The Wrangell sentinel., 1943-01-01

Another year has passed and aoue to take its place in the ar culyes oI history. It was an event ful year, probably one of the most important and momentous in the lives of American people of this era. for America was gearing for war. As we thumb back, through it's early pages, We find confusion, uncertainty and blood but later on in the volume, confusion and un- certainty become grim determine tion and although blood is still smearing it's paragraphs, it is now blood of victory instead of defeat.
 Russia, Burma, Hongkong, Manila Midway, Attu all pass under our probing fingers and each holds it's share ot shame or triumph.
 January 1922 started out with the fan of Manila and was follow ea In April by the Tall Of Bataan. What those heartbreaking weeks meant to our gallant forces, daily scanning the sea and skies for re- endorsements which did not come, Ne are prone to dismiss in the rush oI time, but pausing moment toI realize II, seeing our ragged forces -Amerllan infantrymen, marines. anu sail0rs-side by side with her. oIc tilipinos, il, underfed and un-I uer equipped fighting until they could no longer stand, our hearts swell with pride even through tears oI snaIue and regret.
 one sentence on that page of 1912 stands out like a light, foretelling, il our enemies could only have seen il, what they are up against when they face American fighting men. IL came over the Associated Press wires at the time "Bataan went down fighting on it's feet but never on it's knees, of such stuff are our boys made.
 In the meantime Batavia, Java, Burma and Singapore fell to the Japs, Leningrad was threatened and British Tommies were fighting hard To retain a hold they later lost in Africa. It was a dark picture and to make it darker strikes persisted on the American industrial front. The American people had not yet grasped the full significance of a war that was growing in scope and intensity. Food rationing, the OPA, Civil Defense, Selective Service stiff tened, but still some people grum- bled They picked flaws here and there and persisted in magnifying them. Some were slow to realize the drastic self-denials and sacrifices which our President warned would be necessary to win this all-out war.
 Then, the pages brighten; came the battle of the Coral Sea, the bombing of Tokyo and the battle of Midway, followed immediately by the Japanese invasion of Attu, Agattu and Kiska. The Russians were holding the Germans on the eastern front but Rommel had the upper hand in Africa. President Roosevelt spoke to the American people and, in effect, told them they were going to quit striking, quit grumbling and quit faultfinding "or else"
 Suddenly the people changed. In March the military road to Alaska was approved by Canada and the Ameriacn Congress, and nine chap ters later it was completed and sup plies were reaching the north over 1t. His demands for planes, tanks. guns and ammunition for 1942 we find at the beginning of 1943 have been more than met; appeals for money to carry on the expenses of war have been over subscribed in bonds and stamps. America sudden ly became geared Tor war. It ac- complished in one short year what it took our Axis enemies ten or more years to accomplish. That is the caliber of the American people like the men of Bataan, never on their knees. Gradually, the unavoid- able confusion, confusion bound to crop up in job so gigantic, so new and so against the grain of this peaee-loving nation, settled down to grim determination as men and women behind their fighting men donned overalls Women's hands, used to nothing heavier than a hand at bridge. began yielding riveter;