Flying Transport Skipper Tells
of Hazards “Down the Chain”
(Editor's Note:—This is the
second of a series of four articles
on the 42nd Troop Carrier Squad
ron, which has recently returned
to the U. S. after two years in
Alaska, and fells of the hectic ad
ventures of the airmen in pio
neering days of flying “down the
chain.” Friday’s Nugget will
describe some of the heroes of the
42nd and how the trails they blaz
ed helped the army retake Attu
and Kiskah
By CPL. TO MLOVE
11th AAF Correspondent)
HEADQUARTERS, 11th AAF
SERVICE COMMAND — Living
conditions any where west of El
mendorf Field at Anchorage were
primitive and hectic during the
early days of flying in the Aleu
tians when the 42nd Troop Car
rier Squadron was hurling men
and equipment down the islands
to meet the Jap invaders.
Arriving at Cold Bay or Um
nak, or at Port Heiden, another
secret base which was just then
being scooped out of the tundra,
the pilots and crews stretched
their sleeping bags out on the
floor of the plane, or if it wasn’t
raining, under a wing and went
wearily off to sleep. If they
weren’t fortunate enough to- ar
rive when the troops were taking
tirtie out for “chow”, there was
nothing to eat.
Sgt. Richard L. Hampton of
Spokane, Wash., an aerial engi
neer describes a night at Port
Heiden. ‘‘We tied our two-mo
tored transport plane securely so
the wind wouldn’t blow it away.
We went to sleep in a nearby ‘ent.
About midnight, we heard noises.
The wind had changed and was
starting to blow in the opposite
direction. By the time we got
our clothes on and got to the
plane, the wind was blowing 90
miles per hour and had torn the
tail surface loose, and the inner
bracing and the riveting were
sheering fast. We spent the next
♦+++•> *>+•M,++ 4*4* 4* 4» 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* *5* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4* 4» 4* 4»
NORTHERN LIGHT & \
POWER CO l
'■ 1
:: t
KEEP YOUR DOLLARS FIGHTING! J
❖ BUY WAR BONDS l
i
+-i”>+++++++++++++4
i; Bronson Water Delivery j
\: BULLDOZING — CATERPILLAR WORK t
:: TRUCK HAULING J
:: PHONE MAIN 19 |
'♦♦♦♦♦♦llllfrll>lfrlfr,>4,l>4,*<fr*4»4>4>4»«>f 4,4^4^4^4>4»4»4>4^4»4»4»4•4»4»4*4^4^4»4>4»4»4~^4,
1^4 4^* a^a a^a a^a
^|r ^|r y
| AUDREYS SNACK BAR I
❖ " (AT MAY’S) Y
^ Do You Like Spaghetti Dinners? 4$4 j
X How About Chinese Noodles.. 4$4
... Or a Truly Delicious Cup of Coffee? «|»
Y COME IN BETWEEN 5:00 P. M. and MIDNITE! Y
❖ ♦
Ak a4a j4a a4a. A^A a4a 4
AXXAXAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,t.J..«. J.XXXXXXXXX.I.XXXXXXXXJ. 1
t i
Notice! !
ii f
:: EFFECTIVE APRIL 1, 1944, THE TAX %
RATE ON TRANSPORTATION OF I
IS PERSONS, INCREASES FROM 10% TO I
j: 15%. |
I : * I
1 ALASKA AIRLINES I
«■ *
’ Weekly Trips to Anchorage and Fairbanks via |
;; McGrath. ..Call MAIN 66 For Information. 'I
*: Illlllilllllt;l
PRETTY SWIMMER —Esther Williams, movie actress
and expert swimmer, posed for this pin-up at a Beverly Hills,
( alif.. pool when she gave instruction to a croup of SPARS.
two hours driving four by fours
in the mud to tie the plane to,
and then, returning to our tent,
we found the wind had blown it’
down!”
Anyone could see by this time
that the overworked men of the
42nd and their battered Douglas
transports could not do the job
alone. It was with a sigh of re
lief then that Brig. Gen. Robert
V. Ignico, commanding the Elev
enth Air Force Service Com
mand, welcomed the arrival of
the 54th Troop Carrier Squadron.
General Ignico, a flying officer
himself, had watched over the
42nd during its hour of trial, had
watched its green young pilots
become masters of the vicious ele
ments devilling their aerial life
line. Now there was some relief
for his valiant men and he in
terspersed 'he veterans of the 42nd
with the new pilots of the 54th
and later created a provisional
troop carrier group.
