USA > Indiana > Lake County > History Of Veterans Of Foreign Wars (1944) > Part 17
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Page One Hundred Sixyt-five
TELLS OF NAZI MACHINE-GUN STRAFING AFTER HIS SHIPPED WAS BOMBED AT SICILY
R. L. Hauk
Hammond Times, September 19, 1943
Graphically depicting the deadly side of war, Seaman Robert L. Hauk of Hammond, a gunner's mate, third class, returned home this week for a 30-day leave from active duty with a thrilling story of how he survived the bombing of his boat and a German pilot's machine-gun strafing.
Seaman Hauk, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hauk, 6727 Wicker avenue, was on the second boat to enter Gela, Sicily, when it was bombed by a German plane 200 yards off the coast.
Thrown into the water along with his bud- dies, Hauk and other seamen were mercilessly strafed with machine-gun bullets fired at them by the Nazi pilot but escaped unharmed by continuous wriggling about in the water and submerging whenever the plane neared them.
After spending a hectic hour in the ocean, Hauk and his mates finally were rescued by the crew of another Allied ship. Besides this action, the Hammond sailor also saw active service overseas at Algiers, Oran, LaGoulette, Bizerte, Tunis and Arzea.
Government to pay wounded war veterans-
Continued from previous page
"Yet-there were mistakes. Some were put in trades and professions where they didn't belong. If I myself had followed the advise of my vocational guidance advisor I'd have been raising bees! Yes, that's what he recommended.
This time, we want to make sure there won't be such mistakes."
Brig. Gen. Frank T. Hines, administrator of veterans' affairs stressed the importance of equipping disabled veterans to earn their liv- ing. He told the convention.
"There will be keen competition in em- ployment when the war is over. The veterans' administration is bending its efforts to see that disabled veterans are equipped to earn their way in the face of this competition. I am sure that in addition to the laws already written, there will be written provisions for definite preference to veterans in employment."
According to officials of the DAV, 59 per cent of the 105,000 service men of World War II with certificates of disability discharge have reported that they either have jobs, are undergoing rehabilitation training, or do not need any assistance. Thirteen hundred appli- cations for vocational rehabilitation have been filed, and a number of disabled men now are actually in training.
SOLDIERS ON FURLOUGH AID IN DEDICATION OF PLAGUE
Hammond Times, Sept. 21, 1943
Two soldiers on furlough, Sgt. Bobst, sta- tioned at Ramolus, Mich., and First Sgt. Neal Clark, Panama canal zone, raised the flag and unveiled the placque Sunday when Area 3, Zone B, dedicated the placque at 510 Sibley street, Hammond.
Colors were presented by the Edward H. Larsen Post 802. The invocation was by Father Letko of . All Saints' Church.
Mayor Smith was the guest speaker. "When the Lights Go On Again" and "Prayer for Peace" were rendered by Mrs. Norton Hep- ner and Miss Jeannette Patterson responded with a reading: "America We Love You."
Rev. Theo L. Lewis of the Baptist church said the closing prayer. The block matrons of Area 3 Zone B, pinned a red rose on each mother, wife, sister and sweetheart, represent- ing the names listed on the placque. Rev. Mungovan of All Saints' church donated the ground and flag pole.
Page One Hundred Sixty-six
IN NAVY OVERSEAS
C. South, Jr.
Hammond Times, September 20, 1943
Clarence F. South, Jr., 27, of Gary, was promoted to the rating of machinist's mate, second class, after receiving training at Great Lakes, Ill., and was assigned to overseas duty.
Enlisting last October, South is a former Thornton Fractional High school student and a Hammond Business college graduate. He was employed at the Inland Steel company, Indiana Harbor, before volunteering for navy duty. He made his home in Hammond as a civilian with his sister, Mrs. Mozella Donahue, 7426 Alexander avenue, Hammond.
NORMAN PASCHEN OVERSEAS
Hammond Times, September 20, 1943
A cablegram stating he had arrived safely overseas has been received from Pvt. Norman Paschen, formerly of Whiting, by his aunt, Mrs. Ruth Moore, 1819 New York avenue.
Pvt. Paschen has been in service since Feb- ruary when he left the University of Wiscon- sin where he was majoring in music on a scholarship.
Mrs. Moore's own son, Aviation Student Wallace Earl Moore, has been just recently assigned to the Arizona State university for additional training in aeronautics. He has been in training since April when he was sent to Salt Lake City for basic.
VET PREFERENCE TEST FORSEEN
Hammond Times, October 7, 1943
Multiply the number of men who wore the uniform in World War I by two and one- half and add the numbers in the women's auxiliaries and you get a fair idea of how big will be the biggest business of Uncle Sam be- fore too long.
