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Show PROVO (UTAH) SUNDAY HERALD, SUNDAY; J APRIL '5 ' 1942 PAGE FOUR U.S. Navy Reveals Loss Of Three Warships in Pacif ic By SANDOR S. KLEIN . KJnited Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, April 4 (U.R TTiree veteran American warships, including the aircraft tender Langley, fell victim to swarms of Japanese bombing planes in the southwest Pacific, Pa-cific, but went down with their guns blazing defiance to the end, a navy communique revealed today. - The 26-year-old Langley, the -destroyer Peary and the naval tanker Pecos fell prey to Japanese bombers between Feb. 19 and March 1. All three fought back fiercely in a plowing demonstration, of the- staunchne8s and. valor of America's Ameri-ca's fighting: men and fighting ships. . Unofficial estimates placed the ' loss of life in the three attacks at more than 700 officers and men. Most of . them died in sinking of the Pecos, which was carrying survivors of the aircraft tender. The Langley, the navy's first aircraft carrier before its conversion conver-sion five years ago, went down in the Indian ocean south of Java on Feb. 27 not by enemy action, but under the guns of her escorting escort-ing destroyers. Smothered in Bombs The Nipponese bombers had "virtually smothered" the lightly-armored lightly-armored 11,050-ton vessel in a hail of bombs. But they failed to sink it. Desperately wounded, it was ' shelled to the bottom by American ships. The Langley, which began her career in the prosaic role as a fleet collier, has been claimed as sunk by the Japanese on at least . three occasions since start of the war. Fourteen of the ship's crew were lost in the bombing attack. The remainder abandoned ship to permit per-mit two accompanying destroyers to move in and deliver the coup de grace. The survivors, picked up by other destroyers, later were transferred trans-ferred to the 5,400-ton Pecos. On March 1, Japanese dive-bombers chose the rescue ship for their target and blasted it to the bottom bot-tom after a running fight that lasted more than four hours. The crew of the Pecos, aided by men from the Langley, fought off the bombers at every turn until un-til forced to abandon their sinking sink-ing ship. .Two-thirds of the combined com-bined crews of the two ships were believed lost in this encounter. en-counter. Bombed In .Harbor The Peary, a World war four-stacker four-stacker destroyer of 1190 tons, was blasted to Jthe bottom off Darwin, north- Australian base, by enemy dive bombers about Feb. 19. But its heroic crew did not give up the fight until the ship actually had sunk under them. The sinkings were not revealed by the navy until now because war conditions in the southwest Pacific made it difficult to obtain . reports on casualties so that next of kin of the victims could be notified.- The losses served to accentuate the extent to which the Japanese controlled the air in the southwest south-west Pacific at the time the attacks at-tacks occurred. More recent reports re-ports from Australia have indicated indi-cated that this overwhelming aerial superiority no longer exists. ex-ists. While "the Langley and Pecos were sunk in the Indian ocean south of Java, and the Peary off Darwin, they were considered victims vic-tims of the general Japanese of-fensive of-fensive against that key Dutch East Indies island. The Japanese attack against Java was an amphibious am-phibious one, covering great sea areas as well as land. Toll Rained To 18 Loss of the three ships raisdl Japan's toll of allied warships in that engagement to 18. Of the 15 sinkings previously disclosed, five were American craft a cruiser, three destroyers and a gunboat. Five naval vessels were destroyed de-stroyed at Pearl Harbor, including the battleship Arizona, the target ship Utah, the desroyer Cassin, and the Dowries and the minelayer minelay-er Ogala. The-skipper of the Peary, Lieut. Commander John M. Benning- ham, of New York, died in the nam, oi in ew xorit, aiea in uie i uuiu muauuasis uuct uiu uauy. Washington Fair Grounds Becomes Jap I 1 r-sp'-r ?: ' .'-,'Ti... ...-.L. " - ... . . , :...$ From fairgrounds to Jan evacuation Seattle and Tacoma cnangea vnrpgs ten are being erected to house 8000 defense of his ship. But the captains cap-tains of the Langley and Pecos Commander Robert P. McConnell of San Diego, Calif., and Commander Com-mander Elmer Abernethy of Los Angeles survived to tell of the last courageous hours of their ships. - Eyewitnesses brought back a graphic account of the Peary's dying but glorious. hours; an epic of bravery that ranked with the highest traditions of John Paul Jones and Oliver Hazard Perry. While the destroyer slowly sank under the incessant pounding pound-ing of Japanese dive-bombers, her crew remained at their battlesta-tions, battlesta-tions, pumping shell for shell at the enemy. The navy department's communique com-munique disclosing the sinkings .raid the Peary's gun crews continued con-tinued their fire "until they were forced by rising water to leave their stations," and "that no officer offi-cer or man left the ship