Newspapers / Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, … / Jan. 2, 1945, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
F-5^T I REMEMBER I ; Fair and continued cold today with mm • mv mmmm — * highest temperature about 33 degrees. P E A R|. H AKKll R Diminishing winds in afternoon. • AinillJUAK Yesterday’s temperatures: Hl5h’68-Lo" 47_ AND BATAAN M»l- 77.—NO. 296._ WILMINGTON ,N. C., TUESDAY. JANUARY 2, 1945 FINAL EDITION ~ Nazis Hurl Armor, Planes Against Allies; Byrnes Woulc* I wo _ Duke Defeats Crimson Tide In Sugar Bow] Blue Devils Rally In Final Seconds To Win, 29-26 NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 1 — (UP) — Duke's veterar Blue Devils, digging in with championship finesse wher the going was toughest, de feated Alabama 29 to 26 ir the Sugar Bowl today with b clutch rally in the fourth per iod which climaxed a riotous wide open game before 73,00( fans. wm wnat proDamv was tne ir s; stirring renewal of the color ful Sugar Bowl series, the Blue Devils had to break the hearts of a dogged kid Alabama eleven \\ hich had been rated a two touch down underdog. With Duke in front 20 to 19 as the fourth period started, the Crimson Tide, never Quitting its uphill fight, tried to stave off a drive that was pene trating deep into their territory. George Clark, usually a sure fire passer for Duke, arched what was intended to be a touchdown thrust to Gordon Carver, but freshman Hugh Morrow, a 17-year old sprite, had other ideas. Snag ging the ball on his own 27 in front of Carver’s outstretched arms, he raced 73 yards for what appeared to be the deciding touch down. He made an "insurance policy" conversion kick to put Ala bama ahead 26 to 20. Duke fearful that the victory it thought would be gained so easily was slipping from its grasp, drove like Patton’s army in the ensuing march downfield aftet taking the kickoff on their own 25. With Clark. Carver and Tom Davis al ternating for steady gains, the Debbils got to within a half yard of the goal line when the Lnm t-.n Kids balked the drive. Four smashes from the two had failed to bring the ball any closer and Alabama got the ball on its owe half yard line. Harry Gilmer, a brash gum chewing freshman who sparked the Bama boys all day, did some quick thinking and grounded the ball deliberately for a Duke safety to make the score Alabama 26. L'uke 22. * A punt from the Alabamr. 20 \ a.- taken by Duke s Clark on his own 39 and it appeared for a mo ment that the strategy had work ed. Bui the Blue Devils were “on the go again” and this time they made their drive click all the way Clark carried the punt back 1 ■ the Alabama 40. Jim Larue, a substitute back, took half the 'Bama team with him around leit end as he advanced 20 yards tc precisely the point where Ala (Continued on Page Three; Col. 7) BABY ‘BLAU MART’ IS FLOURISHING IN U. S., EXPERT HOLDS By HELEN ASHBY WASHINGTON, Jan. 1.—(UP) Existence of a flourishing blaci market in babies, with some "ba by brokers” selling illegitimate in fants to eager loster parents fo as much as S2.000 apiece, was dis closed tonight by Maud Morlock consultant on social services to th Children's Bureau. She ascribed the booming illici traffic in infants to a combinatio. ci factors, including a sharp ris< in illegitimacy, lack of adequat laws to deal with unscrupulous ba by brokers and the fact that th supply ol babies available fo adoption is insufficient to meet ds rnands of would-be foster parent! The rate of illegitimacy ha more than doubled in the past tw years, she said, estimating tha one in every 12 births today i illegitimate compared with *nl four in every 100 in 1942. Mo: of the unwed mothers are betwee 19 and 24. Many are younger. Sh attributed the increase in illegit mate births to wai stresses. Miss Morlock said that less tha half the states have laws to prosi cute unscrupulous baby brokei operating as commercial adoptic agencies and that the traffic i infants cannot be stopped until th (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2 r Pair Lands In Maine, TakenByFBIIn N. V. Hoover Reports Finding Secret Ink, Large Sum Of Money And Radio Equipment In Haul; One War American Citizen NEW YORK, Jan. 1.