Veterans' preference has not come to mean much thus far in this war for the simple reason that jobs are still plentiful, there has been an unusual public profession of desire to get along with the veteran, which certainly did not happen after World War I.
But when the pinch comes, jobs get scarcer and competition stiff, just as it always has and the veteran get scratched and the real test of how the new machinery for veterans' pref- erence will come.
The civil service commission is taking time by the forelock. Administrative and place- ment history has just been made. A section in the commission has been set aside under direc- tion of Charles R. Anderson, himself a veteran of the last war, to take on the job of execut- ing the laws, rules and orders relating to vet- erans in the federal service. The idea of setting up a section has ben debated for weeks.
It is of more than passing interest to note that World War I veterans never got even approximate consideration. Veterans are not objects of charity. It is merely a matter of enforcing plain English words regarding vet- erans. World War I veterans were cut during the "credit act" days to as little as $19 a month. We can recall no time when the White House extended itself to improve the status of veterans. We recall the fight to retain re- enlistment allowance even for peacetime soldiers. We had a part in that fight and Economic Czar James Byrnes, then senator, suddenly lost the ball in the high grass one happy day and failed to prevent its enact- ment as a standing proposition.
Even for veterans of this war, the whole thing is going to have to be a matter of en- forcement after veterans are cleared by the commission.
We see hedgehopping, glaring draft scan- dals, the pinkoes still happy, Rockefeller- Davenport "internes" prying into the service. Will it not be reasonable to say that veterans wil be happy, too, if there is room for all these elements when congress further cut the budgets .- By George D. Riley in the Wash- ington Times-Herald.
Page One Hundred Sixty-Seven
Local Soldiers Pose With Native
Hammond Times, September 22, 1943
Wherever "somewhere in the middle East" is, it's certain from this picture that Cpl. John Petro of East Chicago, left, and Pfc. Frank T. Juscik of Hammond have made friends
among the natives of that land. The two local soldiers, buddies at one of the theaters of war, pose here with a native boy amid palms.
TO AFRICA
Hammond Times, September 20, 1943
A telegram on Friday to his wife confirmed the news in the V-mail letter received on Wednesday that Pfc. Donald Greer has been transferred from Fort Lewis, Wash., to Africa. His address is 35580702 Company D 614 Quartermasters battalion. APO No. 4576 care of postmaster, New York.
Mrs. Greer expects a visit from Pfc. Greers' brother, Pvt. Robert Greer, Monday. He is spending a furlough with his mother, Mrs. Everet Greer of Hammond.
HAMMOND FLIER GETS DFC FOR SERVICE
Hammond Times, September 26, 1943
Staff Sgt. Casimer P. Piatek of Hammond has been awarded the distinguished flying cross for meritorious service with the army's eight air force in England, the war department an- nounced today.
Sgt. Piatek was one of 96 officers and en- listed men of the eighth air armada to receive the DFC or Oak leaf cluster.
Page One Hundred Sixty-eight
Lansing Naval Officer Describes Landing on Rendova Island
Hammond Times, September 24, 1943
"True, the 28 Paprats flying torpedo planes that attacked our task force after we landed invasion troops on Rendova Island last June 30 disabled my boat and forced all hands to abandon ship, but when the smoke of battle cleared, all 28 planes and their slant-eyed pilots were either aflame on the ocean or had gone to their watery graves."
This is the way Ensign Henry W. Potts,
formerly of Lansing, describes the landing of Allied troops that captured the Solomon island base two months ago. Potts, 29 years old and a former instructor at Thornton Fractional high school, Calumet City, was aboard the USS McCawley, an imphibious transport that was part of the naval task force.
Potts, married and the father of 3-year-old Continued on next page
Page One Hundred Sixty-nine
Janelle Potts, entered the navy last November, receiving his commission on Nov. 18, 1942. Prior to that he taught vocational bookkeep- ing and was wrestling coach at the Illinois high school and served as business manager of the school district. His first-hand account of the battle for Rendova island was unfolded yesterday when he re-visited the school on a 30-day survivors' leave granted by the navy.
"All ships of the task force which I was in pulled up to Rendova through treacherous coral reefs in the early-morning hours of June 30, "Potts recounted. "We safely discharged 1,800 combat troops from the McCawley, to- gether with guns and amunition, under heavy fire by Japs on the island. Part of my duties include handling landing barges, so I was with the first troops to put foot on the island."
Having completed its mission of landing the invasion troops on the island, the task force started pulling away from the island about 5 p. m. when the ships were attacked by the 28 Jap torpedo planes.
