CBI Roundup
VOL. I      NO. 28      REG. NO. L5015      DELHI, THURSDAY          MARCH 25, 1943.
NEARLY PERFECT
A Hollywood director took one look at Esther Williams and came up with this double-talk: "Esther is my idea of a nearly perfect starlet because she has the qualities necessary to become a great star. Not pretty, her face possesses genuine beauty and you look into her eyes, not at them. Her voice has a cute little purr in it. She radiates health, fitness, a heartiness of skin and flesh and loveliness of form. She is the kind of girl men fall seriously in love with." (Height 5 feet, 7 inches; weight 123 pounds; bust 36 inches; waist 26 inches; hips: 36 inches).

U.S. PILOTS BEST ENEMY IN FIERCE BATTLE OVER BURMA

  (The following story deals with the loss of the first American bombers known to have been suffered through enemy action in this Theatre since the raid on Hong Kong last Oct. 25. - Ed.)

By TOBY WIANT, Associated Press War Correspondent.

    INDIA BOMBER BASE - A graphic story of the most fierce air battle ever fought over the Rangoon area was told by three young Americans who were in a formation of heavy bombers jumped by Jap fighters as they started a bombing run.
  One Jap I-45 was shot down in flames, another probably destroyed, and some others were believed badly damaged.
  Two United States bombers were officially reported as missing.
  The 45-minute battle started at noon eight miles northeast of Rangoon, high above the Americans' target - Pazundaung Bridge on the main railroad line from Rangoon to Mandalay to Lashio, where it connects with the Burma Road. The railroad is one of the Japs' two principal lines of communication from north to south. The other is the Irrawaddy River, which is suicidal for the Japs because of incessant United States and British strafing and bombing.
  The Jap fighters made 15 to 20 individual attacks, all well co-ordinated. Some flew through their own ack-ack and got in so close that the Americans could see the expressions on the Jap pilots' faces.
  Lt. Paul Paskey, 25, Roselle, N.J., navigator of one of the planes, said, "We didn't see them until we started our bombing run. They were 2,000 feet above and dived steeply at us. They made pass after pass from all directions. I have never been so busy in my life. I shot up nearly all my ammunition."
  Lt. Raymond Maloney, 26, Virgin, Utah, bombardier in the same plane, declared, "I dropped all my bombs - as did all the others - then went to work with my machine gun. The air was full of lead, ack-ack and smoke. We didn't have time to get scared then, but we were mighty shaky after we landed."
  Paskey and Maloney were in a plane piloted by Lt. Gordon Wilson, 25, Covington, Ky., who asserted, "The Japs were so near at times it seemed as if they were flying in formation with us."
  One of Wilson's gunners, S/Sgt. Charles Steinberg, 22, Detroit, is credited with shooting down the I-45.
  Wilson said that the wounded gunners stuck at their posts and kept firing as long as the Japs were around.
  Another plane, piloted by Lt. Felix Bailey, 23, Houston, Tex., came through the battle without a scratch.



