SONS OF F ATHERS OF FAMED WORLD WAR I, "OLD HICKORY", DIVISION CARRY ON IN THIS WAR WITH SAME FIGHTING SPIRIT Cpl. Ray W. Cunningham, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Cunningham, of Sylva who is now with the First Army in Germany, writes the following: For some time I have been hoping I could tell you folks back home abouU :his outfit of ours and the swell rec ord it has made in World War II from the time it hit the Normandy beach :nd began fighting on June 15. Cen sorship has kept our Old Hickory Division's engagements pretty much "under wraps" but' we have made a ' record we'll stack up against any other division's and the Public Rela tions staff has made it easier for us To get the information back to you by summarizing the highlights of the 30th's greatest campaigns and get ting this material cleared through the press censorship. This is some of the information we can tell: When the 30th Infantry Division tioops charged through the greatest concentration of artillery and mortar fire they had met in the Western . Campaign to storm the bunkers of the German Siegfried Line and establish a bridgehead in the Fatherland, they reached an objective for which, in three monttis of bitter fighting they had been paving the way since the battle near the beaches. Smashing the Siegfried Line, the sector north of Aachen where it was heavily manned and then aiding in closing the gap that forced Aachen's fall constituted one of the toughest ' jobs assigned any division in the Battle of Europe. But th? 30th Infantry Division re ceived its baptism of fire on a tough assignment June 15 and its progress to the German frontier was marked by battles that have been vital in the master strategy of World War II. The all-important break through south of pulverized St. Lo on July 25, a date already historically significant, was spearheaded by the Old Hickory men. A realy fighting team, the troops of the 30th had qualified for that assignment ? which battered open a passage through the hedgerow country allowing American armor to fan out over France? by a series of successful offensives against the Germans. At the outset the 30th drove -the Germans back aoroii~the Vjre River. Then in a spectacular awn attack, the Old Hickorymen -orced a crossing of theVire River and opened the drive on St. Lo. These battles in the hedgerow sector were real slugging matches, every foot of advance being skillfully zr.d stubbornly contested and they were complicated by rough and fre quent counterattacks. However, some of the heaviest lighting remained to be accomplished by the 30th after it had given the green light" to the armored drive. That occurred in the Mortain-St. Barthelmy sector when the 30th took ever the area of the First Division at a time when four German panzer divisions struck in the most power iul blitz effort of the campaign, to crive through to Avranches and sep arte the American First and Third Armies. It was there that infantry rifle men with bazookas, artillery and tank destroyers, tanks, engineers, AAA units, cooks and messengers,' with the help of U. S. Planes and RAF rocket-firing Typhoons finally threw back the German tanks in a battle that see-sawed for three days before the Germans concluded that they were no match for one American division. In this same battle, the great de fensive a Mortain-St Barthelmy, a battalion was isolated on a hill near Mortain, cut off without food, am munition and medical supplies for five and a half days and despite the fact the harassed -infantrymen were under constant enemy observation, artillery and mortar fire, they re fused repeated demands to surrender. The 30th infantry Division was com mended for its heroic stand, for the courage and skill of its men who re- j fused to let overwhelming odds dis courage them in the battle against tanks at St. Barthelmy, and for the loyalty and stamina of the mem bers of the "lost battalion" who defied surrender demand their spokesman H'i'ing the German officers: "Go to hell, we wouldn't surrender if our last round of ammunition was f red and our last bayonet broken off in a Jerry belly." Thi% battle of the 30th against the best of the German armor started on the night of August 7-8 and a week l.iter the Old Hickorymen again were f>;rcing the retreat of the Germans. - The 30th troops drove rapidly against the Germans to free Evreux apd Louviers, then crossed the Seine r.t Mantes Cassicourt to enlarge the bi ldgehead there and prepare for the next breakthrough, this time into Bolgium. An opposed infantry speed march record was made and another com mendation won when on August 31 and September 1 the 30th dashed to Tournai, Belgium, covering 180 milesj through enemy territory in 72 hours. 1 The march motorized during the last two days and was screened by a task force of the division. The 30th was the first allied infantry division to enter Belgium. Still disrupting German efforts to ward an orderly withdrawal, the Old Hickorymen drove on to become the first allied troops in Holland, arriv ing there-^?