"The planes dropped five torpedoes at the McCawley and missed but the sixth bomb hit amidship, disabling our engines and killing 13 men and two officers who were in the engine room below," Potts declared. "We then aban- doned ship, going down nets stretched across the water to another ship which came along- side when it saw our plight."
The McCawley was a flagship and carried Adm. Richard Turner, commander of all amphibious forces in the south Pacific.
"Then the Jap pilots started strafing the new ship with machine guns and fired more torpedoes at us - one a near-miss, which is almost as bad as a hit because of the terrific concussion. About an hour later the McCaw- ley, which was still afloat, was hit by three submarine torpedoes and sank almost instant- ly."
Then the rescued men were taken back to their base and re-assigned to other ships or sent back to the states-as in Ensign Potts' case-to take charge of new men who will sail newly constructed ships.
Potts, who wears a ribbon attesting to ac-
tion in the Asiatic, Pacific and American theaters of war and four stars for as many major engagements, was particularly enthus- iastic about the close cooperation of all Amer- ican forces.
"Naturally we of the navy josh the army about its helplessness when we aren't around -cause they can't get to the fighting zones unless we take them there-but when it comes right down to the battle, the army, navy and marines work hand-in-hand all the time. It's a wonderful spirit of cooperation."
Potts, who is visiting with the Russell Ladds, 3117 Jewett street, Highland, while he is here, also praised the spirit of the men at the fight- ing fronts.
"Here at home all I hear is conjecture about when the war might end," he said. "Out there none of us guess at the end-we just do our jobs as well as we can and as efficiently so that we can get home in the shortest possible time."
LT. McNEILL WINS AIR MEDAL
Hammond Times, September 26, 1943
Lt. Howard A. McNeill, 22, former em- ploye of Mercury Pictures, Hammond, and now a bombardier on a Flying Fortress based somewhere in England, has been decorated with an American air medal "for meritorious action under enemy fire."
Lt. McNeill, a native of Hammond, is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. George School, 1117 Summer boulevard. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. William T. McNeill, now live at 10718 Ave- nue G, South Chicago.
Prior to entering service, Lt. McNeill at- tended Hammond high school, where he graduated in 1940. While doing class room work there he also worked part-time for the local photographic firm. Still later he was em- ployed in the engineering department of the International Harvester company, Chicago.
Page One Hundred Seventy
JEEP WINNERS FLASH 'V' FOR VICTORY
Hammond Times, September 24, 1943
Informed that they annexed top honors in the junior emergency employe personnel service contest sponsored by Hammond's junior chamber of commerce, the above seven patriotic youngsters flash their best smiles and line up in a "V For Victory" formation while waving the U. S. war bonds they received from JEEP activities. Reading left to right in the "V" are Robert Austgen, 11, of 127 Mason street, Calumet City, the under 12 boy's division champion; Tom and Jim, the Daily twins, both 12, of 6622 Madison avenue, Hammond, co-champions in the 12-13-year-
old bracket; Paul Shlensky, 14, of 658 Sibley street, Hammond, who won the 14-15-year- old boy's division and also took honors for saving the most war stamps purchased with money he earned as a JEEP; Birdie Warner, 14, of 6328 Madison avenue, Hammond, 14- 15-year-old girl's winner; Helen Miller, 12, of 7436 Chestnut avenue, Hammond, 12-13- . year old girl's champ, Audrey Waller, 11, of 7503 Madison avenue, Hammond, the under-12 girl's winner. First prize in every division but the under-12 competition was a $25 U. S. war bond.
Page One Hundred Seventy-one
A Hammond Mother Greets Her Son
Hammond Times, September 24, 1943
"My boy . .. oh, my son! Thank God for keeping you safe."
These heartfelt words, sobbed out brokenly by his tearful 68-year-old mother, were the best of all greetings given Staff Sgt. Robert O'Connor, 23, of 7208 Van Buren street, Hammond, when he returned here this week as a hero from five major engagements with the enemy.
Best by far, said Sgt. O'Connor, were these impulsive outpourings of his mother, Mrs. Margaret O'Connor, and the handclasp and pat on the shoulder he received from his father, Patrick O'Connor, 70 years old. It was the first time he'd seen them in more than a year during which he's faced death by enemy bullets on many occasions.
Sgt. O'Connor, a marine serving as a radio-
Page One Hundred Seventy-two
gunner in a dive bomber, returns not only as a hero of the Allies' successful battle for air supremacy over Guadalcanal, Munda, Bou- gainville and Savo, but also as one of a trio of modern day "Three Musketeers" who fought side-by-side through five major battles in the South Pacific.