DSC AWARDED POSTHUMOUSLY
TO BURMA CAMPAIGN HERO

    For extraordinary heroism during the Burma campaign the Distinguished Service Cross was awarded posthumously to Capt. Roscoe L. Hambleton, it was learned this week.
  This is the second award of the coveted decoration within this theatre, the other having been presented to Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell.
  Hambleton, a member of the original Magruder Mission and later attached to Stilwell's staff, volunteered while in Shwebo, Burma, to handle the ferry crossing of the 22nd Chinese Division over the Irrawaddy River at Singu. He volunteered although the campaign had collapsed and Shwebo and Singu were under almost daily Jap bombardment from the air.
  The Stilwell group moved out of Shwebo and followed the Shwebo-Myitkyina railroad track north on May 1,
CHRISTMAS IN MARCH
If you haven't received last year's Christmas presents from home yet, maybe this is the answer. Here is a part of the more than 1,500 bags of parcel post which recently arrived at the Theatre Base Regulating Post Office.
Hambleton traveled the 17 miles to Singu and was never seen again. He managed the divisional river crossing almost single-handedly on May 3 but the rapid advance of the Japanese made it impossible for him to rejoin the Stilwell group.
  He was forced, therefore, to come out with General Liao's division which will probably go down in history as one of the most arduous treks in the history of this war. On Aug. 28 Hambleton died in the Burma jungle from illness and exposure still many days from India and safety. A portion of the citation follows:
  "For extraordinary heroism in Burma on May 3, 1942. Captain Hambleton by extraordinary and heroic effort in the face of heavy and constant aerial bombardment, resulting in extremely heavy casualties, personally directed the crossing of the Irrawaddy River at Singu, Burma by the 22nd Chinese Division, using one launch and a number of barges, thus preventing the loss of that unit and saving the lives of several thousand Chinese soldiers. The enemy's rapid advance up the west bank of the river prevented Capt. Hambleton from rejoining his own headquarters after the completion of the crossing. He then accompanied the Chinese Division on its long and hazardous retirement to the north, and as a result of the extreme hardships endured on the march, lost his life on August 28, 1942. This act of extraordinary heroism in action reflects great credit on the military forces of the United States."



Chennault Predicts Allies Soon To Have Arms Superiority

    CHUNGKING - The day is fast approaching when the United States will have superiority in arms over the Japanese in the Far East, declared Brig. Gen. Claire L. Chennault, Commander of the U.S. Army 14th Air Force. Chennault was speaking at a dinner in his honor, given by the Chinese Commission for Aeronautical Affairs. He continued:
  "Let me repeat, united we stand, divided we fall. We will pursue the war to the unconditional surrender of all our enemies."
  Chennault was introduced by H. H. Kung, Commission member, who predicted that the United States Air Force will play an important part in the "forthcoming offensive to drive the Japanese to the sea and re-establish the peace of East Asia."



WAACS LEAVE ON FOREIGN DUTY
Here are some of the WAACS, who made up the first detachment to go on overseas duty. Before leaving, they are seen receiving inoculations against tropical diseases. Second officer Margaret Janeway, WAAC medical officer, inoculates Auxiliary Hazel A. Jacobs, assisted by Lt. Helen C. Boyce, Army Nursing Corps.
Director Oveta Culp Hobby (right), Of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. returns the salute of Leader Anne M. Bradley before the detachment embarked at an East Coast U.S. port. These girls were assigned to duty with General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters in North Africa.

With the WAACS, articles like lingerie, girdles, cosmetic and manicure kits are strictly G.I. They also have a lot of other gear that is not G.I. stuff for soldiers. But all must be kept clean and neat.
Mass is observed by Catholic members of the contingent before their ship sailed. The girls followed much the same preparatory routines as army contingents do before sailing for a foreign shore.
As the WAACS prepare to leave their temporary barracks for the ship, Army Pvt. Jimmy Gossnell helps boost a barracks bag on the shoulder of Auxiliary Margaret M. Hartnett, daughter of a retired Army colonel.

The problem of supply and repairs is handled by such WAAC non-commissioned officers as Leader Mary K. Snow, seen here inspecting a pile of shoes to be repaired as the detachment prepared to leave for North Africa to handle desk jobs, relieving men for combat duty.
First Officer Frances K. Marquis (above) commands the first detachment of U.S. WAACS ever to be sent on foreign duty.
Filled with WAACS waving goodbye, an Army truck moves off to the docks where the girls boarded the ship that took them to North Africa. The WAACS have had thorough training and their work in North Africa have proved them to be highly efficient in their duties.

Army men help swing barracks bags aboard ship as members of the WAACS come up the gangplank. These girls came from all walks of life, and many of them are doing work in the WAACS similar to that done in civilian life. No matter what their jobs are, they find Army life much different.
Two members of the WAACS try on their lifebelts just to make sure that they knew how to use this equipment. A ship on which some of the girls were traveling was torpedoed near the North African coast and the girls found that their training of this kind helped them to meet the emergency.


