CBI Roundup - April 22, 1943 - China-Burma-India Theater of World War II

VOL. I NO. 32 REG. NO. L5015 DELHI, THURSDAY APRIL 22, 1943.

DELECTABLE DONA

If someone hadn't the courage to snatch it away from S/Sgt. Jack Nolan, Roundup staff artist, this provocative picture of flickerdom's lovely Dona Drake would not have graced page one. Nolan wanted to study it (HE claimed) for artistic reasons. Hmmmm!!

10th AIR FORCE HARRIES JAP IN BURMA

    Tenth Air Force communiqués, relating actions extending from April 12 to 19, told of ceaseless offensive action against the Jap in Burma by our P-40s, B-24s and B-25s. During these operations, all of our planes returned safely.
  A thumbnail sketch:
  April 12: B-25s raided Magwe air base and bombed runways.
  April 13: Fighter planes made several attacks against enemy installations in northwest Burma. Medium caliber demolition bombs were used in wiping out a bridge at Shadazup.
  April 14: P-40s, loaded with demolition bombs, destroyed air base runways at Manywet and Myitkyina. In central Burma, B-24s hit the runway at Monywa air base.
  April 15: B-24s struck at Prome and, slugging warehouses, observed fires of great intensity resulting. B-25s raided the railway yards at Ywataung and Mandalay. Fighters made forays.
  April 16: Two bridges were attacked by P-40s in northwest Burma, and one 10 miles northwest of Pinbaw was destroyed. B-25s struck at Thazi Junction and B-25s bombed the Thilawa oil refinery south of Rangoon, leaving it in flames.
  April 17: Myitinge Bridge was struck by direct hits from B-25s.
  April 18: Only fighter reconnaissance patrol.
  April 19: P-40s rained light demolition bombs on bridges and piers northwest of Myitkyina. B-24s struck at the central railway station at Rangoon and the Thilawa oil refinery.

ASSAM'S 'PHOTO JOE' NOW WITH
DISHONORABLE ANCESTORS
    ASSAM AIR BASE - "Photo Joe" has joined his dishonorable ancestors.
  No more will he appear cockily over American bases in his high-flying Jap reconnaissance plane and, using the same radio frequency, hurl choice invective at the fighter and bomber outfits more than 26,000 feet below.
  Lt. Charley T. Streit, of Newburg, N.Y., is the pilot responsible for silencing - forever - the precocious Jap aerial photographer.
  Photo Joe came smugly over Assam accompanied by his usual barrage of swear words and clicking his camera. But this time his height failed to keep him inviolate. Streit piled in a P-40, specially stripped for the job, and was soon playing tag in the heavens with the Jap, who suddenly lost his air of smugness and tried frantically to escape.
  The third time was the charm for Streit. An accurate burst and Photo Joe came down in flames.

  The first pass Streit made was abortive. His guns jammed. He cleared the jam, fired, and missed. Again the guns jammed. But on the third attempt, Photo Joe's plane was the center of his bullseye.
  Conversations between the Jap and the Assam lads would make one of the most entertaining feature stories of the war, but most of their remarks conflicted strongly with the morality code.
  Photo Joe's unprintable remarks were well larded with American colloquialism. The Americans retorted with vitriolic insults about the Japanese emperor, taught them by the Chinese.

THIRD EDITOR FOR ROUNDUP; HE'S SCREAMING FOR COPY

    The most recent casualty in the "battle of per diem hill" is Lt. Clancy Topp, second editor of the Roundup, trencherman, ex-photo assignment editor, and a guy who does more roadwork in the hot spots than Maxie Rosenbloom.
  Clancy asked to be sent to the wars so he could get a rest!
  Hence he becomes Public Relations Officer for the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India and will join the staff of Brig. Gen. Hayden L. Boatner.

GRISLY END OF JAP TANK DRIVER

U.S. troops knocked out a Jap tank on a Guadalcanal beach. After it stopped burning, the Americans advanced to investigate. What dropped out is shown graphically above.