The Hammond radio-gunner enlisted shortly after Pearl Harbor and met the other two members of the "Three Musketeers" while they were sent overseas more than a year ago, the three also were assigned to the same bomber squadron. Other two members are Staff Sgt. Norman Breen, 20, of Chicago, and Sgt. Orville Simmons, 19, of Glenwood, Ia.
Here now to attend Sgt. Breen when he marries Miss Mary Ann Sullivan of Chicago tomorrow, the three praise one another for saving each other's lives during several air battles.
Sgt. O'Connor, in a leading plane on a bombing mission against Jap shipping, told how his plane scored a direct hit on a cruiser which exploded and sank in 15 seconds.
"We turned back after the attack and ran square into a four-plane formation of Jap fighters, all of whom started throwing lead at us," the Hammond flier relates. "We were at their mercy, for my guns had jammed, when suddenly Sgt. Breen came to our rescue, zoom- ing his plane in among the Japs, firing like mad and scaring the enemy pilots out of their wits. They would have gotten us without a doubt if Breen hadn't been around."
Sgt. O'Connor is one of four O'Connors in the armed service. Two of his brothers are with the navy, Daniel on a destroyer some- where at sea and Michael in Hawaii, while the third brother, John, is a private in the army at Virginia.
The returning hero has been twice cited by the president for valor and wears five stars in- dicating his participation in as many major battles overseas. Before entering service he worked at the Lever Bros. company and is a graduate of All Saints' parochial school and Hammond high school.
SAYS RUSS NOT TO FIGHT JAPS
Hammond Times, September 28, 1943
Communist Leader Earl Browder warned again today that it is an "illusion" for the United States to expect Russia to fight Japan.
The U. S., he said, should not expect the Soviets to be "able or willing to undertake the burden of the military struggle with Japan." He termed "harmful nonsense" the idea that Russia would furnish the Allies with Siberian bases with which to bomb Japan.
Browder, who is general secretary of the American Communist party declared that Britain and the U. S. should not expect to share in the political reconstruction of Europe and Asia if the USSR wins the war without "major military aid."
"Let us assume," he said, "that we allow the Soviet union to win the war without our major military participation."
"Do you think for one moment that we can expect the Soviet union to turn around and lick Japan for us, too? And then we, the great and wise and rich and beneficient Uncle Sam will step in and tell all the naughty boys and girls of Europe and Asia where to get off and what they should do and who they should put in charge of affairs?"
Browder blamed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for delay in opening a western European front against Germany. U. S. Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall, and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower both favored the expedition, Browder said, but Churchill decided against it.
The Communist leader asserted that "if the second front had been opened in the west this past spring or summer, the war in Europe would already have been decisively won."
PROMOTED
Hammond Times, September 28, 1943
Richard A. Sirlin of East Chicago has been promoted to technician fifth grade, it was an- nounced today by mobile force headquarters. Cpl. Sirlin, whose family lives at 4817 Baring avenue, East Chicago, is currently serving with a mobile force signal unit. He has been in the army for nearly two years and has been on foreign service in the Panama Canal de- partment since last April.
Page One Hundred Seventy-three
SAY PLANE BEARING SGT. BACON CRASHED JUST AFTER TAKEOFF
Sgt. Joe Bacon
Hammond Times, September 23, 1943
Although army air corps authorities with- held exact details of a transport ship crash Monday in which Staff Sgt. Joseph John Ba- con, 21, of 1844 Sheridan avenue, Whiting, and 24 others were killed, it was learned to- day that the tragedy occurred shortly after the plane had taken off for a "shuttle run" from the Maxton airfield near Laurinburg, N. C.
In a dispatch giving only the barest de- tails of the crash, air corps officers said the ship ascended about 100 feet into the air, then hesitated and plunged into a woods near the end of the plane runway, bursting into flames almost instantly. None of the crew or its passengers escaped alive.
The body of Sgt. Bacon, who was assigned to the Raleigh-Durham airport at Raleigh, N. C., for training, will arrive in East Chi- cago tomorrow morning. The Whiting flier is survived by his mother, Anna, and a brother, Steve, who reside at the Sheridan avenue ad- dress.
Last rites will be held Monday morning at 9:30 o'clock in the Prusiecki chapel, 3831 Michigan avenue, and at 10 o'clock in Holy Trinity Crotian church, with the Rev. Francis Podgorsek officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill cemetery, Gary.
Before entering service, Sgt. Bacon gradu- ated from Washington high school, where he was active in football, basketball and wres- tling.
