| Show america girds for still greater effort AS ag pearl harbor anniversary annive r s ary nears A review of outstanding engagement of our Count rys first year at war by CHARLES A Ite released leased by western newspaper union with the approach of Do cember 7 the date of infamy americans everywhere will reaffirm their determination to wor work k fight and sacrifice to win the war and spend a little e time in in retrospect no attempt will bernade be made here to given an overall picture of what has happened during this fateful year but rather a review of some of the great battles in which american soldiers sailors marines and fliers have been without difficulty we recall that fateful sunday afternoon when over a radio suddenly gone wild the shocking and bewildering reports came in pearl harbor had been attack attacked edl 1 people could hardly believe it was true the next day the united states declared war on japan and on december 16 war was declared on japans partners in crimea crime germany and italy since then many thousands of brave american boys have been wrapped in the flag they loved or have found a last resting place beneath the oceans swell these men have illuminated the pages of 0 american history with deeds as bright as the orange flash of a cruisers guns fall of wake island all will remember with reverence the epic of wake island when a handful of U S marines marooned on a tiny atoll in the southwest pacific made history in courage on this occasion a heroic garrison of less than marines defended wake island against a powerful japanese attacking force from december 2 to 22 until they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers with a few outdated out dated planes and a gun or two our boys sank seven jap warships one cruiser four destroyers st one submarine and one gunboat fall of bataan the next staggering shock of the war var was the fall of manila and the lu iu S naval base of cavite in the philippines america took heart though when it learned of the magnificent ent defense which was put up by U S and filipino troops in the rugged terrain of bataan peninsula u under the leadership of gen doug aas macarthur As it was impossible to get reinforcements through the japanese naval blockade of the philippines bataan appeared doomed we recall that in Bata ans darkest hour macarthur was spirited out of a reri remar larka kai ble undercover under cover dash to australia by the mosquito boat hero of bay johnd bulkeley gen Jonat jonathan hafi wainwright took over on bataan wainwright the ithe stony faced general whom the boys loved as much as macarthur lacking food heavy juns guns planes jand and tanks and facing an overwhelming wh elming superiority in enemy arces ay iy Wain wrights men were finally overwhelmed by jap forces estl esti imater at on april 9 long after the guns on bataan ceased firing the guns of corregidor Wain wrights rock kept fir ing wainwright and some of his men had fortunately enough succeeded in getting on the rock flock before bataan fell completely cut off from reinforcements and heavily outnumbered corregidor surrendered to the japs on may 8 wainwright and his gallant band are now presumed to be prisoners of the japs battle of java sea the battle of the java sea bejan began february 27 when the allied fleet attacked the superior japanese fleet off the netherlands east indies in this engi engagement gement 13 united nations warships totaling tons were lost in a series of engagements lasting from february 27 to march 1 included in the U S losses was the 9 ton cruiser houston an and the 1193 ton destroyer pope the allies lost all five cruisers which participated in the action these losses were hard to take but america began to smile again in fact it howled with delight when the the big news news broke that brig gen james jimmy doolittle famous speed flier and world war I 1 ace had dropped plenty of eggs over tokyo with a squadron of north american B that mission was fulfilled on April 18 and it went over bit big both here in america and in tokyo Firs tReal victory of war in the battle of that island studded ocean known as the coral sea which is near the solomon islands and about 1000 miles northeast of australla australia americas first real victory of the war with japan was scored the action occurred on may 4 and called forth deeds of valor as thrill ing as any in all american history the coral sea battle was the first great naval defeat ever dealt the imperial japanese fleets and yet this ibis great battle was fought entirely in the air by the planes of opposing aircraft carriers the ships engaged in this battle never got sight of each other they slugged it out without firing a single gun at another ship the first engagement ga of its kind in history in this first great victory for the U S in this global vair the japs lost more than 15 ships sunk and at least 20 others severely damaged the action perhaps saved australia from invasion on however Howe vei america paid a price for her victory in the sultry coral sea in this engagement the foot aircraft carrier lexington famed ship that laid the foundation for our modern navys aircraft carrier operations erat ions went to the bottom this happened on may 7 the destruction of a japanese armada some hundreds of miles off midway island on june 4 and 5 was another action of the same kind in this engagement U S army bombers roared off from their bases on midway island just another dot on the pacific to meet the most formidable array of warships that imperial ellal japan ever sent steaming against a foe the armada was put to complete rout