SOLDIER-ARTIST
Sgt. H. B. Albert puts finishing touches on a copy of a Petty model which will adorn the walls of a day room at an Assam air base. At the right is a close-up of another of his drawings.

Day Room Opening Celebration
Observed At Assam Air Base

  By Pfc. PERRY S. CLEMENT

    ASSAM AIR BASE - The rains may come and Zeros fall, but that is all just part of the daily life in Upper Assam where the boys of a service squadron slosh through the tea patches on their salvage missions. That is routine, but what the G.I.'s are most interested in just now is the formal opening of their new day room, upon which they have spent a good portion of their spare time during the last month. With hearty approval of Lt. Col. Lee Fulton, group C.O., the project has gone far beyond the original plan.
  It started out in just a small way, with the walling up of the open side of a three car garage shed to make a bit of business. Then Capt. Marvin Morton, squadron C.O., who was the driving power behind it all, began to get ideas. Second-hand lumber, a few bags of cement and a lot of hard work accomplished miracles. A little paint applied judiciously here and there provided that there are some potential artists and interior decorators in our midst. The finishing touch was added when Mrs. Kerr, local Red Cross Club director, engineered the presentation of floor coverings and wicker furniture.
  On opening night an informal program with music by "Pitkin's Commandos" and Sgt. Kohot and his guitar gave a professional touch to the affair. Maj. Reynolds, of the Chemical Warfare Service, was "life of the party" as M.C., though his style was somewhat cramped by the presence of ladies.
  The squadron cooks outdid themselves in baking a great stack of home made cookies and, believe it or not, producing a supply of real honest-to-goodness coffee.
  Sgt. Steve Palinkas of the Roundup did us the honor of making a photographic record of the proceedings, even though it was a little off his beaten path. Now all there is to do in the evening is to come in, sit down and enjoy the place.
  P.S.: A few more magazines, etc., would be appreciated.


 PRIVATE GEE EYE            BY S/SGT. JACK NOLAN


  FERRY COMMAND FIVE SCORES 8-6 VICTORY
  TO WIN CHINA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

    CHINA AIR DEPOT - In the playoff finals which followed the regular league season, the Ferry Command cagers edged a bomb squadron quintet 8-6, to capture the basketball championship of China. A heavy wind hampered the basket onslaughts of both teams.
  For the Ferry Command hoopsters, it was the second time they overcame all opposition, for they also won the regular league schedule with a record of eight victories and one defeat. As the regular league race was hotly contested by the bomber squadron, Headquarters, Hospital and a pursuit squadron, playoffs were staged.

  An "official" all-star squad was selected by Capt. Fred Thomson, special services officer, consisting of Forwards Ligett and Crabtree, Center James and Guards Lee and Verba. He named a second team of Forwards Cramer and Love, Center Irons and Guards Smith and Broughton.

NETS A PROMOTION

    When former Corp. Hal Surface was recently awarded lieutenant's bars, G.I. friends of the former tennis star gave a dinner in his honor at an Indian port base. In the photo at left, Surface, grinning, holding an armload of presents and allowing a couple of buddies to place oversize bars on his shoulders, served as a non-com in the C.B.I. Theatre for a year and took enough time out to win the East India and Punjab tennis championships. He was twice a Davis Cupper.


