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WAR VI
*OM?S Y ^
STAMPS
11|iP
VOLUME LV?NUMBER 31.
DPne fAWTIWITIWrt I
iirjw uniiiniJimi !
LIQUIDATION OF i
GERMAN TROOPS!
All But 12,000 Of Besiegers Of
Stalingrad Fall in Mighty Offensive
of Russian Hordes;
Forty Thousand Nazis Meet
Death in Baptism of Fire.
The Red Army has killed or
captured all but 12,000 of the
220,000 German troops -trapped
before Stalingrad, and their liquidation
in the last phase of the
great battle of annihilation is a
matter of two or three days, a
communique from Moscow said
on Wednesday.
The high command, announcing
virtual completion of the bloody
conquest in the Stalingrad death
pocket, said Russian assault forces
had slaughtered 40,000 Germans and
captured 28,000 since the Nazi command
refused an ultimatum to surrender
on January 10.
Drawing the noose tighter day by
day, the Russians now have split
the German troops remaining from
the once proud armies" which captured
Stalingrad into two isolated
gi ups, a special Soviet communique
summarizing the battle said.
"Thus the plan of the supreme
command of the Red army for the
encirclement and liquidation of the
large groups of elite German Fascist
troops has been basically realized,"
it said.
"The history of war knows no
<l|ph nvamnlo r\f W? ~ : ? * 1
? v?* i?c L-iicxiviumeni i
and annihilation of such large num-1
bers of regular troops saturated to
the limit with modern war equipment."
The last phase of the Stalingrad
battle came as the Red army was
surging forward far to the west on
the Voronezh, Donets, lower Don
and Caucasus fronts, in great offensives
threatening hundreds of
thousands more axis troops in South
Russia.
Jap Targets Bombed
In New Britain Area
A large unidentified Japanese
ship was set afire Tuesday in the
harbor of Rabaul, New Britain,
which was blasted for the sixth time
in as many days by allied flying fortresses,
the allied command has an
nounced. It ran the total to 30 Japanese
vessels sunk or damaged there
this month by allied airmen.
Catalina flying boats meanwhile
made a pre-dawn raid on the airdrome
at Buka, northernmost of the ,
Solomon Islands, setting large fires
it was stated.
The communique said that both
airdromes and shipping were hit in ,
the attack on Rabual, the sixth in ,
as many days. Heavy anti-aircraft
fire was encountered. 1
Lees-MacRae Grad
Wins Flying Cross
Banner Elk, January 22. ? First
Lieutenant Thomas W. Ferebee, of ]
Mocksville has the distinction of being
the first Lees-McRae College
graduate to be decorated for his service
in the air corps, according to
word just received at the college. He 1
was recently awarded a Distinguish- 1
ed Flying Cross and the Airman's ^
Medal.
Lieutenant Ferebee, who is with
the fighting forces in North Africa ,
has 24 combat missions to his cred- '
it He says that 11 is a good average
for the period he has been in
action.
Graduated in the class of 1940, 1
Lieutenant Ferebee is the son of Mr. '
and Mrs. W. F. Ferebee of Mocks- 1
ville, Route 1. He enlisted in the '
army shortly after Pearl Harbor and '
trained at Hicks Field, Texas, and i
went to Africa early in December,
1942. He is on duty with a bombing .
squadron.
WATAUGANS AT WAKE FOREST
Wake Forest. Jan. 27.?There are
four Watauga county men enrolled
at Wake Forest College this session.
They follow, with the names of their
parents in parenthesis after their
names:
Boone?Grant D. Ashley and Robert
R. King. Jr., who are both at
the Bowman Gray Medical School
at Winston-Salem.
Ray Lee Greene (G. G. Greene),
of Deep Gap: Edwin Murl Bumgarner
(1. A. Bumgarner) of Vilas.
HEAVY PRODUCTION TREND
The year 1943 has opened with
many conditions favorable for continued
heaver production of agricultural
products, according to the U.
i T-v j. ? - 'e 4 - ' "
o. uiieut ui ngricuuure. i s
.
