Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1945)
i 5 German PWs Hanged for Murdering Fellow Prisoner Weather FORECAST: Fair with little change In temperature tonight and Wednesday. Lightly scat tered thunder ihowen In , higher mountains. Temp. Highest Yesterday 99 Lowest this Morning ...,63 Fortieth Year ARMY, NAVY PLANES SMOTHER NIPS; BOLD CHALLENGE IGNORED BY FOE YANKEE FLIERS AT T Carrier Strike Catches Jap anese by Surprise; Bombs, Rockets Center on Capital. Washington. July 10 (U.R) One Superfortress was abondoned during yesterday's big B-29 raid on five Japanese home island cities but the plane's entire crew was saved, the War Department revealed today. Guam, July 10 (U.R) More than 1,100 American army and navy planes backed by the great est naval armada afloat, were still smashing at Tokyo and a broad stretch of the Japanese coast late today after eight hours of sustained bombardment that literally smothered the enemy defenses. Standing perhaps 200 miles off Tokyo Bay throughout the as sault were scores of American carriers, battleships, cruisers and the lesser craft of Vice Admiral John S. McCain's task force 38 the fighting spearhead of Admiral William F. (Bull) Halsey's U. S. Third fleet. Challenge Ignored , They broke radio silence con tinually in a bold challenge to the remnants of Japan's air and sea forces to come out 'and fight. But fleet dispatches said that thus far NOT a single en emy plane or ship had been sighted. . Racing westward under forced draft all last night, the carriers pulled within striking distance of Tokvo before daybreak and sent the first of their 1,000 bombers and fighters over the capital a few minutes after S a. m (Tokyo time). Caught completely by surprise the startled Japanese offered practically no opposition from the ground or aloft and first re ports said the raiders were bombing and strafing at will. Alarmed Japanese broadcasts said the navy fliers were rang ing up and down the east coast of Honshu on all sides of Tokyo. Mustangs Join And around mid-day. the en emy reported that another 100 army Mustang fighters, accom panied by "several" B-29 Super fortresses, joined In the navy strike bv attacking shipping and shore installations in the Osaka Kobe area southwest of Tokyo. The carrier-based raiders cen tered their bombs and rocket fire on Tokyo itself and the 70 to 80 airfields surrounding the gutted capital. The pre-dawn Superfortress strike this morning ushered in the 35th straight day of the pre invasion bombardment that al ready has laid waste huge areas of 35 Japanese cities. More than 130 square miles of Japanese industrial area were reported officially to have been burned out In 31 cities, with photograph ic data on four of today's targets (till lacking. By United Press In Borneo, Netherlands East Indies troops made two amphi bious landings on the northern shore of Balikpapan Bay while Australian troops, wad ng through swamos, were wiping out trapped Japanese defenders of the great Pandansari oil re fineries. The Chinese high command re ported that Chinese troops have recaptured Tayu, located inside Kiangsi province on the Kiangsi Kwangtung border, cutting Jap anese communications between southern Kiangsi and northern Kwangtung. TO CLAIM MILLIONS Los Angeles, July 10 (U.R Sixteen-year-old Viscount Wil liam Anthony (Tony) Furncss to day was en route to England to lay claim to the $10,000,000 ship ping fortune of his late father. Lord Furness. The titled young ster, a cadet at Harvard Military Academy here, left yesterday by train with his mother. Lady Fur ness, English social figure whose husband helped found the Bril-ish-Furncss steamship Unci. United Press High Court Hope (Acme Telcphotot With announcement that Supreme Court Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts will retire July 31, Los An geles "insiders" started work on their speculating and came up with "inside info" that Federal Judge Peirson M. Kail (above) might suc ceed Roberta to the high court post OVERSEAS DUTY A1E0 FOR ALL Washington, July 10 (URI AH qualified army personnel in this country who have not served at least six months over seas will be replaced by next May 1 so they maly be given for eign assignments. