The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-13
By DANIEL DE LUCE

~. -W- luoty, wal Llllle OaDJ VI
newspaperdom, The Stars and
Stripes, is getting ready to whoop
with pride at its fifth birthday.
The shooting stopped two years
ago, but the little tabloid that was
of, by, and for the American GI,
still is excluded from redeploy-
ment.
1t has 81, 700, 900 safely tucked in
the bank against the day when
the skies may drip red ink, and
s., 900 avid subscribers, at a nickel
a copy, are scattered across Eu-
rope from the North Sea to the
AGriatic.
One hundred American staff
members now mostly wear civvies
instead of olive drab, but a ser
geant continues to edit the papers
most famous feature - the grippe
and agony letters in "B Bag"
Stripes" never prints an edi-
torial, but its 300 inches of news
space typify the American way Of
life, running the gamut from pro-
found reports on atomic matters
to police = beat scandals into
spersed with photographs of long
legged movie starlets.
So long as any younger brother
Of the combat CT still PAGES Euro
pean soil on occupation duty, the
eager managers of The Stars and
| Stripes VOW they'll deliver the
paper to him in time for break
fast java.
Here in this drab German cow
town, where the rumble of press
es browns the mooing of dairy
herds, a 12-page supplement is be-
ing prepared FOR the issue of April
II. That will be the fifth ami
versary Of the rebirth Of Stripes"
in World War II.
The only oldtimer still around
who helped get the paper started
as a weekly for American troops
in Northern Ireland in 1912 is Russ
Jones, a Minneapolis citizen now
stationed at Frankfurt-Am-Main.
From its tentative origin,
Stripes" grew into editions ex-
tending as far east as Cairo. In
the Mediterranean it unveiled Car
toonist Bill Mauldin, frontline Re
porter Jack Foisie and at least
a dozen other journalistic prodi-
gies now doing well "back home"
The European theater edition
came into it's own when the west
ern front opened. Phil Bucknell,
of Stripes" New York bureau to,
day, jumped with the paratroops
On D-Day. When the Red Army
mopped up the Tiergarten in the
climactic battle Of the war, an il
quisitive CT reporter showed up
there, too. Ernie Lesser, whose I'M
authorized reconnaissance behind
Soviet lines startled the senior
brass at SHAEF, is still writing
in Berlin.
Officially, The Stars and Stripe
is 1.-The unofficial paper Of U. S
Armed Forces in Europe" ane
operates on a pay-as-you-go bash
without help from the American
taxpayer. A West Pointer, 1t. Col
W. G.. Proctor, is officer il
charge, and Army headquarters
closely watches the news content
The primary objective, as stat
led in an overall directive from
General Dwight D. Eisenhowe,
last year, is to ''help the Ameri
a n soldier to be the best in
eormed in any army"
But the influence of Stripes
spreads far beyond garrison sen
try boxes. German politicians
scramble for old copies. Moscow
radio has commented sharply or
ar item or two with a Vienna
dateline. Frequently Stripes" re
porters uncover news which has
escaped the eyes OF accredited al
lied correspondents.
Hard-headed Richard Knorr, Of
Union City, N. j., who came to
the paper as a Signal Corps major
in 1915, is the executive manager
who has transformed Stripes"
from an Army charity into a self
supporting institution.
It's estimated revenue for l947
without a dime for advertising
is 5000, 900. OF this, $3.50, 900 will
90 for salaries and the remainder
for production and distribution
costs, including nearly $500, 600 for
a cabled news report of $4,000
words a day from New York, the
world reports of three American
news agencies, and a steady flow
of news pictures.
Managing Editor Ken ZumWalt,
formerly of the Sacramento,
Calf, Union, gets out five editions
daily and their very names tell