Daily Post - 16.12.1943, Blaðsíða 2

M
DAILY POST
ROUND THE PRESS
DAILV POST
ia published by
BlaBahringurinn.
Editor: S. Benedilctsson.
Of'JSce: 12, Austurstrœtl. Tel.
3715 Reykjavík. Printed by
AlþýöupremtsnalBjan Ltd.
(
i Thursday, Dec. 16, 1943
The Weli-koíLwa
Nazl Practises
NEW YORK. — Dr. Guy E.
Snavely, executive secretary
of the Association of American
Colleges, commented recently
on the Nazi arrests of students
and faculty members of the
Oslo University. Said Dr.
Snavely:
Students as well as execu-
tives and faculty members de-
cry the Nazi move to decapi-
tate culture throughout Nor-
way. Professors and students
of American colleges and uni-
versities are well aware of the
cumulative effect of the Gesta-
po’s stamp of death on educa-
tional institutions throughout
German occupied Europe. For
several years, teachers and sci-
entists who escaped the Nazi
yoke reached the United States
and have been contributing to
their knowledge as staff mem-
bers in American schools.
An.effort to stamp out Nor-
wegian education and culture
as evidenced by the brutality
shown at Oslo is just a continua-
tion of theNazi practices (which
the world knows too well. It
harks back to Poland where
/
Nazi invaders destroyed schools,
burned libraries and by shoot-
ings or internments attempted
to rape Poland of her intellec-
tual r ' -s. Itis an echo of the
burj : historic valuable do-
cumecj ac the University of
Naples. It mirrors the base and
consistent attitude of Nazidom
toward free thinking and in-
tellectual processes from the
earliest days of Hitler to today.
What a far cry from the Mos-
woc declarations which pledge
close co-operatian between “all
peace-loving Uations” that peace'
maybe maintained and “politi-
cal, economic and social welfare
of their people be fully promo-
ted.” How different from the
Teheran declaration which, in
addition to reaffirming the faith
in thefour freedoms of the At-
lantic Charter, says: we look
DODGERS AND DISSENTERS
A Boston Lowell and a Hart-
ford Mokarsky lest month head-
lined the tightening and toug-
hening of Selective Service.
The Back Bayer was a young
, (26) poet, Robert Traill Spence
Lowell Jr., son of a retired
naval commander, scion of a
famed family with members in
every war since the Revolution.
No ordinary conscientious ob-
jector, Lowell twice tried to en-
list, later reserved his views be-
cause he 'decided the bombings
of total war are unethical. So
he refused to serve “as a matter
of principle.” Ple was scenten-
ced to a year and a day in Fe-
deral prison.
In Hartford, Conn., young
(23) Stanley Mokarsky Jr. re-
fused to report for induction,
announced that his family (he
was married after Pearl Har-
bor) came before his country,
and that his country had never
done anything for him. Cocky
young Mokarsky (his war job
paid him $100 a week) so riled
Federal Judge Carrol C. Hincks
that he gave the unique if im-
possible choice between going
to jail and leaving the country.
Judge Hincks conceded that he
had no direct power to exile
Citizen Mokarsky, gave him 30
days to think it over before sen-
tencing.
Somewhere between the ap-
parently lofty principles of the
Lowells and the palpably sel-
fish sentiments of the Mokar-
skys come the reasons and ex-
cuses of thousands of draft
| dodgers. Most of them, accor-
I ding to the FBI, are guilty
mainly of carelesness and ig-
norance. Even with far more
men drafted, this war’s total
number of draft delinquents is
lower than last war’s. Delin-
, quencies reported by local
boards to the FBI total 306,144
to date. From June 5, 1917 to
Sept. 11, 1918, 474,861 cases
were reported.
Against the millions of men
calied up, there have been so
far only 6,036 convictions for
draft evasions in World War II.
By quiet prowling, without the
public emotionalism of “slacker
with confidence to the day
when all people of the world
may live free lives, untouched
by tyranny, and according to
their varying desires and their
own consciences.
raids.” the FBI has quently
nudged some 200,0000 other de-
linquents into uniform.