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson said the replacements would be made by returning veterans and others in special categories. The changes will affect about 400,000 men under 35 who are now in this country. The army for several montns has adhered to a policy of giv ing overseas assignments to per sonnel in this country and re placing them with veterans. The new order, however, sets May 1 as the deadline for the changes. The order applies with special emphasis, it was said, to men under 35. THIRD TERM BAH Washington, July 10 (U.R) Congressional Democrats, whose party was dominated for 13 years by the late Franklin D. Roose velt, generally shied away today from the proposals that the no-third-term rule be imposed by law upon presidential tenure. Sen. Wayne L. Morse, R., Ore.. introduced in the senate yester day a resolution to prevent a third term. Various similar propositions are pending or have been suggested. "The Voice" Gets Editorial Needle In Soldier Paper London. July 10 (U.R) Frank Sinatra took an editorial pound ing from the doughboy newspa per Stars and Stripes yesterday for raising his voice against the camp shows put on by the USO and the army special services. The Voice, quoth the army newspaper, "is hardly an au thority on cither military or workaday show business. "It is possible that Frankie was distraught and tired when he made his statement." it added sacastically. "He had Just fin ished seven gruelling weeks overseas during which he sang several times every day, and in addition he had granted an audi ence to the Pope and wised up His Holiness on the crooning racket, and that taxes one." Chicago has 6.088 policemen and 2,802 firemen. Full Leased Wire MEDFORD, OREGON, TUESDAY, JULY 10, GREW SAYS FOE TRYING TO SPLIT ALLIES ON PEACE Acting Secretary Denies Surrender Offer Received; Many Feelers Reported. Washington, July 10 4UR Acting Secretary of State Joseph C. Grew, denying that Japan has offered, to surrender, said today that the enemy is attempting to split the allies by provoking public discussion of Pacific sur render terms. He denied for the third time in recent weeks that Japan has made conditional surrender of fers "either through official or unofficial channels." Many "Feelers" But in a surprise statement warning against a relaxation of the allies' unconditional surren der demand, Grew acknowl edged that many "alleged peace feelers" on the part of the Jap anese have been reported to this government through indirect channels. Itemizing some of these "feel ers," Grew said they were "fam iliar weapons of psychological warfare" being tossed into the battle now that the enemy's mil itary position is deteriorating and the plight of Japanese civil ians is becoming more critical. He said "conversations relat ing to peace" have been reported to the state department from various parts of the world. "But," he emphasized, "in no case has an approach been made to this government, directly or indirectly, by a person who could establish his authority to speak for the Japanese govern ment, and in no case has an of fer of surrender been made. Newspaper Drivers Receive Ultimatum New York, July 10 (U.R) Striking newspaper truck drivers had until 8 a. m. tomorrow to re turn to work or see their Jobs thrown open to strike-breakers with the sanction of the U. S. government. The War Labor Board told the 1700 members of the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union, in- dependent, that their closed shop privilege would be suspended, along with other contract bene fits, unless the strike was ended by that time. Retirement Board Director is Named Salem, Ore., July 10 (U.R) Jerry Saylcr, Portland insurance man, was sworn in as executive director of the public employes retirement board, which was cre ated by the last legislature. Temporary headquarters of the board will be in Portland at the branch office of th slate in surance commission'. Most state employes will come under the new law. Sayler is a former campaign manager for Gov. Earl Sncll U.S. Reservations On Charter Seen Violation Of Its Spirit Washington. July 10 (U.R) Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee agreed today that any U. S reservation giving Con gress the final decision in each case as to use of U. S. forces to help preserve peace would vio late the spirit of the United Na tions charter. Sen. Eugene D. Mlllikin, R., Colo., asked Leo Pasvolsky. state department expert on the Se curity organization, whether a reservation by which the United States would "reserve to Itself the right to Judge in each case whether it should use armed force and how much would be a violation of the charter." The question arose as the com mittee opened its second day of hearings on ratification of the charter. BIG THREE CHIEFS T IE Mixed Governing Authority to Be Established at Once Speed Food Supplies. Berlin, July 10 (U.R) An un usually large number of trans port planes swarmed through the skies over Berlin today, giv ing rise to the assumption that the vanguard of specialist and important personalities were ar riving for the Big Three meet ing.' . Berlin, July 10 U.R Chiefs of the American, Russian and British occupation forces met to day and agreed upon the imme diate establishment of an inter allied governing authority to di rect the joint administration of Berlin. An official announcement of the agreement was Issued after a conference of the Big Three leaders. Zhukov Presides Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov of Russia, Lt. Gen. Lucius Clay of the United States and Lt. Gen. Sir Ronald Weeks of Britain were the conferees. Zhukov presided. '-. ".