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Show I Brought Historic Document f - . -He- I ; &eV" SI I HERO OF ATTACK ON PANAY CALLS How ho was wotindffl whtiT" tti c American gunboat Panay was bombed in tht YangtM nvtr, took motion pictures of the 20-mlnute bom bin if and then hiked for three1 and one-half daya to turn the films over to the U. S. navy waa related, by Norman Alley, Universal News-! reel cameraman, at the Salt Lake I City airport Tuesday night aboard i a United Air Lines plane. In the same airplane with the newsman was the little can of three historic reels, guarded by two California Cali-fornia highway patrolmen. The film, which is insured for $325,000. was being r ashed to New York, where prints were to be made anr sent to the state department at Washington and to all parts of the nation for public showing. Accompanying the veteran cameraman cam-eraman were his wife and two daughters, Noreen, 15; Janet, 14. and son. Dexter. 21. They never let their famous father and husband out of their sight, and listened intently in-tently as ha related the adventure, which they no doubt had heard already al-ready several times. Dexter carefully guarded the only remaining souvenir of the Panay a life preserver, which he carried in a white sack. Daughter Answera Asked if he would return to the far eastern war zone, Mr. Alley was cut short by his daughter, Noreen. "He isn't going back." she said. A representative of the Universal company, David Lip ton, also a member of the party, said he did not expect any censorship of the film by the government, since it was news, and as such the public was entitled to see it. "I hardly think the film will cause anv further international ONE OF PANAY HEROES VISITS HERE Norman Alley, . .Obtained priceless film record Three Drowned, Pilot Rescued complications." said Mr. Alley. "It is simply a verification of testimonies testimo-nies which already have been given." Asked to relate the Panay Incident. Inci-dent. Mr. Alley explained that he had been using the ship as a "hotel" for several weeks because he feared if he remained within Nanking the gates would be shut and he would not be able to circulate aa freely as he wished. Ate aa Bomb Hit "I was eating dinner with the officers of-ficers when the first bomb struck," Mr. Alley said. "A splinter wounded me in the leg. We then made for the lifeboats. "The first attack waa from three large navy bombers and was followed fol-lowed by six smaller pursuit planes. The entire raid lasted about 20 minutes. It was pretty hard to care for the wounded, for there were 27 who had been hit- Thirteen of them were stretcher cases. I "We rowed about a half mile to shore and I hid the camera and equipment for fear they should confiscate con-fiscate them. I later picked them up. however, and hiked for three and one-half days to turn the films over to the United States navy. It was plenty tough going with all that equipment." Flags Were Ample Mr. Alley explained that two American flags, each 15 feet long,, were painted on the ship's deck.' Smaller ones were on the kfeboats and a large flag was flying in Us proper place on the mast. "There is no question but that the attackers were aware of the nationality of the ship," he concluded. con-cluded. Aeked for his opinion of their intention, in-tention, he said he believed it waa "done by youthful elements of the Japanese army who thought. To hell with the high command; we'll clean up the river.' " The two Standard Oil ship made for shallow water before they were attacked about one-half hour later, he explained. Mr. Alley related how a Japanese army pontoon maneuvered to both isides of the Panay. machine-gunned machine-gunned her, and that soldiers boarded the ship before it sank. Also In the party Tuesday were John McHenry, California representative repre-sentative of the Universal company, com-pany, and Inspectors Elmer Steln-meyer Steln-meyer and Andrew J. Ford of the California highway patrol. |