—(UP) — The arrest of two Nazi saboteurs, one a U. S. citizen honorably dis charged from the Navy and the second a German, about a month after they landed on a desolate beach in Maine from a German submarine, was announced to night, by J. Edgar Hoover, head of the Federal Bureau of Identi fication. Hoover identified the prisoners as William Curtis Colepaugh, 26. former U. S. sailor and native of Connecticut, and Erich Gimpel, 35, a German citizen who worked 1 for several years in South Ameri ca and was interned for a shore time in this country after his ar rest in Peru for working with Nazi foreign agents. The pair, brought to the Eastern Coast in a Nazi U-boat, landed the night of November 29 at Point !Hancock on Frenchman's Bay, Me., bent on sending messages iby short wave radio to Germany. Hoover said, adding that both were also trained in use of ex plosives, photography and send ing messages with invisible ink. They did not succeed in contact ing the German secret service, he said. Both Colepaugh and Gimpel, who were arrested separately in New York, have made complete statements of their activities, he said. Hoover said Attorney General Francis Biddle will determine whether the men, now held in New York without specific charge, will be prosecuted in a civil court or by a military tribunal. A spokesman for the Depart ment of Justice said in Washing ton tonight that Biddle will con fer with President Roosevelt and Secretary of War Stimson before deciding on the method of trial. Hoover said both men had been (Continued on Page 7; Col. 1) UNITED NATIONS ACCEPT FRANCE Liberated Country Be comes 36th Member Of Group j WASHINGTON. Jan 1—(UPC— I France became the 36th member | of the United Nations today in a j colorful ceremony at which the war-time coalition against the Axis j was hailed as “The foundation stone'’ of peace. French Ambassador Henri Bon net. signing the United Nations dec laration on its third anniversary, pledged his country’s whole-heart ed cooperation in the creation of a wrorld security system because France knows from experience that “from now on. . .War, once begun, will spread over the entire globe.’'. “The United Nations have ap plied in their decisive fight for existence the principles which must ensure international security,’’ he j said. “They must remain invinci ble in peace. To this great cause, France is prepared to devote nei self whole-heartedly.” Scretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., introduced Bonnet to assembled representatives of all the United Nations with a remind er that although France is the 36th signatory, “the whole world knows that the people of Frahce have in spirit and in fact been associated with us.” President Roosevelt, in a mes sage read by Stettinius, recalled the 150 years of French traditions of liberty—"an inspiration to free men everywhere”—and welcomed France into “the first rank of the (Continued on Page 7; Col. 5) --V Former Port Captain Honored For Hunting Germans In Greenland Lt. Comdr. Russell W. Thresher, > former captain of the port here, ; has been awarded the Bronze Star for his work in hunting and de ’ | stroying the Nazi weather outposts Tin Greenland last fall. ' Ships under his command were ? i credited with the action, described - recently in an Associated Press 2' story. He was cited by the Presi r'dent for causing “inestimable” -1 damage to the enemy. Commander Thresher was Cap s tain of the Port of Wilmington o from December 16. 1941, when he t inaugurated the office here, until s he left to serve on the U. S. S. y; Storis. His wife and daughters, t, Barbara and Mary and hi; son, n1 Russell, Jr., reside at Colonial Vil ejlage here. He was a former merchant sea man prior to World War I and in n that conflict, he was commission , ed an ensign in the naval reserve. ' In 1924, after further merchant service, he joined the Coast Guard as a warrant officer, in wdiich capacity he came here. He was commissioned a lieutenant a few ) days after his arrival. AMERICA, SOVIET SPLIT ON LUBLIN Stettinius Says U. S. To Recognize London Polish Regime WASHINGTON, Jan. 1.—fUP> Secretary of State Edward R. Stet tinius, Jr., announced today tha1 the United States will continue tc recognize the Polish government in-exile in London. His statement was plain indica tion that the United States is giving no thought to recognition of the Soviet-sponspred Lublin group ol Poles which, over the wek-end proclaimed itself the provisional government of Poland. Stettinius’ reaction was given in answer to a question submitted by reporters as to whether this gov ernment was considering recogni tion of the Lublin group. Officials here anticipated that the Soviet Union soon will grant full diplomatic recognition to the Lub lin group. It broke relations with the London group nearly two years ago. Stettinius welcomed the forma (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) Draft Calls To Increase, He Predicts Reconversion Swept Into Background By His Summary WASHINGTON, Jan. 1— (#*)—A plan to force millions of 4-F’s into military or war supporting tasks was propos ed today by War Mobilization Director James F. Byrnes, in case present manpower mea sures prove inadequate. Laws to put teeth into War Lab bor Board and manpower edicts also were suggested by Byrnes in a massive report to President Roosevelt and Congress, which he elaborated at a news conference. He predicted increases in draft calls—beyond the jump of 20,000 men niummj' wmen went imu ci feet today — to fill gaps in the ranks of the fighting forces and man new Navy ships. And, in the jarring report on his administration