HOW TO REDUCE MALARIA RISK

MISTAKES THAT PASS IN THE
NIGHT AT AN INDIA AIR BASE

  By S/Sgt. D. E. ROBERTS

    EAST INDIA AIR BASE - This is a man bites dog item.
  We wonder if Associated Press War Correspondent Bill McGaffin, who flew with us on one of our bombing missions and then gave us quite a bit of publicity back home, told his interested audiences about his "snow job." It seems that the misguided adventurer mistook the wide spray nozzle of the fire extinguisher for the relief tube - and as you can guess, the results were extraordinary.
  Lt. Leonard Zondler, Transportation officer, has made a formal and emphatic requisition for a navigator and a compass to be installed in each truck convoy. He headed west to go east and arrived a day-and-a-half late. Maybe it was wishful thinking that led him east or maybe he believed the tales he heard about Allahabad.
  After our last egg-laying expedition, Lt. Disher besieged the adjutant with requests for special orders to reimburse him for laundry. He has announced to anybody interested that he is a confirmed authority on life inside a hornet's nest.
  Our squadron is viewing anxiously the progress of the well diggers behind our barracks. We have as many sidewalk engineers as any New York construction company. But our chief interest isn't in engineering techniques (this technique consists of six big men pulling up a basket of earth and one small woman carrying it away on her head). It seems that every five feet the Indians dig, during the night ten feet of side wall fill it in. When we got here the well was 32 feet deep, now it is 15 feet deep and twice as wide. When it reaches a 40-foot width and an eight foot depth we will take mandatory possession and declare it a swimming pool.
  The most informed men in the squadron are the mail censors. They know all the latest jokes and keep a record of all the hand to hand struggles that the cook's helpers and maintenance crews tell their folks about. The prize remark of the week - cleanliness is next to godliness; out here it's next to impossible!
  Our new barber is an enthusiastic chap. Once he gets going there is no stopping him. Lt. Byrne was shorn to the size of an anemic looking billiard ball.
  We are proud of our ultra deluxe plumbing facilities. Among other things there is also a metallic assortment of gasoline can showers, with hot or cold water, depending on the weather, hanging from the tree limbs.
  Every other night, depending on the health of the projector, we have a squawky, in the tropical Indian night, surrounded by romance, palm trees, and a prolific assortment of insects.
  We have gone stripe-happy and have laden the arms of S/Sgts. Coffman, Hoffman, Salisbury, H.W., Kelly, Bower, Funk, R.W., Sykes, Bush, Hagerman, Bowen, Snyder, Street Lehman, Andres, Isaacs, LeBlanc, O'Hare, Chenoweth and Genay, with T/Sgt. stripes. Believe it or not, we are just as proud of it as they are, but it's disconcerting to figure out how Genay got his stripes on so soon.
  The two most pressing problems of the moment are what to do with all those lumps of bulky rupees that have been accumulating out here in the wilderness (all crap shooters will please not notice the last remark); and how can we attack without accomplishing homicide (a pleasing thought) Sgt. Turner's trumpet tooting ambitions. We suspect jackal blood somewhere in his ancestry.
  Buddha sat seven years under a tree before he had a vision. We were here only a few hours till we had a vision - a vision of going home.
  The Roundup shall hear from this squadron again - we will do our part in helping alleviate the tremendous loss of the tales of the escapades of Errol Flynn.



G.I.'s Feel Yoke Of Too Much Regimented Physical Culture

  By Sgt. JACK COE

    WEST INDIA PORT - Just like a stranger in his own home, that has been our lot this week, with the daily physical training program sway, which program, incidentally, we're directing.
  Aware of the average G.I.'s aversion to anything resembling regimented physical activity, you can be sure our ostracism is not self-imposed. We try to be friends with the boys, and give them only a few push-ups, say 20 or 25, just a little close-order drill in the hot afternoon sun, and hardly "any" other form of calisthenics that would be considered strenuous during the 30 or 40 minute periods. But it is no use. Walking down the tent rows anymore is just an invitation to action, and lo tho we walk through this valley of shadows we do fear evil, as enough baleful glances and muttered imprecations emanate from the tents to make a "Quisling" shudder. And to think Bernard McFadden made a million with physical culture.
  Just so mail men Louie Giardino and Francis Bradley and the mess sergeant, Freddy Bumgarner, maintain a middle of the road policy in our case and we'll get along. Three squares and a half and a letter a day is enough to keep most anyone happy . . . even a bad old P.T. man.
  There's always the recalcitrant few who claim that their day's activity: behind the rake or latrine broom like Beverly Esto and John Alma and Wilbur Johnson, or those "regulars" on the mess hall varsity line like Pete Erwick and Robert Finch, and the two AFRC "greaseballs," Walter "P" Henry and Sgt. Jake Galeski - is enough to warrant "callijumpup" exemption.
  They may be right at that. Especially Galeski, whose meticulous posture is as unvarying as a straight line on a bar graph - no doubt caused by the many hours spent under a G.I. truck . . . sleeping or getting in the shade.
  Incidentally, we're all out of 2nd lieutenants now, as this week Frederick E. Carpenter, Joseph A. Cartledge and Melvin A. Westerdahl took off their worn out gold bars and blitzed them extra hard to get that shining silver luster. They've all been enjoying that satisfied feeling of signing their monikers with an extra flourish and adding "First" naturally, to the "Lieutenant" in front of their names.
  As we predicted last week, the "hotel" is once again overflowing, and the familiar cries: "Anybody in the shipment from Texas?" "What ship did you come on?" or "Gee! Look fellows, a place to sit down and eat," fill the air.