-September 12, after hav ing captured the famous border fort ress, Eben Emael, on September 10. Maastricht, Holland, fell to the 30th on September 13 after Old Hickory troops fought on into Germany, ad vance elements crossing the border at Horbach on September 14. The attack on the Siegfred Line started October 2, continued for two weeks, to establish the bridgehead in what reputed by the Germans to be their "impenetrable West Wall." More than 1,500 battle decorations of the 30th fnfantry Division for gal i3ntry in action and meritorious ser vice in the face of the enemy. The 30th Infantry Division is com rianded by Major General L. S. Hobbs who has been twice decorated. Although it was originally built around troops from National Guard units of Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas, and thus gets its name, Old hickory, from President Andrew Jackson, who led troops in that sector, the 30th's officers and men represent all states in the union. The division climaxed a colorful World War I history by crashing the Hindenburg Line, paving the way for Germany's ultimate defeat then. Will History repeat itself? WILMOT NEWS Miss Helen Settlemyre, who has been empolyed at Oak Ridge, Tenn., has been visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Settlemyre. Mr. Hughie Nations of Portsmouth, Va., has been called home due to the illness of his brother, Raymond Na tions who has been very sick. Miss Bonnie Woods left Sunday for Oak Ridge, Tenn. Mr. Donald Bradley is visiting his brother, Robert Bradley, of Asheville, before leaving for service. Mrs. Nell Settlemyre is sick. Pvt. Alf Bumgarner of Sylva was the guest of Mrs. Nell Settlemyre and daughter, Delia Mae. eBertParhof theTDeal SPECIAL COFFEE Vo" ^cPffje i" j/ LOOKING AHEM . ?V GEORGE S. BENSON CblUf* S$*rtp. JrAamsat Mortgage Money National Resources Planning Board, in a booklet by Miles Colean, predicted last January that residen tial buildings in the United States *ould approximate a million new dwellings each year for ten years ifter the war. There was an "if" >n the forecast: If the price could te held down to an average of about *4.000. Well, ten million $4,000 units represent 40 billion dollars, which is I lot of money. The vision of a million people planking down $4,000 each for a douse in a single year is a pipe ream. People able to make such ash outlays have houses already, hese new houses Will be sold on bredit. Buyers will sign instalment potes. Debts will be protected by nortgages in the hands of life in urance companies, loan associa ions and certain kinds of banks. Jncle Sam may insure the mort ;ages. Unfit to Repeat There is an old bromtde about his tory repeating itself but some his tory is not good enough to repeat. We told last week why 9.4% of~ lovernment-insured mortgages de Saulted and cost the national treas try more than $600 apiece. If that hould be repeated on ten million aomes to start building soon after the war, government's loss alone would shoot well above half a billion, jnd that's the small part. Suppose only 9% of ten million aew, post-war homes are lost by fore :losure; that would be 900,000 pomes. Hopeful owners usually pay 20% down, which is $800 on a $4-, 000 nouse. Few buyers, living in such l hoUse a year, could escape a loss pi $1,000 at least. This profitless payment for vain hopes would total i00 million dollars. Worst of all, it would come from frugal, industri ous, home-making people. Need Net Happen I The foregoing simply arithmetic would seem pretty gloomy if it abso lutely had to happen, but it does lot. It offers an idea of how much ;ax money will be wasted if pre-war Methods are used in financing post war houses. The danger is real. All he controls affecting the quality of gilding today existed during the >oom that followed World War One. lorry houses may still be built and old on payments. i Instalment home-buying is practi tal economy. Discounting notes is ound banking. Government insur ~ ince of loans has been a blessing; ;aved many a family from calamity Wnd many a lender from ruin. But shoddy construction blights all this. It makes neither good homes nor pood security for a bank loan. Lend ng is the cue. Mortgage money is ie key to better building. Houses Warrantable , Buildings under construction need ;ompetent and impartial supervi sion and rating, somewhat as steam ships are rated, or as a business irm's credit is rated. This is to protect lender and borrower both pgainst mortgages far out of line with a building's actual worth. Such an agency exists, Certified Building Registry, relatively little used, but known to leading associations' of architects, engineers and general tontractors. Few money lenders are qualified to judge structural fitness. Many a home buyer never sees his house until its inner defects are hidden bj decorative enticements. Yet buyer and banker both deserve the protec tion of a rating that means (1) a home worth its price in a working man's money, and (2) security for the bank that holds the paper. Protects the Buyer In the interest of public safety local governments require periodic inspection of passenger elevators and pressure boilers. Stock selling schemes must stand rigid inspection by state authority. It would seem even mora important that ready made residences carry a seal of merit In the welter of a buying boom it would distinguish a specula tive builder to sell Impartially rated feouses. p P J"r trirklrbtrtrCrbtrCrCrtt'irtrCrCr&'irCrtrto'irCrto WAR QUIZ CORNER frIiTbftftfrirCrur'frCrCrCrCi'irCrCrtitt'to&ti'&'irtrii WHO IS HE? (40 points) 1. This man be came Hitler's No. 1 collabora tor in France, taking over from Petain. Know him? I . True or false: Karelian isthmus was taken by Nazis from Greece. 3. Famed U. S. general in Burma and India was (a) Chennault, (b) MacArthur, (c) Stil^ell. 4. Who was Germany's "front" man in Norway? ANSWERS Coent: Question one, 40; rest, 30 each. Score: 100, perfect; 80, rood; 00, fair. 1. Pierre LavaL 2. False. Taken by Russia from Finland. 3. StilweU. 4. Major Vidkun Quisling. irCrtrCrCiiiG&