Lt. Walter

  The new editor is the former assistant, Lt. Floyd (Bucky) Walter, baby-faced, ruddy-nosed ingénue who once wrote baseball for the San Francisco News.
  Like the rest of the Roundup staff, Bucky is allergic to personal publicity, so we hasten to announce that this little piece is being written by the Policy Department and inserted in the rag over his violent protests. We are not mentioning the fact that he has laid, with studied unconcern, several studio portraits of himself significantly on the "policy" desk.
  Sooo, send your deathless copy addressed to Bucky, and, incidentally, we'd like more than we're getting. Volume has been falling off pretty badly the last few weeks.

WMC To Send 70 Objectors To Chungking

    WASHINGTON - Seventy conscientious objectors, whose religious training or belief influenced them against service with the American Armed Forces, will be sent to Chungking to work on medical, sanitary and health projects, the War Manpower Commission has announced.
  Designation of the Chungking project as work of national importance to which conscientious objectors may be assigned was included in an announcement of four projects for registrants who object to combatant and non-combatant military service.
  The Chungking project provides the first opportunity for conscientious objectors to work in territory outside the jurisdiction of the United States. The men who are assigned to this work will be under the direction of the American Friends (Quakers) Service Committee and will be transported under the direction of the War Department. Their work will consist of rehabilitation, sanitation, nutrition, public health and other services which the Chinese Ministry of Public Health may designate.

AIR FORCE PAYS 'SOCIAL CALL'
Success of a bombing mission against Jap target depends only in small measure upon the factor of LUCK. Rather, it is the product of delicate planning, painstaking preparation, teamwork and finally, a combination of skill and courage by bombing crew, all forming integral patterns in the finished mosaic. Roundup photographers Lt. Bill Cox and T/4 Nick Lyseczko, filmed a typical 10th Air Force action - the recent successful slugging of Pazundaung Bridge. Cutting this 250 feet of double span severed the Jap supply line from Rangoon to central and northern Burma. But let them tell their own story:

"The route to the designated target was pointed out to Bombardier Lt. Ola P. Thorne by Flight Leader Lt. Col. William R. Starke."

"Using a simplified map of the target area, Maj. J. S. Perrucello briefed the details of the mission for the bombardiers."

"It was important that guns be checked prior to the flight by S/Sgt. E. T. Friedman."

"Of course, motors must not fail, so Pfc. John E. Sullivan checked the mechanism of the engine."

"Then came the loading of the bombs, so heavy that they were trundled to the plane by a special cart."

"Crew members slept while their planes were made shipshape. An alarm clock awakened Sgt. F. C. Wenderel."

"Soon the B-24s headed toward the target. Thanks to the ground crews, the motors purred reassuringly."

"No one relaxed his vigilance. The waist gunner was at his post, scanning the skies anxiously for Zeros."

"The bombardier glued the target in the cross-hairs of his sight... Then the bombs dropped toward the bridge."

"Our final photograph vividly tells the story of the success of the mission. Bombs fell accurately in the target area. The Jap threw some ack-ack at us, but the bursts didn't come close."

Pitter-Patter of Early Showers Disrupts Open-Air Showgoers

  By S/Sgt. K. W. MARTINDALE

    INDIA AIR BASE - The pitter-patter of an early shower brought back fond (?) memories of last summer's monsoons to personnel of the Air Depot last week. It wasn't so welcome, though, to the G.I.s attending the open-air movie. The rain, which quickly turned into a cloud burst, vanquished all but a hardy few, who stuck it out to the bitter end.
  Hard at work to lift our morale, Misses Barnes and Sweetland, Red Cross damsels in charge of our new service club, have concocted a "tea dance," and all local G.I. Casanovas were invited to scamper and strut. The invitations read: "Bring your dates." Optimistic, weren't they? Ah well, where there's a will -
  We now are enjoying the unaccustomed luxury of ice cream served at the PX three times a week. Like the coke last summer, you've really got to "sweat it out," but it's worth it.
  G.I.'s got a giggle the other night when, in a "Good Soldier" contest held before the outdoor movie, a first sergeant was among the first to be eliminated. Air Depot boys hung their heads when the team of a troop carrier squadron, just over here a month, carried off top honors.
  Yours truly got quite a kick out of hearing about the "difficulties" SOS men at New Delhi had in adjusting themselves to barracks life after their long sojourn at the Marina. Seems there were no mirrors, no hooks to hang their towels on, etc. Now, ain't that sad!
  S/Sgt Abe LaFonte, conductor of the "finest mess in India," was made T/Sgt. the other day. We predict Abe will be "sick" for three days come payday time.

