THE NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
“ .... ... : —- . - - •
• VOL. 47.—No. 11. NOME, ALASKA, JANUARY 28, 1944 PER COPY—15c
English
► Shocked
*
By News
LONDON. Jan. 28.—(AP>—Brit- j
ain's Anthony Eden, told the House
of Commons that "thousands of
British troops died as prisoners of !
the Japanese, after being com
pelled to live under tropical jun
gle conditions without adequate :
shelter, clothing, food, or medical 1
attention.”
He issued the warning, “Britain
will not forget”, and charged the
Japanese authorities with dictat
ing cards and letters which have
been received from prisoners, giv
ing the impression that they are
In good health and are being well
treated.
“Information which has just
been received by the government,
no longer leaves any room for
doubt, that the true state of af
fairs is a quite different one so far
as a great majority of the prison
ers in the Japanese hands, are
concerned.”
ICKES REPORTS
* TERRITORY^
DEVELOPMENT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28.—<AP>
—Secretary of the Interior Harold
L. Ickes reported the development
of Alaska was becoming increas
ingly connected with the welfare
of the entire nation, predicting
that “never again will the terri
tory be left a vulnerable outpost.
The country must become thor
oughly acquainted with Alaska.
Its resources must be inventoried
and plans made to develop them
wisely."
Mr. Ickes continued:
“There is a pressing need for
testing Alaska areas for petroleum
deposits, because of the waning
supplies elsewhere. Less than half
of the territory has been surveyed.
EARLY TELLS
OF TORTURES
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28.—<APl
^ —Stephen Early, White House
secretary, said “the reports of the
Japanese atrocities were released
because further relief supplies
could not be expected to reach the
prisoners.”
As to whether the lifting of the
ban reports, means the govern
ment has abandoned hope of fur
ther exchange of repatriation pris
oners, Early suggested:
“The question is one for the
* State Department, which has han
dled the problem through the
Swiss government.”
REPUBLICANS!
Meeting Sunday, January 30
at 3:00 P. M., in the Federal
v Building. Important!
NOME REPUBLICAN CLUB
Ben F. Gillette, President.
■ -25 PACKS WALLOP. -Redesigned Mitchell B-25’s carry a 75-mllllmeter cannon In front
turret, aa "Pistol Packin’ Momma” {right) Illustrates. At left Jack Fox, North American Aviation
* representative, holds one of the shells fired la the bomber’s newest weapon.
Expansion Is Announced
Of Newest Bridgehead
ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD
QUARTERS IN NEW GUINEA,
Jan. 28.—<AP>—A mile and a half
expansion of the vital American
beachh«3fi. on northwestern New
Britain, was announced today.
Allied air power which had
supported the marine advance,
also dealt a terrific bombing blow
to the north on Admiralty Island,
and failed to draw so much as a
challenge in the new' raid on Ra
baul, in sharp contrast to the
previous sky fights which had
cost the Japanese 350 planes this
month.
The ground success in the siez
ure of Natamo Point, on New Brit
ain’s Borgen.Bay, .was achieved
by the marines, which moved
them a half-mile beyond the
strategic Hill ‘‘66’’, captured Jan
uary 14.
The bomb-hlows on Admiralty
Island started large fires and
caused terrific explosions in t>iv
ouac areas and airfield runways,
holed a jetty, and destroyed sev
eral buildings.
At Rabaul allied planes roamed
the harbor for 35 minutes without
inducing a single enemy plane to
engage them.
AMBASSADOR
RESIGNS
MONTEVIDEO, Argentina, Jan.
28.—(AP)—General Arturo Raw
son resigned as Argentina’s am
I bassador to Brazil, as part of the
upheaval in the Argentine govern
men, which has already resulted
in the resignation of three cabinet
ministers, and three other officials
since severance of diplomatic re
lations with the Axis Wednesday.
ATTENTION. DEMOCRATS
A meeting of the Nome Demo
crat club will be held at the City
Hall, Sunday, January 30th, at
3:00 o’clock p. m. Election of of
ficers and other important busi
ness. A full attendance is desired.
M. J. WALSH,
President.
RAF Again In
ll . r ' !
I 7___
j LONDON. Jan. 28—(API—
i Hundreds of RAF heavy night
| bombers touched off fields of
I flame in Berlin again last night,
; a possible final death blow to the
; Nazi nerve center, which was
previously described by General
| Arnold as being three-quarters
destroyed.
The British report described
;the twelfth heavy assault against
ithis city, as an obliteration cam
paign. The “very strong’* state
ment was bom out by the loss of
34 aircraft in all of the night’s op
erations.
Today, United States bombers
struck military objectives in
northern France, other bombers
hit Heligoland, the mighty sea
fortress, and unnamed targets in
western Germany, and also laid
mines in enemy waters.
GERMANS ARE
BEING HURLED
BACK BY REDS
MOSCOW, Jan. 28.—(AP)—The
much-mauled German force in
northwest Russia is being hurled
back toward a line extending
through Narva in Estonia, and
Luga and Staraya in Russia, by
the charging Red armies which
have ripped to pieces the siege
lines around Leningrad, and cap
tured the strategic Lyuban and
Chudove, their only two remain
ing towns on the double-tracked
Leningrad-Moscow trunkline, and
all but 30 miles of the railway is
in Russian hands.
On the lower end of the north
west front, the Nazis were battling
frantically to keep the Russians
west of Novgorod and Lake II- j
men.
