NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. 46 —No. 65. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1944. PER COPY—15c.
BOMBING RAIDS
NOW IN FIFTH
STRAIGHT DAY
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 5.
—<AP>—Another bombing attack
on the north Pacific Kurile Is
lands by Aleu'ian-based American
planes, carried into the fifth con
secutive day the attacks which
prompted a renewal in the specu
lation that the possibility of an
invasion blow to the Japanese
homeland via the Aleutian route,
might be impending.
It appears certain that the Kur
ile Islands is the chain of step
ping stones from the Russian
Kamchatka Peninsula to the Nip
ponese main islands, and will
play a most importan* part in the
final encirclement, but it will be
some time before Japan is com
pletely conquered.
Whether the current raids are
just the softening up ahead of the
offensive forces .s not fully ap
parent, in that there are two ma
jor possibilities which appear in
explanation of the intensified
action.
. One of these is that the Aleu
tian air forces m ght be taking
advantage of the break in the
weather, and 'he other may be
a broad plan to force the Japs to
pull their forces in from the outer
Kuriles.
Commencement
Exercises Held
Friday Evening
The time of year when grad
uating seniors receive their di
plomas was at hand Friday eve
ning at 8:00 p. m., in the high
school auditorium, when the ’44
grads, with the exception of Erik
Hay, who had already departed
for Pullman, Washington, where
he will enter Washington State
College, Elizabe'h McLain, Fran
ces Waldheim and Teddy Amarok
received their awards.
The program began with musi
cal selections, followed by the in
vocation by Miss Constance Erick
son, minister, and pastor of the
Methodist Mission, then a short
welcome speech by Miss Frances
Waldheim, one of the grads. Mr.
Smola, the principal, presented
the eighth grade diplomas.
Lt. H. Ott, chaplain of the air
corps, was the main speaker of
the evening and delivered the
commencement address.
Nels Strand, president of the
school board, presented the hap
py seniors with their diplomas
and awards.
Erik Hay received the highest
honors of the class and his name
is to be engraved on the A. Polet
plaque.
COME TO NOME FOR
MEDICAL ATTENTION
Mrs. Barney Vogan and the two
older of three children, arrived
in town yesterday from Teller via
the Wien Alaska Airlines. The
ildren will have medical nchetta
children will have medical atten
tion while here.
RECOVERS FROM
MAJOR OPERATION
Mrs. S. J. Blake, former Nome
ite, whose home was for many
years where the W. McDonald’s
now live, has fully recovered from
a major operation and her fam
ily and friends are glad to have
her up and around again.
_
Advertise it m The Nugget.
Fifth and Eighth
Armies Join In
I ! i
Battering Drive
ALLIED 'HEADQUARTERS IN
NAPLES, June 5.—<AP>—Allied j
Filth and £ighth Armies joined
forces in a baitering-ram drive!
: all along the line before Romfe.'f
pushing through the Alban hills,
1 and on through Rome, leaving
only a handful of soldiers within
the city to take care of the mop
ping up of 'he remnants of Ger
man forced left behind in the
hasty retreat of the Nazis.
The Etesnal City was liberated
by tanks and infantry troops, who
thundered on through and around
the c.ty to follow the retreating
Germans into the hills, about 25
miles beyond the outskirts to the
north and west.
I With the last of the rear guard
knocked out in front of the Bank
of I'aly, Rome is the first Euro
pean capital to fall to the Allies.
1250 BOMBERS
IN RAIDS ON
FRENCH COAST
* •
' LONDON, June 5.—<AP>—Ap
proximately 1250 heavy bombers
and fighters, leading an aerial
assauP of powerful proportions
against fortified France, smashed
military installations in the Bou
! logne and Pas de Calais areas
1 with more than 2200 tons of ex
plosives.
The German radio in Paris as
serted the American bomber for
mations were over Paris at noon,
while the Berlin radio reported
Russian planes over Hungary
again last night for the fourth
night in a row.
The American attack on the
coastal defenses of Pas de Calais
area, the closest to England, were
made after the RAF had plastered
the Cologne area for more than
three hours last night.
American and Brit sh bombers
thundered across the channel and
shook the bristling, gun-studded
French coastline from end to end
along its full length of 200 miles.
' For the third consecutive night
the U. S. air force neglected stra
1 tegic targets further in the in
terior for a concentrated effort on
immediate tactical targets behind
; the invasion wall.
