The Daily Alaska empire. [volume], June 16, 1944, Image 1

About The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964

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THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE
"ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME’
VOL. XLIL, NO. 9680.
JUNEAU, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1944.
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
PRICE TEN CENTS
Terrific Blow Struck at Nip’s War Industry
CHERBOURG
ISOLATION
NOW LOOMS
Campaign to Cut Off Ger
mans on Peninsula
Nearing Success
BULLETIN — SUPREME
HEADQUARTERS OF ALLIED
EXPEDITIONARY FORCES,
July 16.—Commander Bradley's
American troops, ramming home
another blow to cut off Cher
bourg, have advanced to within
two and one-half miles east of
the St. Sauveur junction, con
trolling two of the three roads
leading to the nearly beleaguer
ed port.
The Americans have marked
up a gain of two and one-half
to three miles west of Carentan,
after previously reaching Reigne
ville, three miles northeast of
St. Sauveur, and are plugging
away on the 10-mile front, rap
ping out repeated gains despite
stubborn resistance.
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY
(Continued on Page Three)
The Washington
Merry-Go-Round
By DREW PEARSON
(Lt. Col. Robert S. Allen now on active
service with the Army.)
WASHINGTON—Adlai Stevenson,
civilian assistant to the late Secre
tary of the Navy Knox, is leaving
the Navy to try to buy Knox’s
newspaper, the Chicago Daily News.
Stevenson, most up-and-coming
young executive in the Navy, went
to Italy last fall, recommended im
mediate ousting of the King and
Badoglio, putting in a democratic
regime. Now, six months late, his
ideas are carried out. Grandson ,,f
Vice President Adlai Stevfenson of
the second Grover Cleveland Ad
ministration, Adlai was FDR's
choice to be the new Undersecre
tary of the Navy, but Forrcstal
said no.
UNION JACK British limics dp
serve a good share of the credit
for the blasting of Hitler's Atlan
tic Wall before the Allies waded
ashore. The British Navy has the
chief command in Channel waters,
steamed in close and demolished
Nazi pillboxes, forts and everything
else within twelve miles of shore.
It was the job which Navy guns
should have done on the bloody
island of Tarawa. We learned our
lesson there — namely, that air
bombing can't do everything. U. S.
warships also did a good job along
the Channel, except that Admiral
Alan Kirk, either because he got
his signals mixed or because the
weather was bad, failed to blast
one Nazi beach. That was where
U. S. troops got caught in a mur
derous cross-fire and were slaugh
tered.
HOLLYWOOD AMBASSADOR —
Eris Johnston, who has been tell
ing It to the Soviets as U. S.
Chamber of Commerce, has a new
job virtually cinched when he
comes home: Hollywood’s ambas
sador to Washington. The movie
industry long has wanted an out
standing figure to represent it In
the capital, and the moguls have
decided on Johnston, except for
Warner Brothers. They don’t ^em
so sure that forthright Eric is the
man.
GOOD NEWS—The Pacific fight
ing is ahead of schedule. That is
why lights have been burning late
in FEA's Office of Economic War
fare recently. The war chiefs sud
denly decided they needed certain
information regarding the location
of buildings inside Japan and call
ed on Economic Warfare to pro
duce it in a hurry. This means
(Continued on Page Four)
NAZIS MAKE
NO DEFENSE
YET IN ITALY
Many Towns Captured by
Allied Advance All
Along Italy Front
ROME, June 16. — The Allies
smashed forward from the Adriatic
to the Tyrrhenian Sea, some troops
advancing as much as 25 miles in
24 hours, capturing such important
highway towns as Acquapendente,
Narni, and Terni along the way.
The farthest advance came by
the Eighth Army in the capture of
Toth, approximately 60 airline miles
northeast of Rome, and only 85
miles south of the Pisa-Rimini line,
where the fleeing Germans may
make a stand.
There has been no sign of an
organized enemy defense in front
•of the line running from Pisa on
the west coast through the city
of Florence to Rimini on the Ad
riatic.