- ' -: Th'etfceilnecrta'wtaBlisfr st once the mixed governing au thority "to direct Jointly the ad ministration of greater Berlin under the interallied agreement on control machinery in Ger many." "A satisfactory arrangement was made to meet the immediate problems of food supply for the civil population of Berlin on the basis of contribution from all the zones of occupation," the official announcement said. "Progress was made toward a solution of the problem of fuel supply on a similar basis." 'S On the Atlantic with Presi dent Truman, July 10. (U.R) President Truman today was aboard an American warship in mid-Atlantic bound for Europe and his meeting at Potsdam. Ger many, next week with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Generalissimo Josef Stalin. As his powerful fighting ship drove through unusually placid Atlantic waters, the president held continuous confciences with two of his top international ad viscrs Secretary of State Jam?s F. Byrnes and Fleet Adm. Wil liam D. Leahy, chief of staff to the president. They were preparing for what will be Mr. Truman's biggest test to date in the international field his debut in big three deliber ations. Pasvolsky replied that "as a permanent member of the Se curity Council" of the United Nations, the United States would have the right to decide "at the outset" whether force should be used. "But who would make the de cision?" Milllkin asked, "That's an important question. If we'd decide through a reservation to this charter, that Congress had that right, would that be a vio lation of the charter?" "Well that decision would be a different kind of 'agreement' than is contemplated in the char ter." Pasvolsky answered. He referred to the provision In the charter which says that mem bers of the United Nations shall provide armed forces to preserve peace "in accordance with a spe cial agreement or agreements." 1945. Tower Guard r?5 .y ii. lisSrn " -r .ul ,1. Li . Si .Sh! I Acme 'Ictemoto Private Clarence V. Bertuccl, New Orleans, La., tower guard at Prisoner of War Camp, Sallna, Utah (right), snot ana Killed eight German POws, wounaea a0 omcrs. Snown tlem are group of wounded Germans as they left Kearns In ambulance under guard for Bushnell Hospital. Grants Pass Man Brushes Death In Okinawa Adventure Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands (Delayed) (U.R) Marine Corpor al William H. Lyons, 28, of Grants Pass, Ore., a veteran of three major campaigns In the Pacific, had his strangest and narrowest escape during the battle for this island. Lyons, preparing to demolish a cave, sat on what he thought was a log Just inside the en trance. It turned out to be a Jap soldier's leg. ' The Jap sat up, pulled the fuse on a gren ade and held It against Lyons' stomachs r - ..-- The marine pushed the Jnp aside and ran from the cave. Outside, he found, to his horror, that the grenade was caught in his shirt. He flicked it aside and hit the dirt Just as the gren ade went off. He was shaken up, but uninjured. A few second later Lyons heard another sharp report in the cave. The Jap had blown himself up. Lyons, who also fought at Cape Gloucester and Pclcliu, is the son of Mrs. Mary Lyons, (324 West K street), Grants Pass. Rejected Suitor Chops Off Fingers New York July 10 (U.R) Joseph Montalto, 62, who slashed his throat after chopping off three fingers off the left hand of Mrs. Thclma Neahr, 38, died to day in St. John's Hospital, Long Island City. Police said that he attacked Mrs. Neahr, widowed mother of two children after she had told him she was through with him. Montalto was found in the rear seat of his automobile early to day, a few hours after Mrs. Neahr had reported the attack. Man Aged 77 Is Walking Champion Galcsburg, III., July 10 Ufi Seventy-seven year old William Farlow, Galcsburg, 111., boasted today that he could outwalk any man or boy In the state of Il linois. Farlow could back up his chal lenge, too. Yesterday he made a seven-mile hike In an hour and 37 minutes, bettering the "rec ord" for that distance claimed by John W. Simpson, 75, Spring field. Douglas to Halt . B-17 