The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, December 24, 1943, Image 8
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1M8
^kank Qol OYe
Of re Ofi
mericam
This yeao more than
^ ever before, we are
truly a PP reci a tiv e of
the fact that we are
Americans. It gives
us a better understanding of the Christmas
season and its significance. It gives us a
better understanding of our .friends, their
problems and their happiness.
We are glad we are a part of this glorious
country and have a share in its great priv
ileges. We are grateful that it is our lot to
be Americans!
Eugene H. Spearman
County Supervisor
IN THE OLD TIME
AMERICAN SPIRIT
x
Say what you ■will—there is something
about the spirit of Christmas that gets under a
fellow’s skin, whether he likes it or not.
Old Santa Claus plays on the heartstrings
until the purse strings are so completely untied
that even the fattest pocketbook has some dif
ficulty regaining its health again. We have been
through it many times. So have you. If you feel
the same way we do about it, you wouldn’t miss
all the fun under any circumstances.
So, in the oid time American spirit of the
Holidays, we wish you the best of Health, Hap
piness and Prosperity for the Holidays and for
many days to come. 9
Gunner’s Gab Is Of Home
And Girls
Swinging across the Mediterranean
coast of Greece toward Athens four
members of the crew of a Flying
Fortress called ‘Thunderbolt’ lounged
on their ration boxes and parachufes,
listening to American jazz on a Ger
man radio station and talking about
home and women.
Not me, their lone passenger. I
was scared to death.
An hour away from the target,
waist gunners Tom Huffman, Bel
leville, Tex., and Clarence Sommer-
feld, Stockton, Cal., bundle me into
a “hot suit”—long blue underwear
with a current-fed wire mesh de
signed to keep the crews warm at
high altitude.
Radio Gunner Sgt. Rob Dean,
Richmond, Ind., chased everyone
else from the radio compartmen
and helped me get into my para
chute.
Up forward, Sgt. George Barth.
Philadelphia, Pa., the top-iurre
gunner, snapped a rubbOT^fhask over
my face and pointed to a red ball
in a small glass tube.
“When that red ball stops bob
bing up and down, you are out of
oxygen,” he said. “When and if
that happens, you hook on this
green container which has about two
minutes supply. Good luck.”
A lurch made me realize we were
swinging around for our bob run.
Below was Greece with Athens
sprawled on the slopes.
Thousands of fragmentation bombs
tumbled from the bottoms of the
leading Fortress as it pulled clear
of the German anti-aircraft barrage
which now was getting the range
We were the third group.
First Lt. William J. Thorpe, Haw
thorne, N. Y., who was at the con
trols, didn’t move us an inch either
sideways or up and down. The Ger
man gunners knew they had our
range a nd they kept putting the stuff
up there.
We drew closer to that box of
flak and I could see the tension
gripping Thorpie and Co-pilot Lt
C. J. Hewlett, Russell, N. Y., not to
mention me.
Then we were in it. The Thunder
bolt lurched Once, then wobbled ahead.
I heard one flak burst like the rip
ping of a big piece of silk.
Thorpie yelled into his throat
mike. I couldn’t hear him since I
wasn’t on the inter-com, but I later
found our bomb doors hadn’t opened
all the way and we couldn’t release
our load.
Barth scrambled down from his
turret and stepped out on the cat-
walk to open the dors byhan d. A
moment later the “frags” fell out
and Thorpie turned to me and said
“I hope we hit those batteries. We
sure as hell missed the target.”
For 35 minutes our group maneu
vered to get in defense formation
but by the time we were linked up
the fighter danger was past and none
had appeared.
I crawled back through the bomb
bay to the radio compartment, feel
ing sure that somebody had been
wounded in the tossing around £he
flak gave us.
But there, sprawled once more on
their chutes, were the gunners,
beating time to he Germans’ jazz
as hey heard it over their ear
phones and taking a bite of K-ra
tion. Old Thunderbolt hadn’t been
touched.
PROCLAIMS NATIONAL DAY OF
l PRAYER, JANUARY I
Washington, Dec. 16—President
Roosevelt has proclaimed January 1
as a national day of prayer for
“strength and guidance for the prob
lems of widening warfare and for
the responsibilities of increasing vic
tory.”
The text of the proclamation made
public this week by the White House,
follows:
“At the end of the yepr 1943,
which has not only made manifest
the devotion and courage of our
nation’s sons but has also crowned
.heir efforts with brilliant success
m every battlefront, it is fitting that
ve set aside a day of prayer to give
hanks xo Almighty God for His con
stant providence over us in every
lours of national peace and national
peril.