BIRTH OF A MESS HALL 'COME AND GET IT, GANG'

In the beginning was nothing. Then Capt. Ken Berryhill got on the job and soon brick walls were rising near IATF Headquarters. A week later, it was practically finished. "It's ready, gang. Come in," says S/Sgt. Roscoe Alexander, right, to Sgt. Niles Fenton, center, and S/Sgt. Alex Worgaftik. Finally, dinner is served in the main dining salon, with Pfc. Paul Neeley and T/4 John Murphy, right, facing the camera at the nearest table.

SIGNS

President Roosevelt affixes his signature to the bill extending Lend-Lease, while Senator Alben Barkley, majority leader, and Edward R. Stettinius, Lend-Lease Administrator, look on approvingly.

ITINERANT BOMB SQUADRON MAY JOIN TRAVEL BUREAU

By ERNIE PYLE Scripps-Howard News Alliance Writer

    FORWARD TUNISIAN AIRDROME - We have with us today probably the most traveled squadron of American Flying Fortress crews in existence. The guys are such confirmed sightseers they all want to go into the tourist business when the war is over.
  This squadron actually took its present formation in India last spring, from crews that already had fought on several fronts. For nearly a year now it has been shifted hither and yon like the thistle. It is still subject to striking out for some new weird place before dawn tomorrow.
  Here is where these men have fought - Philippines, Java, Australia, Burma, China, India, Palestine, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Tripoli, Tunisia.

60 MILES FROM JAPS
  Some of them started out a year ago by flying across the Pacific, and if they can just fight their way across the Atlantic now, they'll have been around the world. And that isn't just a dream either, for some of them have so many missions under their belts they'll undoubtedly get to go home soon.
  In Burma this squadron was based only 60 miles from the Japs. In India they lived through the dreadful summer heat that killed one man and put 15 out of 150 of them in the hospital with heat prostration. But through it all they kept sightseeing.
  They're authorities on the Holy Land. They've seen the Pyramids of Egypt and the Taj Mahal of India. They've been to such mystic places as Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon. They've lived in luxury in India with a half-dozen servants apiece, and they've lived on the ground under tents in the midst of suffocating sandstorms.

LIKE PALESTINE BEST
  Of all the places they've been, they like Palestine best. When they start talking about Palestine you can't get them stopped. They say it's just like California - fresh and green and strictly up-to-date. They say the most modern hotels in the world are there.
  They've been through so much heat that the chill of North Africa makes them suffer badly. Their losses have been heavy, but they've wreaked so much devastation they've lost track of the figures. The total of shipping they've sunk got beyond them in October, when they were operating over the Mediterranean out of Egypt.

HIT NAZI SUPPLY LINES
  They've bombed Greece, Crete and the Dodecanese Islands. They have the credit for stopping Rommel's supply lines just before the British Eighth Army started its drive last fall. They say the German flak thrown up over Tobruk and Benghazi was the most deadly they've ever known, even surpassing the hail of metal that floats above Bizerte.
  The leader of the squadron is Capt. J. B. Holst of Savannah, Ga. The boys say that practically the entire population of Savannah who went into the air force is right here on this front now. Lt. Donald Wilder, one of the squadron's bombardiers, rattled off at least a dozen Savannah boys he'd met here since arriving from Egypt. For an international touch, they have a pet monkey. Sgt. Pittard of Athens, Ga., got it in India, and it has flown all the way with them. It has 300 flying hours to its credit.

MAKES HIMSELF AT HOME
  It just wanders around the plane during flight, making itself at home. When they get high where it gets cold, the monkey burrows itself between two parachute cushions to keep warm. If somebody comes along and lifts one cushion, the monkey frowns and squeals and motions for them to put the cushion back and go away.
  The monkey is smart. She can tell Americans from Englishmen, Arabs, French or Indians. She doesn't like anybody but Americans. I'm an American, but she better not start liking me. I know all about monkeys, and I detest them. Even heroic monkeys.

