Evening star., 1942-08-08

Johnston would neither indicate
the losses of the enemy nor would
he state whether the United states
NAVY had suffered losses in the
Coral Sea battle, nor would ne
mention the names OF ships on
either side which participated in the
battle. He was told to proceed 10
Chicago at once, to write fuu &C
count of the five-day Coral Sea
battle"
Johnston's care in following the
naval regulations concerning tne
printing of news OF the Coral sea
engagement is set forth here 10
show how unthinkable it is that ne
offered his newspaper Information
concerning another engagement
the Midway battle, at which ne was
not present-in violation to the CEN
sorship, law, naval regulations or
usage.
Stories Submitted to Navy
Department to Be Censored.
Since in Chicago Johnston set
to work writing the Coral Sea stories
in great detail Maloney continued.
"One by one these stories were de-
posted with the Navy Department
in Washington to be censored.
although the Tribune was for
tunate enough to be the only news
paper to have correspondent with
a naval unit in the Coral Sea battle.
the publisher of the Tribune ordered
Johnston's stories turned over to
the newspapers of the world.
I'm doing this the Tribune, as
contribution to American morale.
voluntarily relinquished great
newspaper scoop that an eyeWlt-
ness account of the bravery Of the
American Navy might reach prac-
tically every newspaper reader in
the United States.
LAS Johnston wrote his stories in
Chicago the sea battle of Midway
was being fought. Dutch Harbor
had been attacked News stories
were being carried that the attack
had been expected; that the station
was not surprised; that both our
forces at Dutch Harbor and on
Midway were on the alert; that all
was ready to give the Japs a hot
reception
"On Saturday night, June 6, came
Admiral Nimitz's victory announce
ment. When Johnston learned OF
the communique. he hurried to the
desk of the Tribune's managing
editor.
Johnston declared that he was
certain that the Japs' attacks or
Dutch Harbor and Midway were 8
prelude to an attempt to take Ha-
waii, the American outpost; that the
Dutch Harbor attack was merely {
feint; that 1t was clear from the
Nimitz communique that an i'm.
mense Jap f1eet-as big as the Jap!
could get together-was in the &C.
ton; that he could make a goot
guess based on his experience anc
knowledge Of the makeup of ths
Jap armada.
"It shows the tremendous enemy
forces We have licked he declared.
Johnston's views seemed to Ma
loney to furnish an aspect of tn
5 Midway victory of which the Ameri
f can people should be informed, tina
that Jap attack was not mere'face
5 saving effort. Johnston's idea of tn
5 whole situation appeared to enhanc
the greatness of the American vic
tory.
Maloney continued:
TN making his report of the prob
able enemy forces which he ha'
: worked out from his knowledge o
: the situation with the aid of refer
ence books on the Jap navy, fror
= his knowledge of the Jap Coral Sc
:. losses. and from discussions witt
o naval men of all countries and hi
battle comrades, of the remainin
4 ships available to the Japs, Johnston
= believed and still believes that h
was aiding the American cause"
Paper Notified of Citation
i. Under Censorship Code.
The Tribune printed the story an
the next morning, Sunday the pape
|, was notified that the Bureau G
4 Censorship had cited it for violatin
h the censor's code.
4 Arthur Sears Henning, head {
d the Washington bureau of the Trl
IS bune, answered the citation in writ
: ing. After few hours considera
v ton Henning was told by the cen
Q sor in charge that his reply was ade
= quate and that the Censorship Blu
" reau "had no further quarrel wit
: the Tribune in this matter
q However, the Navy Departmer
,s pretended not to be content with tn
,e ruling of the Bureau of Censorship
l. 1t so informed Mr. Henning. TT
Tribune, Maloney said, immediate
IN forwarded full information to tf
I'd Navy Department and sent Johr
es ston by airplane to Washington wit
t, orders to tell his entire story to nav
st authorities. This he did.
D. Mr.. Knox's correspondent all
st said the Japs were so cocksure tn;
SIS they made no attempt at concea
N ment. American patrols sighted II
Jap vessels With this foreknow
E. edge, the American commanders b.
at gan to concentrate all available wa
III ships in the vicinity. The Secreta
It, of the Nays paper stated:
le Meantime, the clans, such
to they were, were gathering som
t. where north of the Hawaiian I
w lands. Looking back on the pc