until it sank under him." The Pecos was attacked for more than four hours by three waves of dive bombers totalling more than 21 planes. Its captain, Abernethy, reported that 50 of his men were killed and about 100 wounded as a direct result of the dive bombing. Many more men survivors from the Langley and the Pecos died in the oil-laden waters. As the mortally wounded tanker sank, one of the attackers .straffed the men still left on deck, but was driven off by Lt. Commander L. J. McPeak, who manned a machine ma-chine gun and probably went down with the ship. What survivors could be found were rescued by a destroyer which landed them in Australia after hectic battles with enemy submarines. subma-rines. MacArthur Sends Easier Message GENERAL MAC ARTHUR'S HEADQUARTERS, . Australia; April 4 (U.P) Gen. Douglas Mac-Arthur Mac-Arthur said today in an Easter message: "At the altar where I first joined join-ed the sanctuary of God I ask you to seek divine guidance for me in the great struggle that looms ahead." The message was sent to the Rev. Br. William Postell Witsell, rector of Christ church, Episcopal, Little Rock, Ark., where Gen. MacArthur was born and baptized. baptiz-ed. MacArthur's message was sent in response to a message from Dr. Witsell, who said: "The church of your baptism sends Easter greetings and expressions ex-pressions of faith and loving pride in you." Gen. MacArthur. conferred today to-day with Prime Minister John Curtin. The talk was one of a series in which MacArthur has engaged this week with Australian cabinet ministers, officials and officers, incident to his lining up of his completion of organization work. It was announced that President Presi-dent Manual L. Quezon of the Philippines, who followed Gen. MacArthur to Australia, had sent an inspirational message to his people soon after his arrival. The United States army broadcast broad-cast the message over Bataan's "Voice of Freedom" radio in English Eng-lish and Tagalog, and other army stations in the Philippines also broadcast it. The "Voice of Free dom" broadcasts three times daily. v y ' camp In one big step that's the aw uk uw uj. wic -uyuup, wii., rcotetii Japanese pending their removal from vital defense areas to permanent O : 2 COMMANDERS RELATE STORY OF DISASTER ' SAN FRANCISCO, April 4 J.PJ The .veteran aircraft tender Lanerlev was sent to the bottom of the south Pacific bv crunfire from- American destroyers after it had been crippled by bombs dropped by high flying Japanese land-based planes, it was revealed today. 'Commander R. P. McConnell of Oakland. Calif., commanding offi cer of the U. S. S. Langley, and Commander E. P. Abernethy oi Oklahoma City, commanding the tanker Pecos which rescued the Langley crew before Jt met a similar simi-lar fate, related in matter-of-fact terms the unequal warfare that overtook them south of Java little more than a month ago. Thev told their stories as the navy department in Washington was issuing a communiaue cover ing the sinking of the Langley, tne fecos and the detroyer Peary, sunk at Darwin, with a combined estimated loss of 700 lives. The Lanelev. orieinallv a collier. then the navy's first aircraft car rier, was conveted into a tender five years ago. It was carrying war supplies to the Pacific combat com-bat zones when JaDanase nlanes. sighted it on Feb. 27. Three times previously the Japanese radio in lOKyo naa claimed its sinking. "A hostile observation ,nlane picked us up," said Commander . i ... jncuonneii. "we tooK steps looking look-ing toward sebseauent action. About noon planes were reported and general quarters was sounded. Nine Japanese twin engined land pianes came m at high altitude and made a series of bombing ap- proacnes. "The first salvoes were evaded. but the second bombine bv an other formation of nine planes was very effective. It practically smothered the Langley, and we were rorced to leave the ship. escorting destrovers maneu vered skilfully and avoided direct hits, meanwhile picking up sur vivors rrom tne water. "The escort vessel then ftnnt. ened the sinking of the Langley by use of their own armaments . . . so our own material would not fall into the hands of the enemy'' The following day the destroyers attempted to transfer the survivors survi-vors to the Pecos, wnich was only 30 miles away when the Langley was sunk, but hostile bombing attacks at-tacks and the presence of submarines subma-rines made it impossible. On March 1, however, the tranfer was made. Abernethy took up McConnell's story at this point. "We were going for a new supply sup-ply of oil when we received word the Langley was being bombed and later that she was sunk," he said. "We proceeded to one of the islands isl-ands south of Java to pick up the survivors, but a formation of land-based bombers appeared and the transfer was postponed until the morning of March 1. We then proceeded toward Australia. "About 10:30 a. m. a carrier-based carrier-based Japanese plane appeared and we felt we were in for serious trouble. About noon a formation of dive bombers appeared and dropped bombs. Our guns went into in-to action and one