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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1942)
On Pay Day Erery time yea ret ffmr pay, biy toil m! stamps for tb USA. Cheer thf beys la uniform by getting sit in terest la fighting me tu -equipment. Complete : You'll find no newspaper no rive more real uttl&f ac tion than year local morn-; tar paper, with Its WORLD NEWS pins HOME COM MUNITY NEWS POUN 1651 NINETY-SECOND YEAR Salem, Oregon, Wednesday Morning, May 20, 1942 Price 5c No. 42 IMMii, iAw; Lose PI .so. 9 one. Brief 111 Bombers Slash Swathe 40 Miles Long in Japan, oolittle Tells Famous Flier Decorated for Leading Flight Planes, 80 Crewmen All Arrived Safely; Location Not Told WASHINGTON, May W-fJP) The intrepid American airmen who staged the historic raid on Japan April 18 unloaded bombs within plain sight of Emperor Hirohito's palace, cut a swathe of destruction 40 miles long and five to 20 miles wide, and de parted without losing a single plane. This was revealed Tuesday night by their leader, Brig. Gen. James H. Doolittle, "Jimmy" Doolittle, the famous speed record flier of the days of peace. President Roosevelt pinned a congressional medal of honor to his tunic at the White House and after that cere mony, numerous details of the at tack were disclosed. Doolittle told reporters that the American airmen, who flew so low they could see amazed ex pressions on faces below, re frained from dropping bombs on the - imperial palace.- on . express orders from him. .... None of the planes was dam aged enourh to prevent Its safe arrival at Its destination, or takeoff point and did not dis- cuss the Russian announcement shortly after the raid that an American plane had landed In Russian territory and been in terned. Direct hits left a nearly com pleted cruiser or battleship near Tokyo in flames. The Mitsubishi aircraft factory at Nagoya was strewn with incendiary bombs. In dustrial concentrations, shipyards, docks, fuel stores, collections of fuel tanks, ammunition dumps at Yokesuke, Kenagawa, Kobe and - Osaka, all felt the destructive ef fect of explosives made in Ameri ca. On Doolittle's behalf the war department issued a statement, and later, the slightly built, bald ing flier held a press conference. From the two, newsmen pieced to gether this story of the raid: A squadron of B-2S medium. bombers was specially equipped for the attack. Crews who had volunteered for a "hazardous, im portant and interesting" mission, without knowing Japan was the objective, manned them. They trained especially for the mission for weeks even before leaving the United States. "They were the finest group of officers with which I ever had the good fortune to be associated, and that goes for the enlisted men, too," said Doolittle, ffcho was un stinting in his praise for the cour age, efficiency and accuracy, v When the time came, the planes swept in upon Japan at "house-top' height This made them difficult tarrets for anti- - aircraft runs, bat exposed them - to any machine ran fire that might lie along the line of flight. Each plane . had an assigned target for its stick of four bombs. Approaching the objectives, the planer climbed to 1500 feet, the minimum altitude at which they were safe from the effect of their own bombs. As soon as the bombs were released they dropped again to a level just above the tree tops. .Amazing little opposition was encountered. A few pursuit ships arose to meet them, but the pilots seemed inexperienced, by com' parison with the Jap fliers in other theatres of war. The Americans had counted-on the speed of their chips faster than any but the newest Japanese pursuit planes and upon evasive tactics for pro- : tectlon. At his press conference Doolit v tie told how nine Jap planes at tempted to attack-him but were - eluded - without the firing ol i single shot Sometimes the Ame ricans flew underneath Japanese barrage balloons, and some of the latter were destroyed by the Jap anese artillery fire itself. The bombing began at a point Just north of Tokyo and spread southward for a distance of 4S (Turn to Page 2, Col. 1) Wrong Name Iks Y w Yf "Jimmy" Doolittle, more formally Brig. Gen. James H. Doolittle, is a man whose exploits utterly belie his name. Awarded the congressional medal of honor Tuesday for leadinr the recent bombing raid on Tokyo, he be ran as a private in the sirnal corps in 1917. He was for many years an army and private test pilot and nude several cross county trips and speed records. Nazis'Didn't Know Where 'Base' Was NEW YORK, May 19 -OF) The Germans don't know where Shangri-La is, either. In briefly notinr the exploits of Brig.