The Fifth Army pushed above
Lake Bolsena and captured Ac
'quadepdente about seven miles to
the north.
PILOTLESS
CRAFT RAID
SO. ENGLAND
Nazi Secret Weapon Drops
No Bombs - Explodes
on or Near Ground
LONDON, June 16.—Flame-spit
| ting pilotless planes drove over
southern England today and last
i night in the Germans’ first ‘‘secret
i weapon” reaction to the invasion
of France.
These craft, exploding on the
|ground or close to it, caused deaths
| and considerable damage at scat
! tered points, anti sent the anti
aircraft. guns barking extensively in
j daylight for the first time since
the early blitz days of 1940.
Descriptions of the weapon var
! led considerably, but all agreed
.these self-destroying aircraft flew
j at terrific speed in a straight line
[and were marked by bright lights
land shot flames from their ex
hausts, suggesting they might be
rocket-propelled.
CEILINGS ON FUR
REDUCED BY OPA
WASHINGTON, June 16. — The
I Office of Price Administration has
! ordered a “substantial reduction”
! in the ceiling prices on domestic and
j imported fur skins, and said the
| savings will be passed on to the
; public.
The regulation, effective June 19,
tikes prices on sales of skins through
auction houses and brokers. The
j OPA said the specific savings at re
i tail will not be determined until a
j revision of the fur garment price
i regulation is completed.
Prices announced are on some 30
I types of skins and are based on the
I highest prices in effect October 1,
j 1941 through April 30, 1942. The base
period heretofore was March, 1942.
Sales on ranch mink and ranch
I silver fox are exempt from the regu
lations as are breeder, trapper,
farmer, rancher and hunter sales
not exceeding $75 a month.
Dyed and-dressed Alaska sealskins
and raw or dressed blue or white
Alaska fox pelts continue to be cov
ered by a separate regulation.
IN FROM HAINES
Virginia Kingsbury and Josephine
Paulson are in from Haines and are
guests at the Baranof Hotel.
Mannerheim
Line Is Cut
By Soviets
Last Barrier to Finnish Port
ot Viipuri Breached
by Red Army
MOSCOW, June 16.- The Red
Army lias smashed its way through
Finland's “new Mannerheim line,”
one of the last barriers on the way
to the important seaport of Viipuri.
A Red Star dispatch said the
new line is a tremendous fortifica
tion of four lines with walls made
of cone shaped stone, with anti-tank
blocks almost two yards high, be
fore which lay an anti-tank mine
field 20 yards wide, strewn with
German mines.
A great gap was cut in this line
some places by Soviet tanks and
artiller.', as well as infantry, which
is considerably beyond it, the dis
patch said.
FDR GIVES GUT
CONCEPTIONS OF
GREAT COUNCIL
Outlines International
Peace Organization
Following War
WASHINGTON, June 16—Presi
dent Roosevelt has made public
the Administration's conceptions of
a postwar international peace or
ganization, providing for a council
representing all the nations which
will concern itself with the settle
ment of international disputes to
prevent war. The President sai'l
the organization should include an
international Court of Justice.
He issued the statement after a
conference with Secretary of State
Cordell Hull, Undersecretary Stet
tinius, Dr. Isaiah Bowman, and
Leo Pasvotsky, officials of the State
Department, who are working on
post war planning.
The President said: “It is our
thought that the organization
I should be a fully representative
body with broad responsibilities for
promoting facilities fox’ international
cooperation.
'“The organization will provide
lor a council elected annually by
a fully representative body of all
the nations and will include the
four major nations and a suitable
number of other nations. The
Council wil concern itself with the
peaceful settlement of internation
al disputes for the prevention of
threats to peace or breaches of
peace.”
His statement also emphasized
that we "are not thinking of a
super state with its own police
force or other paraphernalia of co
ercive powfer,” and added that con
sideration of the postwar organi
zation has been in the formative
stage for 18 months. He praised
what he called the “entirely non
partisan nature of these consulta
tions.”
