Evening star., 1943-05-31
Army Press Bureau
Honors -Four Officers
Killed on Missions
Hailed for Sacrifice
While Gathering News
For u. S. Public
By NELSON SHEPARD.

fOur names on Llle nOIlOr TOll OF
the War Departments Public Rela-
tions Bureau testify to the personal
sacrifices of Army press officers who
have given their lives ito get the
news" since the start of the war.
AS In no other war in which the
United States has engaged, the ef-
fort to keep the American public
fully informed of its progress has
sent Army officers, trained in the
official handling of war news, to dis
tant corners of the world, flying
( back and forth and sharing the COM
: mon dangers of fighting men at the
a., front.
: Tribute to those who have lost
their lives and the purposes for
:. which they died was paid yesterday
by Col. Stanley j. Grogan. deputy
: bureau director, in a Memorial Day
address at Upper Pittston, Pa. Re-
Gently returned from the North
= African front, Col. Grogan said
= Army public relations officers were
: In ali the forward areas.
= All Died In Crashes.
. War Department officials recalled
today that the four gold star" men
had met their deaths in plane
= crashes, either on missions or going
to and from the war zones on as
signments. They are:
- Mai. George T. Hart, likeable
81 youngster who spent many months
:. in Washington before he went down
into the sea somewhere" in the
European area on a secret mission;
First 1t. Charles w. Campbell, who
crashed In South America en- route
to a war zone; Capt. Harold r.
-Freckleton, victim of crash in New
Foundland while flying to England,
and Col Morrow Krum, Chicago and
New York newspaperman and win
her of Pulitzer prize. Col. Krum
was killed in crash in Iceland with
1t. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, then
commanding general of the Euro
pean area.
These officers died. Col Grogan
said, in the performance of their
duty to see that the American public
receives the fullest information
about the war consistent with Sc
curity.
Toured African Front.
II can tell YOU" he added, that
the Bureau of Public Relations is
fully conscious of its responsibility
In seeing that the Nation is fully and
accurately informed about the war.
Whenever the story of any military
action is held up, you can be certain
that detailed disclosures would give
the enemy information which might
be used against u.s.
A veteran of the World War who
served with the LIST Division in Ger
many and a former Scranton Pa)
neWspaperman, himself, Col. Grogan
went to North Africa at the time
when the fighting looked bleak for
American forces. He accompanied
John j. McCloy, Assistant Secretary
of War, on an inspection trip, one
purpose of which was to see how the
Public Relations Bureau was func-
tioning at the front.
IT should like to correct the i'm
preston that the job of public
relations officer is necessarily nice
and SAFE" he said. In the North
African operation, public relations
officers went ashore under fire with
the troops. I talked with them in
all the forward areas"
While on his African trip, Col.
Grogan disclosed that he had flown
in a Bit Flying Fortress on day
light bombing mission over Palermo,
the Italian base on the island of
Sicily. which is now being given
almost daily poundings.
Hit by Anti-Aircraft Fire.
His pilot on this mission was Col.
Stanley J. Donovan, whose group on
the flight accounted for four Italian
planes.
THE anti-aircraft was sitter
than I thought it would be-" Col.
sGrogan related Our bomber was
thit twice by fax, once in each wing
But Flying Forts are famous for
the amount of punishment they
can take. Those holes in the wings
didn't bother us in the least We
made our runs over the target,
dropped our bombs and came home.
] saw pictures of the target area
later and very satisfactory they
were. too. The Bit is the heavy
weight bombing champion of our
air forces"
= Before climbing into the plane,
Maj. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, hero Of
the Toxic raid, loaned the public
relations deputy a pair of overshoes
and gloves.
Col. Grogan returned from the
African scenes, as others have done,
with a new confidence in the great
Army we are building"