davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08

wear garments increased only eight
percent, according to statistics from
Ohio State university.
Eugene Basinger of the Bluffton
area, now in a Civilian Public Service
camp at Pinehurst, North Carolina,
writes that he is one of group of As
serving as human guinea pigs in a
typical pneumonia experiment being
conducted by army physicians at that
place.
Ninety-one hours from the Aleu-
tians to Bluffton-that's the time ii
took Chief Petty Officer Sherwood
Burkholder to make the trip. Burk-
holder, of the navy air service is the
son of Mr.. and Mrs. Alvin Burkholder
of Findlay and grandson of Mr.. and
Mrs. Gid Burkholder of this place.
Ninety-one hours, however, is not con-
sidered as setting any travel records
in these days, he said. The trip was
made by air to Seattle, Washington
and from there east by rail. Burk-
holder, who is here on several weeks
leave, spent % months in Alaska and
contrary to general belief he says the
climate on the Aleutians is not one ot
extreme cold. During the winter the
temperature is usually about the
freezing mark and he has never ex.
perienced zero cold waves like we dt
in Ohio.
Tribute to the fine work Rev. Ches
ter Aremtrout, former pastor of the
Columbus Grove Presbyterian church
now is doing in Columbus was con
tanned in a column written by Johnny
Jones in "The Columbus Dispatch
last Sunday. In part the article said
"The Miami Presbyterian church il
one of the many churches in which i
has been hard to keep the flock to
gether. By working hard and endeav
oring to do his duty this young mar
has caught on in his work of rejuven
ating the church. The young peopl,
are coming back. The choir is doint
fine. "Old Sinners" like me are show
ing up once in awhile. "Some peopl,
can do so much if they just lend them
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08
INRy1CTokII

the BIlffton high school team" was
the greeting Staff Sgt. Wayne Depp-
Ter received the other day day, way
out in Iran. In letter to his parents,
Mr.. and Mrs. Eli Deppler their SON
Wayne said he was surprised to meet
the Van Vert soldier who recognized
him as a former opponent in the days
when Bluffton and Van Vert football
teams clashed a good many years ago.
Staff Sgt. Deppler is stationed in Iran
with the army signal corps.
If you are looking for a good
home for cat and her family of
kittens, call up Albert Vermillion-
Albert is looking for a half-dozen
mother cats to clear out the rats on
his farm in Orange township. He
says when it comes to getting rid
of rats cats are vastly superior to
dogs. In return for services as rat
ters, the cats are promised good
home with plenty of food.
OF the 63,566 trucks released in
1943, agriculture obtained 1885.
Normal annual requirements require
100000 trucks.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08

finished the test, and at two o'clock
were spiraling down when Zeros
came over to strafe the field below.
These strafing Zeros also had top
cover of Zeros hanging up at $4,000
feet, in case our P-40's might come
in to break up their ground party.
'sWell, when the strafing began,
our boys in the control tower re-
membered that Ray was up, and
they tried to tell him by radio to fly
south over the sea for an hour, until
the Zeros were gone-that was our
usual procedure.
''But Ray and Johnny, alone In
this plane, probably intent on their
test, must have had their head
phones off. Anyway they couldn't be
reached, although the boys on the
ground tried frantically to let them
know what they were coming down
into. Finally they saw three Zeros
hit them at $4,000 feet. Ray irnme-
diately turned out to sea, while john
ny probably did what he could on
the guns. But one gunner can't
cover every side at once, and they
didn't stand a chance against three
Zeros. Next day the plane was found
shot down and burned about twenty
miles from Malang Field"
Shortly after that" said Boone,
the gunner, tive had tough little
mission-a night flight to bomb a
Jap task force which was attacking
one of the islands down toward Aus
tralia. / forget which one it was If
/ ever knew-that was the naviga-
tors business. Six of US took off
from Malang, but before we started
for the target, we had to fly over
to Jockstrap and load up with Dutch
bombs-they were running low at
Malang, and the Dutch at Jockstrap
had plenty. Then we took off at
eight o'clock at night in some of
the dirtiest weather / ever hope to
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08
CHAPTER XIV