-Gen. Jimmy Doolittle Tuesday night the German ra dio reported: . . Doolittle had carried out the air attack against Japan from the airbase Shangri-La, which was not otherwise de scribed by Roosevelt . . PENDLETON, May 19 - (JP) "We're proud beyond words," was the comment of Col. Frank W. Wright, Pendleton air base com mander, when a check of the names of 79 officers and men on the Tokyo-bombing flight re vealed that all had received their early training here. Only Brig.-Gen. James H. Doo little, flight commander, was not from the local base. The men, whose names were released Tuesday, were here from last summer to early this spring. Salem Men Elected by Credit Groups SEATTLE, May 19-iflPHR- T. Schantz of Spokane was elected president of 'the 10th district of the National Retail Credit associa tion at its 22nd annual convention here Tuesday. Spokane was chosen for the 1943 meeting. Other officers elected were: Thomas McCormick, Boise, vice- president; Thomas Downie, Van couver, BC, secretary-treasurer; Joseph Dodd, Portland, national director. District directors elected in cluded: Walter Larson, Salem; Mrs. Mayme Crim, Seattle. Mrs. Crim also was elected president of the Pacific Northwest Council of Credit Women's Break fast clubs. The Associated Credit Bureaus of the Pacific northwest, meeting at 'the same time, elected officers including: : W, D. McCune, Missoula, Mont- president; Francis W. Smith, Sa lem, national director of the col lection service division of the As sociated Credit Bureaus of Ameri ca and trustee. RAF Loses Six ; BERLIN From German broad' casts), May 20-(T,)-Si- bombers were reportid brought down dur ing the night as the RAF raided southwest Germany, DNB said Wednesday. - - N of Raid Japs Switch Drive Into East China i All-Out Effort Seen In Making Against Chinese Warring CHUNKKING, May 19-(JP) Suddenly announcing' to the world that the "future is very grave" and that help is urgent ly needed, a Chinese! govern ment spokesman declared Tues day that many signs point to an early all-out attempt by Japan to knock China out of the war. This indication of Chinese alarm was given as the military spotlight alternated swiftly from China's back door in Burma and Yunnan province to her eastern seaboard, where the Japanese were develop ing a new offensive in Chekiang province despite bitterest Chinese resistance. With the British hanging on to only a small strip of Burmese territory along the Indian fron tier, the Chinese battled fiercely against forces which seemed to be increasing their pressure', from Burma along the southwestern China frontier, and the spokes man declared that area "will wit ness during the next few weeks fighting on an even larger scale than we have seen so far." A battle of several days near the Thailand border, between the Salween and Mekong rivers, continued f ireely with ! heavy casualties on both ides as the Japanese tried to batter past Monr Hal and Mong Lin to Kengtung, and attempted to ad vance across the Salween at Kongkum and Taikso. To the north of the Burma road, 250 miles removed from these bat tlefields, the Chinese made further progress in clearing out the Japa nese on the west side of the Sal ween, putting to rout a force at Lungkiangchiao near Tengyueh, 35 miles west of the river and 35 miles north of Lungling on the Burma road. j! In Chekiang, the reinforced Japanese drive was developing southward along a portion of the Chekiang-Kiangsi railway still in Chinese hands and also; along i highway paralleling the coast. The Chinese communique ad' mitted the Japanese had captured Chuki, about 40 miles ' south of Hangchow and about 55 miles northeast of Kinhwa, the Chek iang capital, after a battle in the streets. However, the Chinese de clared they were counter-attacking fiercely southeast of Chuki and that they had driver-the Jap anese back some distance. The Chinese were' forced to "withdraw from Shenghsien to a new line southwest of there, but the Japanese sustained heavy losses in taking the town, It was said. Another Japanese column based at Shaoh-SIng, famous wine-making center, took Feng chiao, about 15 miles southwest of Shenrshien. Southeast . of Shenrshien, which Is 