of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, Byrnes swept the reconversion phase into the background and de cried last summer's “too early start’’ on peacetime production. “The truth is that our soldiers at the front today are not short of ammunition and supplies as a result of any production failures,” he said. “However, they may be short a few weeks hence if we fail." If recent actions to tighten the war production effort fail, Byrnes said he believed Congress snould clamp controls on those found dis qualified for military duty, so “they may render their war serv ice in essential war activities. Byrnes said he referred to 4-F men not now in war work. He suggested they be drafted and then ; either used for limited service in I the armed forces or channeled i where needed into war industry. He declined to give details, say ing Congress should work them out. Expanded reconversion activity must wait, the report declared, “until victory is within our grasp, until our military men tell us they have enough supplies and that we can afford to reduce production.” “When one of our enemies is de-| feated, then and only then can we (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) 48 Dead, 79 Badly Hurt In Utah Railroad Wreck OGDEN, Utah, Jan. 1—(UP) Southern Pacific railroad officials tonight placed at 48 dead and 7E seriously injured the casualty tol in the wreck early yesterday morn ing of two sections of the cract Pacific Limited. Wrecker crews still were toiling to clear the tracks of the shambles of twisted and telescoped sleepei and daycoach cars which wert hurled from the track, some intc the marshes of Great Salt Lake when the speeding mail and ex press section plowed into the real of the fully-loaded passenger trail' 22 miles west of Ogden. The office of V. M. Patterson divisional superintendent of th< Southern Pacific, still was unablt to determine why the 20-car sec ond section sped past red signals torpedo warnings and flare signals to drive deep into the sleeper of the rear of the 18-car passengei train ‘which had stopped for i slow-moving freight ahead. Petterson and J. W. Corbett. th< railroad’s general manager, saic a formal inquiry had been tenta tively set for Thursday. Complete findings will be submitted to the Interstate Commerce Commission The dead included civilians anc service personnel, bound for Sal Francisco on New Year’s Eve. The names of some of the soldiers aboard the 500-passenger first sec tion had been released but th< identity of six soldiers was with held pending notification of nex of kin. Names of all Naval per sonnel were ordered withheld pend -ing formal announcement by the 12th Naval District at San Fran cisco. Five civilian victims lay uniden tified in Ogden mortuaries. James McDonald, 64-year-old veteran of 37 years with the South ern Pacific, was piloting the sec ond section and was killed at his post. The fireman, M. E. Hardman, also of Ogden, escaped with minor injuries and shock. Virtually every passenger and crew member in the last four cars of the passenger train was killed or injured, some scalded by live steam which poured from the loco-; motive of the mail train. Officials said late today that the ! last of the bodies had been re-! | moved. Some of the dead, dying and in i iured were pinned in the wreckage ! for as much as eight hours. The j nperature hovered at 10 degrees ...len the collision occurred two hours before dawn Sunday, with the cold accentuating the agonies : of the injured. The Southern Pacific denied ■ earlier reports that one of the cars i of the first section was an old ! model, wood and steel day coach . in which casualties were particu . larly high. The railroad said all i cars on the train were made of : steel. After heroic first aid work by ■ Army medical men aboard the ! train, some of the injured were removed to hospitals in nearby t Utah towns and others were taken • on to San Francisco in undamag i ed cars of the passenger train, j --—--*. The Old And New Pas s In Northern Burma China Coast Bases Needed For Jap Push, Nimitz Says U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, Pearl Har bor. Jan. 1—(UP)—The United States must be prepared to invade Japan and to secure bases on the China coast, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz today said on his return from Pacific fighting fronts with a forecast of a “very unhappy” EIGHT JAP SHIPS SUNK BY YANKS IN GULF OF LINGAYEN ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Leyte. Philippines, Tuesday, Jan. 2, —(UP) —Land based American planes, in their deepest penetra tion of Japanese-occupied territory in the Philippines, sank eight ene my ships including two destroyers in the Lingayen Gulf Saturday as part of a shattering two-day at tack by all types of planes on southern Luzon, it was announced today. Three freighter-transports of 8, 00C tons each, two smaller cargo vessels and a destroyer escort were