ZATA1
An Indep
BOONE, W7
Bags 16 Jap Planes
Major David L. Hill, 27 year old
U. S. Air Corps flyer, of Hunt,
Texas, has 16 Jap planes to his
credit and 20 more probable hits.
He served on the aircraft carrier
Saratoga, Ranger and Yorktown
before signing up with the American
volunteer group in China,
where he was commanding officer
of a fighter squadron. He holds
the American Distinguished Flying
Cross, the British Flying
Cross and the Starred Wing and
Cloud Banner, Fifth and Sixth
orders, of China.
MRS. ETTA HORTON
DIES AT AGE OF 92
Resident of Boone For Fifty
Years Dies in WinstonSalem
From Long Illness
Mrs. Etta Horton, aged 92 years,
a pioneer resident of Boone, where
she made her home for fifty years,
died in Winston-Salem, where she
had been living for a number of
years on January 17th. Although
Mrs. Horton had been an invalid for
a long time, as a result of injuries
sustained in a fall, she had not been
critically ill until December 23. She
was 92 years oldMrs.
Horton was the oldest child
of Capt. William H, and Martha
N. Gentry of Jefferson, and was
born on December 23, 1850. She was
married to Nathan Horton, who was
commissioned by Gov. Z. B. Vance a
second lieutenant in the Confederate
army, on May 27, 1875, and their
home was established in Boone,
where it remained for fifty years.
She cherished the memories of this
city and her old friends here. She
had always wanted to go back to
Boone to spend her last days, where
her health had prevented her visiting
for many years.
Mrs. Horton was a member of the
Methodist church and of the Order
of the Eastern Star. She was a woman
of splendid mental faculties,
and until near her death read the
newspapers and kept well-informed
on the news of the world. She was
a kind neighbor, a generous friend,
and the belated news of her death
will bring sorrow to countless friends
in this area.
Surviving is one daughter, Mrs.
Mattie Hallman of Winston-Salem;
and two sons, Charles Horton of
North Wilkesboro and Lawrence
Horton of Winston-Salem.
Eld. Brown Injured In
Timber Cutting 'Accident
Ed Brown of Boone, R. F. D. 2,
was seriously hurt Monday afternoon
when struck by the bough of a tree
while cutting timber. The cheek
bones, and nose were said to have
aeen fractured badly and he was
taken immediately to the Wilkes
Hospital for treatment.
GOES TO RALEIGH
Dr. Don J. Horton, well-known
/eterinarian of Vilas, went to Ral;igh
Monday, where he will spend
the week taking a special short
:ourse in his profession at State
College.
Democrat Will Soon
Revise Mailing List
....Pending an early and complete
?-:u il.*
X C VU1UJ1 OX UX UlOllUiy UMS, xxxe
publisher of the Democrat insists
that subscribers notice the
dale appearing on the address label
TODAY and renew their subscriptions
promptly. It is manifestly
impossible to continue sending
the paper to those whose payments
are not received promptly.
Hundreds of names have been added
to the list of those receiving
the county paper in the last few
weeks and at best it will be a
problem to keep use of newsprint
within the limits suggested by the
government. All subscriptions
MUST BE RENEWED PROMPTLY
upon expiration.
LJGA
iendent Weekly Newspap
lTAUGA county, north cap
I ROOSEVELT MEEK
CHURCHILL IN
AFRICA WAR ZONE
Commander-in-Chief of American
Forces Flics Thousands of I
Miles to Meet Prime Minister;
**17? * c ? "
viauiiumunHi surrender oi,
Axis Goal of Allies.
Casablanca, French Morocco, Jan.)
26.?President Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Churchill, in the most unprecedented
and most momentous
meeting of the century, have reached:
'complete agreement" on war plans
for 1943. designed to bring about
the "unconditional surrender" of
Germany, Italy and Japan, it was
disclosed today.
Defying every tradition the president
of the United States flew across
5,000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean
for a ten day meeting with Winston
Churchill, which saw the leaders
of the two nations bring General
Charles DeGaulle and Gen. Henii
Honorc Giraud together for the first
time in a little villa just outside the
city.