At this time, Jack F. Scavenius,
a bush pilot with several years’
experience on the Alaska main
land and a resident of Anchor
age, was commissioned captain in
the AAF and joined the 42nd for
duty. He was one of the few men
to go ‘‘down the chain" for his
first trip as 1st pilot. Regardless
of rank, pilots flew as co-pilots
until they could familiarize 'hem
selves with the perils of the
route.
Capt. Scavenius recalls the un
certainties of his first few weeks.
It was now six months since the
Dutch Harbor attack, and Army
Airways Communications System
was operating radio stations all
along the route as far west as
Adak, the newest base. These
stations guided planes past the
volcanic mountain peaks which
which were often hidden in fog
(“Rocks in the soup," the flyers
said) and helped them land blind
when the weather closed in.
“There w'ere bugs in the sys
tem,” Capt. Scavenius said. ‘‘It
takes time to set up an accurate
and reliable radio net. It takes
checking. Sometimes, under the
circumstances, I had doubts
whether I was good enough to be
flying the route, in spite of my
bush flying experience. But then
as time went on I became fam
iliar with the set-up, and the
Army Airways Communications
System in Alaska became an
acutely efficient organization.
Today, I’d say the radio ranges
in the mountainous Aleutians are
as reliable as anywhere in the
world.”
tt+■*■++++++++++++.M.++++++++++++++++++++.*+++
; EACH MAN HAS' TWO ENDS ... \
—One to Sit On— J’j
One to THINK WITH!
The War Depends on :!
Which We Use! j:
: Heads we Win Tails we Lose! 3
LINCOLN HOTEL & COCKTAIL BAR j;!
Joe Mullins, Prop. J j
NORTH POLE
BAKERY iii
> 1 ' I
AND RESTAURANT
i i
WE SERVE WHOLESOME FOODS—
» . " r '
NONE BETTER!
OPEN: 7:00 A. M. TO 11:00 P. M.
< •
i >
__
> i<
Front St. Phone Ma. 159 !!
♦** +** «** <*♦ «•*> •*-» «*♦ •
LTERVRY
GU1DEP0ST
'BT RSSrn ARE THE MEEK." bv
Zofia Kossak (Roy; S3).
Somewhere in Poland one or j
that country's best known writ
ers is fight ng to keep body and
soul together until the Germans j
are driven out. and her husband
now in a concen'ration camp, can
return to her. She is probably
in rags and hungry, yet her novel
is the April Book-of-the-Month
and many thousands of dollars j
are held for her in this country
With more being added daily.
The author is Zofia Kossak, one
af whose projects has been a set
af novels about the Crusades, j
novels in which *he qualities of
spiritual experience are richly
■x pressed. ‘‘Blessed Are thei
VIeek” is the fifth of this set, and;
the first to be put into English.
It is Mme. Koussak’s good luck,
that the translator, Rulka Longer,
is an artist in her own right, so
so that the book emerges in easy
and elastic prose in spite of the
fact that Polish of'en translates
badly.
‘‘Blessed Are the Meek" is a
tapestry in which the various
threads of action merge to form
the background—there is no for
mal cyclorama to the Gossak
drama. There are at leas4 four
main threads, and a hundred
lesser ones, each of them cleanly i
bandied and clear. First there is
the story of St. Francis of Assisi,
whose Brothers Minor really be
lieved in the precepts of Jesus and
lived by them. Francis was not a
successful man as we understand
the 4erm, but he managed to save
an army from the Sultan of Egypt
just the same.
There is the story of the great
mistake known as the Children's
Crusade, one of the most pitiful
of all narra'ives. The love story
of Jean de Brienne and Blanche
of Champagne is in the book, and
the fourth thread is the story of
the magnificent tragic, exciting
and sometimes stupendously stu
pid events in Asia Minor and
Egypt early in the 13th century.
Although really a crowded tap
estry, the over-all effect is oddly
simple, a strange fact when one
remembers that Franci? is the cen
tral figure and that his simplicity
is the sort that seems complex
to the modern mind. Mme. Kos
sak’s book is long, and certainly
the product of industry and re
search. But it seems spontan
eous, rather as if the author had
lived in those remote years.
CLASSIFIED" ADS
LOST—Pair glasses, gold rimmed,
without case, on Front Street.
Notify The Nugget.
LOST—Large silver button, be
tween the Federal Building and
Wallace Hotel. Finder please no-;
tify The Nugget.
Advertise what you have to sen !
m The Nugget
NEW LAWS IN
EFFECT FOR
PURCHASERS
The following laws have been
placed in effect in A\ ;ka re
cently relative fo the purchase of
tracts of land not exceeding five
acres, on the showing as to em
ployment or business in Alaska:
Section 64.1 - Statutory Author
ity—The Ac* of March 3, 1927
<44 Stat. 1364, 48 U. S. C. Sec.