Manufacture Long Beach, Cal., Julv 10 0J.R Production of B-17 "Flying Fortress" is to stop Immediately at ne Douglas Aircraft Co.'s plant here, resulting In release of 3,000 employes by the end of July, the company today was no tified by the army air forces. The new government order docs not affect production of A 26 attack-bombers and the giant C-74 transports, both under con struction here. LEGAL LOOPHOLE SAVES Los Angeles, July 10 J.R William J. Dunn, former vice president of the W. J. Dunn Co. brokerage firm, today was free of grand theft charges because of a legal technicality barring conviction on uncorroborated tes timony of an accomplice. Dunn, 47. and James R. Prouse, 37, were accused of Juggling records to spend $33 000 of clients funds on wine, women and horscj, Tribune United Presi Full Fires Machine Gun Into POW Tents SIX INJURED AS An accident at intersection of the Crater Lake highway and Delta Water road about 5:30 p.m. yesterday caused injurjes to three Mexican Nationals and put three others In the Camp White hospital. A pickup truck belonging to Crater" Lake orchards and op crated by Ruben Raymond Mi scnhlmcr and containing the Mexicans, collided with a sedan driver, by James Larscn of Mcd ford, according to a report by state police. Larsen and his passenger, Riley Morningstar, were injured and taken to Camp White hospi tal in the Perl Ambulance. Morningstar's injuries were not serious and he was released from the hospital last night but Larsen is said to be still in the hospital. The three Mexicans, A. S. Ra minez, M. H. Galvan, and J. Q. Rodriquez, all residents of the airfield barracks, and Miscnhi mer were also taken to the hos pital. Howard A. Hobson. basket - ball and baseball coach at the University of Oregon, and Anse Cornell, graduate manager at the university, were in Medford today calling on friends and at tending to college business. Hobson, who has been on sab batical leave from Oregon, has served with the army on a sports assignment in Italy. With seven other coaches, he loured the Fifth Army area and put on a sports program school In Rome V army sports officers. He left Italy June 20 and returned to the west coast Sunday night. Cornell and Hobson planned to visit friends In Ashland to day and will go on to Klamath Falls Bend, B'irns and other cit ies before returning to Eugene Saturday night Hobson will re turn to his coaching duties at the University in the fall. He formerly coacned basketball at Southern Oregon College of Ed ucation, Ashland, leaving there in 1034 for Eugene. 13 Airmen Killed In Exploding B-29 Pueblo, Colo.i July 10 U.R Pueblo army air base officials said today that 13 airmen were killed when their B-29 Super fortress, apparently hit by light nlng, exploded in the air 20 miles south of here. Col. Willis G. Carter, base commandant, said the huge Su perfort was on a routine training flight. Farmers reported seeing the plane explode Sunday, scat tering bodies and wreckage over a wide area Chicago, July 10 (U.R) Meat production In federally Inspect ed plants dropped 16 per cent last week, the War Meat Board of the United States Department ' ol Agriculture said today, Lasted Wire NO. 92. Guard Who Shot War Prisoners Disliked Nazis Salina, Utah, July 10 U.R Pvt. Clarence V. Bertucci was under mental observation today after admitting that he sprayed machincgun bullets on a group of war prisoners while they slept, killing eight and wounding 20, because he "just didn't like Ger mans." Col. Arthur J. Erlccson, spokesman for the branch pris oner camp near here,- reported that Bertucci had been unable to account for his, shooting orgy Sunday nlghl, during which he fired a mounted gun from the guard tower where he was on duty. ' Ericsson quoted Bertucci as saying that on several occasions he had been tempted to turn the tower gun on the prisoners and was "not at all sorry" for what he had done. "He Just didn't like Germans," the colonel said. No other reason was given. JAIL TERM START OF VET'S TROUBLE When Henry Edmond Rey nolds 23. completes his 15-day term in the county Jail for va grancy his troubles will Just be starting. He is wanted on a war rant by the Federal Bureau of fnuoatitrnttnn bt Jackson. Miss.. l ag paroe violator .according to Information received by the state police. According to Information re ceived here, Reynolds, a dis charged serviceman from Oma ha Nobr., has been "bumming' over the country since receiving his release two years ago. His means of obtaining money, the report states, is to go to the ra tion board of a strange city, pre sent his discharge naners to ob tain a ration book and then sell the book. The report adds