davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1955-02-13

Of those Marines affectlonately
called retreads. Retired to life of
peaceful farming. he was called back
into service when World War II
erupted. For Gunner Davidson to
lead a platoon half his age or less
was rugged duty. But he never
faltered. He was everywhere with
his 37-mm. gun crews, often wrest-
ling the heavy weapons into the
front line by hand to destroy pill
boxes and other strong points.
Too Mony Medals
Davidson ance was chided by an
inspecting officer at base camp for
not wearing all his ribbons on his
uniform. Some dated back to the
banana wars"
"It embarrasses me to wear so
many" he answered.
There was Brig. Gen. Frank Hart,
who had recently been promoted
from commander of the oath Regi-
ment to assistant 4th Division COM
mander.
Almost every day you could see
him quick-stepping along the front,
kneeling to check a machine guns
field Of fire, squatting to inspect a
mans wounds. encouraging weary
riflemen.
1t gave the troops a terrific boost
just to see him, to know that gen.
eral. from a mile back at division
headquarters, was interested in
Them
The Casualties
You could see the wounded almost
everywhere. There was the captain
whose driving charges on the foot
ball field were a legend in his out
fit. A shell blew off a leg, and it
lay among the men on the firing
line for time until someone took
it to a shell hole, dropped it in and
kicked dirt over it-a quick and
efficient burial.
And the Marine, just kid, lying
on the ground, looking at those
around him with gentle, pleading
eyes while he drowned in his own
blood from lung wound ). thou
sands like these.
1t affected even the doctors,
trained to steel themselves to human
suffering. Some couldn't go on after
days of seeing friend after friend
brought to the aid stations with hor-
rible wounds.
Those wounded in their minds
were painful to view. Not all, by any
means, became violent Most simply
sagged from fatigue and tension.
The Decd
What of the dead?
The heavy toll on Two Jima called
for mass removal of the bodies. At
times. great trucks were sent into
the front lines and the bodies, laid
row on row and layer on layer, were
taken to the waist of the island.
There trained details buried the men
while shells still fell among the
crosses.
When unit could be given an
afternoon of rest, men flocked to
the cemeteries.
Slowly, up and down the rows they
walked, their helmets nestled in
their left arms, their rifles Slung
at their right shoulders as they
searched for the resting places of
their beloved comrades.
Day by day, the rows of crosses
and stars of David heightened.
And in front of one cemetery,
near the f1agpole. were tiny mounds
of earth set apart by little wall
of white pebbles There rested the
war dogs that would fight no more.
Two Jima was secured officially
at pm, March Is, after 26 days
and hours Of fighting.
Evening star., 1955-02-13
Russian Economy
Despite Soft Statistics, 1t Is Clear
Thut Soviet Production Is Bureeonine
By Eorl H. Voss