the carrier yorktown was lost in the battle of midway it went to the bottom on june 7 in the final phases of the great sea air battle but before the grand bid Y went down she catapulted from her flight ie 0 6 A s A A A 4 att 4 official U S navy photo showing shoeing wreckage of the battleship arizona after the japanese raid on pearl harbor deck the dive bombers fighters and torpedo ald planes hes that swung the tide of battle in bavor of old albry A heavy toll of jap ships was taken japs invade aleutians Aleut ians early in june after bombing dutch harbor in alaska jap forces invaded several of the aleutian islands in the north pacific they made their main stronghold kiska and evidently believed that the everlasting fogs that shroud these islands would be their protection but un cle sam was up there too and soon the fleets heavy guns catalina fly ing boats B and B flying fortresses and liberators began bombing and blasting them out on august 8 a U S navy task fores force consisting of a great concentration of cruisers and destroyers glided through the aleutian fogs almost to E in VZ K 41 4 when major general wainwright Waln wright hero of corregidor saw that defeat was inevitable he said ill stay with my men and he did general wainwright shown above is now a prisoner of the japs the very guns of the invaders and hurled tons of TNT and steel into jap shipping gand and shore shone installations in kiska harbor in the battle of kiska only one observation plane was lost not as much as a machine gun bullet hit the fleet since that time the japs havo have pulled out of the aleutians Aleut ians with the exception of kiska their main stronghold and the united states has strengthened its position against them by occupation of the andreanos Andrean of group of the aleutians Aleut ians much closer to rapheld Jap held kiska old glory hoisted in solomons on the very day when the japs in kiska took such a pounding from U S forces exactly eight months to the day after pearl harbor old glory was hoisted by U S marines over the first territory taken back from the japs this glorious event took place on the mountainous island of guadalcanal Guadal canal key to the solomon islands in the southwest pacific this mlle mile long island lies hes athwart the strategic route to australia 1 the japs had labored long in hacking an airfield out of the tropical wilderness of guadalcanal Guadal canal the marines took it away from them and there has hai been a continua continuing day and night battle for possession of the airfield ever since in their efforts to recover this thia vital airfield henderson field and the key island the japs have risked placing the main force of their navy within range of macarthurs Mac Arthurs deadly flying fortresses and the forts that thai roar up off of henderson field bield we have lost some fine ships in the region of guadalcanal Guadal canal cand but bul losses on t the he island have been light compared to what th the e japs have lost according to navy reports their losses run four or five times as heavy as ours however there has been a running battle for continued possession of the island on the part odthe of the U S and for repossession possession re on pa part rt of the japs day and night the pounding goes on from sea and sky buethe but the marines backed by the army and navy have hung an on ant and have made some gains A real showdown show down between U S and jap forces in the solomons came abo about ut in mid november when the greatest na naval val battle since jutland in 1916 was fought supported by macarthurs Mac Arthurs big bombers the navy in a three day running battle smashed a tremendous enemy armada lifting the immediate threat to U S positions on guadalcanal Guadal canal As we pause to remember pearl harbor we must to get the overall picture have in mind the heroic work of U S air pilots over china and U S air pilots operating cooperating co with ahe he royal air force in almost daily or nightly operations over hillers Hit lers reich and over what was known as occupied france we must remember the fine work done by y american troops in operation cooperation co with australians who have pushed back the japs in new guinea turning the tide of battle in the owen stanley mountains saving port moresby and helping to remove the threat from australia day by day through all the months this has been going ory on brave men dying while we take time out to read about it opening of the second front things came to a head in hi the african desert early in november thousands of american boys tank men and aviators participated in the great push of the british eighth army against gen erwin brommels Rom mels afrika korps which at one time was dangerously close to the suez canal one of britaina Brit ains darkest hours swiftly on anthe the heels orthis battle which became a rout as as brij brif ish forces broke through the el ala mein line america got the world shaking news of the opening of the long expected second front at an unexpected expected spot in north africa on saturday november 7 ah weve forgotten for the moment that raid on dieppe in occupied F france rance that dangerous costly raid last august when american rangers were the first actual units to ta participate in land operations on the continent during this war the dieppe raid was not only a rehearsal for the second front but also abed a red herring drawn across the bloody nazi trail the dieppe j raid aid was the foundation of the magnificent success with which the in north africa was launched under the brilliant leader gen dewight eisenhower Elsen hower |