STOCK QUOTATIONS
NEW YORK, June 16. — Closing
quotation of Alaska Juneau mine
stock today is 6",, American Can
89 i, Anaconda 26%, Beech Aircraft
8 Vi, Bethlehem Steel 61, Curtiss
Wright 5'k, International Harvester
751-, Kennecott 31 Vi, North Amer
ican Aviation 8‘^, New York Central
18‘i, Northern Pacific 1614, United
States Steel 56.
Dow, Jones averages today are as
follows: Industrials 146.96; rails,
40.82; utilities, 23.53.
DOYLE. IN TOWN
James Doyle of Seattle is in
town and is registered at the Gas
| tineau.
--
BUY WAR BONDS
LAND BASED
PLANES HIT
TRUK ATOLL
Liberators from Admiralty
Blast Jap Bastion in
Heaviest Raid
_ 4
ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD
QUARTERS IN NEW GUINEA,
June 16.—The two-day 186-toil
bombing raid on Truk, the heav4
iest assault by land-based planes
on that naval base, and the war’s
first Liberator attack on Yap are
reported by headquarters. Large
formations of Admiralty-based Lib
erators blasted Truk by daylight
on Monday and Tuesday in a con
certed attack exceeded in the mid
Pacific only by carrier planes.
In the first assault the raiders
dropped 90 tons of bombs on Dub
ion Island, destroying buildings,
causing fires, repelling 15 to 20 in
terceptors, and downing six.
The second flight unloaded 96
tons on Dublon and Eten Islets,
downing three Japanese planes.
Other planes bombed Nomoi atoll,
150 miles to the southeast of Truk.
There is no report of American
losses.
Truk was attacked 20 times in the
two-way intensified bombing be
tween the central and southwes.
Pacific in a little more than two
weeks.
Yap Base Hit
Land-based bombers opened the
assault on Yap in a day and night
attack Tuesday in an apparent pre
lude to the Marianas landings.
Yap, a former cable station, about
250 miles northwest of Palau, and
less than 600 miles southwest of
Guam, is a heavily fortified sea
plane and landplane base. Large
fires were started during the at
tack aimed at the airdrome.
No further progress is reported
on the stalemated land fighting on
Biak Island in the Schouten group.
Americans hold Mokmer, but have
been halted in their advance to
ward the two other airfields.
INDIAN BUREAU
WILL OPERATE
ARMY HOSPITAL
Skagway Institution Turn
ed Over to Care for
T. B. Patients
WASHINGTON, June 16. Tu
berculosis among the natives of
Alaska has become so serious the
Army is turning over its tempor
ary hospital at Skagway to help
meet the problem, officials of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs testify
ing before a House Appropriation
Committee, said.
The Skagway hospital, with 150
beds, is no longer needed by the
Army, the officials said, and about
2,000 Alaska natives are suffering
with tuberculosis, due chiefly to
poor housing. At present the In
dian Service is only able to care
for 70. Plans for a new hospital
for Alaska were deferred when war
broke out.
The Committee recommended a
$200,000 appropriation for the op
eration of the Skagway hospital
for the next fiscal year, the money
to be spent in two years if the
project does not get under way
promptly this year.
Willard Beatty, Director of Edu
cation of the Indian Bureau, testi
fied that the Interior Department
is also negotiating with the Army
for its entire hospital setup at
Excursion Inlet, consisting of a
200-bed hospital with facilities for
caring for a 400-pupil boarding
school.
Betty said the Bureau is opi
ating six hospitals in Alaska; the
seventh was bombed at Unalaska.
M1V WAR BONDS
WASBOND
TOTAL IS
$87,453
i _
Almost One-fifth of Quota
Reached on Fourth
Day of Drive
| Results from the first four days
of bond sales In the Fifth War
[Loan Drive show a total of $87,453,
with $47,253 of this in Series E
bonds.