Newest arm of enforcement
is publicity. Some draft boards
have long been posting the
names of • delinquents. Last
week Selective Service <an-
nounced that, in addition to
popping all delinquents aged
18 to 38 directly into 1-A, all
local boards would be asked
to publish delinquent names
monthly, thus try to shame
backsliders into righting their
score.
COMBAT REPORT
Though it fly with the wings
of angels, a combat aircraft is
no demonstrable good until it
has met and passed the final
test of battle. Last month the
U.S. had a glowing report on
the first combat performance of
its newest fighter plane, the
Navys Grumman Hellcat (F6F).
It also got a well-docurríented
secondary report on the Vought
Corsair (F4U), already one of
the 'hottest things in the Paci-
fic air.
In the Wake Island raid Oct.
5 and 6, caprier-borne Hellcats
shot 30 Japanese Zeros out of
the air, nailed another 31 to the
ground with merciless low-level
strafing. Not a Hellcat was lost.
At another Pacific islands, not
identified by the Navy 21 Jap
fighters were destroyed, two
Hellcats lost. Combined score:
51-to-2.
Back to San Diego came a
battle-tried Marine outfit,
| Fighter Squadron 124, first unit
to use the Corsair agains the
Japanese. In eight months of
desperately tough operations,
Fighter Squadron 124 had shot
down 68 enemy planes, lost
only three men. Now its pilots
home for rest and new combat ,
orders, had only praise for
the rugged, high-performance,
hard-hitting, croocked-wing
Corsair.
Escorí Missions. Hellcats
went looking for trouble in the
Marcus Island raid Sept, 1, but
ran into no opposition. They
found it at Wake and in bomber-
escort missions in the Solomons
area.
Lieut. (j.g.) C. K. Hildebrandt
dived on one of six Zeros clos-
ing in on another Hellcat, gave
the enemy ship a burst and saw
it roll over on its back, smok-
“Tracers went by me,” said
he, “so I pulled up, collecting
some 7.7 slugs through the
cockpit enclosure. The Zero
behind me pulled away. Firing
from 100 yards, I continued
through his pull-out and roll.
He ‘went in’ when his port wing
was shot off.”
Then Hildebrandt used one
of the Hellcat’s special tricks
for getting out of a tough spot
—lowering the landing flaps to
cut speed abruptly and maneu-
ver on to thetail of an attack-
ing ship.
“I was jumped by a Zero at
100 feet,” he said. “Then I
used thehand lever to dump the
flaps and I saw the Jap go by
and pull up in a turn. I just held
my trigger down until he blew
up.”
Ensign Paul C. Durup had an-
other story of Hellcat’s nimble-
ness:
“I was ten miles behind the
bombers and catching up fast
when a 7.7 slug from a Zero
entered the cockpit. I pushed
over, skidded away and went
into a steep dive at 500 feet. I
barely managed to mush out at
50 feet over the water. The
Zero had less luck, I guess. At
least he wasn’t there when I
looked—just a big splash.”
Switch to Offenscive. Söon
after the Corsair went into
action in the Solomons, the Ja-
panese had given it a nick-
name worthy of their langua-
ge’s tradition of poetical allu-
sion: “Whistling Death.’” They
had reason. The Corsairs were
helping U.S. air power in the
South Pacific to pass to the of-
fensive, turning the tide of
battle at a critical point early
this year.
Older Wildcat fighter planes,.
with an effective range of 400
miles, were sound defensive
ships but could not give bom-
bers protection for attacks on
major Jap bases. The Corsair’s
700-mile range changed that.
picture, made possible the
knockout and capture of vital
Munda; Figther 12,4 became the
first U.S. squadron to use the
landing strip there.
To launch that offensive
drive (and also to give the Coi'-
sair its final examination in
war) the Marine squadron had
been put together in a tearing;
hurrv. The first 22 Corsairs
arrived at San Diego last Octo-
Continued on page 3.