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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.)
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NINETY-SECOND YEAR : Solexa, Oragon. Sotordar Morning, fun 13. 1942
No. 58
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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.)
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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 ' :