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Oregon’s ^ e g r o Weekly
PORTLAND. ORE., AUGUST 17. 1945
VOLUME 2
VJ Day Catches
Restaurants.
Homes Short
A t last the day th a t everyone
has been looking for arrived,
people yelled for joy, horns to o t
ed and w ailed, absolute stra n g
ers em braced each other on the
streets, V -J Day was here. The
enthusiasm of the first really
good new s to have heard in years
lasted w ell into the n ig h t of
T uesday and w ould have con
tinued u nabated except for one
thing th a t proved to be all im
p o rtan t as th e first of the pro
claim ed holidays w ore on. The
one item th a t cast a shadow over
the celebration was FOOD. T here
w as none to be had.
W hen the new s of V -J day be
cam e reality m ost of th e pop
ulation was a t w ork.
The ex
citem ent of the n ext few hours
brought thoughts of ev erytihng
b u t food to hundreds of people.
No one tho u g h t of buying a su p
ply of food. T he general public
seem ed to forget th a t th e food
m erchants w ere ju st as glad to
see V -J Day as anyone else. Some
did realize th a t even V -J Day
brought its read ers th ree-ad ay
requirem en ts and did go to th e ir
local store only to find th a t it had
already closed. The n ex t thought
of course was to go to the nearest
restaurant.
Several
Flowers!
Mr. Ralph Faulk,
2636 N. E. Rodney,
P ortland, Oregon.
D ear Mr. F au lk :
May I take this opportunity to
congratulate you for what I con
sider an unusually fine edition
of your paper. The edition of
August 3, 1945, which carried an
account of the City Club report,
a tribute to Dr. Unthank, and an
editorial on Cooperatives, was
tops! This was extremely con
structive, high-type journalism.
Sincerely yours,
EDWIN C. BERRY,
Executive Secretary.
005
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Open Letter to U S Senators
Gntlemen: Today there appeared in the Stars and Stripes
the following statement by Sen. James O. Eastland of Missis
sippi: "The Negro soldier has been an utter and abysmal fail
ure in the war." It is indeed a sad commentary on a nation
which permits a member of one of its most august legislative
bodies to be upheld in such demoralizing and libellous state
ments. Is a man any less dead because he is a Negro? Is the
grief of his loved ones any less poignant and bitter because
he is a Negro? In fact is not that grief accentuated by the
knowledge that theri son, brother, husband, or father's life was
given in vain instead of for a democratic way of life? Can
the Senator from Mississippi Continue to rise in that body and
condemn uncounted men who will yet die in the Pacfic?
If the answer to these questinos is yes, then the much praised
democracy of the United Slates is a farce and a total loss
to the civilized world. We, some of us who will die in future
campaigns, DO NOT salute you. Why not either ask the Senator
to resign Or cease making remarks which can only lead to riot
and more bloodshed?—Pfc. DAVID W. EVANS AND 50 GI'S
IN THE PACIFIC.
Negro Workers
Helped Create
Atomic Bombs
Bilbo's Popularity
Zero; Ouster
Movement Grows
W ASHINGTON— A larg e n u m
b er of N egroes w ere included
am ong the 179,000 w orkers re
cruited by th e M anpow er Com
mission from all o v er th e co u n try
for th e su p er-secret atm oic bomb
project, WMC rev ealed th is week.
The “O uster B ilbo” m ovem ent
has tak en hold of th e city and
voices from all q u a rte rs are b e
ing raised e ith er in p ro test or for
th e im peachm ent of th e M ississ
ippi S enator, w hose “D ear N ig
g e r” le tte r published last week,
thousand ' Because o f the' extreme secrecy,»
people evidently had the sam e
idea and kept it all night as they
w ent from re sta u ra n t to re s ta u r
a n t to find them e ith er closed,
out of food o r over-crow ded H alf
of the re stau ran ts in the area
w ere closed to give the w orkers
a holiday, others had no food to
cope w ith the u nusual influx of
trad e and th e re w ere no stores
open for the purchase of food.
R esult— m any hungry celebrants
over the holiday.