Mysteries of Norden Bombsight Revealed at Bombardier School

  By JOHN MECKLIN United Press Staff correspondent

    FORT WORTH, TEXAS - Details of the famed and long-secret mechanical bomb aiming apparatus, the Norden bombsight, were recently released at the USAAF bombardier school here.
  The school's commandant permitted me to examine and try the bombsight and declared that there was no cause for alarm if the Axis captured some bombsights, because Axis scientists would require at least two years to duplicate the device.
  The Norden sight has several thousand parts. Cadets learn enough about it to make superficial repairs, but the bombsight men defy the cadets, or any one else, to take it apart and put it back together again without months of careful training.

TWO DEMONSTRATIONS
  The bombsight is mounted on thick glass in the bombardier's compartment behind a special piece of the plane nose. Once sighted and trained on the target - and it takes a good bombardier only 25 seconds of level flying - you literally can't miss. This was demonstrated for me twice at 500 feet and twice at 6,000 feet.
  The bombardier's object is to have the up-line and the two cross hairs inside the sight's telescope intersect across the target. He then adjusts the sight so that even as the plane moves forward at three or four miles per minute, the cross hairs automatically stay on the target.

SIGHT SYNCHRONIZED
  The sight is synchronized to a chosen altitude and speed in such a manner that if the plane is put on the proper course, the cross hairs follow the target.
  The course is controlled either by a device which attaches the sight to an automatic pilot which guides the ship automatically, or by the bombardier, who, as he turns the knobs on the sight, moves a needle in the cockpit which shows the pilot how to adjust the course.
  After the bombardier has set the cross hairs to a point where they appear to be stationary on the target, he has done most of his job, and he shouts "bombs away" through the inter-phone to the pilot, who takes over the ship and heads for home.

HONORED FOR RESCUES

Thrice rescuer of pilots stranded in the tangled Burma-Assam jungle area, Maj. Paul Droz, left, receives the D.F.C. from Brig. Gen. Caleb V. Haynes, CG of the India Air Task Force. Droz made the thrilling rescues with a trainer plane.

Long-Awaited Story of Tokyo Bombing to be Told Soon

    WASHINGTON - The veil of secrecy was partially lifted from the bombing of Tokyo when OWI's Elmer Davis announced that the American air force led by Maj. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle was launched from an aircraft carrier.
  The War Department has not yet authorized publication of other details, but they will be announced shortly, according to the OWI and President Roosevelt.
  "Shangri-La," the mysterious country of the novel, Lost Horizon, was the President's name for the base from which Doolittle and his airmen pounced upon Tokyo. Washington waited nearly a month to confirm the raid which was announced immediately by the Japanese radio.
  Three weeks ago, in anticipation of the Doolittle raid anniversary, the Roundup queried the War Department Bureau of Public Relations asking permission to print the yarn with appropriate stories from members of that mission still remaining in this Theater. Refusal was positive.
  It has been with a certain amount of amusement, therefore, that we have watched in the daily press the strange comedy of Elmer Davis, head of the Office of War Information, announcing that the "true" story of the raid would be told on the anniversary and then spotting the follow-up which was a strangled cry from the War Department that it would not be released.
  We asked specifically if we could announce the take off from a carrier. The refusal was again positive.

HALF-WAY MARK REACHED IN WAR BOND DRIVE

    WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau announced that the nation is nearing its half-way mark with $5,253,000,000 on the sixth day of the second war loan drive.
  The greatest war loan drive goal in the nation's history - $13,000,000,000 - was launched at Carnegie Hall, with Morgenthau the principal speaker. Others were Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, of New York; President William Green, of the AFL; and President Phillip Murray, of the CIO.
  Morgenthau appealed to Americans to tighten their belts and send more of their dollars to war. He brought cheers when he said, "We of the United Nations are piling up thunder clouds of the greatest attack in history." Reporting a "tremendous" response from the nation, Morgenthau later announced that banks, insurance companies, investors and all classes of civilians were generally pitching in to make the drive a success, and he said a veritable flood of purchases were reported coming in only a few hours after the drive opened.
  The Treasury Department in Washington reported the following message from its New York office: "Public response tremendous. Going like hotcakes."