The West has an inglorious record
for Understanding the strength Of
the Soviet world.
So it would seem prudent to ap-
proach with skepticism the Library
of Congress rosy report that the free
world can count on vast industrial
superiority over the Kremlin and her
satellites, at least until 1870 and
probably for much longer.
1t is not so much that the study.
prepared for Congress Joint Com
mittee on the Economic Report. is
overly optimistic - although some
shrewd scholars think it is. More
important, it might be made the ex-
cuse for an economy minded Con-
gress sinking back into pre-Korea
kind of complacency.
And complacency has got us into
few jams in the past. Woodrow Will
son and his contemporaries looked
on the young U. S. S. r. as flash
in the pan. Franklin D. Roosevelt
underestimate Stain at Yalta.
Harry Truman had the same in
clination at Potsdam. Dwight D.
Eisenhower at least acquiesced in
this brand of thinking first while he
was Chief of Staff and later when he
was presidential adviser on defense
budgets.
Gen. Douglas Macarthur under
estimated the Chinese Communists
in Korea. France did it in Indo-
China.
Our best intelligence experts have
been unpleasantly astounded by
Soviet nuclear achievements.
Past misjudgments, then, fully
justify caution in estimating the
size of our economic lead over the
Soviet bloc, and, more to the point.
in calculating the military balance
of power.
Soft Statistics
OF course. the Soviet Union keeps
such a tight lid Of secrecy on its
economic progress. and puts out
such wild claims that nobody on
this side of the Iron Curtain knows
for sure precisely how well the
Russian economy is doing. No esti-
mate is much more than an ed
ucated guess.
When you get right down to it.
the statistics are so soft that the
mental attitude of the expert prob
ably determines his outlook. Born
optimists can find plenty on the
bright side. Born pessimiSts find a
fertile field for worry
Key statistic in judging the rela-
tive strengths and rates of growth
of the Soviet and non-Soviet worlds
is the gross national product, a
monetary measure of all goods and
services produced by country.
For the best estimates of the
relative war-making potentials Of
the two blocs, one must take into
account not only the Soviet Union
but its satellites, not only the United
States but it's allies-Canada and
Western Europe. principally. To
simplify this discussion, only the
economies of the Soviet Union and
the United States will be examined. 4.
Prospects for the United States
maintaining it's lead depend on two
things:
Q How far behind is the Soviet
Union?
0 Is she catching up?
Optimists and pessimists arrive
Evening star., 1955-02-13

sonal income tax. borrowing. and
another mysterious category that
remains officially unidentified.
Revenue from the sales tax will be
about the same as last year, indicat-
ing the amount of goods sold may be
about the same. Profits revenue will
be up and income tax returns will
rise slightly. The taxes in the un-
Identified categories which observers
have been able to pin down "a bach
elors' tax, customs, etc. will be
steady.
Two important changes from 1854
show up, however. State loans will
be increased sharply. Ivan will be
Evening star., 1955-02-13

The shoreline was so jammed with
wreckage there was little room to
land. The surf began rising discour-
agingly high. Shells tore into land
ing craft while they still were at
sea.
A few did get through, notably
ducks" those wheeled amphibians
driven mainly by courageous Negro
Army Ordnancemen.
The defenders were the best Ja-
pan had. They were courageous to
death, smart fighters. experts on
defense, we'll armed and exceedingly
well led. There were $4,000 Of them,
dug in through caves. tunnels.
sunken blockhouses, sunken pill
boxes, covered machine gun nests,
fire trenches, foxholeS, spider traps.
Situation Worsens
The Marines situation by night
fall verged on desperation. For in
stance, the Sd battalion of the 25th
Regiment. which had landed about
1000 strong, was down to $50 men.
The entire 25th had lost IS per cent
of its manpower.
The Marines hung on through
that terrible night. No one can say
why the Japanese didn't counter
attack. It was a major error. A
vigorous counterattack with the 20,-
900 or so men left could have wiped
out almost half of all United States
combat Marines.
The second morning. the stubborn
attackers pulled their thin, weary
lines together and mounted new
assault, driving forward few yards
here, nowhere there, so or so yards
another place.
Evening star., 1955-02-13
End Items