  THE CIPHER SERENADE

Reading numbers from a roll,
On, and on, and on they go.
Noughts and ciphers, dollars, cents,
Military regiments.
Blue on white, small curlicues,
Translated-wine, women, song, and booze.

Or baby, buy pop a pair of shoes.
Or shuffling pasteboards, Army style.
"Now let me sweat this out awhile."
Or cigarettes, candy, Indian toys,
Or rupees for the baksheesh boys.

Figures swirling, whirling, prancing,
Now retreating, now advancing.
Master Sergeant - What a salary!
Way up in the reserved gallery.
Then first, then staff, then buck, and then
The other, less important men,
Who do the work, and grease the wheels,
But are, withal, a bunch of heels.
And on and on those figures go,
Column on column - row on row
One Class "F" for a luscious blonde,
A little for a big War Bond
I reserve and I allot,
And I chop up an Army cot,
Promotion, bust, a little spree
A few remarks, some NLD;
A line of red, a busted dome.
One thin dime for Soldiers' Home.

And now at last, the golden goose.
The figures stop, their curves seduce
They stand out bold and brave and high,
Waiting for their own G.I.
The eagle screams, and Uncle Sam
Says, "Blessings on thee, little man."

The story's done, but wait awhile.
An epilogue is quite the style.
From those charming curlicues,
Redolent with fun and booze,
A chunk is cut, an ugly scar.
A wailing rises from afar
And as we stand with muscles lax,
Uncle Sam collects his income tax.

    - Corp. MILTON MARGOLIS
 SHORT STORY

He was just shot down from Assam; t'was a lush, warm Indian night,
So he drove down by the Boat Club on a sort of - ROUTINE FLIGHT.
She was dancing like a feather with the Adjutant Commanding,
When our pilot down from Assam took one look, made a - CRASH LANDING.
Soon he lured her from the C.A., fetched her Gimlets, mostly gin.
Told her of his daring exploits, had her quickly in a - SPIN !
Then she said she must be going, which was perfect it would seem.
When she murmured softly, "Come in" why he did, right - ON THE BEAM.
Now her gunner back from Poona, entering, found the floodlights burning low.
Flipped the switch, thereby revealing - CLOSE FORMATION, CEILING ZERO!
He talked fast, our lad from Assam, even mentioning Lease-Lends.
Then he suddenly experienced a bad case of the - BENDS.
Ah, that gunner's aim was something, it was true and so well-founded.
That you never saw a pilot so definitely - GROUNDED.

    - Lt. ELIZABETH SHAUNTY




India Air Depot Making Plans For New Club

    INDIA AIR DEPOT - Not to be outdone by Delhi's Duration Den, the American Red Cross representatives at this air depot last week were busily completing the final plans for the as yet unnamed club which, it is hoped, will be in full swing before the middle of April.
  The furniture was designed and is being built by the same decorator who furnished Delhi's D. D., and the colored sketches showing the arrangement of the various rooms as well as the entire layout were enthusiastically received when viewed by the various organizations last week.
  In fact, the representatives seemed pretty complacent and self-satisfied with the whole thing, with the one exception of the lack of a name. So-o-o-o, a contest was inaugurated for the selection of a suitable tag. with a suitable reward for the winner, and at latest reports from the sanctum sanctorum the results were at least ingenious, if not positively mediocre. The selection, however - in the hands of a committee - will not be announced until opening night, and in the meantime it is being anxiously sweated out.
  One of the features of the club will be the dining room, where, we are virtually assured, one may purchase eatin' steaks, such as are found in some of Delhi's commercial beaneries, and which are by the way of being in the land of limbo around this depot.
  That, too, is being anxiously sweated.



