The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1945-09-20

HAZEL
EYES
~ HAZEL

v6AA AZ
BY JOHN +. FLYNN
Continued from last week.
Emlisr History
The findings Of the two army and
navy boards given out by President
Truman last Wednesday distributed
the guilt for the historic disaster at
Pearl Harbor on Dec. z, l94l, among
all the top commanders of the army
and navy-all except one.
The Roberts commission, imme-
diately after the terrible defeat,
blamed Rear Adm. Kimmel and
Mai. Gen. Short. The two boards
have stretched the list to include
Gen. Marshall, army chief of staff;
Adm. Stark, chief of naval opera
tons at the time of the Japanese at
tack; former State Secretary Hull,
plus various lesser commanders.
Full Story Not Told
But the greatest commander OF all
Is left out-the commander in chief,
who was running the whole show.
In the 10000 words Of these find
ings and comments the name of
Franklin d. Roosevelt stands out in
almost monumental conspicuousness
by its absence.
The findings were released and
published as telling at last the story
of Pearl Harbor. But the final story
Of that appalling collection OF blum
ders has not yet been told-and it
will never be told officially in full
until the congress Of the United
States takes the whole squalid mess
out of the hands of the army and
navy and turns the light Of day up
on it in a full and fearless congress
sional investigation.
When congress does this it will
then reveal to the world the solemn
truth that, whatever minor mistakes
were made here and there in this
incredible chapter Of military his
tory, the man who was responsible
for the central and controlling blum
der was Franklin D. Roosevelt, for
whose part in the tragedy these re-
ports are a white-wash.
The Truth II Known
But II the two boards named by
Mr.. Roosevelt's appointees-Stimson
and Knox-have not given us the
whole story, that story is known.
And here, therefore, as far as | know
it, l propose to tell it. If congress
wants all the facts it has only to
summon the chief actors still living,
including the three sets OF judges,
along with the documents and ex-
hibits which they examined, and 1t
will get the whole truth. For it must
be remembered that while Stimson
and Navy Secretary Forrestal have
given out the voluminous findings OF
the army and navy boards, the testi-
mony on which they are based IS
still hidden from the public. Here,
in general outline, is what the peo-
pie will learn.
While the American public was
still stunned by the news OF the
Pearl Harbor attack three ideas were
promptly fed to the people by the
government. One was that the DAM
age was slight. The second was that
Kimmel and Short were responsible
The third was that the President was
taken completely by surprise.
Knox, after a quick visit to Ha-
wall, returned and told us we had
lost one battleship, the Arizona;
three ~destroyers, a mine layer and
an old target ship. Some others were
damaged. But the balance OF the
fleet, he said, including ~battleships,
carriers, heavy and light cruisers
d~estroyers, and submarines, was al
sea seeking contact with the enemy
Newspapers praised his frankness
and the President for making good
on his promise OF 4
But this statement was a carefully
phrased falsehood. The secretary
juggled with the word lost. Few
ships, indeed, were permanently lost
beyond ultimate salvage. But they
were lost utterly SO far as having
any striking power against the
enemy was concerned.
Fleet Put Out Of Action
The majestic Pacific fleet had
been put out Of action as an effec-
tive sea weapon. We had eight bat
tleships in Pearl Harbor. The Ari-
iona was blown up. The Nevada
with a hole in her side, was settled
in the mud. The California lay or
her side. The West Virginia, torpedo
ed six times, rested on the bottom
The Pennsylvania and the MARYLAND