THE NOM E NUGGET
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Pearl Harbor Altaek
Conditions as they obtained at Pearl Harbor before
the attack December 7 scarcely would be believed if
they were not the subject of investigation and report
by the Roberts commission appointed by President
Roosevelt.
With defensive and offensive equipment available
with which to withstand and undertake attacks, its
usefulness was impaired to a marked extent by fail
ure of the human element to function capably.
Command at Pearl Harbor, it seems, was divided.
Navy and army establishments did not cooperate. Each
had its plans for action, but did not inform the other
of them, and when the emergency arose there was
absence of coordination.
Navy and army leaders at Pearl Harbor had been
informed of the virtual cessation of negotiations by
the United States and Japan for a settlement of their
problems and had been advised by authorities in Wash
ington that an aggressive move by Japan might be
expected. With Hawaii about 4,000 miles from Japan,
the navy and army commanders at Pearl Harbor
thought the distance could not be negotiated by an
armed expedition on sea or in the air without their
konwledge. By means of patrol ships and patrol planes,
the service commanders believed they would have
timely notice of any hostile approach. That they were
surprised, notwithstanding the availability of their
surface and aerial scouting craft at hand, is indeed
strange.
By the investigating commission, the commanders
were found guilty of dereliction of duty. Previously
they had been removed from their positions on a re
port by Naval Secretary Frank Knox, who visited the
Islands immediately after the attack and then submit
ted his findings to the President.
The misfortune at Pearl Harbor serves to stress the)
importance of ceaseless vigilance and the necessity for)
singlerfess of purpose on the part of all branches of the
armed services in the conduct of the war.
Carol Lombard
Funeral Brief
As Site Wished
Hollywood — One of the
gayest stars of the films,
blonde Carol Lombard was j
laid to rest on Jan. 21 in
beautiful Forest Lawn
cemetery, after a funeral
service that lasted only 2
minutes.
The actress’ mother Mrs.;
Elizabeth Peters, was bur
ied with her. They died to
gether in the crash of a
TFA liner against a jagged
Nevada moutain peak.
Service in Small Church
The funeral service was I
held in the small church of;
the recessional at Forest
Lawn, with the Rev. Gor-i
don Chaldian of Westwood |
Hills Methodist Church of-1
ficiating. About. 75 relativ
es and intimate friends of
Miss Lombard and her
actor husband, Clark Ga
ble, were present.
The minister opened the
ceremony by reading the
4th capter of the gospel of
St. John, which begins,'
“Let not your heart be
troubled. Ye believe in.
God, believe also in Me.”
He followed with the.
reading of the 23rd Psalm,
“The Lord is my shepard, I
shall not want.”
In her will, written some
time ago, the actress had
specified that her funeral
services be simple, and
that her two favorite pas
sages of scripture be read.
Offer Declined
Because of his wife’s wish
es, Gable declined an offer
of the United States Trea
sury department of a fun
eral for Miss Lombard
with full military honors.
The actress was returning
from Indianapolis, where
she assisted at selling two
million dollars worth of na
ticnal defense bonds, when
she died in the flaming
crash.
Typographical
Error Suggested
Cause for Crash
Los Angeles—The possib
ility that a typographical
j error in plotting the course
i of the ill-fated TWA airlin
| er caused the crash that
i killed Carole Lombard and
*21 others, appeared.
The TWA chief pilot, Wei
: den Golien, said the air
i liner was exactly 10 com
pass degrees off its course
J when it crashed head-on
into a Nevada mountain
peak. The air liner should
have been fololwing an an
jgle of 208 compass points
: on its flight frm Las Vegas,
1 ev., to Burbank, Calif.
Instead, Golien told a civ
l il aeronautical board, it
was flying on an angle of
j 218 degrees.
All Papers Destroyed
It was considered possible
that Co-pilot Gilette, who
plotted the course, might
have written 218 by mis
take. All papers were de
stroyed in the fire that en
veloped the plane wreck
age immediately after the
crash.
Wrong Course
Golient said that commer
i
PAUL DUBONNET
Secret On
Wine Conies
To , America
A famous old French tra
dition, transplanted only 6
months ago from its native
soil to the United States, is
already thriving in its new
home and—late this month
—wil begin bearing fruit.