sunk in addition to the de stroyers, Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced in a communique. Mitchell medium bombers, A-20 attack bombers and P-40 fighters made the gulf attack Saturday while Liberator heavy bombers struck the important Nielson air drome at Manila. Marine Corsair planes, ranging widely over southern Luzon Sun day, dive-bombed trains, blowing up one ammunition train and ser iously damaging three others. At least 20 locomotives were de stroyed in a 155-mile stretch at tack along the southern Luzon rail roads. More than 50 Corsairs took part in the attacks. The Lingayen Gulf, where the ships were sunk, is about 100 miles north-northwest of Manila on the west coast of Luzon. The gulf coast was one of the starting points of the Japanese invasion. During the American attacks, (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) -v Three American Officers In Pajamas Dangle From Window Ledge During Fire LONDON. Jan. 1—(UP)—Three pajama-clad American Army offi cers dangled precariously on a narrow window ledge 80 feet above Grosvenor square in the cold New Year’s dawn today, un noticed by firemen until their apartment fire was extinguished. The officers climbed out the window' when the blaze flared up and shouted to a passerby, who turned in the alarm—but failed to mention the plight of the Ameri cans. They were discovered later by the firemen, who threw them a rope, enabling them to slide over : a sloping roof to safety. They were Col John William Easton, New York City, Lt, Col. j Redington| Friske, New Canaan, Conn., and Maj. Edwin Chapin, Seattle, Wash iaio lur uic Japanese. Exuding confidence at the begin ning of the fourth year of his com mand of the area. Nimitz announc ed his goal is “the complete de feat of Japan at the earliest pos sible moment.” “We should be prepared to in vade Japan and we will undoubt edly have to occupy enough of it to win the peace,” Nimitz said. “I believe also that it is essentail for us to go to the China coast in order to secure land masses nec essary for deployment of our huge forces.” Nimitz, flanked by h i s deputy chief of staff, Rear Admiral For rest P. Sherman, said grimly that he thinks the Japs will “fight to the last ditch’’ but that America’s fighting forces from the air, land and sea will move in without a letup. Sherman added his opinion that Japanese homes will be burned out, their food curtailed and their armed forces defeated. “We will continue to move in the direction of Japan, to seize bases from where we can carry the war close and closer. . . we hope to meet the remaining units of the Japanese surface fleet and the past,” Nimitz said, dispose of them as we have in He told correspondents he couldn’t give them any schedule for these events but “I can assure you we will use all our resources without loss of time . In this con (Continued on Page Two; Col. ~) BUDAPEST BATTLE MOUNTS IN FURY Capital Of Hungary May Be Demolished In Fanatical Fight LONDON, Tuesday, Jan. 2—?7P)— The fanatical Germem and Hungar ian defenders of Budapest, trapped between assault forces which squeezed steadily from both the east and west, felt the mounting fury of the Red Army today in a battle which threatened to demolish the once beautiful Hungarian cap ital. An early morning communique broadcast from Moscow said the enemy garrison, although supplied by air, had lost more than 1,000 men and had been pushed from more than 200 additional blocks ot buildings in savage fighting through the city's streets Monday. his report also said the Rus sians knocked out 24 German tanks and 13 armored troop carriers and tool: 429 prisoners in Budapest, the first big bag of captives since the Soviet forces broke through the western- city limits. In the last three days, the Rus sians claim to have killed more than 7,300 of Budapest’s doomec defenders. They now hold more than 600 blocks of the embattled capital. Dispatches from Moscow said frontline reports received there in dicated that the fall of Buda, the section of the city west of the Dan ube river, was expected within 24 to 36 hours. A Cairo radio broadcast last night said all the Germans had been driv en from Buda, but there was no (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) Navy Review Says Japan Open To Fleet Assaults u S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD QUARTERS, Honolulu, Jan. 1—VP) _Pacific Fleet Headquarters, de clared today in a 1944 war review that the enemy’s homeland now was open to fleet attack. All of Japan’s defensive arc, from the Kurile Islands to Manila.; the 1944 review asserted, now is. within effective range of fleet andj shorebased aircraft. B-29 Superfortress bombers havej already penetrated this arc numer- . ous times to strike at Tokyo and other Japanese industrial centers. The review cautioned, however, that “the decisive battles, the ; greatest battles and the hardest | battles in the Pacific