Virtually the entire war staffs of
both nations participated in day and
night discussions, which ended Sunday
afternoon with a press conference
before a group of war correspondents
flown secretly from Allied
headquarters halfway across North
Africa.
These are the high spots of the
conference, which Roosevelt and"
Churchill agreed was unprecedent-1
ed in history and may decide the
fate of the world for generations to
come:
One?The leaders of America and
Britain, both military and civil,
have agreed on a war plan for 1943
designed to maintain the initiative
in every theatre of the war;
Two?Churchill and Roosevelt ag
reed that peace can come only thru
"unconditional surrender" o? Germany,
Italy and Japan.
Three?Generals Siraud and *peGaulle,
meeting for the first time
under sponeocship of the Proeiterit
and Prime Minister, are negotiating
for a united French movement designed
to put French armies, a navy
and an airforcc again in the field
against the axis;
Four?Premier Joseph Stalin of
Russia was kept informed of the result
of the conferences. In fact,
Churchill and Roosevelt offered to
meet Stalin "very much farther to
the east," but the Russian chief was
unable to leave the U. S. S. R., due
to the need of his directing the present
Red Army offensives.
The President and Prime Minister
also have been in communication
with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
and "have apprised him of the measures
which they are taking to assist
him in China's magnificent and
unrelenting struggle for the common
cause."
Five ? Maximum material aid to
Russia and China will be one of the
prime aims of the U. S. and Brit
ain.
Six?Roosevelt visited American
troops in the field in North Africa,
the first American president to visit
an active war theatre since Abraham
Lincoln.
The meetings were held in a closely-guarded,
barbed-wire surrounded
inclosure at a hotel in Casablanca
under '.he greatest secrecy.
Prime Minister Churchill arrived
for the meetings first. When President
Roosevelt arrived by plane a
few hours later, he dispatched Harry
Hopkins to the Churchill villa,
and the Prime Minister immediately
came to start the meetings.
The first began at 7 o'clock in the
evening of January 14 and lasted
until three o'clock the next morning.
President Roosevelt, met correspondents
in the garden of his villa
Sunday afternoon.
Protecting American fighters and
Spitfires roared overhead as the
conference was held. The only wo- '
man present was WAAC Captain
Louise Anderson of Denver, Colo.,
a stenographer from Lieut. General
Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters.
Preachers, Deacons
To Gather Monday
The preachers and deacons of the :
Three Forks Baptist Association are
to hold a conference at the First
Baptist. Church in Boone Monday :
February 1, at 2 o'clock. ,
Rev. Troy Danner will conduct the ;
devotional, says Rev. N. M. Greene '
chairman of the program commit no
tVir? foatiirn o# fV?o
cnce will be a round-table discussion
of the subject, "Putting Pillars |
Under Our Churches."
Deacons and preachers,'together
with everyone who will are urged
to attend this meeting.
DEM*
er?Established in the Y
LOLINA, THURSDAY, JANUAR'
Army and Nav
Secretary of War Henry L. Stim
Medal on Vice-Admiral Henry K.
mony in the War Department we
of Naval Operations and Commar
Fleet, standing between Secretary
General George C. Marshall, Arm
for outstanding service in the occ
tary Stimson termed it a superb
the Army and the Navy.
Representative Jack
Aimed at Banning
And Beer InWatai
26 Motorists Have Gas
Books Revoked Monday
Forty-two local motorists came
before the Ration Board on Monday
to answer charges that thoy
had used their cars, for non-essential
purposes, since the ban on
pleasure driving was established.
Of this number 26 suffered at
least the temporary revocation of
their gasoline coupon rationing
books, pending further investigation
of the charges made against
them. The names of the luckless
mututuia were nox reieasea xor
publication,
JOHN JOHNSON
IS FATALLY HURT
Virginia Police Probe Mysterious
Death of Resident Of
Elk Township.
John Johnson a' war worker, native
of Elk Township, Watauga
county, died Saturday morning in
the Dale Defense dormitories, Norfolk,
Va., presumably from injuries
received from an assailant, and an
investigation into his death is being
pressed by police officers in that
city.