Veronica's peek-a-boo hairdo      Veronica's duration hairdo
VERONICA LAKE CHANGES HER
COIFFURE AT REQUEST OF WPB

    HOLLYWOOD - Veronica Lake, who rocketed to movie stardom by draping her long golden hair in a peek-a-boo style over one eye, has consented to a War Production Board plea that she change he coiffure - for the duration.
  The WPB said that too many women war plant workers were imitating the style and thus causing an unnecessary accident hazard. Intent on avoiding scalping for female turret lathe operators and other women similarly employed, the WPB made the appeal to Veronica.
  Miss Lake said: "I was making my first movie test as a drunk. That hank of hair came down in front of one eye - the head men insisted that I leave it that way. I've been worrying with it and stumbling through life ever since. The government's request to not cover one eye is not only pleasure - it is relief."



DSM AWARDED TO COL. TATE

    Theatre Headquarters has announced the award of the Distinguished Service Medal to Col. Robert F. Tate, former commanding officer of the India-China Ferrying Command and now Air Officer on Gen. Stilwell's staff.
  The citation follows: "For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service while serving in a post of heavy responsibility, first as executive officer and then as commanding officer for the India-China Ferrying Command. Col. Tate, through his able direction and administration, made a valuable contribution to enable personnel and material to flow successfully and uninterrupted to and from China after other means of communication had been severed by the enemy.
  "Col. Tate's ability, perseverance and devotion to duty proved of the highest quality and these qualities served to solve difficult administrative, technical and operational problems, which had to be solved in fulfilling the commitments of the United States to sustain lines of communication to China."



PILOT ESCAPES FROM BEHIND JAP LINES

  By BROOKS ATKINSON, New York Times War Correspondent

    PAOSHAN, WEST YUNNAN, CHINA - (Delayed) - While strafing Japanese trucks on a reconnaissance flight six days ago in a fighter plane, Lt. Greg Carpenter, his plane put out of action by machine gun or rifle fire, parachuted over Lung River west of Salween. Although he landed among Chinese peasants who recognized the Chinese flag on his jacket, he was overtaken by Japanese scouts, who fired at him and chased him through the woods and over the hills.
  Aided by two Chinese, one of whom had a wounded leg, Carpenter escaped to a nearby village. At midnight, Japanese scouts came to the village searching, but the Chinese hid him for another day.
  Thirty-one Indians, led by Doctor I. C. Choudhry, assistant surgeon of the 13th Infantry Brigade of the Indian Army, had been hiding in the village for 16 days, waiting a chance to escape across the Salween to Free China.
  When the Japanese were a safe distance away, the entire party started overland on foot and by horseback and made their way to Paoshan. Carpenter was unshaven and wore torn trousers and slippers. The Indians wore makeshift garments, Australian Army uniforms and odd kinds of headgear.
  A dinner was given to them tonight by the commander of the Chinese forces based here. As soon as Carpenter shaves and gets a new pair of pants, he is looking forward to a chance to fly over Japanese territory and return with interest the trouble given him.
  The Indians, who had been prisoners since April 17, 1942, obviously survived great misery, and they still looked fierce and proud. All had been kept in a prison camp in Rangoon with 1,706 Indians, 250 Britons and 30 Chinese. They had little food and were roughly treated by the Japanese. One British major, who asked for water, was struck over the head and died the next day.
  In August, many of the prisoners were taken to North Mandalay and Lungling and forced to work on the new Japanese road to Tengchung. About 1,000 men were working on the road. Of the 350 in Dr. Choudhry's outfit, 65 died of malnutrition, malaria and dysentery, while 60 more were unfit for work because of various ailments.