More than 13,000 tons of bombs
have been dropped on the FVench
installations in the past 72 hours
by American and British heavies
alone, the greatest part of the
I load being dumped in the Calais
coast strong points and surround
j ing channel ports of Boulogne,
j Dieppe, Dunkerque, with the rest|
j being aimed at rail centers.
Berlin reported Italy-based
bombers on the prowl over north
I ern France and the Danube area.i
Britain enjoyed another rail - J
! free night, indicating that the
i Nazis are husbanding every avail
able plane for the day of inva
sion.
Over 1,300 heavies hit Naziland
yesterday.
OLDTIMER RETURNS
TO NOME
l Albert Chagnon, well-known
: oldtimer of Nome, returned yes
terday via the Alaska Airlines,
from Seattle, where he has spent
most of the past two years. Mr.
Chagnon has been interested in
mining in the Osborne area for
many years, and has also given
; much of his time as engineer of
| the Nome Territorial School, and
j later to the Odd Fellows building.
SEABEES LABOR IN PACIFIC — I'jlfif Heavy construction machinery. U. S. Seabees
t carve i—strips nt of vlryin Jon tie on aa island in the Pacific Marshalls. ■*
JAPANESE
CHARGE ON
HUNAN CAPITAL
CHUNGKING, June 5.—(AP>—
Japanese vanguards from the
nor'h struck within 25 miles to
night in strategic charges, on the
provincial capital of Hunan.
Field d spatches said there
was noted advances of with 17
miles of Sinshih.
The U. S. air force is giving
s'rong support to the Chinese,
who are fighting to halt the en
emy advance toward Changsha,
and are harassing the Japs with
out respite.
The reports added, a second
Japanese column, which had ad
vanced 10 miles southwest of
Sinshih, were driven back.
The Japs have made further
landings on the southern shore of
Lake Tungting, the latest being
north of Yiyang, 50 miles north
west of Changsha. This exposed
the city to attack from the north
west, north and northeast.
The Japs are now making a
tremendous attempt to converge
their columns.
Dog Face Drama'
On Air Tonight
“The Old North will ride again
at 2030 hours tonight, we hope-”
reads an announcement from ra
dio station WXLN’s Dog-Face
Drama department. The original1
skit, “Dick Dasher and the Bi.tter
Kiss”, had been scheduled to go
over the air waves at 1830 hours
last night, but a last minute tech
nical breakdown made it neces
sary for the G. I. Shakespeares to
call the whole thing off.
“Keep tuned to your sets at i
2030 hours tonight,” the an-|
nouncement continued. “We’ll
give the show even if we have to ‘
shout it out the window!”
MRS. JOSEPHINE BLOOD
DIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mrs. Josephine Blood, former
Nomeite
der of Eastern Star here, died inj
the Fairmont Hospital at San
Leandro, Calif., on February 3rd.
Mrs. Blood was ill and had been
an invalid for many years.
Pensive Defeated RUSSIANS HURL
In Sweepstakes BACK GERMAN
NEW YORK. June 5.—(AP>—
“Bounding Home", an outsider,
defeated “Pensive”, the Kentucky
Derby and Baltimore Preakness
winner, by half a length, to win
$50,000 n the Belmon* Sweep
stakes.
The mile and a half wras cov
ered in 2:32:1-5.
“Bull Dandy” took third place,
eight lengths behind.
The winners paid $34.70, $8.25
and $5.80 across the board.
Submarines Add
16 Ships To Credit
■■ ' ■ •
WASHINGTON, D. C.. June 5.
—<AP>—United States submarines
have destroyed 16 more of the
Japanese fast-dwindling fleet of
merchant ships, the navy report
ed today, bringing the total of
enemy ships sunk by American
submersibles to 589.
The bag included a large trans
port, a large cargo vessel, seven
medium cargo vessels.
The total to date includes 148
navy combat vessels.
Chinese and U. S.
Forces Advance
KANDY, Ceylon, June 5.—(AP>
—Chinese-American forces gained
200 moi-e yards in the southeast
ern seciton of Myitkyina, con
tinuing the severe fighting for
that base in North Burma.
Today’s communique from Lord
Mountbatten’s headquarters also
announced that on the extreme
western end of the North Burma
front, the Japs are withdrawing
from the town of Mamsum.
British airborne Chindits are
declared to be continuing the at
tack from the south on Myitkyina
from the neighboring village of
Wainvaw.
