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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
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VOL. 46 —No. 69. NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1944. PER COPY—15c.
Committee Hears
Reports On Pearl
Harbor Parties
WASHINGTON, D. C„ June
14.—«(AP)—Congressional gom
miitees of inquiry into the de
layed defense preparations at
Pearl Harbor, produced a re
port. highlighted with descrip
tions of yachting parties given
for the army colonel who was in
charge of constructions in Ha
waii, which wer4 held by a
German-born alien, it was re-,
ported today.
'■ | The report of the House Com
j ; mittee on Military Affairs called
.* in the army for “further explan
!;ation” of what they termed “the
mismanaged” part. Col. Theodore
•Wyman, Jr., was asked why he
awarded. the contracts to Hans
Wilhelm Rohl, a Gei;man, alien.
Although a resident of the
United States, since 1.913, “he was
naturalized,’ the committee > said,
“only three mon’hs before the
sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.”
The committee said:
‘When Col. Wyman was placed
in charge of the Canol project in
1942, he awarded another con
tract to Rohl’s company, known
as the Rohl-Connolly Company.
-- .» < ' •
Asserting that there were unex
plained delays in the Pearl Har
bor construction, particularly in
the building of aircraft warning
systems, the report said, “Had the
system been completed, ’he sched
uled attack on the Pacific bastion
might have been robbed of much
of the surprise.”
The committee said its mem
bers couldn’t understand “why a
man, known as a German alien,”
was put in charge of the work,
and devoted a portion of their
report to Rohl’s personal back
ground, noting that he “bragged
that he was a close and intimate
acquaintance wi’h all visiting
German diplomats and persons of
high rank.”
Col. Wyman and Rohl met in
Los Angeles in 1935. the commit
tee stated and “developed very
close social relations,” which led
to parties aboard Rohl’s yacht,
the “Ramona”.
Along wi»h the entertainment,
the committee said. Rohl provid
ed the colonel “wild drinking
parties in which a cheap-looking
type of young girls paraded in
and out all evening.”
The lengthy report contained no
conclusions, but only the brief
committee comment.
, “Whether additional reports on
the case will be made,” said
Chairman May, “depends on fu
ture developments,” and he add
ed, “the next move is up to the
War Department.”
Ralph Burton, the committee
investigator who prepared the re
port, said Rohl is still in business
in Los Angeles.
Rohl is the major stockholder
in the Hawaiian Constructs’ joint
contracting venture which held
125 million dollars in contracts
for work in the Hawaiian Is
lands, the Aleutians, and islands
in the South Pacific.
Col. Wyman is a man 56 years
age, a vetrean of the last war,
an engineer, and officer in charge
of the defense construction in the
Hawaiian and South Pacific areas.
The colonel is now stationed
overseas.
NOTICE. PIONEERS!
Igloo No. 1. Pioneers of Alas
ka. will maot Wednesday eve
ning. June 14th. at 8:00 p. m..
in the Masonic Templet
ROBERT BALDWIN.
Secretary.
FAMOUS CREW REUNION —On the historic Charles River, the Harvard crew which won at the Henley, regatta on the
Thames 30 years ago got together for a reunion. The oarsmen are coxswain, Lt. Col. Henry Kreger of Cleveland; stroke. Dr. Charles l
I.und of Boston; N'o. 7, Louis Curtis of Boston; No. 6, Dr. D. P. Morgan of Washington, D. C.: No. S. J, W. Mlttendorf of Baltimore, j
No. 4, H. S. Mlttendorf of Boston; No. 3. Henry Meyer, Boston; No. 2, James Talbot. New York; and No. 1. Oov. Leverett SaltonstalL I
Army Captain
.Guilty Of Charges
. > -
SANTA ANNA, Calif., June 14.
—<AP>—Captain Morrison J. Wil
kinson, an army flier, who once
flew for the Chinese government,
was convicted by an army general
court-martial on morals charges
involving a number of women,
and was sentenced to 30 years’
imprisonment at hard labor and
dismissed from the army, it was
disclosed today.
I The flier was convicted on six
specific charges, including statu
tory rape of a 17-year-old night
club dancer, Caprice Capron.