Juneau's quota is $453,000 in all
series, with $210,000 of it to be in
Series E purchases.
Tonight tile Chamber of Com
merce boys will be out in full
force to take charge of one booth,
while the Catholic Daughters of
America will operate the other.
Last night the booths were taken
over by the Elks and Emblem Club
and the Central Labor Council.
Miss Liberty Standings
Standings in the Miss Liberty
contest to noon are as follows:
Betty Mill 12,850
Joyce Smith 7,675
Kathleen McAlister 6,328
Betty Nordling 4,296
Mary McCormack 3,920
Lois Allen 3,596
Ruth Kunnas 3.100
Betty Bonnett .. 2,650
4 Lila Sinclair . 1,725
Betty Mill is still number one
in the Miss Liberty contest, adding
1,175 votes bringing her total up to
12,850. Joyce Smith and Kath
leen McAlister are unchanged in
their totals. Betty Bonnett, al
though still in eighth place, almost
doubled her total since yesterday,
and Lois Allen and Lila Sinclair
made substantial gains but remain
in the same position.
Bond sales are steadily increas
ing, and each participant in what
is frequently referred to as the
■queen” contest is urging her sup
porters to purchase more bonds.
BONIN ISLES,
NEAR JAPAN,
ARE BOMBED
NKW YORK, June 16—The Japs
have announced that a naval task
force yesterday afternoon attacked
the Bonin Island group, between 600
and 700 miles southeast of Japan
proper.
The Im|>erlal communique broad
cast by Domri, said the plane force
struck the two islands of Chichi
and Jima in tiie northern section of
the group. Allied sources made no
mention of such a raid.
Jap broadcasts said that damage
to the Bonins was “extremely slight”
and claimed that 17 raiders were
downed.
Director for Girl
Scout Camp Arrives
To take over the duties as Di
rector for the Girl Scout Camp for
the second consecutive year. Miss
Pauline Roach has arrived in Ju
neau and is already completing
plans for the Eagle River encamp
ment.
Miss Roach is a teacher in the
Junior High School at Minot, North
Dakota. She has had considerable
experience at directing camps, hav
ing been director of Girl Scout
camps at Havre, Montana; Billings,
Montana, and Spokane, Washing
ton. She also took special courses
in camp direction at both Spokane
and St. Paul, Minnesota.
After the close of the Scout Camp
here, Miss Roach will go to Ketchi
kan to direct camp activities there.
IN FROM SITKA
Mrs. W. K. Grassley, of Sitka,
registered last evening at the Ju
neau Hotel,
I
Hoonah Fire
Victims Are
At Ex. Inlet
_ i
Col. Norris Provides Tern->
porary Facilities-Red ,
Cross Cooperating
Tlie emergency situation arising
from the disastrous fire at Hoonah j
Wednesday night which left 350
persons homeless, has been lmmed
itely solved by Col. George B. Nor
ris, Commander at Excursion Inlet,
who apprised of the conditions ex
isting by Fred Geeslin, Acting j
General Superintendent of the Of- i
fice of Indian Affairs, quickly j
placed barracks in readiness for
temporary shelter and sent power
barges to Hoonah to carry fire suf
ferers to the Inlet.
It is estimated that at least 200
persons have bee ntaken from
Hoonah to Excursion Inlet, where
temporary feeding and housing
conditions are available.
The Medical Dispensary is also
opened for any relief required and
the Public Health Service has sent
a nurse to Excursion Inlet.
Tents are not available and this
is given as the reason for remov
ing fire victims to Excursion Inlet
instead of attempting to take cart:
of then* fit the destroyed town.
At any time the refugees desire
to return to Hoonah from Excur
sion Inlet for business purposes,
transportation will be furnished
either by power barges or by the
many fishing craft that arc avail
able.
Seventy-eight natives houses were
destroyed in the Wednesday night
fire and these housed from two to
four families under the tribal rela
tions plans.
The Red Cross headquarters at
San Francisco has radioed that all
assistance necessary will be given.