"When that chute cracked open,
the jerk pitched him out of the har-
ness head-frst, and as the chute bill
lowed loosely back of the planes tail,
we saw him dropping down with his
clothes smoking, getting httler and
littler. Oh, Heaven! / couldn't look
any more.
'The plane was settling faster,
in that steepening curve now, be-
cause it was all over. So we who
have seen a Fortress die in battle
can tell you how they do it. They
die like the men who fly them and
fight in them would want them to
die! They die like the great Sky
Queens they are. And Queens die
proudly.
"Just then I heard our pilot Cap
tain Strother over the interphones,
telling Jim Worley, our bombardier,
that he'd opened the bomb-bay
doors, and for the bombardier to
60 back and salvo all the bombs
and the gas tanks carried there.
He'd seen what happened when the
other two planes got hit in the bomb
bay--ia was obvious the Japs knew
our bomb-bay tanks weren't leak
proof, and down at this low alti-
tude, we were at their mercy. At
high altitude they're lucky if they
can get above and ahead of you, to
come in for one nose-on attack. Aft
er that they have the devils own
time skidding around in the strato-
sphere to catch up for another. But
down here at 1000 they could flip
over quick, and come in again and
again.
: ''Well, Jim Worley is about to
obey, but just then he sees a Zero
coming right in on us, head-on-
and his gun there in the nose is
the only one who can handle this
attack, so he's got to stay on it.
''He gives her one burst and then
starts to salvo his bombs and gas
tanks, but there's a crashing sound,
and the controls don't work. He
doesn't realize bullet has wrecked
his controls-doesn't know what has
happened.
''Then all of sudden-Bangl-
there's a hell of an explosion inside
our plane, and dust, and the stink
of gasoline. After seeing what had
just happened to the other two
planes, we thought 1t could mean
only one thing. We must be on fire!
And later on, ask me about that
railroad spike.
"But somehow there were no
flames so we kept on pounding
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08

she would then have crashed tail
first into the end of the field and
blown up all Of US, but he was able
to stop her by cunning the motors.
Even If the wheels couldn't bite into
that slippery ground, the propellers
could bite the air. It was neat.
Another gripe we had on Malang
Field was the food. The mess was
in charge of the Dutch. They served
only one hot meal day, and this
was always at noon-usually hot
soup with boiled beef and potatoes.
But / only got to eat this hot noon
meal three times-I was always out
on missions, which should give some
idea how busy we were.
"They had baskets of food for us
to take up in the plane-pineapples,
tropical fruit, and then sandwiches
which were either a slab of cheese,
or else raw bacon, in between two
thick hunks of bread. We found this
heavy stuff made gas in your intes-
tines and just as you got to high al
titude going over the target, this
gas swelled up, giving you the
gripes. So we'd eat the fruit and
throw the sandwiches away.
"Also Malay cooks don't know hot
food-the breakfast soft-boiled eggs
were always hard. and they'd bring
out No. 10 can Of jam for a hun
dred and fifty men. What with get
ting two or three hours sleep
night, we all lost weight-two of us
lost nineteen pounds and Charlie lost
twenty-three, and it wasn't scared
off us, either.
''We all felt that with a decent
meal we could do lot more. So
as much as we needed sleep, at
eight or nine o'clock at night we'd
take the Dutch bus into town to a
restaurant owned by a Javanese,
which had a Dutch waitress who
spoke English, just to buy us thick,
rare steak. Americans have got to
have red meat to fight on. Give
them that and they'll manage to
sleep when they can.
"We finally took over the mess,
but that didn't help much, because
by then the field was being bombed
regularly. The mess sergeant had
his kitchen blown up three times in
single day, and this didn't improve
the flavor of things. But the worst
thing was, he'd got hold of three
truckloads of Reigel pale beer, and
had the cases neatly stacked when a
Jap bomb scored direct hit, leav-
ing not more than three dozen bot
ties. / never saw men any madder
than we were when we came out of
our foxholes and word went around
they had blown up our beer"
.sThey'd moved us over to Madi-
I'm Field" said the Bombardier,
land we had your troubles and some
more besides. When we first ar
rived there were no P-40's or anti
aircraft guns for miles to keep the
Zeros up. But we did have three
D-model Fortresses out of commits
sion we were using for spare parts.
So Lieutenant MCGEE dismounted
their guns, and Master Sergeant Sill
va and l decided to mount them in
holes around the airfield. At least
these would keep off strafers.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08
MG1A
Den4ozoI

