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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1956)
TEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Tuesday, April 10. 1956 Survivor of Marine Death March Believes Sergeant Leader Should Be Held Blameless Parris Island. S.C. (U.R) The commandant of ihe Mar in Corps said loday a Marine drill inslructor "positively did not have the authority" to take his platoon on a night march that ended in death for six of the 70 recruits. The commandant. Gen. Randolph Pate, would not say whether S. Sgl. Matthew Mc Keon routed his platoon out Sunday right for disciplinary reasons. But McKeon, in a prepared statement, admitted that the march was to teach the men discipline. Parris Island, S.C. .U.R) A. Marine recruit, who survived the death march into a Parris Island swamp, indicated today he would tell investigating com mittees that the sergeant who led the maneuver was blameless. "The sergeant was right there with us," Marine Recruit Soren T. Daniel said. "He was the first one in the water and the next to the last one out ... I heard him ask several times if everybody was all right." Daniel, 20, is the son of Sin clair Daniel, president of Whit- worth college at Brookhaven, Miss. He defended the leader ship of SSgt.. Matthew C. Mc- SPORTS Central Pointers Nick Gold Hill Nine 1 to 0 Central Point Central Point seventh and eighth grade base ballers sneaked by Gold Hill 1 to 0 last week end. A base on balls, a stolen base and Bill Anhorn's single provided the lone run. Anhorn on the mound for CP faced just 16 batters in the five inning fray. He yielded one hit and struck out six bat ters. Eldred held the Pointers to two hits, fanned five and walked two. SIGN FOR MEET Philadelphia (U.R) Jack van Pragg of Pasadena, Calif., president of the American Bad minton Assn., said today Can ada, Denmark, England, Sweden and the United States have field entries for the newly-formed Uber Cup competition, a world badminton series for women which will start early in 1957. LOWRY SIGNS Milwaukee, Wis. (U.R) The Milwaukee Braves have signed outfielder John Lowry of Rock Hill, S. C, to a contract with their Eau Claire, Wis., farm club and outfielder Gabriel Ramon Guayama of Puerto Rico to a contract with their Quebec farm team. SPOKANE WINS Calistoga (U.R) The Spokane Indians of the Western Interna tional League smashed out 14 hits in a seven inning exhibition game yesterday to defeat San Jcse of the California League 12-3. OPEN HOUSE Jersey City, N.J. (U.R) The Brooklyn Dodgers announced to day they will hold a free-of-charge "open house" at the Jer sey City ball park April 18, the day before they play the first of their seven games there this season. BETTERS MARK Moscow (U.R) Fedor Bogdan ovski of Russia bettered the list ed world weight-lifting record for middleweight Monday when he hoisted a total of 415 kilo grams (913 pounds) in the three standard lifts. Tommy Kono of Sacramento. Calif., holds the of ficial international mark. CHANGE POLICY Indianapolis, Ind. (U.R) Du ane Carter, racing director for the United States Auto Club, said today the organization is withdrawing its "open door" policy and that no member can participate' in any future race unless it is sanctioned by the USAC. SWIM TEAM HOME Portland UR- Multnomah Athletic Club"s seven-girl swim team arrived home last night from Daytona Beach, Fla., where MAC finished third in the national women's indoor swim ming and diving championships. Keon at the same time prepara tions were being made for two separate investigations into the pre-dawn march in which five men died and one is missing and presumed dead. The Marine Corps ordered McKeon, a Korean war veteran, placed in the brig "pending the findings" of a court of inquiry. Hit Unfamiliar Spot A public information officer at the base said McKeon appar ently hit an unfamiliar spot while he was leading his pla toon. He said recruits are frequent ly mustered at nisht for such sudden marches as part of their training. Gen. Joseph C. Burger, com mander of the base, ordered a Marine court of inquiry to make an immediate investigation into the incident. Gen. Randolph Pate, Marine Corps commandant, flew from Washington to the scene of the disaster and said he would take "personal command" of the in quiry and review whatever findings the investigators make. Calls for Investigation Rep. L. Mendel Rivers (D. S.C.) a member of the House Armed Services committee, call ed for a congressional investiga tion. His , congressional col league, Sen. Allen J. Ellender (D.-La.) said "Things like this should not be allowed to go un punished." He recalled that the Marine Corps had previously made changes to curb what he said were "over-ambitious boys training these kids." Chairman Carl Vinson (D.-l Ga.) of the Armed Services com mittee, said his group would de lay a decision on the congres sional investigation until the Marine Corps inquiry has been completed. Seventy five Marine recruits were on the march. They stum bled into the grassy swamp on the edge of this island training base In the early morning dark ness. Eleven became separated from the main group led by 31- year-old McKeon of Worcester, Mass. Five were found alive la ter. Rescuers then found the bodies of five who apparently drowned when they became hopelessly tangled in the thick, muddy bottom of the swamp. No trace of the eleventh man had been found by early today, although rescue crews search ed the disaster area Monday and throughout most of the night. Editor's Note: Pvt. Clarence E. Cox, 17, Lenoir, N.C.. "death march" pla toon survivor, tells In a first hand account of how he swam to an island and spent some five hours shivering and waiting to be the last man rescued. By CLARENCE E. COX As Told to United Press Parris Island, S.C. (U.R) About 8 p.m. Sunday night the sergeant (SSgt. Matthew C. Mc Keon, 31, Worchester, Mass.) came in and said we had three minutes to fall out. .! don't know how far we marched from the barracks, about three-quarters of a mile, I think. We were marching along the edge of the water near the bank when suddenly we were not on the edge any more, but in it. I went under. I lost my direc tion and I swam to an island. The wind vas blowing and I was dressed in fatigues and a sweat shirt. Realized He Was Lost When I got to the island, I thought that I was where we had started from, but then I real ized that I was lost and decided fo stay there until somebody came to find me. I guess I got pretty cold but I couldn't tell because I guess I was pretty scared. I don't have any idea how long it was before I was found. The first thing I saw was spot lights and floodlights from a fire truck. I swam to where they were, about 50 yards I think, but when I reached shore I got stuck in the mud and three guys in a boat came and got me. It was just a rowboal. They took me up to where some men from the search party gathered. Up until then I didn't know there were any men. miss ing but me. MULE TRAIN! 