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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (June 13, 1942)
" ' -CSv- ""- . - MMII.., -' ; If - t t. 4 ""V r 4 C-a-. tf9toi Av ' j -si,. "7 - ' T- i r Sailort slid down ropes from the plane carrier Lexington, which later sank after explosions, as result of Japanese bomblnt in the battle of the Coral sea. Note the decks' alive with men awaiting their tarn to co overboard. Some have already been taken off by the de stroyer partly hidden by smoke at right (Official US navy photo- ... rraph from Associated Press.) "4- "I r:. V V i mm 1 -j. u . A. J if' J NINETY-SECOND YEAR : Solexa, Oragon. Sotordar Morning, fun 13. 1942 No. 58 PI , t a me A apaai Alcetian Paitie9 Isles The 'Japanese aircraft carrier Rynkakn is shown burninjr fnrloosly. shortly before she sank In the Coral Sea battle as a result of bomblnt; and torpedoing- by United States planes. Arrows point to US planes circling' the blazing craft (Official US navy photograph from Associated Press.) raw 3 - f .4. A 4 N :-t::;.L::?i 4 ,v" 4 4 ir The US navy aircraft farrier Lexington Is a smoking, flaming wreck In this picture taken from resene ships In the Coral sea battle. An explosion believed to be from gasoline fames destroyed the Lexing ton after bombinr by Japanese planes. Capt F. C. Sherman, her commanding officer, and other officers still were board when this picture waa taken. (Official US navy photograph from Associated , Press.) Navy Sinks 15 Jap. Ships, Loses Three WASHINGTON, June 2Wi The US navy, recounting Friday the breath-taking struggle in the .Coral eea, disclosed that the great American victory which smashed Japanese armada and removed the immediate threat of invasion to Australia cost this country only ".the . aircraft . carrier Lexington, - destroyer Sims and tanker Neosho. Against these losses, the navy listed the destruction of at least , 15 enemy ships, Including an aircraft carrier, the Kyokaka and four cruisers, and heavy : damage to more than 21 others, some of whkh probably sank. The battle, as described by a navy summation and complement ing reports from fleet correspond ents, was entirely one between air power, t Surface warships were never . in contact with one an other and fired only their anti-aircraft guns. A large part of the personnel of the Lexington, the Sims and : the Neosho were resened. the i navy said, m the case of the Lexington about ' 92 car cent. The S3,000-ton craft formally carried a complement ef about 2309 men and 89 U II aircraft Whether any of her aircraft were saved was not disclosed, naval officials commenting- only that "obviously, plane were lost" Ill-luck played a part ln the carrier's loss. In. the first place, the enemy had the good .Xertune to locate her on May 8" at a time when most of her aualfwere away pounding Jfce enemy fleet She was hit by ; two torpedoes, at least two bombs, and also dam aged by near misses, u Nevertheless, she waa able to pick up her aircraft and was heading- at 21-knott speed to ward safety when a terrific In ternal explosion racked her and set fires at many slices. - "It was first thought," the navy said, "that the explosion was the result of a 'sleeper bomb.' Inves tigation revealed, however, that the probable cause was the igni tion, of gasoline vapors which re soKeslieem leaks in ruptured gas oline lines in closed compartments below decks." - - -t Her creV battled the flames for five hours handicapped by the fact that much fire-fighting equipment was destroyed by the explosion. Destroyers came along side and poured on - water and chemicals from their hoses. But there was no saving her and finally the order to abandon ship was issued. Her commander, Capt F. C Sherman, was the last to leave her to go aboard an attending destroyer. Aa he slid down a line from the deck to the water, the flames reached the snip's torpedo warhead locker. There was another great explosion and moments later the Lexington . The Sims, a. 1570-ton. destroyer commissioned in ' 1939, - and.: the Neosho,' a 23,000-ton vessel, com missioned in 1837, were lost the day : before the- Lexington. The Neosho, with a destroyer escort; was heading , across the Coral sea - (Turn to Page 10 CoL.4).' WASHINGTON, June 12-(AP) - The Japanese have made a small-scale landing on remote and rocky Attu island in the Aleutians group, the navy announced Friday night, and have sent ships in among the Rat islands in their first ef forts to gain a toehold in the western hemisphere. Both the ships and the landing party on Attu, the navy said, have been attacked by army and navy aircraft and a ser ies of minor engagements was presumed to be still in prog ress. As a result of the attacks, the landing party has been compelled to retire from the vicinity of the village of Attu, only populated place on the island so far as is known here, and the ships have been driven out of Kiska harbor in the Rat group, which is part of the Aleutian chain. The enemy inroads had been anticipated by naval authorities, who reasoned that the Japs probably would attempt some occupation of the stepping stones to Alaska, pri marily as a means of bolstering prestige lost in the failure of their drives toward Aus tralia and Midway island. No strategical significance was attached to the occupation of Attu, where apparent ly the only thing of military value was a small radio station maintained by the terri tory of Alaska. Under the protection of fog and bad weather so frequent in the north Pacific, the landing on Attu, therefore, should have been a simple matter. The navy announcement said : "Information just received by the navy department is to the effect that the Japa nese have made landings on a small scale on Attu island, at the extreme tip of the Aleu tian archipelago, and Japanese ships