59 miles southeast of Hangchow, the Japanese occupied Sintang. A fierce battle Was reported in progress iz roues souwwesi o; Sintang. ; i i . In Shiukwan, provisional capi tal of K wan tung province, 100 Chinese were drowned and sev era! thousand more were made homeless when the North river overflowed its banks as a result of a heavy storm! Sunday. " ' SW Pacific Quiet ALLIED a HEADQUARTERS, Australia, May 20-(Wednesday) W)-Allied operations in the south west Pacific were limited to reconnaissance Tuesday, General MacArthurV headquarters an nounced Wednesday. Store Hours Later PORTLAND. May lfl-GPl Starting May 25; Portland store hours will be from 10 a. in. to 8 P. m., the office' of defense trans yuriauon ; saia Tuesday, it is an effort to ease the burden on the citys mass transportation system. The Mail Goes . : Tea ! All incoming and outgoing foreign York city, shown at work above. are sure to decipher them. Lieut the office. One of the censors, General view of the office is Ships Landed Axis Subs Busy Along Nova Scotia and Gulf Coasts AN EASTERN CANADIAN PORT, May 19 -(JP)- Sixty sur vivors of two ships torpedoed and sunk in the western Atlantic by axis submarines arrived here Tuesday from another port where they first were landed. Thirty eight survivors, includ ing Canadians, were aboard one ship which went down with a loss of five men. AN EASTERN CANADIAN PORT, May 1-JP)-Mnt than 25 survivors of aa allied ship torpedoed off the Nova Seotla coast have been brought here by a Royal Canadian navy ves sel. They reported 13 of their shipmates were believed lest. All the survivors except one were reported in good condition. NEW ORLEANS, May W-IJP) Axis submarines, prowling in the Gulf of Mexico, have torpedoed two more medium-sized United States merchant vessels with the loss of 33 lives. Both ships were sunk on May 13 by undersea craft, with 20 men being killed on one vessel and 13 on the other, the navy disclosed Tuesday: The first of these torpedomgs occurred at .2:50 p. m. One tor pedo from the unseen submarine struck the engine room, killing 12 men in the explosion. The Eighth naval district's inshore patrol p i c k e d up the survivors and brought them here. One man died in a lifeboat. Liquor Prices' Boost Removed PORTLAND, May lMFed era! price freezing, pegging liquor prices at .their March level, wiped out an April 1 advance in Oregon liquor stores, the state liquor com' mission -said Tuesday, - Increases' of five cents a prat and .ten eentsta-ouart on high- Droof liauors. wine and cordials were made April 1 due to freight rate increases. , "; ;--i- : : ; Accident Is Fatal , To Lafayette Man . McMINNVTLLE. M a y Injuries, suffered Monday as his car overturned on the Salem road south of Dayton, were fatal in a hospiial here to Hershell WUes, 23, Lafayette. A passenger, Max Dresselhaus, Dayton, was uninjured. ' It x $& ThtouglifC - ' ji L -0 It mall Is closely scrutinised by the .... .. i If any code messages are among the letters, these postal experts CoL Harry O. Compton, district postal censor, (left above), heads (right above) Is shown deciphering shown below. TransAtlantic Plane Route Begun Again A MARITIME CANADIAN AIRPORT, May IMAVWith 49 passengers and a crew of IS aboard. Pan American Airways big flying boat, Paclfis Clipper, left this port Tuesday en route to the British Isles on the first scheduled flight over the north ern route since service via this route was discontinued in 1939 due to the outbreak of war. The Clipper reached here from Port Washington, NT, Monday and took on Canadian malL Aboard the plane were military officials of many na tions and a Pan American Air ways crew In addition to the ne In charge of the flight At this port 741 pounds of Canadian mail consigned to British Isles were placed aboard the plane. The flight marked inaugura tion of a new schedule calling for two round trips weekly be tween Britain and the United States. The maritime port will bo an Intermediate stop to take on and discharge Canadian passengers and malL Empress Asia Liner Sunk Most of Troops Saved r When Ship Bombed At Singapore MONTREAL, May 19-()-The Empress of Asia, 16,909-ton Ca nadian Pacific liner whose safety record as a troopship had given her the reputation of one of the luckiest transports afloat, was destroyed by Japanese dive bom bers near Singapore on February S, an official announcement dis closed Tuesday. Most of the 