•
ncjfUirer
?
WMC officials said, the recru itin g
job w as one of th e m ost difficult
u n d ertak en by WMC and re c ru it
ing still is continuing.
U nlike most such program s,
which originate on th e local lev
el and are ro u ted th ro u g h state
and regional offices to W ashing
ton, th e req u est for w orkers for
the super-bom b project w as plac
ed directly before WMC by th e
A rm y in W ashington, according
to th e R ecruitm ent and T ran sp o r
tatio n Section of th e WMC.
W orkers recru ited for th e p ro
ject w ere u n aw are of the n a tu re
of the job even a fte r th ey had
been em ployed som m onths, and
USES officials re cru itin g w orkers
w ere told m erely to re fe r them
to a “highly secret p roject.”
Of the 179,000 workers recruit
ed, approximately 80,000 were for
the Hanford project, approxima
tely 90,000 for the Clinton pro
ject and approximately 9,000 for
all the other parts of the Manhat
tan District activity as it was re
ferred to by the Army.
Returning GIs
Laud Negro Chefs
WASHINGTON — The hard
working chefs, butchers and bak
ers on converted cargo vessels
bringing soldiers back from Eur
ope were being acclaimed this
week by the troops themselves on
the excellent quality of th fresh
ly prpared American food on
homeward voyages.
The soldiers’ reactions to the
troop-feeding plan was revealed
by the War Shipping Administra
tion, as that agency uurged thou
sands of Negro civilian cooks and
bakers to sign up for at least one
trip in order to relieve the man
power shortage in the steward’s
department of the maritime ser
vice. No previous sea experience
& the c; »rrj'u-^r
Subscribe to YOUR
Progressive Negro
Newspaper
PRICE 10c
Senator Morse
Visits City
SENATOR MORSE
Hon. W ayne Morse, R epublican
Senator from Oregon, is hom e on
a vacation to rest from his labors
and to look a fte r business, both
p riv ate and official.
The S enator w as a guest a t a
picnic a t L a u re lh u rst yesterday,
under th e auspices of th e Local
R epublican P arty , w here coffee
and refreshm ents w ere served all.
He is m aking a splendid record
during his first term of office and
voted favorably for th e FECP bill
w hen the final vote was ta k en in
th e Senate.
NUMBER 7
Negroes in ETO
Rose During Year
W ITH U. S. FORCES, E uro
pean T h eater — Negro troop
stren g th in the E uropean T hea
te r of O perations increased n e a r
ly 100 percent betw een D-Day
and V-E Day, H eadquarters, U. S.
Forces, E uropean T h eater an-
pounced today.
One w eek before th e N orm an
dy invasion, th e re w ere 133,765
Negro troops in Europe. The
m onthly increase is recorded in
th e following figures:
Ju ly , 1944-----
144,546
A ugust, 1944___________156,104
Septem ber, 1944________169,847
O ctober, 1944__________173,112
N ovem ber, 1944________210,795
D ecem ber, 1944________219,687
Jan u a ry , 1945__________235,332
F eb ru ary , 1945 - ...... .... 236,688
M arch, 1945__ ____ — 250,190
A pril, 1945.... .............
257 267
May, 1945_________
.. 259.173
COMBAT TROOPS
S lightly u n d er nine per cent of
the 259,173 Negro troops re p o rt
ed in th e E uropean T h eater of
O perations on M ay 15, one w eek
after V-E day, belonged to com
bat organizations.
T w enty-tw o N egro com bat units
p
articip
He will return to Washington in
« ated in th e operations
,
a =*ries
of insults t o , m inority groups. of Congress, September 5th.
N ew Y ork’s C ity Council this
w eek heard a resolution in tro d u c
ed by its vice chairm an, Joseph
T. S h ark ey ,and addressed to
m em bers of Congress from New
Y ork City, condem ning Bilbo’s
cam paign of h ate and urging
them to fig h t vigorously against
his “nefarious activities.”