He was acquitted on four other
charges.
| _ _
Churchill Asks
Postponement Of
Full-Dress Debate
I
I LONDON, June 14.—(AP)—
Prime Minister Winston Church
l ill obtained a postponement of a
j full-dress debate in the House of
1 Commons on the Controversial
1 issue of the British-American re
lations with the French Commit
tee on National Liberation.
Churchill parried the demand
ed showdown with the assertion,
“It will do more haim than good
now.”
In his first appearance before
the House since his trip to the
newly-created French beachhead
Monday, the Prime Minister
made scant reference to the prog-!
ress of the war, declaring that
any anxiety over the DeGaulle
question, “should be properly di
rected to our gallant soldiers.”
"Great operations are in prog
ress, which gives us hope as well
as anxiety,” Churchill stated.
The prime minister contended
that full discussion of the subject
should be held off until negotia
tions among the French, United
States and British can be com
pleted.
The House of Commons turned
to other subjects after Churchill
said: “I would not seek to delay
the debate if I did not have the
hopes of a better solution than I
can announce at the present
time.”
Advertise It tn The Nugget.
I Accomplishments
Of Forces Pleasing
To Eisenhower
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITION
ARY FORCES IN ENGLAND,
June 14.—<AP>—General “Ike"
Eisenhower said last night that
“Accomplishments for the first
seven days of the campaign have
exceeded my highest expectation."
He expressed satisfaction in
the progress in the Normandy in
vasion.
The message was addressed to
the commanders of troops who
participated in the assault on
France. < —.» a
____________________
Allied Troops
Advance In All
Sectors, Is Report
i SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITION
ARY FORCES, June 14.—fAP>—
Allied troops have advanced gen
erally in all sectors. Communique
No. 16 said today, with advances
particularly in the south of Bay
eux, between the forest DeCerisy
and Tilly Sur Seulles.
More than 10,000 German pris
oners have nqw been taken, the
report added.
Germans are reported to be
strongly counter-attacking against
American-captured Montebourg,
and Carentan.
General Eisenhower, in a rpeort
to the President, stated that bat
tles were shaping up to strike
against Germany along “the peri
meter of their stronghold" on all
fronts.
Carrier Task Force
Raiding Japanese
WASHINGTON, D. C„ June 14.
—A powerful carrier task force
is raiding Japanese bases in the
Marianas, only 1,500 miles from
Tokyo.
Thirteen enemy ships have been
sunk and 16 others damaged. Also
141 Japanese planes were des
troyed during the three days of
fighting, Admiral Nimitz report
ed.
Fishing Bill Is
Disapproved
J
WASHINGTON. D. C„ June 14.
—<AP>—T|he State department
disapproved of the legislation to
extend the LTni'ed States jurisdic
tion over salmon fishing, to the
international boundary in the Ber
ing Sea.
Delegate Dimond said his bill
was originally introduced to pre
vent the Japanese from taking
salmon in the shallow waters of
the Alaskan coast,
i The State Department said it
sympathized with the purpose of
the bill, but disapproved on the
grounds that it might cause in
ternational complications.
The department proposed that
I the end could be accomplished by
diplomatic negotiations,
Russian Tanks
Roll To Within 30
Miles Of Viipuri
MOSCOW, June 14.—<AP>—
, Russian tanks, loaded outside with
tommy-gunners, rolled up the
Viipuri Highway to within 30
miles of that important port, a
report said today.
Front line dispatches added, the
Red Army was striking at the
main body of the Finnish reser
ves.
Pravda. Russian newspaper, re
ported a large battl enear Mus
tamiaki, on the main Viipuri rail
j road .northwest of Leningrad.
The battle terrain of the Karel
| ian Isthmus is strewn liberally
I with swamps, rocks, cliffs, ra-,
vines and forests, which made the^
I swift movements of the Russian
i army, tanks and heavy artillery,
hazardous.
Daring Russian groups were
; engaged in forest warfare as re
| ported by “Red Star”, and were
I dealing with Finns, ambushed in
sweeping, flanking movements. j
The capture of Siranmiaki, at
la critical crossroads, gave the
Russians a good grasp on the j
communication lines in the wood
ed area, where the advance was
most difficult.
