U. s. NAVY PRE-FLIGHT SCHOOL, CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
^he seven French journalists who visited here last Sunday as rep
resentatives of the newly freed French press are pictured in the
photo, as follows: seated, left to right, Louis Lombard, of
Allahroger, Grenoble; Mme. Andree Viollis, of Ce Soir and
^’fiumanite, Paris; Pierre Denoyer, of France Soir, Paris; stand-
left to right, Francois Prieur, of Le Provencal, Marseilles;
^tephane Pizella, of Parisian Lihere and Liberation Soir, Paris;
•^ean Paul Sartre, of Fegaro and Combat, Paris; Robert Villers, of
^yon-Libre, Lyons. Bottom left shows Prieur in discussion with
Ij^embers of the French unit here, and in the bottom right view
^me. Viollis tells other French cadets about conditions back home.
f^rench Journalists, On Tour Of U. S.,
Visit Here, Meet With FU Cadets
This Navy Pre-Flight School
the scene of a dramatic
Meeting last weekend between
^^dets of the French unit here
seven French journalists,
representatives of the newly
ifeed French press to visit the
^fiited States.
The seven writers were promi
nently identified with the French
Underground resistance move
ment during the last four years
^nd are now on a tour of this
i^Untry under the sponsorship of
ne Office of War Information
the approval of General
isenhower’s headquarters.
They were selected by the
French Press Association
through the Ministry of Informa
tion in Paris and represent the
provincial as well as the Paris
press. Purpose of the tour is to
give the French journalists, and
eventually the French people, an
understanding of the American
war effort.
Accompanied by representa
tives of the OWI, the French
correspondents arrived in Chap
el Hill by plane Sunday morn
ing, and met with the French
cadets for the first time during
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Signalman March
Survived Sinldng
Of Two Warships
By Harold E. Hanson, Sp(P)2c
“We had 16 one-way passen
gers aboard the old Hornet the
day in April, 1942, that we put
out from California,” recalls
Harold E. March, SMlc, who re
ported for duty here last month,
“. . . each with a ticket to
Tokyo.”
In his eight years of- Navy
life, March has seen plenty of
perilous action, surviving the
sinking by enemy fire of two
warships, participating in over
27 engagements, and receiving
two personal citations for meri
torious conduct.
An Armistice Day, 1936, recruit,
March—before his Hornet duty
—served aboard the Saratoga as
seaman, second
class, in the
cruiser, North
Hampton, a s
bugler, first
class, and later
spent a hitch at
the Newport,
R. I., naval sta
tion.
Completing
work as a bu-
glemaster school in September,
1941, March reported aboard the
Hornet at the time she was be
ing commissioned and remained
there until she was sunk in Oc
tober, 1942.
“Just before Pearl Harbor,”
he relates, “the Hornet was in
port at Norfolk getting ready
for the shakedown cruise. Fol
lowing this training trip, we
made the stop at California to
take on our Army passengers—
16 B-25 Mitchells and the crew
commanded by Jimmy Doolittle.
“We figured it was our job to
ferry these planes to some out
lying island and didn’t learn
until two days before the attack
that they were to bomb Tokyo.”
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Training Program Is World^s
Finest^ Air Hero Tells Cadets
Comdr. David McCampbell, USN, the Navy’s top fighter pilot,
speaking before the cadet regiment and the University’s NROTC
and V-12 units in Memorial Hall Wednesday, told the cadets that
“the program you are going through is the finest of its kind in this
country and in the world.” The Congressional Medal of Honor
★winner, who as leader of Air
Group 15 destroyed 34 airborne
enemy planes and 20 more on
the ground, assured the trainees
that “Pre-Flight is probably the
toughest stage of your training
until you reach combat.”
Drawing upon his unparalleled
fighting experiences in the Paci
fic to answer questions from the
cadets, the 35-year-old ace in
cluded the following among his
observations and advice;
“Never underestimate the Jap
pilot. He’ll outstunt you every
day in the week because he has
more maneuverable planes. Some
Jap pilots are good and some are
bad, but give them the benefit of
the doubt. ... We teach our peo
ple not to dogfight with the Japs
because of the maneuverability
of their planes. Main reason we
can whip the Japs is teamwork
—something you learn here in
this program. . . . Know your
enemy as well as yourself.
Mental Strain Greater
“Mental strain is greater than
physical and is something that
can break you down unless you
learn to conquer it. Learning to
relax and think in the air are
important.
“Learn to be a good Naval of
ficer first, and a good Naval pilot
next.”
Comdr. McCampbell was in
troduced by Comdr. William R.
Kane, USN, who arrived here on
Wednesday for his first official
visit since taking over as head of
Physical and Military Training
for Naval Aviation, under the
Director of the Aviation Train
ing Division in Washington.
Comdr. Kane, who was a
Naval Academy classmate of
Comdr. McCampbell’s and who
became one of the outstanding
aces of the Pacific war theater as
head of the famed “Grim Reap
ers” squadron, described the
leader of Air Group 15 as “one
(Continued on Page 3)
New Ass’t Secretary Of Navy
H. Struve Hensel became As
sistant Secretary of the Navy
last week in ceremonies held in
the Office of the Secretary. Mr.
Hensel succeeds Under Secretary
of the Navy Ralph A. Bard, who
was elevated from Assistant Sec
retary to his present position
last spring.