Friday, January 26, 1945
CLOUDBUSTER
Page Three
Smash Records
In Navy War
Bond Program
All Navy War Bond records
^ere smashed in December,
when bond purchases for the
month totaled $120,701,910, it
been announced by the Office
of Coordinator for War Bonds in
Washington. The December total
^ar surpassed the previous high
of $78,587,569, registered last
July.
The tremendous total was
Reached not only because of the
Pearl Harbor Day volume of
$62,568,845 but also because of
Another record - breaking per
formance—the December allot-
*^ent total of over 42 million
^ollars. Bond purchases for 1944
totaled $576,201,731, as against
«99,116,307 for 1943, or an in
crease of 93 per cent.
Navy Yards, NAS Lead
December purchases showed
^112 per cent increase over the
^ecember 1943 figure of $57,-
1,654 and brought the grand
total since the inception of the
Navy War Bond program in Oc
tober, 1941, to $982,492,371.
The Navy Yards and the Naval
^ir Stations led the bond pro
gram in December with 93.6 per
Cent of the civilian personnel of
the yards investing 11.2 per cent
of their gross payroll and 94.6
Per cent of the Air Stations in
vesting 11 per cent.
As of December 31 effective
^^lotments of uniformed person-
'jiel totaled 1,982,577. Of these,
1)631,010 were by Navy person-
JJ^el; 266,000 by the Marine
^orps and 85,567 by the Coast
^uard.
Chicken Supper
A buffet chicken supper will
?e held Sunday, Jan. 28, at 1900
the Officers’ Club. Officers
their wives are invited.
The Wolf
by Sansofie
opT^ght I94S by Leonard Sanson«. distributed by Camp Newspaper Servic*
\ 0 r/1/ ^
mw
lilt
Mb
IMt
Wmf-
\ " I
I t
"A simple 'hello will do!"
—Correction—
In the 5 January issue of
“Cloudhuster” the headline and
article about Comdr. William R.
(Killer) Kane, USN, were in
error in that he was referred to
as the “New Pre-Flight Head”
and as “Commanding Officer” of
the Naval Aviation Physical and
Military Training Program. Com
mander Kane is head of Physical
and Military Training for Naval
Aviation, under the Director of
the Aviation Training Division,
Office of Chief of Naval Opera
tions.
The Navy’s Pre-Flight School
here is one of the units of the
Naval Air Primary Training
Cadet Place Was
Pacific Vet Before
The job of steering a destroyer
^Uring general quarters once be-
^nged to Aviation Cadet George
Place of Somerville, N. J.
When the USS Connor put out
t^om Boston in 1943, Place was
Aboard a s a
^ U artermaster m
participat- ,
in ensuing
battles and
^aids off Wake
island. New
^ f i t a i n and
^New Ireland, as
J'^ell as the in
vasion of the ^
filberts. Upon '
:|^e occasion of ^
the New Brit-
attack. Cadet Place spent
^hristmas Eve at the wheel of
Connor, executing zig-zag
to avoid possible Jap
to
^Pedoes.
Quartermaster^
Reporting To Hill
In February the Connor was
making raids off Truk, the Mari
anas, Saipan and Guam, seeking
Jap shipping. After the comple
tion of this duty Place boarded
a Dutch ship at Pearl Harbor
and returned to the United
States to enter cadet training.
Place, who enlisted in the
Navy in October of 1940, was as
signed to the USS Savannah on
completion of his boot training
and received a pre-war taste of
sea duty during a good-will tour
to New Zealand and South
America’s east coast. Later, still
aboard the Savannah, he took
part in the African invasion.
As an athlete, Place still holds
the one-mile record he estab
lished at Somerville, N. J., high
school, and he was a member of
the Pre-Flight varsity track
team here at Chapel Hill.
Command, of which Rear Ad
miral O. B. Hardison, USN, is
Chief, with command headquar
ters at Naval Air Station, Glen
view, 111.
COMING EVENTS
TOMORROW
MOVIES
Village: Free movies, "This Is the
Life,” with Susanna Foster and Donald
O’Connor, at 1315 and 1449, and
"Thousands Cheer,” with Kathryn Gray
son and Gene Kelly, at 1900 and 2113.