By this time you know the answer
to that S64 question-when is D-day
and the radio is the most popular
spot-fact is some of the owls were
up most all night Monday after the
first news flash came soon after mid
night and June, the month of
brides and roses will take on added
distinction as the time of the worlds
biggest military operation and
this year it's the month of home
grown strawberries-and shortcake-
first berries now on the market !.
prospects good for some for canning
later-that is if you have sugar s. !.
and just how can we put up fruit for
next winter on the present allotment
of canning sugar and the boys
talking a rodeo for Fourth of July at
Harmon field :. and speaking of
Independence day-it was 35 years
ago that julie Benroth now in Phoenix
Arizona, was a feature of Bluffton's
celebration when he drove an auto
down Main street at the breath-taking
speed of so miles an hour +. and
still more candidates for the school
superintendent place-looks like a
big job for the school board this sum-
mer in selecting the right man /.
action of the mosquito front under
way with every citizen assigned to pa
troll his own premises-and call the
mayor if you need help in spraying
breeding places with oil :. and don't
take any of those lead quarters that
have appeared here this week. =.
1t wasn't pennies from heaven that
fell the other night-they were crisp
bills that dropped out of the pocket of
a Bluffon merchants shirt aid were
strewn along the sidwalk. 1t all hap
pened when he shut up shop and start
ed home with the days receipts stuff
ed in his shirt pocket. The night was
WdIlu anu LIVE nouI WAS ldlt, 50 he
removed his shirt and carried it over
his arm. Arriving home he found a
shotage in his cash and with the aid
of fashlight he retraced his steps
down town and retrieved the missing
bills enroute.
Wilford Geiger, Bluffton high school
instructor in biology is assisting ento-
mologist at the Ohio experiment farm
at McGuffey this summer. The ex-
pertinent farm is making a study OF
insect and parasite diseases of muck
land crops, principally onions, potatoes
and corn. A 10 acre tract provides
the land for experiments. Also EN-.
ployed at the experiment farm is Nal.
colin Basinger, Bluffton high school,
student.
Believe it or not-but in these days
when women are buster than ever be.
fore, there's more home sewing. The
sale of yard goods for women's cloth,
ing were 33 per cent higher in 194s
than in 1889, but sales of ready-to.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08

