The Wrangell sentinel., 1942-09-11

ing task, for not only are the us- nal recruiting appea4s=training inI a choice of 6 professions and 1 trades. service to the nation, health benefits. etc.-included. but also a community appeal directed primar- fly at the section or state to which 1 the speech is aired. For example in 1 industrial sections, it will be point ed out how youths. while serving 1 their country can equip themselves for the postwar jobs right at home
 Tbse speeches are turned over i to the congressman and as fast as they can be shunted through the l radio recording studio in the House office building. Robert Coar, in l charge. prepares the recordings ! These are distributed to the radio stations back home
 Kickoff speeches were made on national hookups by House Major. ] ity Leader John W. Mccormack ] and Minority Leader Joseph w i Martin. Jr. Il will be rolling along l for weeks maybe months yet.
 In it's midwar recruiting drive the Navy is following it's lifetime. l policy of depending on enlistments. ] rather than on draftees. The Pres. ident months ago, by executive orr l der. opened the seleetive serYiceI roles to the Navy. So far they have not found it necessary to make a single request
 Indirectly, of course, selectiye service is responsible for thous- ands of the Navy enlistments. Youths who are classified IA, but prefer the Navy rush to join before they are grabbed for the Army.
 Recruiting. rather than the sim l pier method of drafting, also is part of the Nayy's cagey policy of skimming the cream off the man power crop Nearly every man in the Navy is there because he wants to be there or prefers being there to being in any of the other armed forces.
 It is part of thIs policy which l has led the Navy since Pearl Har- bor particularly to grab accom- plished young technicIans and spec ialists, enroll them Tn the naval reserve and keep thm in that back log until the training program had expanded q efficiently to call them up.
 It is part of thss policy which caused the Navy in some sections of the United States, perhaps most. to send personal letters to the re cent IS to 20-year-old registrants inviting them to enlist. If Congress later this year does decide to put the 19-to20's on the selectiye ser vice roles, the Army will find lot of the lads have already gone to the war at sea.
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 Of all the gulf being kicked a. round about this war, the argument over whether our planes, tanks, guns, etc, are superior or inferior to those of the enemy should be the most quickly ignored.
 I'm going to put the cart in front of the horse and say this now: In : spite of all past stupidities, resis- ] tance to change anu cleavage to l old-fashioned ideas our military forces won't insist on yesterdays weapons when todays have been . proved superior on the fields of i battle
 1 When the M-3 tank was found : to have certain flaws under actual battle conditions, the Army came out with the M-4 and soon there won't be anything else produced in the medium tank field. When it was found that the old Prench75 the greatest anti-tank gun ever devel- oped- lacked armor- piercing qual- ities that heavier enemy guns had, engineers increased it's muzzle vel ocity (and hence it's armor-piercing force) without sacrificing it's mo- bility. To put the cart back where it belongs: Weapons are based on strategic plans.
 For instance the Nazi 88-mm antf-tank gun has been credited with the Libyan desert victories. If it's such a remarkable weapon why aren't the United Nations turning them out today? Why didn't the Axis go ahead with those 88's and take Alexandria and the Suez?
 Ordnance experts explain the gun i is mobile until fired and then must have a semi-permunent emplaee- ment. Hence it is good only for de- fense or ambush. It was the latter -Rommeps clever ambush of June 13-that permitted the 8S to do its deadliest.
 As for the Japs' Zero fighterh: I heard a Navy man, who also is a congressman, give the U. S. a lash ing for not having anything to compare with them. He talked of the punishment they had dealt to Navy PYB flying boats. But the