4 Grand Rapids, Mich. (U.R) It's illegal to drive more than 25 mules at a time across the Fulton Street bridge under a city ordinance still on the books. NOW AVAILABLE IN MEDFORD AREA! - . mailt' Yt, A NABOB 7e u et dlouU 6 i '0: ; - X XX" 'J. ?pm i - Xk ; f&8 f ft M :'xxm- . MxXm TINY TORNADO VICTIM Volunteer worker Mrs. Grace Root tries to comfort two-year-old Bruce Popelka who was injured when a tornado roared through Berlin, Wis. Six persons lost their lives in the Berlin area including Bruce's mother and six-year-old brother. Oregon's Voting Law Defended Portland (U.R) Mrs. Jean Young, secretary of the Republi can State . Central committee, last night defended Oregon's new voting laws before the Portland Central Labor council which last week heard Sen. Richard L. Neuberger (D-Ore.), attack them. The laws require the voter to sign two poll books. Democrats have charged it will slow up balloting and cause people to remain away from the poll. Mrs. Young said the laws would prevent some election ir regularities, protect the purity of the ballot and would elimin ate use of another's name to get an illegal ballot and vote. She attacked use of the re cent Eugene special election as a yardstick. She said that it was "human error" that resulted in a slowup there. Some 60 Eu gene precincts were crowded into four with some 1000 voters assigned to each of them. In a state election not more than 500 can be voted in one precinct. One person told her he wait ed 28 minutes in line for a bal lot and that if he had had to care for children he would have gone home. Mrs. Young said many people wait longer than that in line to get into a movie. Government Building Designed To Care for Mentally III Patients Waldport Watershed Land Ordered Withdrawn Portland (U.R) Secretary of Interior Douglas McKay to day ordered withdrawn from ap propriation 40 acres of public lands comprising the principal READY TO GO Anywhere, carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt is recommissioned at Brem erton, Wash., after two year conversion at approximate cost of $48,000,000. Major changes are hurricane bow, angled flight deck and steam launching catapults. " (International) Washington U.R) The gov ernment Friday will dedicate a 10-story modern building speci fically designed from basement to penthouse for civilized, home like care for the mentally ill. It has been built and fur nished according to specifica tions laid down by some of the country's most distinguished psychiatrists. It is expected to serve as a pace-setting model for mental hospitals all over the world. Ranks High in World The new building will be part of St. Elizabeth's hospital the government's largest and most famous mental institution. It ranks high, experts say, among mental hospitals of the world. But there are no "insane" at St. Elizabeths. The word is taboo. Says Dr. Winfred Over holser, the superintendent: "We conceive of hospitaliza tion as a result of a person's not being able to get along in so citey; we think of it as a tempor ary emergency situation." Not every mental patient, of course, can be completely, cured. But many can at least to the point of being returnable to fam ily and friends. At St. Eliza beth's 60 to 70 per cent of the patients ultimately are dis charged. To Provide Society "Our object," Overholser says, "is to provide a society for the patient that as closely as pos sible approximates living at home, more closely approaching general society than hospital society." So the new $6,000,000 build ing, for the emotionally ill men watershed area for Waldport, Ore. McKay said the order was to protect the municipal water supply of the coastal city. and women living there, will be more a home-away-from-home than a hospital. It is dedicated to the "patient's return to his community." Texas Dust Storms Leave Many Acres Without Topsoil By UNITED PRESS A destructive April storm dwindled into rains and wet snows over the nation's midsec tion to day, leaving at least 2, 000,000 acres of eroded land in Texas. Skies cleared over Texas and other Southwest states today af ter "black dusters" tore away tons of topsoil. A dollars-and-cents estimate of the damage was still impos sible. But the Texas State Soil Conservation office estimated that 2,000,000 acres of land had been eroded by dust storms dur ing the last week. Worst in Seven Yean At least three deaths were blamed on the Texas duster, the worst in seven years in many areas, and the Northeast counted six dead in another wintry out break. New England and other East ern seaboard residents were busy cleaning up from the lat est of a series of snow storms which have swept the area. They were heartened by offi cial assurances that a flood threat has passed. It was feared earlier that melting snows would send streams over their banks. But Brig. Gen. Robert When You See GEORGE LEWIS ROGUE TRAVEL SERVICE A FREE SERVICE We Reserve and Sell Airline and Steamship Tickets PHONE 2-6779 LOBBY HOTEL JACKSON BE CAREFUL NOW " Columbus, O. (U.R) An Ohio State University sociology professor is an adviser on a highway accident study sponsor ed by the school and the state's department of highway safety. His name is W C. Reckless. Fleming Jr., chief of the New England army engineers divis ion, said today there is "little chance" of major floods on coastal streams in the region. Snow in Kansas The Plains states still had" weather troubles, with four to six inches of snow in Kansas. At least 11 small towns in the Dodge City area were isolat ed from outside telephone com munication when ice knocked out 200 long distance circuits yesterday. The storm was centered in the lower Mississippi Valley early today. Thunderstorms hit Tex as and the Gulf states, dousing Baton Rouge, La., with 1.73 inches of rain. Don't plan your vacation without this FREE folder VIVID COLOR PHOTOS i "Tor yout free copy, phone ot r'uitt Med ford Depot 212 N. 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