SHARPEN YOUR PENCILS - AND FIGURE YOUR TAX
TABLE OF TAXES PAYABLE ON 1942 INCOMES and Weekly Savings Needed To Meet Them

  Tables below show how much tax you will have to pay based on your net or TAXABLE INCOME during 1942. In these tables, TAXABLE INCOME means the amount (before deducting your personal exemptions - i.e. $500 if single; $1,200 head of family; $350 each dependent) received from wages, salary, bonuses, commissions, fees, annuities, dividends, interest, income from your farm, business, or profession, etc., LESS your charitable contributions, interest paid out, bad debts, certain taxes and other deductions authorized by law.
  If your entire income was not over $3,000 and consisted wholly of salaries, wages, dividends, interest and annuities, you may report on the new simplified Form 1040-A. In this case your tax, and the weekly savings necessary, will be approximately the same as shown in the tables below.




China Fighter Squadron Leader Grounded After Bagging Jap

  By T/Sgt. KEN LARUE

    CHINA AIR BASE - It is our privilege to once more make an entrance into the columns of Roundup and to give you bits of news from a fighter squadron stationed somewhere on the China Front.
  We are beginning to wonder if the old axiom, "There is no rest for the wicked," is not a falsehood. Capt. Wellborn, after shooting down a Japanese plane, has been grounded for a month, (He, of course, claims it's malaria). Maybe if you got three or four, captain, they'd retire you.
  We're recommending T/Sgt.'s Makie and Newman for promotion to A.M., 1st Class in the Japanese Air Force, due to their experiences in building and rebuilding Jap Zeros.
  As for athletics, our basketball team is beginning to get in shape under the strict management of S/Sgt. Oolovigin. After a warm-up game a few days ago with a bomber squadron, the boys feel they will cop the China Conference. A few days ago we clipped Maj. Baumer's squadron in a game of football and expect to do it again any time we get them on the field. How can we miss with Coach Mahony's head work backing us?
  Lately it has become a daily occurrence in our squadron to have a "Quiz Program," sponsored by Lt. Sher, (Yes, the same guy that sang to the Chinese). It usually ends up with "Clyde Clapper" winning out by a small margin? Col. Holloway comes over and beats him a point or two. Anyway it cost only 10 cents.
  In case you would care to know just now how it feels to land a fighter plane that has been shot full of holes, ask Lts. Costello and Berman, who at the time were out joy riding on a mission and were attacked from the rear (please note) by enemy planes. Take it from them that you can't trust "our little brown brothers."
  Our group at least has a cooperative spirit. Our C.O., Maj. Mahony, just rescues a brother captain, Blackstone, from a brother squadron, from the mountains, by landing on a road near where he had crashed his fighter plane in for a landing after chasing a Jap plane too far from his home base to make it back.



THE COLONEL SEES SNAKES IN HIS ROOM


    The life of an adjutant in India is certainly an arduous one!
  Col. Walter Urbach, A.G. for the 10th Air Force, returned to his hotel room the other night and thought something was screwy or else he should change his brand of liquor.
  Sitting in the middle of his floor were a couple of snake-wallas and cobras touring about the place admiring his etchings. Urbach, naturally, was non-plussed and ordered the retinue to cease and desist forthwith. Before clearing his room Urbach made the snake wallas count their snakes in the manner of a surgeon checking on the sponges after an abdominal operation.
  Later that night he retired peacefully to his little bed and almost shook the building down with a great scream as he stretched out his feet.
  It was not a King Cobra coiled in his bed. It was a piece of rope.
  Boys, boys, boys!


IATF CHEVRON FACTORY
These fellows are the India Air Task Force headquarters men, consisting of highly trained clerks, expert technicians, high-speed radio operators and goldbricks. The guy in the circle is Sgt. Karl Peterson, whose stories about the IATF give rise to some of the biggest laughs for Roundup readers.