have been reported in the harbor of Kiska in the Rat group. "Japanese operations in the Aleutian area are still in progress, according to the information received, although continuing army and navy aircraft attacks have forced them to retire from the populated regions of the islands. "Attacks of the army and navy forces in the area against these operations are con tinuing. Weather conditions in these outlying islands precluded a i r search operations until within the last 24 hours. - Th landing on Atfci fqjlowed by about a week apparently the Japanese air raid on Dutch Harbor June 3. " Except forreconnaissance flight a few hours after the first attack, Dutch Harbor so far as is known has not been further molested. Attu, westernmost of the Aleutians and directly opposite Russia's Komandorski is lands, is 769 nautical miles from Dutch Harbor. Kiska is 585 nautical miles west of Dutch Harbor, while the nearest point to Dutch Harbor in the Rat group is 561 nautical miles from Dutch Harbor. The navy statement's reference to forcing the Japanese to retire from the populat ed regions was said authoritatively to refer only to Attu and the Rat group. However, it was presumed that the Japanese are still active in the area and may at tempt to turn their landings into real occupations, probably for prestige reasons chief ly, although they might hope through occupation to set up aircraft reconnaissance over American bases in the Aleutians. The Japanese claimed several days ago to have effected a landing in the Alaskan islands but a navy spokesman said on Wednesday that none of "our inhabited areas, islands Or rocks are troubled with uninvited visitors up to this time" and that the navy had no information about any Japanese on Alaskan soil. (Turn to Page 2, Col. 1) FDR Urges 'Turn in Rubber' Assures Enough For Planes to Bomb Berlin WASHINGTON, June U.-JF)- President Roosevelt urged the American people Friday night to turn in "every bit of rubber you can possibly spare" to help rem edy a serious shortage arising from war conditions, but he promised that there was going to be enough of the vital elastic to build' planes to bomb Tokyo and Berlin, to crush the enemy v. her- ever he is found, and "to win this war" The chief - executive spoke to his countrymen by radio as a pre liminary to a nationwide cam paign to collect every bit of spare scrap rubber in the country in the period from June 15 to June 30. I knew," the president de clared, "that I don't need, to nrg yra to take part in this cellectiev drive. All yea need to know Is the place to take ynr rmbber and the tin to take K there and the fact that year country needs it .' "'' "We do not want you to turn in essential rubber that you need in your daily life rubber you will have to . replace by buying pew things . in the store, we do want every bit of rubber you can pos sibly spare and in any quantity . ' , we want it in every form . , . if you think it is rubber take it to your nearest filling station." r. Onee ' the rabber Is in, we ' will knew what our supplies l, used nbber are and vwe wEl ; make : ear " plans accordingly. One thing yoa can be sure we : art going to see to it that there, is enough rabber to bsUd the planes to bomb Tokyo and Ber lin enongh rubber to build the tanks to crush the enemy wher ever we may find him enough rubber to win this war." Rubber is a problem, he assert ed, because modern wars can not be won without it, and because the Japanese have cut off 92 per cent of our normal supply. The situation would be more serious,' he said, if we had not built up a rubber stock pile before the war began and if we were not now building a great new synthetic rubber industry. While the use of rubber by the army and navy has been curtailed all along the line, the president explained that there was a limit to that . "Torn and I want ?the finest . and most efficient army' and navy the world has ever seen an army and.' navy , with . the greatest' and swiftest; striking power," he said," rthat . means ; rubber hure quantities of rub- Victory . - " -: .'; ;..' . i Entertaining and to 1 k 1 n r "bonds and stamps for victory" today noon at Salem's Victory Center, I oa the ceunty court-. house grounds:. .-' Gayle' Ferguson, soloist; Pa tricia Melsinger.- piano aecor dionlst;' Booty LaDou tap danc er. ; 'V-'.'""--- ' Carl W. Bogg,-president. Sa lem ehkmber of , commerce, speaker,:;-. .v.s:;i;..; f;:, Wes BfcWaia will be master of ceremonies, for program ar ranged by Salem junior cham ber f commerce. j ., - . ' r - Governor Joins In Appeal for Cooperation ber rubber for trucks and tanks and planes and gun mounts rubber for gas masks and rubber for landing boats." While he "predicted that th problem would be solved, he said there was one unknown factor the size of the stock pile. It is unknown, he said, how much used rubber there is which can be re claimed and reprocessed, combined with available new rubber, and put to military and civilian purposes. That is why the collection drive was ordered. The question whether nation wide gasoline rationing will be. or dered to save rubber may depend pn the success of the rubber col-v lection drive. The president, earlier, appealed to motorists everywhere to cut J down on pleasure driving and re duce both automobile speed and mileage. Gov. Charles A. Spragae Is sued statement Friday after- noon urging all citixens of Ore-, goa to cooperate in President Xoosevelt's drive to collect scrap rubber. - " i- :: .1 solicit the complete coopera tion of air county defense coun cils, and salvage .committees, all state "offices and county court, and eveVy organization as well aa every citizen in thig great under taking, the result of which might well determine the, victory or lost of World war H," the governor's statement said. , , t ...... I ' :