WHITING PILOT DIES
Lt. Smith
Hammond Times, September 20, 1943
A Whiting flier, Lt. Clayton Smith, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clay V. Smith, 2748 New York avenue, was killed Sept. 15 while flying a B-24 bomber patroling the coasts of Latin- America in the guard against submarines, his parents were informed today.
Besides his parents he is survived by three brothers, Pfc. Charles William, on anti-air- craft duty somewhere in the Pacific, James and Harry, and three sisters, Dorothy Imo- gene and Ruthann.
He volunteered as an aviation cadet, Nov. 24, 1941 and received basic training at Max- well Field, Ala., then going to Greenville, Miss., for primary training and George Field, Ill., where he was commissioned a second lieutenant.
He visited his home for the last time in May, 1942, and soon afterward was sent to South America.
Born May 17, 1920, he was a graduate of George Rogers Clark high school in 1939 and was employed by the Standard Oil company.
Page One Hundred Seventy-four
RETURNS TO DESTROYER
K. Jackson
Hammond Times, September 29, 1943
After a four-day leave, spent with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Jackson, 1161 Summer street, Hammond, and his fiancee, Miss Merle Reichoff of East Chicago, Kenneth Jackson, seaman 1c, has returned to his naval duties aboard a destroyer. Jackson who is 19, enterred naval service last December. Prior to his enlistment he was employed by the Hammond Pullman-Standard Mfg. company plant.
NURSE IN ENGLAND
M. REPKA
Hammond Times, September 29, 1943
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Rock, who live at 4910 Magnolia street in Hammond, have re- ceived word recently that their daughter, Lt. Marion Repka, has now arrived safely over- seas and is stationed somewhere in England.
Lt. Repka is a member of the nurses corps of the United States army. She was graduated from Roosevelt high school in East Chicago and received her medical training at the school of nursing at St. Catherine's hospital and later at the Indiana university nursing center in Bloomington.
VETS OF FOREIGN WARS HAVE TEN POINT PROGRAM
Hammond Times, September 29, 1943
The post-war welfare program proposed by National Commander Robert T. Merrill at the opening session of the convention of Vet- erans of Foreign Wars today follows:
1. Continuation of pay for six months for all honorably discharged members of the armed forces.
2. Federal educational aid for honorably discharged veterans whose educations were in- terrupted or prevented by military service.
3. Government care and treatment for all honorably discharged veterans of all wars, campaigns and expeditions who had 90 days' service, or were discharged for disability.
4. Veteran pension and compensation pay- ments based on reasonable cost-of-living index.
5. Veteran preference in employment of federal, state, county and municipal jobs.
6. At least 10 per cent of all employes on federal government contract supply and con- struction work to be honorably discharged veterans.
7. Pension entitlement to all honorably dis- charged veterans of all wars, campaigns and expeditions, who had 90 days' service, regard- less of service-connected disabilities.
8. Pension entitlement to honorably dis- charged veterans of all wars, campaigns and expeditions who served 90 days, and who are unemployable, unable to obtain employment, or 10 per cent or more disabled, regardless of service-connection of disability.
9. Increased allowances of 20 per cent in pensions and compensation, and five per cent additional rating above standard ratings in civil service employment preference for vet- erans who served in actual combat zones in all wars, campaigns and expeditions.
10. Continuation of veterans' administra- tion as an independent federal agency with exclusive jurisdiction over all veteran rehabili- tation, vocational training, medical treatment, hospitalization, pensions and other veterans matters; and continuation of federal veterans' employment service.
Page One hundred and seventy-five
GRANDSONS SERVE
NOW COROPAL COWAN
H. Mallalieu
Hammond Times, September 30, 1943
Sgt. Grant E. Mallalieu, 23, grandson of Mrs. Emma Mallalieu, 5254 Hohman avenue, Hammond, and a nephew of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Minas, business man, has gone to Macon, Ga., base for training following a furlough home from service in Iceland. He saw service in Iceland for 19 months and while home told
G. Mallalieu
glowing accounts of the wonders of the north- land. Before his army service the young ser- geant was a member of a CCC outfit. The sergeant has a brother, Howard, a corporal, who is now taking part in the fierce offensive in Italy. Both are graduates of Hammond high school. Grant, known as "Bud" was a member of the wrestling team and popular, as was Howard. Howard, before entering the service, worked for the Fuller Brush company, while Grant was employed before entering the CCC service for the Vivian bakery.
L. Cowan
Hammond Times, September 30, 1943
News of the promotion of Lynne Cowan to the rank of corporal was received from North Africa recently by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Rogers, and his wife, Sally, all of whom live at 3708 Parrish avenue in In- diana Harbor.
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