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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1944)
Ii'IUI OF NAVAL FLIER -TOLD IN DIM Warship Picks Up Body From Liferaft Mother, Girl, Home, Main Interest Elkhart. Ind, Sept. 20 OJ.R) "To Helen I loved her until the end. I love Mom . . . wish I could eat some of ner cooking." Thinking of his girl, his moth er and the food he ate at home, Naval Aviation Radioman Jack Cooper. 23 died on a liferaft in the Pacific When a warship picked up his body a few days later they found him clutching a diary of his dying days he had written to his ' Mom " The navy sent the diary, writ ten on the fly leaves of his wal let, to his mother, Mrs Henry Clevenz. Cooper was reported killed in action June 15. Wounded in Kneee While adrift on the raft, he was strafed by a Japanese plane and wounded in Goth knees, but he scribbled into the diary a record of what a fighting man tVm A DASH OF RSERADlSti 0 k "ii.s,'s'2 mm ,M w ''i - ? 4. i ' ! ! ' - THE RAILROADS ARE WE lUTtN TO "YOUi AMIIC" ON TOUH IAVOrITI N. I. t MacArthur Greets Morotai Invasion Troops ji I i g?M I - '.if ,H &k I k. air' - thin? HHIW (Acme Fridio-Tetephotot Gen. Douglas MacArthur waves to his men on beach at Morotai from his landing barge after making tour around Island, northernmost of the Halmahera group, to survey situation in person. With this Jap Island In his grasp. MacArthur Is now rushing plans for his iong-antlclpated return to the Philippines, only 275 miles to the north. Photo by Frank Prist, NEA-Acme photographer for War Picture Pool. thinks of at the end. Mostly it was about his mother and about his sweetheart, Helen E. Chec chlo, whom he called "Big Eyes." The diary follows: ' "Piece of shrapnel In compass case hit our plane Mom . . .; wings are in sewing kit. am en titled to all stars and more. Be sure to check insurance, etc. Back pay 10 000 ins. (Roses) to remind me of Helen. "I've always loved her. Love kisses same for you Mom, Dad and all. "Now July 8 weak (navy de letion). Can't catch fish no rain love Big Eyes "July 9 Little rain (navy de letion) headed west. Land Close "July 10 Rain last night, very weak, land close some where. "July 11 Mavis flew over no see left eye bad shape still have water. Drifting N. E. "July 12 Little cloudy, no planes, no land, headed north p. m. Jap Nell saw me strafed hit me in both legs bandaged them drifting E. ....;.! to America's troms 1 f II II b n m p l an m tno tenr mr mm ra n n m 1 1 "July 13 Very weak from loss of blood land in sight no food since the 4th 6 ounces of water left going fast. "July 14 Catch one small fish last p. m. very very won't last over today Plenty fish but can't sit up very slight breeze. i If this is my last day, tell my i Big Eyes to be happy with some one else. "I'm back to salt water God bless you all surprise July 15 tell Helen I found God be hap py love . . . no. rain for 2 week. "To Helen I loved her until the end Jack. "I love Mom Dad and all wish I could eat some of her cooking." VIRGINA HAS FLOOD Richmond, Va.. Sept. 20 (U.R) Floodwaters swept down the James, Roanoke and Dan rivers today, threatening low - lying communities with submersion, after destroying 210 highway bridges in the past 24 hours and taking a heavy .nil of late farm crops in the western part of the state. I Use Mall mbune Want Ada BACKBONE OF ITATION IVUY lTUDT Ir.a 7: Tf Vc? S y. x 4 FAMED SEABEES EN ROUTE HOME San Francisco, Sept. 20 (U.R) Twenty-three hundred Sea bees, including the famous Sixth battalion which built and main tained Guadalcanal's Henderson field virtually under fire, were en route to their home today after an absence of from 21 to 27 months. In addition to the Sixth, the 36th and 40th battalions, veter ans of Bougainville, Los Negros and the Admiralties, arrived at San Francirco yesterday. The Sixth battalion was thrown together 10 days before shoving off for the bitter Solo mons battle. Their commander, Joseph P. Blundon, Keyser, W. Vo. said they arrived as "par tially armed civilians." Splendor-of-Sun water falls in Japan are 350 feet high. i " "v y i OFFENSE rACIHC WA TIM1 BURMA'S STRANGE Brayton C. Case, 27 Years In Burma,, Drowns In Muddy Mogaung River. Br Jack Guinn United Press Correspondent Stilwell's Headquarters, North Burma (U.R) Underneath the waters of the muddy Mo gaung River lies the body of one of Burma's strangest men, a Johnny Appleseed of a mis sionary who spent 27 years in Burma teaching the natives how to plant and grow American vegetables and died trying to resettle the natives who had been driven out of their homes by the Japanese. This man, who drowned on July 14 when he was swept away in the raging currents of the monsoon-flooded Mogaung River, was Brayton C. Case, who always listed his next of kin as the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, 152 Madison Avenue, New York. Case was drowned in the In dawgi Lake area of North Bur ma while on a trip down the Mogaung River to see about re settling natives in territory which had been won back from the Japanese by the Allies. . Wars Hpnvv Rnnt The motor stopped on the I hnat nn im.UinU ....... wub 1 itllll.ll .OSC HUB iUIllKt according to reports and he at tempted to swim ashore. He was wearing heavy rubber boots for walking in the deep Burma mud, and failed to remove them when he jumped into the swift current. The boots filled with water and made it impossible for Case to swim. The current swept him 100 yards down the river before two British sol diers, who jumped into the water in an attempt to save him, could not reach him. They al most drowned before they made H to shore. Probably the last American to see Case alive, the officer who put him on the boat, 1st Lt. Robert T. Lindsay of Dallas, Tex., and Tucson, Ariz., said, "Mr. Case wasn't afraid of the devil himself, and he wasn't afraid of that river, and that's probably what killed him." Case was well known to American troops in Burma and was a frequent visitor to Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell's com bat headquarters. He conduct ed the funeral service for the first