Don Foster, General Superintend
ent of the Office of Indian Af
fairs, will arrive here tomorrow
from Anchorage, postponing his
projected trip to the interior and
•Nome.
This in a nutshell is the Hoonah
fire situation up to noon today:
According to .John Newmarker,
President of the Juneau Red Cross
Chapter, 4,000 (xuinds of food sup
plies and blankets were taken to
Hoonah by Ted Kettleson, Chair
man of the Sitka Red Cross Chap- 1
ter. The Juneau Chapter is pro
viding blankets Hiid the Red Cross
at Ketchikan has wired its offer
to help.
More details regarding the fire
at Hoonah were given by U. S.
Deputy Marshal Walter Hellan, yes
terday afternoon following his re
turn from the scene of the dis
aster.
Hellan stated that the fire re
portedly started from a bonfire be
neath one of the stilt-supported
houses, which had been built by
one of the Indian women of the
village for the purpose of drying
fish. The fire flared up when she
threw a can of gasoline over the
slow-burning embers Instead of
kerosene, which she had asked one
of her children to bring.
SAIPAN LANDINGS
NOW CONFIRMED
BY ADM. NIMITZ
PEARL HARBOR, June 16.—Ad-!
miral Chester Nimitz, Commander
in-Chicf of the Pacific Fleet, has
confirmed the American landings
on Saipan, Jap air and naval base
in the Marianas, following an in
tensive four-day naval and air
bombardment.
The communique said that initial
reports indicate that our casualties
are moderate.
SITKA PEOPLE HERE
Josephine Dawson, Irene Rey
1 nolds, and Mrs. Jack Conway are
| all registered at the Baranof from
I Sitka,
SUPERFORTS
MAKE HITS,
NEW ATTACK
Two Mighty B-29s Are Lost
-By Accidents, Not
Enemy Action
WASHINGTON, June 16. — Two
mighty B-29s were lost on account
of accidents, but none through en
emy action yesterday as Amerloa's
new superbombers turned Jap in
dustrial targets Into "glowing masses
of wreckage.”
The crew of one lost superbomber,
however, Is safe, the War Depart
ment reports In an early morning
communique today.
The number of participating air
craft In the raid on Japan Is not
made known in the early communi
ques as the first details emerged
from the historic attack which
marked the beginning of an entirely
new chapter in aerial warfare by
the greatest bomber ever built.
Official Communique
Today’s communique was issued
from the headquarters of the new
Twentieth Air Force, controlling op
erations of the Super Fortresses
around the world.
The communique described as a
"sizeable task force” operating from
the recently completed bases in
China as making the attack on
Japan that gave the Nipponese Em
pire, in words of an eye witness “her
answer to December 7, 1941 at Pearl
Harbor.’’
JAPANESE STATEMENT
NEW YORK, June 16.—The Japa
nese Imperial Headquarters ac
knowledged in a broadcast com
munique that about 20 B-29s and
B-24s from the "China area" raided
northern Kyushu.
The Federal Communications
Commission picked up the broadcast
here and the communique further
said:
"Our western air defenses immed
iately intercepted and repulsed
them, shooting down several and our
losses were negligible.”
An earlier broadcast, the first
from Tokyo, confirmed the bomb
ings and claimed six American
planes were downed.
THREE CITIES
OF JAPAN IN
RAID ATTACK
Premier Tojo Gives Out
New Information
Korea Bombed
NEW YORK, June 16 - The Am
erican Super Portresses that raided
the Jap mainland yesterday arc
“presumed to have taken off from
Sian," Shensi Province, in northern
China, the Tokyo radio said.
Another Tokyo broadcast acknow
ledged the raiders hit the Yawata
plant, Japan’s great manufacturing
company, but declared that hits
were made by "only a few bomb
fragments” and caused "no dam
age."