IMPORTANT VISITOR TO C.B.I. THEATER

The plane settled to the ground, lumbered to a stop and Brig. Gen. Benjamin G. Ferris, Theater Deputy Chief-of-Staff, stepped forward to greet the important visitor. He was Maj. Gen. Dawson Olmstead (third from left), Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army, here on an inspection tour. The group includes, left to right, Col. Samuel S. Lamb, Theater Chief Signal Officer; Brig. Gen. Frank C. Meade, Olmstead's assistant; Olmstead; and Ferris.

  New York set the early pace by reaching a $2,015,000,000 mark on the fourth day. The Prudential Insurance Company of America headed the parade with the largest purchase ever made - $400,000,000 worth. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company followed with a purchase of $300,000,000. Quotas throughout the country began to appear so easily obtainable that a new slogan developed: "See how much the quotas can be topped."
  Thomas Kennedy, secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers, announced that the union would purchase $4,000,000.
  Meanwhile in Washington before a joint informal session of the Senate Finance, Appropriations, and Banking Committees, and the House Ways and Means, Appropriations and Banking Committees, Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau declared that individuals should invest 15 to 20 percent of their earnings, instead of the 10 percent previously requested, in war bonds.

JAP LOSING PLANES
AT RATIO OF 6-1

WASHINGTON - The War Department announced that United States Army Air Forces shot down 384 Japanese planes during the past three months while losing only 54 planes of their own.
The announcement added that the American losses included all planes listed as missing as well as those destroyed in combat, but the enemy losses were confined to those known to be destroyed.

Sergeant Wins Silver Star for Heroic Action

  By ALEX SMALL Chicago Tribune War Correspondent

    Tenth Air Force Headquarters this week announced awarding of the Silver Star for gallantry in action to S/Sgt. Norman S. Goldstein for conduct several months ago.
  Gallantry was displayed during an air raid by the India Air Task Force. The citation tells the story completely:
  "While making a bombing run on a target at extremely high altitude, three out of five 1,000-pound bombs couldn't be released by any mechanisms. Goldstein heard this trouble over the inter-phone and realized something must be done quickly to avoid failure of the mission. Without hesitation, he left the gun position, hastily attached an oxygen mask to a portable bottle and climbed out on the catwalk bomb bay leaving his parachute behind, for with a winter flying suit on he barely had room in the narrow confines where he had to work.
  "Armed with a screwdriver he proceeded to release manually the bombs. However, unknown to Goldstein, his oxygen mask suffered a tear as he struggled in the narrow confines. He began to suffer from lack of oxygen, but despite this unseen handicap which steadily clouded his mind and sapped his strength, he managed with one last great effort to free the remaining bombs, whereon he quickly lapsed into unconsciousness.
  "As he collapsed, his heavy clothes wedged him against the racks and prevented his falling through the open doors. Here, he was discovered by the pilot and another member of the crew."

THREE INCENTIVES FOR TURNING WOLF

JOY HODGES

JANET BLAIR

RITA HAYWORTH

After you've had time to stop oh-ing and ah-ing (you wolves), let us explain that these three luscious wimmin were named as outstanding beauties of their own type at the annual International Beauty Show at the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York City. Joy was chosen America's No.1 brunette, Janet the No.1 blonde and Rita the No.1 red head.

Bombing Denies Use of Rangoon to Jap Forces

    Tenth Air Force operations, which will continue throughout the monsoons, have practically kept the enemy from using the port of Rangoon, stated Maj. Gen. Clayton L. Bissell in his weekly press conference.
  In referring to a recent statement by an American fighter commander that the "Japs are on the move in Burma," the general explained that it referred only to air activity.
  The advent of warm weather is the occasion for taking stock of the health of American troops, Bissell declared. He added that he was happy that during the cold weather the sickness rate over 13 weeks following Dec. 19 was only 74 percent of the rate for the previous 13 weeks.

OUR STRETCH IN HELL
I'm sitting here and thinking,
of the things I left behind;
I hate to put on paper,
What is running through my mind.
We've cleaned a million rifles,
and walked our miles of ground;
A meaner place this side of Hell,
is waiting to be found.
But there's just one consolation,
gather closely while I tell;
We'll die and go to Heaven,
'cause we've served our stretch in Hell.