Carolina: "Dark Waters,” with Merle
Oberon and Franchot Tone.
Pick: "Louisiana Hayride,” with Judy
Canova.
BASKETBALL
Carolina Pre-Flight vs. Georgia Pre-
Flight, Woollen Gym at 1930.
BOXING
Carolina Pre-Flight vs. Cherry Point
Marines, Woollen Gym at 2100.
SUNDAY
DIVINE SERVICES
Protestant: Memorial Hall at 1000.
Catholic: Gerrard Hall at 0615, Hill
Music Hall at 1000.
Jewish: Hillel House at 1000.
MOVIES
Village: Free movies, "Swing Fever,”
with Kay Kyser and Marilyn Maxwell,
at 1310 and 1448.
Carolina: "Thin Man Goes Home,”
with William Powell and Myrna Ley.
Pick: "Sensations of 1945,” with Elea
nor Powell.
MONDAY
BASKETBALL
Pre-Flight vs. Camp Lejeune, Woollen
Gym at 1930.
TUESDAY
WRESTLING
Pre-Flight vs. Duke, Woollen Gym at
1930.
WEDNESDAY
BASKETBALL
Pre-Flight vs. Edenton Marines, Woollen
Gym at 1930.
80th Jap Admiral Dies
Honolulu (CNS)—Eighty Jap
admirals have died since last
May, according to a Tokyo
broadcast picked up here. Latest
to go was Vice Admiral Hiroshi
Nakagawa. Cause of his demise
was not announced.
Former Cadet Here
Made Heroic Fight
To Defend His Ship
A former Pre-Flight cadet at
Chapel Hill—Lieut, (jg) Wil
liam Gallagher of Belmont,
Mass.—now is listed as missing
in action following a heroic
choice to defend his ship with
little gasoline rather than fly to
safety. Lieut, (jg) Gallagher,
who reported to this school on
Oct. 1, 1942, was in the 10th
battalion.
A Navy torpedo plane pilot—
with only a few minutes’ supply
of gas in his Avenger—Lieut,
(jg) Gallagher calmly elected to
strike the Japanese battle fleet
instead of flying to a ship, a
combat report reveals. It hap
pened in the Second Battle of
the Philippines, during the epi
sode in which a powerful force
of enemy battleships and cruis
ers closed on a small group of
U. S. baby flattops and destroy
ers off Samar Island.
Japs Cross Target
Lieut, (jg) Gallagher was
aboard the USS Gambier Bay.
Later sent to the bottom, this
escort carrier hurriedly was
launching its planes while Jap
shells kicked up towering geys
ers on both sides of the flight
deck. Lieut, (jg) Gallagher had
only enough gasoline in his plane
to last 10 to 12 minutes, and
there was no time to put in
more.
Told he had barely enough to
fly to another carrier, the 22-
year-old airman chose instead
to defend his own ship. “I’ll use
the gas for fighting,” he said.
As soon as his plane was in the
air he headed for a Jap cruiser,
maneuvered into position, and
executed a bombing run through
a vicious barrage of anti-aircraft
fire. A few minutes later an
other Navy pilot saw Lieut, (jg)
GaUagher’s plane smoking and
losing altitude. Possibly hit by
flak and certainly out of gaso
line, the Avenger made a forced
landing in the very center of the
Jap fleet.
Shortly afterward the enemy
warships, harried by planes
from the baby flattops and
threatened by the approach' of
other Navy units, broke off the
engagement and fled through
San Bernardino Strait.
—Fighter Ace—
(Continued from Page 1)
exploits during this and the Sec
ond Battle of the Philippine Sea.
During the seven months of
operations before it returned to
the United States for a rest pe
riod, Air Group 15 compiled a
carrier group record of 312
enemy planes destroyed in the
air; 348 destroyed on the ground;
388 probably destroyed or dam
aged in the air and on the
ground; a carrier, a destroyer,
and a destroyer escort sunk
without aid from other air
groups.