war are still . to come. The enemy, like ourselves, has just begun to fight.” , The 800-word year review of the war declared Allied power had ( pushed in “massive lunges through Japan’s illgotten conquests.” < Figures were presented to show , the extent to which the Japanese ] fleet had been crippled by Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz’ surface ships, aircraft and submarines. It said, “during the year U. S. surface ships and aircraft sunk two uf the enemy's battleships, five of ris aircraft carriers, seven of his reavy crusiers, well over 300 cargo ships and trrvnsports and about 200 )ther vessels w’ith the grand total reaching 550 ships.” The report said “U. S. subma rines sank 468 Japanese ships dur ng the first 11 months of 1944. rhis. total includes four light cruis ers and 17 desrtoyers. “Forty-three tankers and 377 car lo ships and transports were sent o the bottom. In December, an :nemy aircraft carrier was sunk jy a submarine. “The tonnage of Japanese ships :unk during 1944 by U. S. subma rines alone is in excess of 2,500, i00 tons. “During 1944, 6,650 enemy air :raft were destroyed in the Pacific Jcean areas. Of these approximate y 5,450 were destroyed by carrier Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) Aerial Battle Rages As Foe Begins Drive Americans Admit Minor Gains In Some Sectors Of Front SUPREME HEADQUAR TERS ALLIED EXPEDI TIONARY FORCE, Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 2—</P)—The Germans gambled men and machines in combined air and land thrusts at the Allies on New Year’s day, counterat tacking against the U. S. Third and Seventh Armies and attempting their greatest aerial offensive operation in I k L A l'AOT*C It was a gamble lor which the Nazis paid a staggering cost. They sent out more than 300 planes in surprise attacks on airfields over a wide area behind the battle zones, ip a desperate effort to shrink Allied air superiority. The Germans lost at least 208 in these fierce actions, and a total of at least 241. What damage tne enemy did to the airfields was not disclosed. Al lied air losses during the day were 25 planes, not counting American heavy bombers which pounded oil anu rail targets. Their figures were not announced last night. On land the Germans made a series of five attacks against the northern flank of the Seventh Ar my and punched at the Third Ar my’s hold on the Bastogne corri dor. German forces gained some ground in a wooded region south of Bannstein, five miles southeast of Bitche, but were held or thrown back at other points along the Seventh Army front. Front dispatches said the as saults were launched on Sunday and were mostly in small strength. These enemy blows came as in ! formation on the fighting against the enemy’s bulge into Belgium, still subject to 24 hours or more delay for security reasons, told of gains up to six miles by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army at the southwestern corner of the German salient. j In fierce armored battles on both j sides of the Bastogne corridor, | the Third Army destroyed or dam i aged 94 German tanks and smash !ed a counterattack launched at the corridor from the east. In the same I area fighter bombers of the U. j S. Ninth Air Force disabled 123 | tanks and motor vehicles before j noon today. Most of the action was in the j air, with sky battles raging from ! one end of the sprawding front to j the other as the Allies met the ! (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) YANKS PICK MILAN | AS FIRST TARGET OF THE NEW YEAR / . ROME. Jan. 1—(UP)—Low-fly ing A-20 Havoc night bombers, in a midnight attack against _ the largest railyard in Italy at Milan, today ushered in the new year and struck the first American airblow of 1945 against enemy-held Europe. First Lt. Robert Ritchie, Han ford. Cal., who led the attack, said it was precisely 12 midnight when he dropped his bombs on the heavi ly-defended target. Officials termed the raid “the boldest maneuver attempted by American air units during recent months.” Crew members were carefully briefed and were given two days of intensive secret training in preparation for the attack. Milan’s vast communications system feeds supplies to German and Italian Fascist troops along the Italian front, pilots said flak “of all descriptions” was heavy over the target. Several large fires were visible in the midst of a large concentra tion of box cars on the west side of the yards. A string of smaller fires in the central section was ‘‘building up" when the last plane unleashed its missiles. All aircraft returned safely, it was announced. A light tank manned by American-trained Chinese passes an ox cart as it rolls toward the front in northern Burma. This picture was released by the Chinese Ministry of Information. (AP Wirephoto)
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 2, 1945, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75