the FBI wants Reynolds for violat ing a parole on the book-selling charge In Mississippi. NAZI SLAPPER GETS 6 MONTHS ON AWOL Fort Devens, Mass., July 10 (U P.) Pvt. Joseph V. McGee, 3, of Worcester, who served a Jail snnlrnce for slapping nine Nazi prisoners, was sentenced today to six months in Jail at trnrd labor for being AWOL for the third time in six weeks. By The Side Of The Rogue By Dale Vincent , Beside a clear mountain spring and under the shade of th. big alder tree that hangs over the river, Is an old canvas chair. Sitting in this chair I have enjoyed seeing within the past half hUIA methodical, patient Bittern hunting frogs for Its nest of young up river, a pair of beautiful Orioles anxiously supervising their awkward family In their first field trip from the nest, four trout that have leaped clear of the water In their quest for flics, , one old yellow-headed salmon cruising slowly down river close to the surface with his suitcase packed and obviously seaward bound, one gorgeous humming bird that darted In her gossamer drapes of brilliant hues to put on a one-act dance skit for my special benefit. To me this old canvas chair In the cool shade Is a special seat In a colorful theatre whose stage IS set wun primmve aciun.. i The music is a melodious bird ground is tho everchanging murmur of cool running water. ' would uot exchange my old eanvas ebalr lot a gold-studded throne. OF AFRIKA KORPS STOLID TO LAST Fanatics Look Anything But Supermen in Last March; Execution in Warehouse. By Roy Calvin (United Press Correspondent) Fort Leavenworth, Kans., July 10 (U.R) Five German prison ers of war whose Nazi zeal led them to murder a fellow soldier in an Oklahoma Internment camp were hanged at the discip linary barracks early today In an historic application of U. S. military justice. It was the first time that an enemy war prisoner had been executed in the United States. No "Heili" Heard Not a single "Heil Hitler!" came from any of the doomed men as they walked about a hundred yards across this army post from the main detention building known familiarly as "the castle" to an old ware house building where a unique gallows had been set'up in an elevator shaft. Seven reporters witnessed the executions with War department permission. The Germans Walter Beyer, Berthold Seidel, Hans Demmc, Hans Schomer and Willi Seholz were found guilty by a U. S. army court martial at Camp Gruber, Okla., last year of murdering Johannes Kunze, a German prisoner whose Nazi spirit showed signs of lagging. From Afrika Korps The five were members of Rommel's Afrika Korps, and from the 32-year-old Beyer to the 22 -year -old childish - looking Seholz, they displayed the iron . discipline which made that Ger man unit famous. They looked like everything but "supermen," however, despite their military bearing as they marched into the execution hall, stood before Col. William S. Elcy to hear War de partment orders which doomed them, and then, with black hood adlusted, to be led by military policemen to the noose. No Supermen They were stolid without ex ceptlon, and soldiers to the last. But there Wasn't a big brawny man among them to measure up to the superman conception. Beyer was the first to drop through the trap door, sawed out of a wooden platform which . plugged the elevator shaft on the first floor of the warehouse building. He dropped, about seven feet Into the basement, at 12:06 a. m., CWT. The . others followed at ap proximately 30 minute Intervals, Seholz, last of the five going at 2:11 a. m. Ecyer, pale-faced and thin, was described by the army as ringleader of the group which killed Kunze at a Tonkawa, Okla., branch POW camp on Nov. 4. 1943. Col. Elcy and Lt. Col. Robert W. Reed, public relations offU cer of the Seventh Service Com mand, emphasized that the Ger mans had been given every ad vantage, review and appeal per mitted under the Geneva con vention covering treatment of prisoners of war. Brutal Murder Beyer ordered all prisoners In the company for which he was leader to assemble in the mess hall of the compound at 10 p. m. on Nov. 4, 1943. At that meeting, Kunze was found "guilty" of treason to the third Reich and was beaten to death. Court martial testimony given at Camp Gruber, Okla., showed that besides the fists of many of the 200 Germans In the company, Kunze was beaten with a milk bottle and heavy china drinking cups. BIO TRANSPORT READY Alameda, Cal., July 10 (U.R) The 22,380 tons troop transport Advlral Rodman, one of the larg est non-combatant vessels ever built on the Pacific Coast, was commissioned for service today at the Bcthlchcm-Alamcda ship yards. chorus and the orcncsirai Dacn-