'CLOSE SHAVE CLUB' GAINS A NEW MEMBER IN CHINA

  By S/Sgt. JOHN E. CHAPMAN

    CHINA AIR BASE - Another combat crew member of this China-based medium bomb squadron has qualified for membership in the "Close Shave Club."
  S/Sgt. Robert T. Schafer, radio operator-gunner, who hails from Clayton, Wash., was standing near the window watching the results of a bombing attack on Japanese installations along the Salween River. And then things started popping as a Jap anti-aircraft gun began sending up a stream of explosive shells on this lead ship of the attacking bombers.
  The wheel well was hit and particles from the shell struck the window, spraying glass over Schafer's face and shoulders. Fortunately for Schafer, the fragments struck at such an angle as to deflect from the surface of the window and to pass on above the ship. Schafer, miraculously enough, escaped without even a scratch from the shower of glass!
  Other members of this crew included: Maj. Everett W. Holstrom, pilot; 1st Lt. Stewart E. Sewell, co-pilot; 1st Lt. Charles J. Clarino, navigator; 1st Lt. George A. Stout, bombardier; 1st Lt. Robert S. Brookfield, observer, and T/Sgt. Douglas V. Radney, engineer-gunner.



WANTED - 2, EACH, WAACS
WE WANT WAACS

    It's getting hot and the pucca memsahib prepares to retire to the hill station therein to languidly hibernate in cool austerity until next fall.
  This brings to mind not only the question of the inevitable social crisis to follow but the question of replacements. We therefore offer a plan that we feel will not only aid and abet morale but might relieve more troops for field duty.
  We've been reading a lot about American activities in North Africa and have asked ourselves, "What have they got that we haven't?" The answer is: "WAACS."
  The Roundup has gotten a lot of WAAC pictures and don't think they all look like Hedy Lamarr but, then, who does except Joan Bennet?
  Having been away from home for over a year we'd go for a rapid rassle around the dance floor with your grandmother to the tune of a cracked phonograph record.
  Although loving the English female with something approaching madness we yet miss the forthright American lass complete with painted nails, lips, and weighed down with foundation garments. We'd like to see gals who chew gum in public (unashamed), powder their noses on the streets once in a while without starting systematic hunts for the nearest available comfort station, and who can dig into a robust hamburger without worrying about a possible incipient squirt of ketchup down the front of an elevated bosom.
  We've got nurses out here who answer the general description of what we seek but there aren't enough of them and undoubtedly won't be. Anyway they are officers which makes them strictly window display for the G.I.'s. The only chance a dog-face gets with a nurse is to ride the sick book and then he gets castor oil in place of amenities.
  The Red Cross girl fits into the same general category. We speak from practical experience when we say that getting a date with one will run you through the damned-est rat-race of avoiding nights on duty, duty bicycle rides with troops, promotion of hand-holding bees in well-chaperoned service clubs and other such non-essentials that you've ever gotten into.
  With the WAACS it might be different. They have officers and enlisted women. Naturally the enlisted women would far outnumber the officers and there should certainly be a theatre policy established to forbid a boy colonel in the Air Corps from escorting a WAAC corporal socially.
  There are aspects other than social in this plea for WAACS. There is the inevitable supply problem. The Roundup, wishing to be thoroughly cooperative with the rest of the military establishment, offers itself as the agency for clothing supply. The Congressional act forming the women's auxiliary provides that the Army shall issue clothing "and accessories" as needed.
  Boy, would we have fun doling out those long-handled drawers immortalized by the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot and in fitting girdles with the two-way stretch.
  "How's your girdle, Myrtle?" might well become the rallying cry of this theatre!
  Anyway, it's nice to think that coming back from an arduous bombing mission one might be met at the field by a bevy of tanned blondes with cool drinks and cooler hands to stroke the fevered brows, to go out and dance at night, to play a little badminton in shorts and sweaters, to play a little bridge - possibly poker - ad infinitum.
  There was something too, in the Congressional act that provided something about them doing something in offices to relieve men for combat duty.
  We may check on that sometime!



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. Clancy Topp, 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.










MARCH  25,  1943    

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

Similar, better quality photo of Esther Williams substituted for the original published in Roundup.

Copyright © 2006 Carl Warren Weidenburner






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