Boarding an American Ex
port liner at Lisbon. Portu
gal, one day last spring,
Paul Dubonnet, scion of
France’s most famous wine
making family, brought to
America the secret of mak
ing the aperitif bearing his
name. Early in December,
at a new. plant he has ac
quired in Philadelphia, he
began blending the new
American Dubonnet with
wines shipped in huge
casks from California. Dis
tribution was expected to
get underway in January.
Although conceding that!
the war was partly respon
sible for moving his pro
duct to the United States,
Dubonet points out that
the change was logical and
had been contemplated
ever since 1933.
Extensive Inquiries
“Many years ago we
made extensive inquiries
about American wine,’* he
said recently. “French ex
ports were sent to Califor
nia, and they brought back
conclusive evidence that
here could be found the
same types of grapes, vine
yards and wines as are na
tive to certain districts of
southern France. Careful
study was required, but
we have reallv found what
we were looking tor.
“The only reason Dubon
net was not made here
many years ago was a senti
mental one. We felt that an
industry founded by my
family in France, and so
zeolously kept there,
cial pilots had been warn
ed not to fly the course fol
lowed by the TWA ship be
cause it would take them
over an area restricted for
military operations on the
[southern California desert,
The airliner struck at the
7,800-foot level of the peak
| 200 feet lower than the pre
[ scribed flying level for
,TWA planes.
Western airlines pilots
who testifiied at the hear
ing said their orders call
for a 10,000 foot level.
i
should not be disturbed.
But today no such reason
exists.”
Many years ago the pre
ent Dubonnet’s grandfa
ther discovered the basis
for the present formula!
while sampling wine being!
given French soldiers in'
!ha Algerian campaign. He
"ound it the most “stimulatj
ing” he had ever tasted.
Produced by Chemist
"Investigation showed
that a French chemist had
oroduced the mixture,” i
the grandson pointed out
recently. “He had combin
ed carefully selected wines
with an unusual bark dis
covered many years before
by the Indians in Peru '
Grandfather found the
chemist, had a talk with
him and went to work per
fecting an improved form
ula. Several months later
Dubonnet wine appeared
on the market.”
In France before the re
cent tragedy they referred
to the “Dubonnet hour” in
much the same fashion as j
Americans talked about
their cocktail hour or the:
English their tea time.!
Such a tremendous success'
was the elder Dubonnet’s:
new product that the fam-i
ily built in southern i
France one of the largest
wineries the world has ev
er seen, turning out just
prior to the current war
more than 15,000,000 bot
tles a year to accomodate
the domestic and export
trades.
Dubonnet is very optimis
tic not only about the fu
ture of his own product
but about American wines
generally. His product, he
explains, will not be avail
able to a much larger body ;
of consumers because its
manufacture in the United;
States has eliminated cus-i
toms duties. This same fac-1
tor, he thinks, will contin
ue to influence sales of all
American wines, on which
production.has grown from
41,000,000 gallons in 1934
to 112,000,000 gallons last
year.
He is also interested in ex
port possibilities. Although
American involvement in
the war has placed addi
tional limitations on the
available export market,
the much greater paralysis
suffered by continental Eu
ropean exporters has, he
believes, given American
industries an important ad
vantage.
“The American wine in
dustry,” Dubonnet points
out, “is in a very good po
sition at this time to take
over the export business
formerly held by European
countries, and to keep a
leading position when nor
mal conditions are again es
tablished.”
In the final analysis, he
says, many of the famous
French wines imported by
the United States have a
definite “family” relation
ship with American wines.
“Most people have forgot
ten, but when the wines of
France were wiped out by
a plague many years ago,
cuttings were imported
from California. If Califor
nia vines can prosper in
France, think how much
more they should prosper
in their native soil.”
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The life jacket was standard -garb aboard transport
which bore Jack Rice Associated Press photographer,
to an unannounced Pacific destination soon after the
war started. Men are pictured at the rail of one ship
with another transport seen in the distance.
Lack Of Beacons Is Cited
Los Angeles — A Wesern airlines pilot who flew over
the Las Vegas to Los Angeles route after the ill-fated
plane which carried Carole Lombard and 21 others to
death recently, Robert Cheney, told a Civil Aeronau
tics board, that only one of four beacons on his route
was burning. Cheney said the beacons were not essen
tial to safe flying, but were helpful.
The pilot told of seeing the burning wreckage of the
plane, but he did not realize at the time it was the
airliner. Cheney said flying conditions were perfect
the night of the crash.