Apparently the succession of
broadcasts from the Japanese capi
tal attempted to minimize effects of
the attack yesterday, but at a meet
ing of the Japanese Cabinet, hur
riedly called this morning, Premier
Tojo said there were 20 planes in
the raiding group and eight were
shot down, but he also stated tar
gets were also hit in the cities of
Moji, Yawama, and Kurura.
Mojl Is an important communica
tions center.
Korea Is Raided
Another Japanese broadcast pick
ed up here reports that enemy
planes have raided points on Korea
on the Asiatic mainland immed
iately opposite the Kyushu section.
The broadcasts failed to give any
definite time regarding the Korean
raid but this may have been part of
the attack on greater Japan.
GREAT STEEL
WORKS CHIEF
OBJECT HIT
Raid Believed to Have
Knocked Out One-Fifth
Empire's Production
By CLYDE A. FARNSWORTH
Associated Press War Correspondent
UNITED STATES SUPER FORT
RESS BASE IN WESTERN CHINA,
June 16.—American B-29s, new Sup
er Portresses, struck a terrific body
blow at Japan's war industry and
may have knocked out one-fifth of
the Nippon Empire’s steel produc
tion in yesterday’s raid on Yawata,
the Pittsburgh of Japan.
Tho world’s most powerful war
planes made the longest bombing
flight in history and left trains of
demolition bombs bursting on the
Imperial Iron and Steel Works at
Yawata, northern Kyushu.
"This is but the beginning of our
organized destruction of the Japa
nese industrial empire,” comment
ed Brig. Gen. Kenneth Wolfe, who
is chiefly .responsible for the pro
duction of the B-29.
The Imperial Steel Works, the
largest in the Jap empire, is credited
with 20 percent of Jap steel produc
tion.
Yesterday's mission combined a
psychological and strategical stroke
at maximum power of ihe long se
cret, 20th Bomber Command. Two
B-29's failed to return.
Interrupts Swing
The raid came on the heels of
Jap Premier Tojo’s declaration that
the Japs themselves are preparing
a surprise. Jap stations were broad
casting English versions of the Pre
mier's declaration and playing pirat
ed American swing music when
Wolfe's raider pack came in on their
silvery 151-foot wings.
The first target attacked in Japan
with the new weapon was one of the
most strongly defended on the Jap
home islands. Wolfe, aground by
War Department order, was sweat
ing oul the mission in his ward room
with Maj. Gen. George Stratemeyer,
second in command of all Allied air
forces in southeast Asia.
Congratulations
When the first Super Fortress
Hashed the code word "Betty"—
meaning bombs away at 10:58 p. m.
local time, 8:o8 a. m. Thursday, P.
W. T., or 12:50 a. m. Friday, Jap
time, said Stratemeyer to Wolfe,
"Congratulations, this is the start of
the finish."
The Suiier Fortress, which can
carry more explosives faster, higher
and farther than any other plane,
flew from a network of bases labor
iously carved out of the western
China plains by 450,000 conscript
and contract Chinese laborers, men,
women and children.
Is Second Raid
Actually this is the second Super
Fortress raid. These planes bombed
Makasan railway shops at Bangkok
on June 5 in a great shakedown
operation.
The communique, June 8, called
this "the heaviest blow of the war."
The Bangkok communique said:
"Black smoke rose to great heights
through the clouds as the bombers,
despite bad weather, pressed home
widespread attacks on the railway
shops and marshalling yards.”
Frank Bingham Is
Nominated as Ally.
Of Second Division
WASHINGTON, June 16—Presi
dent Roosevelt has nominated
Prank Bingham to be United States
Attorney for the Second Division
of Alaska, suceeding Charles Clas
by, resigned.
Bingham was a former Montana
educator and has been United
States Commissioner at Nome.
MRS. STAGG RETURNS HOME
AFTER VISIT IN JUNEAU
Mrs. G. Lee Stagg, wife of Dr.
Stagg of Ketchikan left for her
home on the last boat. She, with
her little son Jimmie, have been
spending a week with her mother,
Mrs H, L. Wood of Juneau.