2500 Imperial troops on board were saved, (Turn to Page 2 CoL ) Applications Okeh Now for Ginning PORTLAND, May l-F) Housewives may make immediate application for their five-pounds-per person . canning sugar allot ment, Henry J. Franks, Multno mah county . sugar rationer. said Tuesday. The opening of ' canning quo tas is state-wide. ' - : Monday's .Weather i Weather forecasts withheld and temperature data delayed by army request. ' River Tues day -.5 ft. Max. temp. Monday, 69, Mbx, 4SV ensor's Hands r .6 of flee of postal censorship In New a code message found la a letter, GrouD Okehs Steeper Taxes Boost in Normal Rate And Surtaxes Gets Committee Stamp WASHINGTON, May 19-)-An increase in the normal income tax rate for individuals from 4 per cent to 6 per cent was approved by the house ways and means committee Tuesday along with steeply-increased surtaxes, the two designed to yield $2,750,000,- 000 in new revenue. Members said that the surtaxes had been accepted pending last- minute revisions but Chairman Dough ton (D-NC) announced only that the committee had voted on the normal tax rate and had agreed on the goal. It was reported that the low est surtax rate would be either 11 or 12 per cent on the first 12000 of net Income, compared with. the present per cent, in the same bracket, with the high est rate either 80 or 15 per cent The committee spent many hours studying work sheets containing several sets of rates and esti mated yields and probably wUl vote finally tomorrow. Members also reported that they probably would decide Wednesday on Secretary Morgenthau's re quest for discretionary authority to order up to 10 per cent of a person's taxable income withheld from each pay envelope as a credit against the regular March 15 tax bill. Mexico Labor Boycotts Axis MEXICO CITY, May 9-(JP)- Mexican labor unions, already busy preparing a great anti-axis dem oris tra tion to receive the 21 sur vivors of the torpedoed Mexican tanker Potrero Del Llano, an nounced Tuesday they had decided to boycott all German, Japanese and Italian nationals and estab lishments.' Many of these already are on the United States blacklist. The boycott will " include a unique feature by which union waiters will refuse to . serve axis nationals., in restaurants and theatre employes will refuse axis nationals entrance to shows. Hawaii Work Offered - SEATTLE, May lMffV-Offer ing the - attraction of a .vacation adventure," an official of the 11th US civil service 'district Tuesday appealed for classified laborers for government work at Pearl Harbor, He directed the apfceal particular ly to students 18 years of age or more. , nrr a t - - Nazis Take Offense South Of Greater Action; FDR And Attlee Make Comment By WILLIAM SMITH WHITE Associated Press War Editor Art unhalted Russian advance on the front before Khar kov an advance that appeared to be threatening major German lateraJcpmmunicationsr was reported early Wed nesday by the soviet command, but it was acknowledged that the nazis had themselves 80 miles southeast of that key This development, which the soviet" noted only with the bare observation that in the vicinity of the Donets val ley towns of Izyum and Barvenkova the invader had seized the initiative, indicated that Total Gasoline Ration Looms -1 Roosevelt and WPB Indicate Action to Save Tires, Fuel WASHINGTON, May 19-yP)-A nationwide gasoline rationing by July 1 to slow down automobile wheels estimated to be. wearing out irreplaceable rubber at the rate of 250,000 pounds a day arose Tuesday -as a distinct possi bility. President Roosevelt indicated at his press conference that country-wide rationing was being considered and immediately after he had spoken, word came from war production board sources that the board had directed Joseph B. Eastman's office of defense trans portation, in consultation with Petroleum Coordinator Harold Ickes and Price Administrator Leon Henderson, to draft plans for such' a step. If the plan Is definitely adopted, July 1 would be tho logical date for its Inauguration since that Is the time the stop gap rationing system now in ef fect in the 1? eastern states Is scheduled to be replaced by a permanent program to last prob ably for the war's duration. The war production board was (Turn to Page 2, CoL 8) Gilbert Again Health Head Commissioner Describes Health Problem in Portland Area Tinkham Gilbert was reelected president of the Marion county