We've cleaned a million kitchens,
for cooks to fix our beans.
And walked the guard a million nights,
and boy, the pots we've cleaned.
Many a night we froze,
as the mercury - it fell.
But we won't freeze in Heaven,
'cause we all froze in Hell.

We heard the doggone bugle blow,
from morning until night.
We'd like to kill the dirty son,
he gypped us of our right.
The NCO's over us,
their number we couldn't tell;
But we'll bar them all from Heaven,
'til they've served their stretch in Hell.

We've built a million bridges,
and walked through miles of mud;
Cleaned a million mess kits,
and peeled many a spud.
We've killed a million ants and bugs,
from beneath each dirty sheet.
But when the final call is sounded,
and we lay aside life's cares,
It's then we'll do the big parade,
right up those golden stairs.

The angels there will welcome us,
their harps will start to play;
We'll draw a million canteen books,
and spend them in a day.
It's then that old St. Peter,
will greet us with his yell:
"Go up and take your front seats, boys,
you've served your stretch in Hell."

- By Cpl. LEONARD STEINBERG

RUMORS, RUMORS, EVERYWHERE
It's rumored this, it's rumored that
To tell the truth we don't know what.
First we're here and then we're there,
"Rumors, Rumors, Everywhere."

We're going home, the rumors say
But they don't mention any day.
They lie to us and that's not fair,
"Rumors, Rumors, Everywhere."

Where they start from no one knows,
"Stool 3" in the house of repose?
But we're not sure they come from there,
"Rumors, Rumors, Everywhere."

I guess it's human nature, though,
To scatter rumors to and fro.
But lies and truth don't make a pair,
"Rumors, Rumors, Everywhere."

So let's be wise until that day
We reach the good old U.S.A.
An then let's shout with naughty flair
To hell with "Rumors, Everywhere."

- By Cpl. HENRY W. ASHER

China Air Base Planning Tours For Personnel

  By S/Sgt. JOHN E. CHAPMAN

    CHINA AIR BASE - In conjunction with this squadron's policy of doing anything and everything to further the interest in China on the part of the personnel of the organization and also to orientate the officers and men in Chinese history, religion, geography, etc. Lt. Albert G. Biggs, squadron public relations officer, has recently inaugurated a "Cook's Tour" plan for all interested members of the outfit . . . which means a truck jammed to capacity.
  Biggs, who keeps busy with his public relations duties when he is not flying combat missions as pilot, and Lt. Gerald J. McAllister, genial 14th Air Force public relations officer, have made arrangements with Chinese and a few Americans who have lived over here for a number of years to direct these "tours" of the beauty spots and points of interest.
  The first place visited on these weekly tours was an ancient copper temple high up in the mountains where the boys obtained many, many feet of film and hundreds of snapshots with which to "snow under" the folks back home.

  History was made in a nearby city recently when the enlisted men's softball team of this China-based medium bombardment squadron defeated a team from the faculty of the local university, 7-6.
  This game, held before an estimated crowd of 5,000 spectators (which included hundreds of uniformed Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts) was the first softball game between AAF personnel and Chinese athletes to be played in South China.
  The university team is composed of men who have played softball and baseball in many of the colleges and universities of the large coastal and inland cities of China prior to the Japanese invasion.

CORPORAL GEE EYE BY S/SGT. JACK NOLAN

The C.B.I. Roundup is a weekly newspaper published by and for the men of the United States Army Forces in China, Burma, and India, from news and pictures supplied by staff members, soldier correspondents, the United Press and Office of War Information. The Roundup is published Thursday of each week and is printed by The Statesman in New Delhi, India. Editorial matter should be sent directly to Lt. Floyd Walter, Rear Echelon, Hq., U.S.A.F., C.B.I., New Delhi, and should arrive not later than Monday in order to make that week's issue. Pictures must arrive by Sunday and must be negatives or enlargements. Stories should contain full name and organization of sender.

APRIL 22, 1943

Original issue of C.B.I. Roundup shared by Ruth Canney, widow of CBI veteran John Canney.

Copyright © 2007 Carl Warren Weidenburner

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