plane, at least, was damaged. "For four hours the attack went on. The bombers came in three formations two of six planes each, one of nine or more. The Pecos was hit inthe first attack. at-tack. . One of my gun crews was knocked out, but men. from the Langley replaced the dead and wounueu. uamage mean Evacuation Ca wounded. Damage became Pro- mp : "5 way these workmen recruited from gressive - and - finally-- the - ship sunk." , " "' Abernethy estimated 50 men on the Pecos were killed1, and 100 wounded as a direct result of dive bombing. When he gave the crder to abandon aban-don ship everything that floated was thrown into the water and the crew went, overooard. It was the second time within 48 hours the Langley men had jumped for their lives. Many clung to floating debris or depended on their life jackets until an Amer Ik ican destroyer plcWed them up four to six hours, later. . As the Pecos sank, bow first, a Japanese dive bomber strafed the few men on the stern. Lieutenant-Commander L. J. McPeak of Boston, Abernethy executive officer, manned a machine gun and drove the plane away. He is among the missing. Point Barrow, Alaska, is the northernmost postof fice operated by the U. S. Postoffice department. depart-ment. 'i v 4 A TREMENDOUS TASK LIES AHEAD OF US! w Today America is at war. Now, in wartime, because of the tremen dous job ahead of us, we must learn again to work hard and to live simply to put into the preserving of America what we once put into the building of it to return to the old ways of Thrift and ' Savings that were the general rule at the beginning of this century. We feel that the Penney Company is peculiarly well equipped to make a substantial contribution toward the Thrift and Savings of the nation because the Penney Company knows from long experience experi-ence what thrift is all about. Thrift is nothing new to the Penney Company it is our stock in trade. When the Penney business was founded, in 1902, hard work, and spartan living were the general rule. Our first little store in Kemmerer, Wyoming was dedicated to Thrift, and all through the years, as our business has grown, Thrift has continued to be our guiding principle. THRIFT AND SAVINGS ARE A BIG PART OF THE JOB The Penney Cos practice of Thrift and Savings Is evidenced in everything we do: We buy for cash and sell for cash; we make no deliveries; we eliminate all costly frills and extravagances; we operate on an extremely small margin of profit f per transaction; we buy at the source in the most economical quantities; we save at every turn! All this means that now when Thrift and Savings mean more than ever, it will pay you, it will save precious dollars for you, always to shop first at Penney's. WE REDEDICATE OURSELVES, TODAY, ON OUR 40th ANNIVERSARY, TO THE SERVICE OF AMERICA We rededicate ourselves to Thrift and Savings. We rededicate our 1600 stores, which now stretch from coast to toast, to the great; job of helping American families to continue to live well for less. THE PENNEY WAY IS THE THRIFTY WAY-THE THRIFTY WAY IS THE AMERICAN WAY! FOJLDEFENSE BUY UMTtO STATES SAVINGS SOWS MD STASH, SILVER SHIRT HEAD ARRESTED WASHINGTON, April 4 OLE) The Justice department today announced an-nounced the arrest of ' William Dudley Pelley, founder of the "Silver Shirts" of America, on charges of "intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the I M l Mill I I I 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 r 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 H i 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 II II 1 1 1 M I j 1 1 1 I H 1 1 f 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i I II 1 1 1 1 1 1 i I M lit I It 1 1 1 M I If f I ITT I IIIMIIIlIlfMIIIIIIIIIlllltlllMllllllllllllllllIllllftllllllllllllllllllllllfllfllllllllllllllllll I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 ri I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 I I 1 1 I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I I VM. A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER OF THE J. C. PENNEY COMPANY: United States or to promote the success of its enemies." Pelley was taken into custody in Darien, Conn., on orders of Attorney At-torney General Francis Biddle. He will be tried in Indianapolis. Ind., where a warrant has been issued by a United States commissioner. com-missioner. . He was charged with seditious activity under the 1917 espionage act. A conviction might lead to a maximum sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment or a $10,000 fine or both. Pelley's apprehension was announced an-nounced by acting Attorney Gen eral Charles Fahy, who said that, Pelley had made "false statement intended to interfere with the success of the military- and naval forces of the United States and intended to promote the 7 success of our- enemies,'" in his magazine maga-zine "The Galilean." BLIZZZARDS PREDICTED DENVER, April 4 tCE The weather" bureau put' a! damper on the Easter parade in Colorado and Wyoming today with a broadcast ' that both states, enjoying typical spring weather today, would have tiizzards tomorrow. C |