public health association at the annual dinner meeting here Tues day night Other officers elected are Mrs. Levi Miller, Hubbard, first vice- president; Mrs. A. DeJardin, Ger vais, second vice-president Mrs. Elsie Whiteaker, Turner, secre tary; and Dr. A. Terrence King, Salem, treasurer. Members of the nominating committee were Dr. David B. Hill, T. M. Hicks and Mrs. Glenn Seeley. Fred Peterson, city commis sioner of Portland, fat address ing the group pointed out that throughout Oregon, "our health problems are everybody else's and what's good for Marlon county Is good for Multnomah county Today there are 40, 061 more people In the city of Portland than a year ago and by; January, 1943,' it Is antici pated 'there wffl be 101,000 workers. The influx of this many people to Portland may (Turn to Page 2, CoL 2) . . Casoline Ration - . 1 Signup ltehdetl r ; : PORTLAND,: May: iMHre gon motorists have an additional day to register for: gasoline ra tioning, Richard G.: Montgomery, Oregon OPA administrator, said Tuesday. .- -In addition to May 28 and 29, set originally, registration will, be permitted May 30. The same ex tension has been made in Wash ington, - giers; taken the offensive about Ukrainian city. the German command was striking with considerable power in an effort to relieve the situa tion above. While this struggle was going forward in the greatest current battlefield, another engagement" of a far different kind one that was chiefly important in a symp- . tomatic sense was reported to challenge the world's interest. The Vichy French government announced that small British na val and air forces had clashed off Algiers with the net result that a British seaplane was destroyed and a Trench plane missing in action. This was Vichy's account of tho incident: The British plane was forced down over Algiers bay by French pursulters and two French torpedo boats put out, ostensibly to save the British crew. At that point thus VI ehy -a British destroyer open ed fire on the French boats, which presumably were nnhtt but thenj turned their fire on the British seaplane, -sinking it In the Kharkov arena of Rus sia, the soviet command's early morning communique reported continuing- enemy counter - at tacks, although saying ' that all had been beaten off, and all in all it appeared that a crisis for this first spring soviet offensive was now approaching. How near the soviet forces wer to the city itself still was . not . known, but British informations indicated an irregular battle line that had been extended to . length of 120 miles and there were some signs that the reV Marshal Timoshenko was as in tent upon attrition as ho was upon the relief of the city. In the fighting In the Crimea some 400 miles to the south, the situation was in utter dispute. The Russian war bulletin re ported battles continuing about the city of Kerch on tho penin sula of that name which Is across a narrow strait from thf Caucasus but the Germans claimed that they had reached the Kerch strait "in all its extent and had destroyed three soviet armies. They likewise claimed 149,258 Russian prisoners; the destruction of 18 Russian ships, a minesweep er, 23 small coastal vessels and 323 planes. All this would of course lm ply aa enormous victory and for a variety of reasons, Including the assertion that three separata soviet armies had been involv ed in the restricted area of the Kerch fighting, did not look very plausible. As to the Kharkov front, soviet dispatches emphasized the grind ing down of German mechanized power as a major aim, reporting that more than 400 German tanks had been destroyed while the nazis ' were ' claiming 47? Russian ma chines knocked out Such an aim was suggested moreover by. the fact that all Russian accounts pic tured the major action, as against highways in the German network across the Ulcraine. . v j ; ' From . Moscow it was reported that Timoshenko's main force was approaching 'one such Txighway, while Ws. Cossacks were -cutting at ' the German' flanks - and oc cupying a. town described as largo but not otherwise identified,, and dispatches to London stated- that it actually had got footing there. The German ; commander, Von Bock, was said ; to' be Employing his parachutists for - defensive rather than offensive -purposes i a. 1 . dropping them' to an.erron to re lieve small detachments 'of en circled ground troopsAand to b ; (Turn to Pago 2. CoL 8)