But these broad statistics do not
take into account how the Soviet
Union uses its output. They leave
out Of the picture Americas fat
standard of living.
The United States, for instance,
devotes So per cent Of its gross ma
tional product to personal consump-
ton The Soviet Union uses only
Al per cent of its output for the
peoples needs-and it has not only
Is per cent more people than the
United States but only 80 per cent
as much production.
Food takes up only 27 per cent Of
the private expenditures in the
United States, compared to more
than so per cent in the Soviet Union.
From 1888 to 1853 American living
standards. measured in per capita
private consumption, have skyrock-
eted As per cent, while Soviet Rus
sia's have advanced hardly notice.
able per cent, according to the
Library of Congress survey.
These three comparisons imply, Of
course, that the Soviet Union is de-
priving its masses of a great deal in
order to improve its war machine
as quickly as possible.
Investment
Whereas the United States invests
only II per cent of its gross national
product, the Soviet Union plowS rs
per cent of its output back into new
plant. Nor does the Kremlin allow
it's investment to 60 into such "frills'
as housing, refrigerators. touring
cars and the like.
From 1929 to 1852 the Soviet
Union put 64 per cent of its invest
ments into heavy industry mostly
arms, 1874 per cent into transporta-
ton talso partly arms. 9.4 per cent
into agriculture and only TO per cent
into consumers goods industries.
Economical Army
Add to this the recollection that
Communist armies land most
others) get along on much less than
American armies, ana RUSSIA loOinS
as a much bigger menace.
Japan's performance in World
War II provides the classic example
of what an aggressive country with
strict government control can do
even with only a small steel in
dustry The Reds can afford to pay
at least as little attention to the
needs and aspirations Of their peo-
pie as the Japanese did.
As the Library Of Congress panel
observes. Superiority in economic
strength and economic growth are
desirable ends in themselves. but
they do not assure political and
military security. In fact, an
economy that is already largely
modified for war can operate with
great effectiveness, and for some
time, against considerably stronger
economy that is not modified"
NATO military experts are said
to expect the next all-out war-n
1t comes-to last from two weeks to
two months. If their dire expecta-
ton comes true, Americas vast
economic machine might never get
into the fight. even supposine that
somehow we could keep 1t from
being crippled by Soviet nuclear
bombs.
Evening star., 1955-02-13

Keeping in mind that steel is the
basic hardware of war-making, and
allowing for wider inequalities in
other fields, Mr.. Schwartz figures
approximate the Library of Congress
estimate.
Naum Jasny, one of the "elder
statesmen" among scholars studying
the Soviet Union, has deliberately
avoided making any comparison be-
cause he contends it would be mean
ingless. The Soviet standard OF
living is so much lower, he points
out, that the Kremlin can get much
greater mileage out Of what it has.
How much greater. he believes, is
impossible to calculate.
Evening star., 1955-02-13

That set the pattern for the whole
battle.
The Marines had to reduce the
strongpoints one by one. They drove
into any crack that appeared. Often
a 50-yard gain was q successful at
tack. To advance 100 yards was a
miracle.
The amount of defenses the Jap
anese could place on single strong
point was incredible. Take, for in
stance, Hill 1892. 1t wasn't much
larger at its base than, say, six
room bungalow.
Hill 382 was defended by four
tanks buried to their turrets. three
77-mm. antitank guns depressed to
fire on the infantry, twelve double
machine guns, four heavy machine
guns and countless light ones. 1t
had about 20 sunken pillboxes and
so many caves they never were num-
bered, some several levels deep. De-
tenders were on top of the cliffs, in
the cliffs, on the ground and under
Gllc STOu1lQ.
The Marines captured Hill 382
six times before finally holding it.
The Heroes
What sort Of men were these
the men who finally won this bloody
island?
There was grizzled, mustached
Gunnery Sergt. Willie Koontz, who
prowIed the front with his rolling
walk, looking for locations for his
assault guns and who won the Navy
Cross when he plunged into an en-
emy-filled cave to rescue his wound
ed major and captain.
And there was Ira Davidson, one
Evening star., 1955-02-13
BIoodiest Fight