According to a report filed by
Capt. L. C. Warren, and radio patrolman
J. N. Dickens, who made a
preliminary investigation, Johnson
was seen being pushed against the
building on the housing project by
two men who were beinf? nnestinrier]
by police. He was taken to King's
Daughters Hospital, where he was
treated for cuts about the face and
head, and returned to his room,
where he died a few minutes after
being put to bed.
Dr. E. T. Glover, coroner, said the
death of Johnson was "caused by a
fracture at the base of the skull,
delivered in some manner unknown
to me."
Johnson was said to have been
employed at the Naval Ammunition
Depot, St. Julien's Creek.
The body was returned to Watauga
and funeral services were conducted
Monday afternoon at 3 o'clock
from the Mt. Ephriain Baptist
Church in the home neighborhood,
by Rev. Mr. Greene, and interment
was in the Simmons cemetery, the
Reins-Sturdivant Funeral Home being
in charge of the arrangements.
Survivors include the widow, the
former Miss Cora Hayes, and four
children: John R. Jr., Quinten, Earl
and Mildred Johnson. One brother,
T. H. Johnson of Boone survives,
and four sisters: Mrs. T. J. Miller,
Mrs. T. F. Triplett, Mrs. James
Wheeler, and Mrs. Sallie Brown.
At least one million ceramic fireplace
grates will be manufactured
this winter for fuel burners, saving
30,000 tons of cast iron.
pCRA
ear 1 888.
f 28, 1943. ^
y Collaboration
panH
IBL vsSyB?HBIMB Be
?? III! Ill
son pins the Distinguished Ser%'ice
Hewitt. Alsa present in the ceiere
Admiral Ernest J. King, Chief
idcr-in-Chief of the United States
Stimson and Admiral Hewitt, and
y Chief of Staff. The award was
upation cf French Morocco. Secreinstancc
of collaboration between
[son Proposes Law
Legal Sale of Wine ,
iga; Vote Is Provided
County Commissioners to Direct
Board of Elections to Call
Special Election on' Dry Issue
In Watauga; The Text of the
Measure Is Given.
p{ ;
Representative Tom Jackson,
introduced in the lower house
of the State Assembly Monday
evening a bill authorizing the
county commissioners to direct
the County Board of Elections
to cail an election, at which time
the question of the legal sale of
wine and beer in Watauga county
is to be decided by the qualified
voters. Senator Grady Farthing
is co-author of the bill, the
text of which follows:
A bill to be entitled an act to authorize
the county commissioners
of Wa+OltOO *? -J * 1 A1
v-uuilkj IU U1ICXI U1C
board of elections to call an election
for the purpose of submitting
to the voters of said county
the question of whether the sale
of wine and beer in said county
shall be prohibited.
The General Assembly of North Carolina
do enact:
Section 1. The county commissioners
of Watauga County, within a
reasonable time after the enactment
of this act, shall direct the County
Board of Elections to call an election
under the same rules and regulations
which apply to elections for
members of the General Assembly.
At said election there shall be submitted
to the qualified voters of the
county the question of prohibiting
the sale of wine and beer.
Those favoring prohibiting the
sale of wine and beer in Watauga
county shall mark the square at the
left of the words, 'Against the sale >
of wine and beer in Watauga county,"
printed on a ballot to be provided
therefor, and those opposed to
prohibiting the sale of wine and '
beer in Watauga county shall mark <
the square to the left of the words, :
"For the sale of wine and beer in
Watauga county," on said ballot.
If a majority of the votes' cast
in. such election shall favor prohibiting
the sale of wine and beer in 1
Watauga county, then all licenses
theretofore issued for the sale of
wine and beer in said county, whether
wholesale or retail, shall, within
sixty days from the canvassing
of said election, be inoperative and '
the sale of wine and beer in Watauga
county shall thereafter be prohibited.