“At the beginning of the new
year 1944, which now lies before
us, it is fitting that we pray to be
preserved and from wilful neglect of
the last measure of public and pri
vate sacrifice necessary to attain
final victory and peace.
“May we humbly seek strength
and guidance for the problems ’ of
widening warfare and for the re
sponsibilities of increasing victory.
Vlay we find in the infinite mercy
of the God of our fathers some
measure of comfort for the personal
anxieties of separation and anguish
of bereavement.
“Now, therefore, I, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, President of the United
States of America, do hereby ap-
ioint Saturday, the first day of
Tanuary, 1944, as a day of prayer
-or all of us, in our churches, in
our homes, and in our hearts, those
if us who walk in the familiar
saths of home, those who fight on
he wide battlefields of the world,
hose who go down to the sea in
;hips, and those who rise in the air
m wings.”
MACARTHUR FOR PRESIDENT’
GAINS
‘JAPAN WILL BE DEFEATED
SOONER THAN SOME THINK”
Pretoria, Union of South Africa,
Dec. 15.—Japan -will be defeated
“sooner than some people think,”
in the opinion of Field Marshal Jan
Christian Smuts, who told a press
conference yesterday that the war
picture was ever brightening for the
Allies.
Japan's weakness in shipping,
“in which she has suffered severe
ly,” will tell when the Allies defeat
Hitler and turn their power on Tok
yo, the South African premier de
clared. He termed the American-
British air offensive over Europe
“one of the mightiest developments
General Has Not Said He Would
Refuse GOP Nomination If
Offered
Washington, Dec. 19—Gen. Doug
las MacArthur’s failure to say speci
fically that he would not accept a
presidential nomination if it were of
fered, has convinced his supporters
that the republicans could draft him
as a nominee.
Senator Vandenberg (R., Mich.)
looked upon as the father of the
Mac Arthur boom, said today he is
proceeding on the theory that the
Southwest Pacific commander would
not refuse the republican nomina
tion.
“I shall continue to assume that
he will accept unless he says he
would not,” Vandenberg said.
Interest in this aspect of the
situation was heightened by a De
cember 17 dispatch from Southwest
Pacific Allied headquarters in which
Arthur R. Ford, president of the
Canadian Press, said MacArthur
“touched on the delicate subject of
United States politics” in an off-
the-record conference with a visit
ing Canadian newspaper party.
Although Ford said MacArthur’s
utterances would have to remain
secret, it is - viewed here as signifi
cant that the general—who has said
in the past that he had no political
ambitions—would spend time dis
cussing politics with a Canadian
group.
1931 GOLD COINAGE
Twenty-two milikm dollars worth
of $20 gold pieces were coined at
the United States mint during Nov
ember, 1931. Total coinage for that
month was 1,650,000 pieces, valued
at $22,055,000.
in human history,” and said on his
visit with President Roosevelt in
Cairo, “we Dutchmen got on well
together.”
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T.{M. Rogers & Son
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Buddy’s Gulf Service
CHRISTMAS Wish
May the real joys of Christmas be yours
T. Roy Summer
mnm
es
Of course you know that we
really don't need Christmas to
make us realize how much
^ friends mean to us, but perhaps
it does take the good old American Christmas
Season to remind us to tell you so. At this time
our thoughts readily turn toward those with
whom our success is so closely linked—to our
many customers whom we ore glad to call our
friends.
Because we are very close to you, we un
derstand some of your problems. We look for>
ward with confidence to a continuance of the
grand friendship and pleasant relationship,
for many years to come. It is our sincere hope
that the New Year may bring you prosperity
in bountiful measure and real happiness.
R. M. L0MINACK HARDWARE
- : & •
-■ '/
>9
■'13
POKEN OR WRITTEN, iheic is no more
cheering greeting than the age-old Hol
iday salutation “Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year.”
It is a greeting of friendliness that warms the
heart and brings friends closer to each other, no
matter how far distant they may he. It is the thought
ful expression of regard that one man has for an
other—the salutation of understanding and in all
lands the manifestation of kindness among fiiends
and kindred.
It is a greeting that interprets for us the true
meaning of Christmas and the New Year—the entire
Holiday Season.
" So as the Holidays approach again, it is our
sincere and hearty wish that yours will be a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
NEWBERRY RECAPPING
COMPANY