German broadcasts reported at
tacks above the Arctic Circle, be
tween Petsamo and Murmansk,,
and also around Narva in Estonia. [
Four German Tank
Dh Lsions Used In
Fierce Fighting
r C
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITION
ARY FORCES, June 14.—(AP>—
The Germans today flung four
armored divisions into fierce
fighting to hold the eastern bat
tleline bastion of Coen, an allied
command communique announced
tonight.
Heavy fighting was also rag
ing around Montebourg and Tro
arn. on opposite ends of the 100
mile front, both towns changing
hands in the past 24 hours hours,
it was further announced.
The savage counter-attacks by
the Germans on the eastern flank
in Normandy was followed by a
British drive of 23 miles inland
outflanking Caen from the west
The armored struggle was ris
ing in intensity when the four
Nazi armored divisions were
hurled into th earea between Caen
and Caumont, 20 miles to the
southwest, which was seized in a
hard British punch.
The U. S. Fourth Division
fought fiercely for Montebourg,
14 miles southeast of Cherbourg.
The great guns of the British
battleships Rodney and Ramillies,
thundered in support of the Brit-;
ish fight to hold Troarn, seven
miles from Caen, taken in the
flanking movement. Both the
Germans and the Allies have
fought into and have been thrown
out of Montebourg in the last 24
hours. ■ -
The greatest single striking'
force of planes in the war’s his
tory was made when 1500 Amer
ican Liberators and Fortresses
battered targets in France and
Germany today, giving air support
to the invasion.
Meanwhile in the Carentan
area south of the bitter Monte
bourg battle, other Americans
in the largest force ever thrown
into the fighting in this war, chop
ped deep gashes into the Nazi
defenses of the Cherbourg Penin
sula.
American armored forces there
smashed the Germans back.
Berlin radio acknowledged the
withdrawal several miles west and
north of Carentan, with the
Americans cutting through near
ly two-thirds the way across the
narrow neck of the peninsula.
Cancelled Orders
To French Officers
Are Revealed Here
WASHINGTON. D. C.
June 14.—(AP)—In the
final hours before the
start of the recent inva
sion of France, General
DeGaulle reported sud*
denly and cancelled or
ders for several French
officers, who were sched
uled to land with the
first wave of allied
troops, it was disclosed
by General Eisenhower’s
headquarters today.
High military officials report
that as a result of the cancelled
orders, cooperation between the
! French population was impaired
! in occupied Normandy areas.
This is true according to offi
cials investigating the situation.
Now, even though DeGaulle
finally relented to the extent of
allowing 20 French officers to go
along with the forces assigned to
the liberation of their homeland.
DeGaulle’s action with respect
to the officers, is said to be prob
ably the most important new fac
tor entering the background.
There is a proposed meeting
between President Roosevelt and
the French National Committee
for Liberation leader, either late
this month or early in July.
Mokmer Airdrome
Put Into Operation
Bv U. S. Troops
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
NEW GUINEA. June 14.—(AP)—
Wednesday, Mokmer airdrome on
Biak Island has been put into op
era’ion, General MacArthur an
1 nounced today, as the infantry on
Biak pushed westward to the
.Borokoe airstrip. ..ifVSii,
The Mokmer field is roughly
880 miles from the Philippines,
the closest allied point to the
enemy s*ronghold
From Mokmer, the allies can
dominate all of western Dutch
New Guinea, the communique an -
nounced.
Three of six Japanese planes
raiding Biak on Sunday, were
shot down and two other planes
I probably destroyed by allied
! fighters.
American Mitchell bombers
struck enemy shipping in Geei
vink Bay, 135 miles west of
Mokmer, sinking four 1000-ton
cargo ships, and three eoastal
vessels and damaged a 2000-ton
cargo ship. „ f|
LORD S SUPPER TO
BE HELD TOMORROW
The Federated Church is ob
! serving the Lord’s Supper on
Thursday, June 15th, at 8:00 p.
m.
The Communion Service is be
ing held on Thursday instead of
Sunday in order to set it apart
as a special sacred service.
The sermon meditation will be:
i “We Love Him Because He First
Loved Us.”
The church choir will render
special music.
The service is in charge of the
Board of Deacons: Mrs, Earle
Towner, Mrs. S. A. Hewitt and
Robert Fankhouser.
“Come those who love the
Lord.—(Contributed).