Allied heavies raided Nsopzup,
a north key apanese base, and 40
miles to the west at Kamaing, the
Jap garrison, “is now more close
ly invested,’’ the war bulletin
said, explaining the allied troops
advancing to positions four miles
east of the town. I
OFFENSIVES
I
LONDON, June 5.—fAP>—Ap
parently attempting to smash the
I
Russian operations of new offen-.
sives, the Germans continued
th ierattacks yesterday, norfh and
northwest of Iasi, in Rumania,
but were hurled back with tre
mendous loss in men and mater
ials, a report from Moscow said
today.
The Soviet communique declar
ed that in one sector alone, 1100
Nazis were killed and 30 tanks
put out of action.
The bulletin indica’ed fighting
of considerable importance and
said the Nazis had thrown large
forces of tanks and infantry into
the fray.
Polish Premier
Visits President
—
WASHINGTON. D. C\, June 5.'
—(AP>—The Polish premier,
Stansilaw Mikolajck, arrived to
day for an official visit, and an1
exchange of views with President
Roosevelt to probe means for clos
ing the gap between Russia and
Poland.
Acting Secretary of State Stet
tinius said: “On invitation of this
government, the Polish prime
minister will arrive today on a
yisit of courtesy for his first trip
to this country since his assump
. I
tion ot the premiership of Poland.
He is expected, during his short
stay, to exchange views with thei
President and other American of-!
ficials on general European and1
Polish questions.”
ATG EVENTS^
There will be a regular meet
ing of the Alaska Territorial
Guard Tuesday evening at 1900
hours in the High School Arm
ory.
Remember the dance Saturday
night at the Native School, be
ginning at 2100 hours.
FIFTH ARMY IN
PURSUIT OF
FLEEING NAZIS
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
NAPLES, June 5.—<AP>—The
powerful Fifth Army thundered
across the northern Italian hori
zon today, in pursuit of the Tenth
and Fourteenth German Divi
sions, with hardly a look at cap
tured Rome.
The ancient seat of western
civilization fell as a prize to the
allied troops after nine months
of bitter fighting, on the Italian
mainland, and nearly 11 months
after the landing on Sicily, July
10, 1943.
The last ditch German rear
guards died within the shadow of
the Rome Forum, in the streets
of the government quarters, as
Italian partisans, barechested,
wearing the hammer and sickle
insignia, fought hand to hand
with the Nazis and Facists, in
the brief ba'tle for the libera
tion.
The Italian populace cheered
the allied infantry and tank
teams as they threaded their way
through »he city’s streets, and
rushed to kiss the bearded and
grimy liberators, and warned of
1 ambushes ahead. Some Romans
died in the last hours as many
tried, barehanded, to seize ma
chine guns, and were mowed
down by the retreating Germans
Al*hough the Nazis had declar
ed Rome an open city, sopradic
clashes took place during the al
lied conquest.
The Italian capital, its social
cultural and religious treasures,
apparently came through un
scratched. Police said that all
was quiet in the Vatican, where
the Pope has been a virtual pris
oner of the German bayonets
since September.
A Berlin broadcast said that
Baron Von Weixsaecker, German
ambassador 4o the Holy See. “left
his residence in Rome, the Villa
Boneparte, for the Vatican City
with other diplomatic missions of
the Tripartite powers, including
Japan, Hungary, Slovakia, Ru
mania and Finland."
During the hours of the violent
liberation of the city, the Swiss,
guard was doubled about tha
Vatican, to prevent an influx of
refugees.
The German broadcast said the
Allied representatives of the Holy
See had already left the Vatican
precincts for their old apartments
in Rome.
King Emanuel is expected mo
mentarily, to hand over his power
and his crown to Prince Umberko
in a formal ceremony, in keeping
with his promise of several
months ago, to act when the al
lies entered Rome
Although first reports from
Rome were scanty concerning
damage to the city, a number of
demolitions were carried out by
the Germans.
Dispatches said the Fiat fac
tory was the scene of one such
demolition, while efforts were also
made to wreck the gas, electrio
and water utilities.
Allied headquarters announced
that with the occupation of Rome,
the first objective was realized,
and with the Fifth and Eighth
Armies pursuing the Tenth and
Fourteenth German Divisions, as
sisted by allied fighter bombers,
hammering away at the fleeing
German columns, leaving the con
gested highways to the north lit
tered with dead and wounded,
and smashed vehicles.
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