461* authorizes the sale as a
homestead or headquarters of
not to exceed five acres of unre
served public lands in Alaska,
not including mineral, coal, oil
or gas lands, at the rate of $2.50
per acre to any ci*izen of the
United States 21 years of age
employed by citizens of the Unit
ed States, associations of such
citizens, or by corporations or
ganized under the laws of the
Uni'ed States, or of any State or
Territory, whose employer is en
gaged in trade, manufacture, or
other productive industry in
Alaska, and to any such person
who is himself engaged in trade,
manufacture or other productive
industry in Alaska.
Sect on 64.2.: Purpose of Stat
ute.—The purpose of this statute
is to enable fishermen, trappers,
traders, manufacturers, or others
engaged in productive industry
in Alaska to purchase small
tracts of unreserved land in the
Territory, not exceeding five
acres, as homesteads or head
quarters.
Relative to the purchase of
tracts not exceeding five acres,
without showing as to employ
ment or business in Alaska, the
following section has been placed
in action Recently:
Section 64.6. Statutory Author
ity—The Act of May 26, 1934.
<48 Stat. 809, 48 U. S. C. Sec.
441 > amended Section 10 of the
Act of May 14. 1898 <30 Stat. 413\
as amended by the Act of March
3, 1927 <44 Stat. 1344>, so as to
provide that any citizen, after
occupying land of the character
described in said section as i
homestead or headquarters, in a
habitable house not less than
five mon*hs each year for three
years, may purchase such tract,
not exceeding five acres, |n a
reasonably compact form, with
out a showing as to his employ
ment or business, upon the pay
ment of $2.50 per acre, the min
imum payment for any one tract
*o be $10.
Joe Gordon batted .500 in the
1941 Series against the Dodge’
He had 7 for 14 and his first blow
was a homer off Curt Davis.
Johnny Lindell and Babe Ruth
have something in common. Both
were listed as pitchers and ou’
fielders.
ATC EVENTS
Non-Commissioned Officers
will mee! Friday night at 1900
hours at the High School Ar
mory.
AUTHOR OF
THK WEEK
By JOHN SELBY'
Some kind of a vote of appre
ciation should go to E Louise
Mally for having produced a good
glamor novel on her first try.
“The Mocking Bird Is Singing" is
a sprawling but not disorganized
piece of work, full of the atmos
phere of the War Between the
States and the years afterward,
and focussed particularly on New
Orleans and Texas, in which
territory Miss Mally became in
terested because, like her heroine.
Miss Mally’s mn'her made the
journey from New Orleans' into
Texas. Although this is her first
published novel, it is not Miss
Mally’s first. She wrote three
others and threw them away.
1 1-2 tablespoons salad oil
1 clove garlic
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 cup string beans *
1-2 cup peas
1-2 cup lima beans
1-2 cup cranberry beans
1 leek
1 1-2 tablespoons margarine
1 onion
2 sprigs parsley *
2 small potatoes *,
1-2 cup chopped cabbage
1-4 pound spinach
1-2 cup shell macaroni
2 small tomatoes jl
3 cups boiling water * ^
Parmesan cheese
Heat oil and butter in a largv
kettle. Add cut vegetables, ex
cept tomatoes, cabbage, and spin
ach. Stir over low heat for ten
minutes until vegetables make
their own juice. Add boiling wa
ter and tomatoes which have been
cooked and sieved. Cook 25 min
utes, boiling gently. Add cabbage,
spinach, and macaroni and coo':
fifteen to twenty minutes longer.
Season with salt and pepper
Serve in shallow soup plates ac
companied by freshly grated Par
mesan cheese.
| New York University scored 77
victories against four defeats in
home basketball games.
! ALASKA TELEPHONE & I
I TELEGRAPH CO. !
t +
f LOCAL AND LONG DISTANCE SERVICE!
X Back the attack with War bonds! Put your dollars *
♦ 4*
t in the service of Uncle Sam! £
▼ 4*
L'MHWMIll 1 1 linn 1 1 I I 11 t I 1 I 1 1 !■ ♦ ♦ 1.11111 <■ !■ * I *
i i
x +
1 Munz Air Service \
1 +
i _ +
x +
X +
| Taylor and Nome, Alaska +
X +
X +
X +
X +
! PHONE MAIN 109 +
i ♦
x *
I * *
x *
* +
^444.4 ^«mKH«Hi++4i+<4++++++++++*+.!.+->++++‘M’++++++*+ +