fly. In that country q storm at
night is so black it's like going
into the closet under the stairs where
all the old overshoes are, and pull
ing the door shut. For our render
vous we turned on the wing lights.
But even with them it took us forty
five minutes to assemble. Then we
went up to $4,000 trying to climb
out, but we were still in that storm.
1t was darker than the inside of a
black cow, but every now and then
the lightning would rip everything
wide open--the whole cloud around
us would flame up, and you could see
to read fine print in the cabin. We
were like bug in a neon tube.
Then blackness would close in, and
1t would be long time before your
eyes could make out the little blue
pink exhaust flame of the plane
next to you.
After about an hour we had
plowed through the storm, and were
flying above scattered moon-flecked
overcast down below us at about
1000.
"At 10:30 we were over the target,
and we glided down to 5000 feet to
see what was going on. Through
the hunks of clouds we could see
the gun flashes of Jap warships lob
bing shells into that poor old town.
Then we would see the flash when
the shells exploded. They had fires
already going in several places, and
OF course the town had absolutely
nothing to hit back with.
"But clouds protected the Jap
fleet, so we couldn't make a run on
just where we guessed those gun
flashes were the thickest. Bombs
were scarce. Orders had been il
we didn't find good target, to bring
them home, so we did. We had no
flares aboard to light up that har-
Dor, or any installation for dropping
them. The old Forts were never
cut out for nightwork, but of course
in a war you sometimes get into
cracks where you use whatever
you've got to do what must be done.
"We hated it, leaving that poor
old town burning while the Japs sat
out there and tossed shells into her,
without giving it even a little help
but it had to be.
ION our return we found that
storm had moved on down Java and
was squatting right on Malang
Field. The turf was soaked into ap-
pie jelly, and our pilot did a wonder
full job on the landing. We were
worried, because we knew that q
single pound weight on the brakes
would start our twenty-five tons slid
ing over that slippery field like it
was the, frozen surface of a pond.
So to keep from piling up in crash
at the end of the runway (remem-
Der, we had all our bombs aboard
and couldn't dump them because
they were precious), our pilot
ground-looped her, so she would
start sliding sideways in that muck.
Sidding along, he waited until she
had revolved in a 180-degree turn
and was sliding backward. Of course
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08

selves to their church once in a while,
is one phase of his creed" Also in
the article the writer mentioned Rev.
Armentrout's twin brother Rev. Chas.
Armentrout, former pastor of the
Bluffton Presbyterian church, who
now has charge in Indianapolis.
"Say Sergeant, / was playing foot
ball for Van Vert when you were on
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-06-08

CHAPTER vi: Navigator Harry
Schreiber tells of a fight with Zeros In
which Shorty Wheless takes part. He
lands In q rice paddy and is surrounded
by Filipinos. The crew buys an outrigger
canoe and sail to the isle OF Panay. Later
they take of for Australia.
St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-03-31
It's a Common Cause

The National Urban League, its twelfth annual Vocational
Opportunity campaign directs its primary appeal youth the
theme he Future Is YoursPan and Prepare The local
this week. opened
ST. Paul Urban League with radio broadcast Sunday
At its annual conference in Chicago last FALL the national organ
cation adopted twopont combat racial conflict called
white Americans those discriminatory practices which
of constant povocaon while at the time
mndg Negroes that sedscpne and strong of
by equally essential the eventual dissolution of racial tensions
At that me such conflicts had already caused major outbreaks
important production Conference leaders recognized
having had their conditions
the problems of rapidly expanding national economy At the
me they warned that shrinking peaceme be
dangerous.
ST. Paul has been fortunate in its freedom from racial clashes
city, however, is immune For the St.
Urban should have the fullest
its vocational opportunity campaign this wekS Paul Pioneer
Press
St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-03-31

Hitler) which never paid attention
to a PERSONS color as a basis of
recognition, are now in a fuddle not
knowing what to do since the crack
er pattern for living has been taken
to England, Scotland, Italy and
elsewhere.
"Crackerism" has been brought
to the West Indian islands of
Jamaica, Trinidad, it has been
taken to Brazil, South Americas
great black and white republic,
which some time ago actually had
bill up for consideration in its house
of representatives to bar immigra-
ton of Negroes.
"Crackerism" is found in increas-
ing evidence in cities in the North
of the United States. Crackers who
have never been off the farm, out
of the canebrake, or out of the
hills of their native Georgia, Ar
kansas, Mississippi, Louisiana or
Tennessee, are riding trains as
members of our Armed forces to
such places as New York, Chicago,
Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit
and Cleveland and demanding the
strict rules against Negroes be car
ried out. And the money-hungry
whites in these towns are showing
willingness to do so.
Revolution After the War?
The revolution will come when
over million Negro fighting men,
augmented by thousands of whites
who know the score, return to this
country and demand something far
better than what they left when
they went into the service. These
men will be super-trained and
knowing the art of warfare and
the science of human destruction
as no generation of mankind has
yet known these things.
St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-03-31
Volumes Worth Every Cent