Section 2. In calling for such spe- i
cial election, the county board of i
elections shall give at least twenty .
days public notice of same prior to
the opening of the registration books
onrl tkrv ncrfintrntjK/vnlrn "t, nil
?* ?? miC icgioiiauun uuur\a siiau xc~
main open for the same period of
time before such special election as i
is required by law for them to re- ;
main open for a regular election. A i
new registration of voters for such
special election is not required and
all qualified electors who are prop(Continued
on page eight)
, i
? 1 1 =qi
$1.50 A YEAR?5c A COPY
BOONE RETAILERS'
ASK SOLONS TO
REPEAL SALE TAX
Legislative Committee of Merchants
Association Asks For
Relief From 3 Per Cent State
Levy; Says Money Is Not Now
%T * - ?
i^ccaca by the State.
The Boone Merchants Association,
through its legislative committee
has gone on record as favoring the
repeai of the 3 per cent state retail
sales tax. and has forwarded resolutions
to Senator Grady Farthing and
Representative Tom Jackson, asking
that they exert their influence
in the General Assembly toward
that end.
The resolution bears the names
of the four members of the legislative
committee: G. K. Moose, chairman;
L. T. Tatum, R. C. Rivers and
C. C. Rogers, and the text of the
document follows:
"WHEREAS, the State no longer
needs for any essential purpose, the
revenue the sales tax produces, the
State ha%'ing an estimated $30,000,000
surplus in its general fund at
the end of the current fiscal year,
which is more than twice the amount
the sales tax will bring in in
*
??c iicaw wwu years, anct
WHEREAS, the State gave its solemn
promise when the sales tax was
first enacted ten years ago that it
would be repealed as soon as the
emergency which caused its enactment
should cease to exist and,
WHEREAS, the Federal Government
will, in all likelihood, enact a
sales tax, and the merchants and
consumers will be forced to pay
much heavier taxes of all kinds to
support the war:
THEREFORE, be it resolved by
the Boone Merchants Association
that we respectfully urge our Senator
and Representative Honorable
H. Grady Farthing ar.d Honorable
Tom Jackson, to exert every effort
in the General Assembly to have the
sales tax law repealed.
RESOLVED that a copy of this
resolution be forwarded to them at
Raleigh.
Respectfully submitted this 22nd
day of January 1943.
U. S. MENACES
AFRICA KORPS,
AXIS REPORTS
Axis reports said Tuesday night
that American troops were massing
in force for an attempt to cut off
Marshal Edwin Rommel's coastal
line of retreat in Tunisia while allied
planes and British advance
guards slashed at the Africa korps
rear near the Libyan border.
The new peril to Rommel's longharried
flight apparently was to be
a drive aimed at Gabes, on the soutli
east Tunisian coast 100 miles from
the Libyan frontier where the waist
of Tunisia is narrowest, the Rome
radio said.
The large-scale American troop
movements were said to have been
noted by Italian reconnaissance
planes.
The Paris radio reported that the
American troop contingents were
observed in the area of Tebessa,
Algerian border town 140 miles
northwest of Gabes, and that they
"appear to be contemplating an offensive"
against the port.
On the active Tunisia front, southwest
of Pont Du Fahs, a French
communique reported that French
forces improved their positions in
the mountains during a series of local
engagements.
The main body of Gen. Sir B. L.
Montgomery's British eighth army
meanwhile was now well west of
Tripoli and had captured the town
Df Zauia, 30 miles west of the fallen
stronghold, Cairo dispatches said
while the advance guard was be
lieved close to the Tunisian frontier.
Tripoli was left partly garrisoned
by the amazing Fighting French army
of the Chad which entered the
city to climax a drive of nearly
1,500 miles across the blistering and
almost waterless Sahara in 39 days.
EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
LISTS JOB OPENINGS
Uncle Sam would like to make a
date with you if you are unemploy
mi. nis neaaquartcrs are at tne court
house m Boone on Fridays and the
hours are 10 to 1. Hie would like
to discuss the following job openings
with you.
Dietitian, tool draftsman, tracer,
office manager, stenographer, typist,
guard, are welder, blacksmith, ship
carpenter, bus driver, lineman, tack
welder, powder trucker, sawmill
worker, building laborer.
BUY WAR BONDS AND STAMPS ,
?