North Carolina Newspapers

. ' jp r if near TT uhteb stats m A 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 , ?