asked take lunch with young Swedish
Myrda the University Stockholm He
Twin Cities looking around with the ground AT
had selected the Carnegie Foundation
American Negro America At the
had months but he had
already developed wide OF the problem.
humOrousy that he had found his blood
Scandinavian COUSINS Norwegans Mime
practically the Negro We had pleasant
could think of about the relations between
this Then parted He continued his
visiting every in the Union.
Harpe and Brothers have published Dr. Myrdas
of the $3.50 they
reviewed the leading and
We thought readers would like to read
j. Saunders Reddng Negro writer who is
deal OF attention writing circles today We there
reprnng Reddngs The New Republic
O. March 20.
St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-03-31
Plain Talk!
By Dan Gardner
"Crackerism" To Be Issue of
Battle of America"

Sooner or later this country has
got to take time out and dispose of
the problem of "Crackerism" or
suffer a revolution, bloodless or
economic approaching the scale of
he great Russian revolt. Like a
growing cancer, "crackerism" is
spreading throughout the world. 1t
is impeding the progress of the
var; it is hampering plans for the
peace that may come some day; it
setting the stage for another
war-a war far greater than any
the world has yet known.
"Crackerism" is trictly an
American product and is generated
by the low, ignorant elements
among the degenerate pre-Civil
War whites in the "White Suprem-
acy" South whose wishes, aims and
inclinations are best expressed
through such mouthpieces as the
incredibly foul John Rankin from
the medieval state of Mississippi
and his equally as distasteful broth
err in verbal filth and viciousness,
Theodore Bilbo.
Cotton Ed Smith of South Caro-
lima has grown old in a life dedi-
Gated to evil and ill-will to Negroes.
He, along with Andrew May of
Kentucky, Tom Connally of Texas,
Ed Crump of Tennessee, George of
Georgia and Martin Dies of Texas
'omprise as unholy a group of
homegrown fascists, mental terror
SITS, and reactionaries as any coun-
ry could spawn in one season.
Democrats Run the Nation
Democratic policies places such
men as these represent in the key
positions of our government. They
:un the Navy, They runt the Army.
They run everything that can be
run and if it appears that they will
be prevented from running our ma
'ional affairs, they are so ignorant
that they will retire to their tents
and issue foreboding threats of
secession from the Union, another
war of rebellion and other tommy
rot to which the sacred country will
give a compliant hearing, acceding
to their wishes, thus perpetrating
further this ungodly usurpation of
power by a handful of backwoods
demagogues.
"Crackerism" is responsible for
the new" Navy policy which has
finally brought around the situa-
ton in which ID Negro Ensigns
have been appointed to man a Jim
Crow warship which in the past
has been conceived of as a sort of
glorifed mississippi River Flat
boat" with everything included ex-
cept the banjos, the bales of cotton
and the watermelons. The Army
has its own dual policy; a program
that calls for the same sacrifice of
life and limb, but which divides the
cannon fodder into two herds of
humanity-those who are white and
those who are black.
'Hewers of Wood, Drawers of
Water
"Crackerism" is responsible for
the relegation of competent Negro
officers and soldiers to the role of
stevedores, dock wallpapers, "hewers
of wood and drawers of water" be-
cause of the inherent fear of the
southern bloc that Negroes might
git some ideas" European coun-
tries, including Germany, before
St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-03-31
My Country, Too!

This is my country, too,
These stars and stripes are mine
My roots go deeper than the dew
My heart clngs harder than vine
This is my country, too,
I'm soluble, fit each mold,
I'm part of all things old and new
am as copper mixed with gold.
This is my country, too,
Land for which fight and toll,
And he is fool and traitor who
Would send me "home" to alien soil.
This is my country, too
This is my own, my native land
Life, liberty, happiness pursue
AS birthrights not contraband.
This is my country, too,
Though nothing may do may overwhelm,
To keep this ship of states true,
My hands must touch its helm.
This is my country too,
Strange fruit my heart remembers
Great fires of hate my souls been through,
But I'm American above the cruel embers!
james T. Logan.
The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-06-22
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