • 19^ .
* 21,350.43
you she can still smile, no matter
(gust U
1st t to August S
31st.
27.619.69
beat operation, officer I ever
i August
la t 1944
what happens."
September 1st to September 30th, 1944
18,074.04
He could go out and shoot down
Even with the small fighter and
October 1st to Octolter 31st. 1944
.... .
155.407.76
bomber force that we now had In Japs all day. then come in and read Novem ber 1st to Novem ber 30th, 1944
1,164,178 34
the combat reports of twenty pilots,
China, the people had taken a new
December 1st to December 31at, 1944
476,788 55
lease on life. Every time we had an digest them all. and write out the i
most comprehenalvc report In the .
»1,863,418.81
air battle over Hengyang they would
capture another town along the world—one that would give higher
SPECIAL TURNOVEIL— 121/j % YIEIT) TAX
headquarters a ringside picture of j
Yangtse or near the lakes around
September 22. 1944
707.05
the fight that had taken place.
Nanchang. I think we realized then,
December 21, 1944
564 82
"A jax" was from New Jersey. He
as General Chennault had realized
had
fought
for
nearly
two
years
with
|
$
1,271.87
for a long time, that all these people
needed was a chance, with air sup the Loyalists in Spain, and had shot '
SPECIAL TURNOVER— (IN LIEU OF TAXES)
port for their ground armies and down seven Messerschmltts and
$
12.31
modern equipment for their soldiers. Fiats in that war; when he became 'Decem ber 21, 1944 .......................
an uce in the 23rd Group he was the
(AUTO LICENSE FEES)
Our small force had put new life first man in the war who had shot ¡July 1st to July 31st, 1944 ........................ »
137.50
Into them
They bad plaques em down German, Italian, and Japa- i August 1st to August 31st, 1944 ................
67.00
broidered in commemoration of the nese aircraft. Ever .Ince America S‘*|Member 1st to September 3Wh. 1944
58.75
battles that we fought. These would
39 50
had entered the war he had led a ¡O ctober 1st to October 31st, 1944 ............
sometimes represent the American
November 1st to Novem ber 30th, 1944
26.25
hectic existence. Months before De December la t to Decem ber 31st, 1944 ....
696.50
eagle holding the flags of America,
cember
7th
he
had
left
America
Britain, Russia, and China. In Chi
from California to Join the AVG and
1,025.50
nese characters would be a poetic
General Chennault, as a Lieutenant
account of the battle that the pilot
(LEGAL FEES)
in the Air Corps
He had been
or the squadron had fought. As we
stopped ln Hawaii for a month and July 1st to July 31st, 1944 .......................... $
106.15
drove along the roads in our Jeepa
August 1st to August 31st, 1944 ................
132.37
to the field for the alert of the "Jin- then had received permission to con September 1st to September 30th, 1944 . ..
113 98
tinue on.
bao," the little children would hold
October 1st to October 31st, 1944 ............
107 40
(To be continued)
their thumbs up and call again and
November 1st Io Novem ber 30th, 1944 ....
106 22
again, "Ding-hao."1
December 1st to December 31st, 1944 ....
105.03
More and more wa asked our-
te! lves, "What couldn't we ao With
»
671.15
plenty of equipment tor the Chinese
I T otal Deposited w ith County Treasurer
»1.866,399.64
ground armies, and us over their
- - S lat
- (T
- a x - D epartm ent)
Meets Every TUESDAY
(Cash on Ha
Hand * ~
December
3,161.87
heads with adequate air support?"
Night, 8.00 o ’clock
Would the day ever Come when we
$1.869.561.51
Petersen’s Hall
18-tfc
could make an attack with a force
i STA TE O F OREGON, C O U N TY O F L A N E « .
that was a credit to the greatest
country in the world? Towards the
I, O. E. CROWE, a« Sheriff of Lane County, Oregon,, do hereby
¡c e rtify th a t the foregoing is a true and correct report of the T a x Da-
middle of August, as nur pilots died
AT FIRST
ip artm en t, and Civil and C rim inal Departm ents of the Office of Sher
in the old ships that we had, we
SIGN OF A
iff and T ax Collector fo r L an e County, Oregon, for the period com
had begun to doubt It.
mencing July 1st, 1944, and ending December 31st, 1944, both dates
For no, we didn’t win all the time.
inclusive.
Sometimes we lo^t, even when we
Dated this 1st day of January, 1945, A. D.
,
traded one for ten. We lost because
O. E. CROWE, Sheriff Pro-Tern of Lane County,
the Jap could replace his lost
State of Oregon.
olanes: wa could not. Il was more
.By A. P, M cKinzey, Chief Tux lX ‘puty.
25-ltc
V
Moose Lodge Meets L
OVD
c
ie 666
Co/d Prtparatioat ar d in e ttd