This Is the battle always spoken
of in superlatives:
The bloodiest D day :. the cost
lest piece of real estate in World
War II the Marines bitterest
And Admiral Chester Nimitz'
statement: Uncommon valor was
common virtue"
It cost the lives Of 5.563 Ameri-
cans, mostly Marines, to take that
five-mile-long strip of foul and ster-
lie soil. The list of American
wounded totaled 17,343. The Japa-
nese lost about $4,000, and only a
handful were taken prisoner.
From the perspective of 10 years,
1t now Is clear that the battle tide
was not turned by ships, guns.
planes or masses Of troops. essential
as these were to victory.
The massive battle turned on one
thing: Mems courage.
Why was Two needed?
First, because its radar was pick
ing UP our B-29s as they headed
for Japan, alerting homeland de-
lenses Also, because crippled bomb
ers had no place to land except the
open sea for 1900 miles between
Japan and their bases on other
islands.
There is no way of knowing how
many American lives were saved by
silencing the radar. But in four and
one-half months after the island
was captured, 1000 Superforts made
emergency landings on Two. some
under fire of enemy fighters. B-29
crews averaged H. That would mean
$4,000 found safety on Two. Fifty
five hundred Americans died to take
Two; $4,000 lived because it was
taken.
Preparation for the attack was
sound.
For u consecutive days, the island
underwent sea and air bombardment
with everything in the United
States arsenal, stopping short only
of the A-bomo.
Then for three more days and
nights, guns and planes chopped
away at specific defense positions.
During the night of February 18-
10, 800 ships assembled off the pork
shop-shaped island.
The Assault
The amtracks, those vehicles which
like turtles can travel on land or
Evening star., 1955-10-30

SHAW AIR PoRcE BASE SUMTER. g. c.
nUSHBUTTON WARFARE. said the
IL widely-respected general with the
80 years service. ID stil long. long
way OF.
Maybe 50. But It's moving closer.
One field where this is apparent Is
photo reconnaissance.
The Atomic Age accents air power.
and air power accents aerial recon-
naissance. There. as In other fields. q
new day Is dawning. The accent is
on speed.
Ninth Air Force commander. Maj.
Gen. T. J. Timberlake. for instance.
Is already planning television-
equipped. fly-away "CP." or command
post, from which he win direct his
tactical air force. II President Eisen-
hover ever gives the go-ahead. Gen.
Timberlake plans TO climb into = con-
verted transport plane-jet-powered. II
possible impressive communica-
Evening star., 1955-10-30
Accent Or Aerial Reconnaissance
Jet Hove Been Equipped With LonsRonse comeros

FIRST In the Air Force to take on II war
comes soon.
Aerial refueling techniques. now being
perfected. give these supersonic jets
intercontinental range. limited only BY
the endurance Of the pilots.
Men who fly the one-seater RF-84FS
have to be almost superhumanly skilled.
Besides being pilots. they have to be
navigators. They have to have long
experience In the air-preferably a
couple Of extra languages at their COM
mand. so that. flying over foreign lands.
they can help themselves by tuning in
ON broadcast band radios. It would
help. too. If they had flown over the
target terrain before-at least over the
approaches to it.
And the pilots have to have. above
all, the confidence. intelligence. and
strength Of win to think through un-
expected situations. Landlubbers call
1t thinking ON their feet. although that
hardly applies at the attitudes these
men operate.
Mistakes could be crucial. II these
reconnaissance pilots were to take pic
lures Of Stockholm instead Of Lenin-
grad, Of Istanbul instead Of Stalingrad.
Evening star., 1955-10-30
By EARL H. vOSS

lions and intelligence facilities at his
flngertips.
Gen. Timberlake points out that the
first planes over enemy targets viii not
be his bombers. but his reconnaissance
jets. Jet-propelled f1ghter-bombers like
the F-84F and Jet light bombers like
the B-57A have been equipped with far
sighted cameras instead Of guns and
bombs land renamed RF-84Fs and
RB-57As).
II they are the first over the target.
this implies one Of two things. Either
they win have done their reconnaissance
before the war started. or they win have
to do It just after 1t starts. In these
early stages Of development Of atomic
age tactical air power. 1t is more prob
able that reconnaissance won't begin
until after M day. Since M day
mobilization day) and d day (attack
day) viii probably coincide. the recon-
naissance jets are likely to be the
Evening star., 1955-10-30

rnl wAsnMcIoA s1AR PICTORIAL MAGAZINE oc1ostR 80 1855
Evening star., 1955-11-27
BALTIMORE
LIVESTOCK

