Evening star., 1941-12-31

out, and the sirens began wailing
their five short blasts In SUGGESTIONS
Of three.
The all-clear. the white" signal,
three long blasts, came at 7:59.
No one was admitted to "commu::
nications" but Army officers and
other officials concerned. The whole
area was closely guarded by soldiers.
The stone building was completely
blacked out. Not a trickle of light
issued from 1t.
R9 "'@" Others Watched Drill. r.
Others who watched the eosnmuni-
cations system in operation and
praised its efficiency were Brig. Gen.
L. D. Gasser, uaison officer between
the War Department and the Ma
tional ONCE Of Civilian Defense;
Corrington Gill, chief Of operations
for o. c. D.: Col. Walter Burn and
Mai. William A. Brewer, also Of the
La Guardia Office.
This was the post Of Chief Air
Raid Warden Clement Murphy.
whose zone deputies and their as
sistants began to report on the ex-
tent and efficiency of their mobili-
zation as soon as the all-clear was
flashed. In charge of the vital COM
munications layout was Herbert A.
Friede, chief of the civilian defense
communications section and head Of
the fire and police signal systems.
Between the blue and white. or
all-clear, signal all the radio sta
tions kept announcing the practice
alert. And the announcers repeat
edly reassured their listeners: This
Is not an actual raid. 1t Is prac-
tice. There's no danger at pres
ent
A number Of complaints that the
sirens could not be heard were re-
ceived by The Star. The Commits
sioners have ordered Al afraid
sirens, which are to be delivered IN
about two weeks.
La Guardia and Young Broadcast
A tenseness enveloped the Office
of Commissioner Young as the time
for the blackout approached. Gath
cred there, besides Mr.. Young, were
Mayor La Guardia, Commissioners
Kutz and Mason, Representative
Randolph, Maj. Edward j. Kelly,
police superintendent; Capt. Will
liam L. Clemens, assistant to Col
Bolles, and q score OF newspaper
and radio correspondents, among
others.
At 7:30 Mayor La Guardia and Mr.
Young went on the air over WMAL
and the National Broadcasting Co.
Mayor La Guardia, introducing
MIR. Young, praised his efforts In
co-ordinating civilian defense and
warned his listeners that "an this
work will be of no avail unless all
of the people of this city cooper
ate" He also paid tribute to Rep
resentative Randolph, who, he said
had provided the legislation en-
powering the Commissioners Ito act
in the event of an air attack"
The broadcast over, those present
split up into groups of four or five
to drive through the streets during
the blackout period. They had
scarcely taken their places in cars
when the sirens began to wall.
Police ION the Job"
Maj. Kelly said he was glad the
jewelry store robbery" happened
the way it did. as it proved that his
police were really on the job
Mayor La Guardia took the occasion
to say that such happenings should
remind people Of the heavy penal
ties for looting during a blackout
He also said that police ought tc
keep their fingers on the trigger
Of their guns" during blackoutS.
Government buildings were sin
gled out by most of those in the
Commissioners party as the worst
offenders" Here and there a care
less merchant or shopkeeper had left
visible lights burning. Their ad-
dresses were duly noted and Com.
missioner Mason said the boarc
would write complaints to needless
people. Ako singled out were two
streetcar motormen who stopped
their cars but failed to put out the
lights.
When the "all clear" came, a city
that seemed to have lost motion re.
gained 1t In q hurry. Lights ap'
| peared, cars and people moved on