American dead in the first official American cemetery in Burma, Walked Everywhsre Llndsey said Case was "about six-foot-two, a great big, long legged rawboned man." He walked everywhere he went, "all over the Himalaya moun tain range," according to 1st Lt. Richard W. While of Macon, Ga., carrying a 30-pound sack of seeds for his native friends in addition to his other equip ment. One story around Stil well's headquarters is that a group of officers made a hike over certain sections of the mountains in Burma and sent back a report containing the recommendation that no officer over the age of thirty should be permitted to make that walk. Then they discovered that Case, whose age is between 55 and 60, had been making this same walk, carrying all his equip ment and his seeds. Lindsey said that Case "knew every dialect in Burma." For a time, he conducted a school for American officers and taught them the rudiments of Burmese and lectured them on how to get along with the na tives and how to survive in the jungle. He showed them what wild plants were edible and which were poisonous. But his main work was with the natives. He showed them how to clear sections of the jungle, how to plant seeds, such as tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and then showed them the advan tages of digging with an Ameri can hoe and raking with an American rake, a violent depar ture from established custom to which the natives did not always immediately take. Herded Natives As Stilwell's forces moved right along with them, herding across North Burma, Case sent 3 NOTICE To the Public It hat come to my attention that parties ropreionfing thcmselvei to be connected with the Refrigeration Com pany, 223 West Jackson, hare been operating In the city. I have no rcpreicntative and advise patroni to get in direct touch with me when in need of Refrigeration Service DAVE GOULD Ph. 4584 his natlvaa along an! getting them resettled In villages and talking them into beginning gar dens which would make them self-sufficient. Officers at Stil well's headquarters said that "Mr. Case used to worry us to death for permission to go some where but you couldn't get mad at him, you had to admire him for his persistence." His persistence and his desire to be always pushing forward caused his death. Lindsey said that when he put Case into the boat on the morning of July 14, he told him the river had not been cleared for travel, that he did not think it safe for the mis sionary to travel. "Well, Mr. Case Just grunted and said: 'I got to go' and climb ed in the boat. That's the way he was, abrupt like that." Nobody knew much about CBse's private life. Nobody knows, not even officials at headquarters, how old he was. They don't know whether he had any fr.mily or any relatives. But they know he had friends. There are hundreds of natives throughout North Burma who will mourn the death of Mis sionary Case. Gold Hill Gold Hill, Sept. 20 (U.R) Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hogue of Tule Lake, Cal., were mid-week visitors at the home of Mrs. S. M. Thayer, Sams Valley. Recent visitors at the Gold Hill Auto Park were Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Julian, and baby son of Alameda, Cal. Mrs. Juli an is a niece of Mrs. John Cogs well. Mrs. Effie Countz has as her guest her granddaughter and , family . of California. Mrs. Countz plans to spend a week ! vacationing in California ac companied by Miss Mae Wilson, leaving the OK Pastime in the able hands of Oscar. Miss Katherine Hays has re turned from Chico, Cal., where she has spent the greater part of the summer. She will enter j her senior .year at the high school there. Miss Eileen Frost has given up her job at the Pinnacle Packing Co., In Medford to re turn to high school. Mr. and Mrs. Arty Laws, In fant daughter Elizabeth Ann, and son Ronnie spent the week en in their Gold Hill home. Mr. Laws Is working in the woods on Williams Creek near Pro volt. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Force have returned to Williams Creek to Bill's Job in the timber. The Alva Walker store was burglarized last week, though nothing of great value was taken. Things were scattered on the floor from the shelves, and pastries damaged. Youth ful vandals are suspected. Mrs. Phyllis Seldon has moved to Medford so that her son, Allan can attend Medford high school. Mrs. Seldon will commute from Medford to Gold Hill to her position on the staff of Gold Hill high school. The windows of the Jehovah Witness church were broken the past weekend. Services were being held at the time but no one was injured. Capt. and Mrs. Paul and two daughters are moving to Med ford. They have been living in the Rourke home, and have made many friends here, and will be greatly missed. The fire department was called to put out a grass fire back of the Alva Cook home near the schools Tuesday. The John Boggis family occupies the Cook house. Miss Betty Jean Taylor, who has been helping on the farm of her grandparents In Louisi ana, has arrived to make her home with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Dcnsmore, and sis ters, Dorothy Taylor and San dra Jean Dcnsmore. The Clarence Buttcrflelds have moved Into the home of Mrs. Bctts, near the high school. Mrs. Jack Cannon has gone to San Francisco to be with her daughter, who is III thqre. The Cecil Johnsons have re turned from Prospect to their home here In Gold Hill which has been occupied by the Clar ence Butterficlds. AIR LINKS ASKED Hum Vnrlc Sont 20 (UP) Pan-American World Airways announced tonay mat it naa iiica applications with the civil aero nautics board for new air routes and extensions of its pre-war routes that wou'd link every continent by air and provide an American .flag airway around the world. Oat Mall Tribune Want Ada. Wednesday. Sept. 10, 1944 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE THRE1 i mS& . HOUSE PAINT i J CUTS DC WHll Goes Farther . . . Covers Better . . Wears Longer Two eots do the work of three! Quality Ingredient give, a hard, long-lasting surface. 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