BALTIMORE, Nov. 20 R1.-Cattle,
Compared last week: Slaughter steers
ily stesdy to s.ronS; sDpss 5,, .tsaSy IsaSy
e ,snss Strong: s cows unsveniy stTone % 100
81 81 higher: under $50 10 medium and
geoa stocasr steers ..isss fully Stssay Mass rooS
ana choice S3O-l3s5 - steers 17.25..
1880, including 1235-13S5 ,wetghts ai
i7.25-20. 90: most eommereial and god goodd
960-1290 lbs ". .OO-l lsoo q oaa os1. nesc "a.
aFd individusi high good $50 ID hsitsr "a. %;
III. .OO~IS.00 Including load lots at ~ 90
Gamer s 2 gtility ss,umsreiri nsltsTi eoWs SS
iarFeiy ii.00-l2.0O. few sonmsrcciaal ca
II. .5O-I3.00: Gamers and cutters 7;0os;
1850, long list Of sales BOO gp;o Ona Onaa
l:y ssS Hos esssTs aesn Y sp e ots hs
and commercial sausage bulls mostly
i325-IS.oo. connnercial oeSas1ohalIls sSi;fz h,,Is
and good S90-ilf0 ID stoeker and feeder
common 5I0-s00 lbs 9.00-10.59.
calyes Somgarss lsss s;shsf geee 81 6snsra. CONNER.
s snd 1pd pripds xvOS yeaiers as.oo-3o.o 90: most
mixed lots good to prime, mostly gooee ge
cisi cEGu is.oS.is 90; caiis s. .oo-l .00s fsy
caI,lnnercial and good around 300-AOc
is SLAUGHTER calves 14,00-i6 90.
Hogs: Compared last week: BarroMs
and giits mostly rs lover. sows on LID
fridays receipts largely confined .tS
trticEed-tn offerings from Midwest. Us
No. TO 3 l8S-223 ID herrows and gtlts
rather uneven. sold mostly at l3:5c
with some 245 ID AVERAGES at l2.56
Other weights and local offerings VIZ
tuaiIy absent as were sows which vert
considered eligible up TO 1f.25 for undei
400 70 weights.
sheep: Compared last week: Woolet
slaughter lambs mostly steady; ewei
scarce each day, nominaliy unchanged
Good to prime 77-I01 ID wooIed lambs
30.0O-2i 90: some Gull and low utility
E5-65 lbs 1900; choice under lib L
wooied ewes considered ouotable TO TOO
Evening star., 1955-11-27
Federal Bonds
Drop Sharply;
[COrpOrates Off
BY WARREN BENNETT
Associated Prsss Financial writer

NEW YORK, Nov. 2s.-dov-
ernment bonds reacted this week
to the breakdown on credit
brought about by the increase to
az per cent in the rediscount
rate q week ago.
Government bonds went down
sharply November 18, the first
day the latest raise became efiec-
tive. and again last Monday
The market rallied mildly Tues
day and Wednesday, then was
of again Friday.
Since the Federal Reserve ac-
ton, the 21as Of 1868 have
dropped ef32. closing Friday at
81 8/32 bid. The Victory 2las OF
December, 1972-67, have de-
clined 1882 at "a 28/32. Reac-
ton in the long-range securities
was less severe. The 30-year 3As
lost 1892 at los 8/32 while the
40-year IS declined N32 at
100 1882 bid.
In view of this performance,
the Treasury has decided to re-
finance $12.2 billion of its ma
turing securities without putting
Ia further squeeze on the business
boom. 1t will do this by issuing
short term exchange securities,
at the highest interest cost since
the tight-money period of 1858.
Corporate bonds spent a rough
week. Despite gains by selected
convertible issues and some rails,
the averages were down in indus
trials, utilities and foreign bonds.
High quality investment corpo-
rates were firm.
Evening star., 1955-11-27
Texans in Row
Over ALLEGATION
|Of Sc Cotton