By Sgt. C harles B. C unningham ,
A M arine C orps Com bat
From the National Maritme
C orrespondent
nion membership meeting last
U. S. Marine
Corps Vels
Daring Swimmers
week came a resolution to Senator
Robert F. Wagoner of New York,
urging him to start immediate
impeachment proceedings against
his colleague. The Jewish Peo
ple’s Committee pointed out that
Bilbo’s reamrks were designed to
“influence the lunatic fringe to
acts of violence and bloodshed
just as Hitler did in Germany
against Jews, Catholics, and Ne
groes.
The National Negro Congress
called upon all its councils to join
in a campaign of public pressure
to result in Efilbo’s impeach
ment. A year ago, Thelma Dale,
acting secretary of the Congress,
pointed out, their Washington DC,
council had begun an “oust Bilbo”
campaign following his proposal
to send Negroes “back to Africa.”
The young people of the New
York State Conference of Negro
Youth sent a lengthy letter
last week, signed by their chair
man, Woodrow Lawis, informing
Bilbo that he is “all wet”, and
predicting the passage of a perm
anent FEPC in the next session of
Congress.
------------------- --------------------------
is necessary.
A WSA survey revealed that of
498 passengers aboard the SS
EDWARD RICHARDSONi first
converted Liberty Ship to return
to the United State«, 357 pronoun
ced the food excellent, 140 said it
was good, and oaly one passen
ger said it was fair.
SOMEWHERE IN THE P A
C IFIC (D elayed)—A leap into
blazing gasoline floating on th e
sea clim axed a sw im m ing e x
hibition here by a sm all group
composed p rincipally of M arine
C arps v eteran s of Iw o Jim a.
Completely dressed and wear
ing full battle equipment, in
cluding helmets and packs, Ma
rine Corp. Covert L. Smith and
Marine Pic. James R. Jones,
both Washington, D. C., negroes,
were among those who demon
strated before high-ranking Ma
rine Corps and army officials
how combat troops could survive
shipwreck with battle equip
ment intact.
Smith, 19, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Everett Smith, 1619 Third
street, N. W., enlisted in Oc
tober 1943. He was formerly an
employe of the U. S. treasury.
Jones’ wife, Dorothy, and
their daughter, Beverly Ann, 5,
live at 1212 Half street, S. W.
Prior to his enlistment in May,
1944, he was employed by the
quartermaster department of the
U. S. army. He is 25.
Both are veterans of Iwo Jima.
Their demonstration came at the
end of an arduous course now
used for Marine Corps combat
units.
A rtillery B attalions; 452nd A n ti
a irc ra ft A rtillery B attalion; 761st
and 784th Tank B attalions; 614th
and 827th T ank D estroyer B attal
ions; 183rd, 184th, 1695th, 1696’th,
1697th, 1698th, 1699, and 1700 E n
gineer B attalions.
INFANTRY
In D ecem ber, 1944, several
thousand Negro soldiers answ ered
a general appeal for volunteers
for tra in in g as in fa n try riflem en.
Some 2500 volunteers from Negro
units of C om m unications Zone
w ere train ed at a G round Forces
R einforcem ent Com m and Depot
at Noyone, France, and com m itted
to action w ith in fa n try and a r
m ored divisions of th e F irst and
Seventh A rm ies as assigned p la
toons and com panies.
The setting of a quota for these
Negro infantrymen resulted in
the rejection of nearly 3,000 other
Negro GIs who wanted to fight
at the front.
SIGNAL CORPS
During the campaign against
the German Army in Europe, 5,-
500 Neg“ro Signal Corps troops
belonging to 20 signal units par
ticipated in the vital battle of
communications.
These Negro troops worked in
two main types of Signal Corps
units—light and heavy signal con
struction battalions and compan
ies.
Negro units that participated
in various campaigns were the
25th,’ 29th, 37th, 40th, 41st, 43rd,
and 4th Signal Construction Bat
talions, and the 258th, 259th,
261st, 267th, 268th, 269th, 270th,
275th, 534th, 535th, 537th, and
496th Signal Construction Com
panies.
Negroes composed seven and
one-half per cent of the total
Signal Corps (Personnel in the
(Continued on page 3)