The White Falcon - 12.05.1945, Síða 1

Vol. VIII.
ICELAND, Saturday, May 12, 1945.
No. 8.
NAZI V-E GUESTS'
EUROPEAN WAR
COME! TO END
AFTERS YEARS
OF BLOODSHED
ECLIPSE OF THE RISING SUN
“Too Good To Be True” Expresses
Genera! Reaction Of !BC Soldiers
After Hearing V—E Proclamation
“It’s almost too good to be
true!” That remark of Pvt.
David Horowitz from De-
troit, Mich., is typical of loc-
al reaction to President
Truman’s proclamation that
Victory in Europe had been
achieved.
Pfc. Terry Packard of the
MPs said simply hut enthus-
iastically, “It’s wonderful
and I don’t think it’ll be long
before it’s over in Japan.”
“Now that it’s over,” says
Charles Parker, Sl/c (Sea
Bee from Pasadena, Calif.),
“all I can think of is going
home.”
Cpl. Stanley Axon, a Brit-
ish medic from Stoke-on-
Trent, England, was “quite
pleased” with the V-E ann-
ouncement but believes that
“the war against Japan kind
of knocks the gilt off any
kind of excessive jubila-
tion.”
Red Cross worker Dee
Jungers of Sleepy Eye,
Minn., says now that V-E is
here her organization will
be faced with an even-more
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In the photo above are pictured the four German avia-
tors captured off the northeast coast of Iceland last week
after their reconnaissance plane crashed. Photo shows
the Nazis after their arrival at the POW camp.
• (Sig. Corps Photo.)
CELEBRATE
V-E DAY IN POW PRISON HERE
(Below is an official release from the IBC on the
capture of four German aviators off the northeast coast
of Iceland last week.)
The four German avia-
tors who made a forced
landing in their Junkers 88
off northeastern Iceland last
week were brought to
Reykjavik and have all been
questioned now by the Pris-
oner of War Interrogation
section of the American arm-
y’s forces here. They came
from ft base in northern Nor-
way and were on a weather
reconnaissance mission cov-
ering the area between Ice-
land and Jan Mayan Island,
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COMMANDING GENERAL'S V-E PROCLAMATION
When the announcement of V-E Day came it brought with it relief and the
satisfaction of a job well done. It is natural that there will be rejoicing and cele-
brating, but it must be tempered with the thought that the war in the Pacific
has yet to be won.
Cessation of hostilities will not in any way affect the general operation of
this base. Work must go on, training will continue though we do have the know-
ledge that our primary mission has been accomplished. Thoughts of home, even
though they will be strong at this time, must not in any way interfere with the
program set out for each unit in this command.
As has been announced by the War Department many men will be returned
to civilian life but this can not be accomplished over night. A program based
upon service, awards and dependency has been established and will be put into
operation with the least practicable delay. While this is being put into effect re-
newed emphasis should be placed on discipline and training.
With the boost in morale that came with V-E Day should also come the deter-
mination to work harder, train more intensively and conduct oneself as a mem-
ber of a victorious army should. There can be no laxness in military discipline.
All officers and men have been awaiting this news which signifies that the
military might of Nazi Germany is at an end. Our celebrating should be influ-
enced by world conditions and tempered until the “Rising Sun” has set and the
flags of the Allied Nations fly over Tokyo. The fight still goes on and it would
be inappropriate to rejoice while men are still dying on the battlefield.
Martinus Stenseth,
Brigadier General, U.S. Army,
Commanding.
It was 1 P.M. in Iceland
on 8 May 1945. Back home
it was 9 A.M.
In Iceland, KPs were pol-
icing mess halls, emptying
trash after noon chow, un-
consciously wondering when
it would all end. A driver of
a two-and-a-lialf swore
vigorously as liis truck
bounced in and out of one
of the many “fox”holes
which pock mark the roads.
At a lonely outpost a
guard phoned in his hourly
report. In a POW barbed-
wire enclosure an MP kept
his eye on four Nazis who
had been captured just a
few days before off the co-
ast of Iceland.
It was a rare day for Ice-
land. Theire was a warm
sun shining down — no
rains, no winds, no mist.
In day rooms, in clubs, in
Divine services will be
held tomorrow morning at
11 o’clock in the Andrews
Fieldhouse in solemn defe-
rence to the Victory in
Europe and in memory of
those who sacrificed their
lives to achieve the vic-
tory.
offices, in rec halls, in huts
there was a kaleidoscopic
blend of fatigues, ODs,
pinks, bars, and stripes be-
fore radios. It was just 1
o’clock.
Then — from the mech-
anical mouth of science —
“This is Station SIGI of the
Iceland Base Command. We
will now take you to the
United States of America.”1
There was an infinitesi-
mal pause. Then, from out
of the ether came a clear,
calm voice with a faint mid-
western twang:
“This is a solemn but a
glorious hour. I only wish
that Franklin D. Roosevelt
had lived to witness this;
day. General Eisenhower,
has informed me that the
forces of Germany have sur-
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