COLLEGE STATION. Tex.
Nov. rs R-Uncle Sans con-
troll program over cotton had
run afoul Of Mother Nature to-
day and the result was threat
|ening letters. q court suit and
an angry fight between East
Texas and West Texas farmers.
The ruckus would never have
come up but for q changing
geographical pattern in cotton
growing: growing popularity in
recent years Of cotton in West
Texas, especially on newly cul-
Itivated, irrigated land. The
blacklands of East Texas are
the States traditional cotton
area.
In 1856, under the Federal
Governments price-support and
acreage-control program, Texas
acreage allotment is to be cut
by 100000 acres-from the T.
40, 1888 acres planted this year
to 7,210,983.
Distribution Is Issue
How to distribute that cut is
one issue. But the State Com
mittee also holds back 10 per
cent Of the States acreage to
satisfy individual farm hardship
cases and to recognize" Sec
tional trends in growing.
The big sectional growing
trend in recent years has been
the shift to West Texas. West
Texas farmers have heard that
the State Committee plans to
give less weight to that factor
in setting 1856 county allotments
than 1t did in determining 1855
allotments.
Four West Texas cotton grow
ers have asked Federal Court at
Houston to enjoin the State Ag-
|ricultural Sterilization and Con-
servation Committee from put
ting its plans into effect. And
three members Of the commit
tee, have reportedly received
threatening letters, which have
been turned over to the FBI.
Committee Members Meet
Committee members met In
Houston yesterday with United
States attorney Carlos Watson
and attorneys for the United
States Agriculture Department
to plan their fight against the
suit. The committee members
are to give dispositions in the
case in College Station Monday,
Evening star., 1955-11-27
DATES
and
PLACES

Advertising Club will join with
the Women's National Press Club
for a luncheon at Hotel Statler
Tuesday when Howard Lindsay
and Russell Grouse, authors of
"The Sebastians" win discuss
their u years and II plays
together.
Hot Shoppes Affairs will be
discussed by Milton A. Barlow
vice president and treasurer. In
an address before the WASH
Iington Society of Investment
Analysts at a luncheon at occi-
dental Restaurant Wednesday.
James M. Johnston, partner OF
Johnston, Lemon & Co., will
Introduce the speaker.
Internal Auditing and internal
control in an insurance company
will be the subject of Hilbert s.
Browne, assistant controller
Acacia Mutual Life Insurance
Co., at q dinner meeting Of
Washington Chapter, Institute Of
Internal Auditors, at Occidental
Restaurant Tuesday night.
Tax Planning win be discussed
by Schell s. Hoye, senior partner
of Schell s. Hoye g. Co., certified
public accountant firm. at a
regular luncheon of the Civitan
Club at the Mayfiower Tuesday.
Evening star., 1955-11-27

a messenger boy and carrying
ia package.
He explains the boss ordered II
for Christmas and 1t is COD
The secretary usually pays fol
it out Of the petty cash drawer
Another twist to the package
hoax involves housewives. A uni
formed messenger knocks on
your door and says he has a
COD. package for a neighbor
who isn't at home. So you pay
When the packages are opened
they may contain a brick, old
newspapers, or cotton wadding
Wholesale "Gimmick"-A con-
cern claiming to be a wholesale
house mails out a holiday cat
|aIog to out-of town buyers which
quotes high list prices subject
to q 40 per cent discount. The
''gimmick" in this scheme Ii
that the list prices quoted are
fictitious. Actually prices In rep
utable stores are less than the
claimed wholesale prices"
Charity Appeals-As we neal
the holiday season, people arr
receiving ties, fountain pens
Christmas cards and license tag
along with a letter appealing
| to them to send in 81 or $i.5t
toward a benefit fund. In many
instances, the benefit fund get
only a small percentage Of tht
receipts, the rest being used II
pay salaries and other expenses