“MESSIAH” TO j
BE PRESENTED
SUNDAY EVE
The choir of the Federated
Church, under the direction of i
Sgt. Robert Andersen, will present
two chorales and four choruses!
from “The Messiah’’ Sunday eve
ning, January 30, at 7:45 at the
Federated Church
The members of the chorus:
are:
Sopranos: Mrs F Bingham.
Mrs V. Hooker, Miss B. Bjorn
stad, Mrs R Harrington, Mrs. C.
McLain, Mrs L Peterson, Miss I.
Rudd. Mrs. R. Snyder. Miss F.
Waldheim and Miss F. Watson.
Altos: Miss E Buizer, Mrs. T.
C. Lehman, Mrs. T. Morcom, Mrs.
J. Robinette, Mrs. E. Towner.
Tenors: Mr. W. Boucher, Cpl
N Johnston, Mr. L. Peterson and j
Cpl. J Berry.
Bass: Rev. V. Booker, Sgt. D. '
Cotton, Sgt. J. Kirstein. Cpl. B.
Henderson j
Organist: Mr. Robert Baldwin.
OFFICER TELLS
OF ATROCITIES
j
SEATTLE. Jan. 28.— fAP>—One
of the three American officers re
porting the Japanese atrocities
was Commander Melvin McCoy,
37, who this week assumed com- j
mand of naval radio activities on I
Bainbridge Island.
He has now regained 35 pounds,
which he had lost in the Japanese j
prison camp, druing 11 months. !
He would not enlarge on the^
official report.
Cordell Hull
S ys Torture
Of Prisoners
Jap Reprisal
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28.—(API—Secretary of Stale CordeU
Hull said the United States was gathering all possible information
about the treatment of American prisoners held by the Japan
ese, so that the war criminals may be punished at the war's end.
At a news conference, Hull was asked whether the govern
ment was making a list of the Japanese officers in the Philli
pines who are directly responsible. He answered that he could
not say officially with respect to the Philippines, but the govern
ment has been checking all possible information. He brought out
that the United States government would perserve in pursuit of
what is called a righteous undertaking, to continue exchanging
prisoners or civilian interns in Japan. i»
No one has any accurate data on how much change has taken
place in effecting such exchanges in the future.
Relief supplies for allied prisoners which was delivered to
the Gripsholm. the Jap vessel on the repatriation exchange ov«r
two months ago. is unheard from.
Senator Clark of Missouri, a World War I veteran, voiced the
demand that the United States "bomb Japan out of existence, and
hang the Mikado.'?
NAZI DEFENSE
STRONG ON
BEACHHEAD
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
.ALGIERS. Jan. 28.—'API—The
German 10th Army, backed by
fighter planes and dive bombers,
struck with fury against the Net
tuno beachhead but were repulsed
by the British in a battle near
Carroceto, 21 miles south of
Rome.
At the same time the Germans
suffered one of their greatest de
feats of the Italian campaign, los
ing more than 50 planes in a
24-hour period, in sky battles over
the beachhead, and over southern
France, where fortresses and Lib
erators struck three airfields near
Marseille, crippling the bases
from which the Germans raided
allied shipping off the Italian
coast.
Heavy German armored trains,
backed up almost to Rome, shelled 1
allied troops in the fan-shaped
beachhead area.
Correspondents’ reports said 60
ton tiger tanks were assembling
as the enemy recovered from the
surprise with mustered resources,
vately owned. The government, as
a landlord should find out what
it owns.
Post-war acceleration demands
for land in the territory seems in
evitable. Not only will members
of the armed forces, civilians, con
strution workers become ac
quainted with the advantages in
the territory, but new road con
struction, including the Intema
BJtssiv apsui seq ‘tfBMqSiH icuoit
more accessible.
Advertise what you have to sell
in The Nugget!
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28—A
horror story, scarcely paralleled
in the annals of history, of how
the Japanese starved, tortured,
and in some eases wantonly mur
dered the gallant defenders of Ba
taan, was told by army and navy
documents, the sworn statement*
of officers who had escaped the
prison camps on that island.
In a joint announcement which
described the cold-blooded cam
paign of savagery carried on after
the 36,000 Americans and Filipi
nos at Bataan and Cofregidor
were overwhelmed by superior
forces.
The account began with the tell
ing of the thousands of deaths in
the Japanese prison camps, 2200
Americans dying in one period of
two months at one of the camps.
The reports went on to say that
following the Americans and Fil
ipinos who were first taken priso
ners, those found with Japanese
money as tokens, were beheaded,
and the survivors beaten, “along
the march of death.”
12.000 men were kept penned in
a 100-yard square area, without
food for a week, with a 12-hour
wait between the filling of can
teens from one water spigot.
The most widely used torture
was the “sun treatment”. Captives
were made to sit in the boiling
sun all day without cover, and
little water.
Six men, three Americans and
three Filipinos, ill from mis treat
ment, were buried while still alive.
The men are literally worked to
death, and it is not unusual for
20 per cent of the work detail to
die. “In one instance 75 per cent
were killed that way.”
Three officers who had attempt
ed to escape, were punished by
having their hands tied behind
them and then pulled upward by
ropes attached to an overhead
beam, so that the men were left
in that abnormal position, to re
(Continued on Page Two)
PRESIDENTS BIRTHDAY BALL-JAN. 29
HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM—ADMSSION $1.00 BUY YOUR TICKET! NOW PROCEEDS GO FOR INFANTILE PARALYSIS CURE.
i
■ #.