m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS__
YOL. LX No. 153 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1958 ~~Per Copy—15*
Four Long Years of Forced Labor
Failed To Diminish Christian Credo
By JAMES CARY
TOKYO, UR — The gray, bald
ing American stood waiting at the
gate of the Japanese Steel Mill.
Down the street strains of “Silent
Night” floated through the door of
a bar
(From the plant yard a Japanese
approached on a bicycle. He stud
ied the waiting man’s features,
halted, gasped in astonishment,
then turned as if to run.
“It’s all right, Ishiguro-San. I
just want to be your friend,” Ellis
Gordon said softly. “It’s good to
see you again.”
The Japanese managed a weak
smile.
Between them lay the gulf of
a bitter war, of starvation, bru
tality and grinding labor, of de
feat and surrender.
Shortly after the outbreak of
World War II, Gordon, 60, whose
home is in Los Angeles, had been
captured on Wake Island, where
he was a civilian employe. He
spent four years as a prisoner of
war of the Japanese.
Ishiguro was a guard at the
steel mill, between Tokyo and
Yokohama, where Gordon was
forced to work long hours. Gor
don was a 101-pound skeleton
when he last saw the guard.
“I had sworn I would kill them
all if I ever met them again,” Gor
don told the Pacific Stars and
Stripes “But over the years, the
harsh "memories softened and I
wanted them to know I bore no
grudge.”
“It became almost a mission,”
Gordon said. “I had been talking
about coming back to Japan for
years and now I’ve done what was
in my mind since the war ended.”
Formerly one of the managers
of a trucking and storage com
pany in Los Angeles, Gordon re
cently went to work for a firm
in Yokohama which transports
freight for servicemen.
The search for his former
guards began this Christmas week.
Friday, at least six of Gordon’s
former guards will be his dinner
guests. There will be Christmas
gifts of candy and tobacco for all.
Why is he doing it?
“I guess I just wanted to turn
the other cheek,” Gordon said.
Striking Pilots
Will Consider
New Proposal
Striking pilots at American Air
lines today considered contract
terms suggested by federal media
tors to end their walkout. Amer
ican accepted the proposed settle
ment.
The peace proposal covered a
variety of contract issues, includ
ing wages, flight hours, sick leaves
and vacations.
In accepting the proposals,
American said it was hopeful the
pilots would follow suit. A pilots’
spokesman said they probably
would reach a decision today.
The pilots’ strike at midnight
Friday grounded a second of the
nation’s three largest airlines dur
ing the peak season of air travel.
Eastern Airlines has been idled
since November 24 by a strike of
flight engineers and mechanics.
The twin disputes remain in dead
lock.
Other airlines, bus companies
and railroads have expanded
service to handle the crush of
holiday travelers. Accommodations
have been scarce but generally
available
Eisenhower Celebrates
Christmas At Home
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower, like million of other
Americans, plans to spend Christ
mas at home surrounded by his
family
Joining the President and his
wife for a big Christmas dinner
at the White House will be their
son and daughter-in-law, Major
and Mrs. John Eisenhower and
their four youngsters.
The Presidential grandchildren
are David. 10, Barbara Anne, 9,
Susan, who wilt be 7 a week from
today, and Mary Jean, who cele
brated her third birthday 'Sun
day.
The President got official
Christmas duties out of the way
in advance. He and Mrs. Eisen
hower sent out formal season’s
greeting cards to hundreds of dig
nitaries all over the world. On
Monday they held their yearly
Yuletime party for members of
the White House staff. 1
Sgt. Rescued From Polar
lee Floe Will Have Lonely
Christmas On Another
YPSILANTI, Mich., UP) — S/Sgt.
John M. Cecil, rescued last month
from a drifting Polar ice floe, had
planned to come home for Christ
mas
Instead, the Ypsilanti Air Force
man will spend Christmas on an
other cake of ice in the Arctic
Ocean near the North Pole.
He and his family will celebrate
Christmas, his wedding anniver
sary and his daughter’s birthday
at a belated homecoming March
10.
“It’s just a great disappointment
not to get him home,” said Cecil’s
wife, Rose Marie. “Johnny called
me last week and told me he had
made another stripe and the Air
Force was sending him to another
• iceberg. _
“They had promised to send him
home. • We even scraped up the
money to get him home, and got
everything ready. It’s the first
time we’ve been separated on
Christmas.”
Cecil was one of 20 men res
cued by a transport plane after
they were isolated on their frozen
International Geophysical Year
station adrift.
“It was in his orders that if
the ice breaks up he’s to come
home,” Mrs. Cecil said. “He went
up there the first time to get
back quicker
“He was a "career man, but he’s
not any more.”
Mrs. Cecil said she and her hus
band have agreed that he won’t
re-enlist at the end of his current
tour.
At Anchorage, the Alaska Com
mand reported Cecil is from the
11th Air Defense at Ladd Air
Force Base, Fairbanks. Alaska
Command officers declined com
ment except to say the command
does not promise furloughs.
'WISE' LITTLE GUY . . .
NEW HAVEN, Conn., UP) — A
pupil in one of the lower grades
proudly told his parents he was
going to appear in his room’s
Christmas play.
“What part do you take?” his
mother asked.
“I’m one of the three wise
guys,” he replied.
Psychoanalyzed
Christmas Gifts
NEWARK, N. J., UPl — Just in
time for Christmas, three Rutgers
University psychologists have con
cluded that there are seven kinds
of gifts which do not go with the
holiday spirit.
Really sincere, pure-hearted
gifts are few, they said in a state
ment. The psychologists are Mrs.
George H. Smith, Eileen M. Heth
erington and William D. Wells.
Here is their classification of
Christmas gift-giving:
1_ The display gift — This lends
prestige to the giver who, in the
words of Dr. Hetherington, says
in effect: “Look what I can buy ”
2. The squelch gift — for those
who delight in catching people off
guard. Dr. Wells says this type
is often given at the last minute
4o someone not expecting it so
he cannot reciprocate.
3. The placating gift — Once
given to mothers-in-laws to quiet
them.
4. Guilt gifts — given, accord
ing to Dr. Smith, toy parents who
“are not able to give emotional
love but instead lavish their chil
dren with costly items at Christ
mas to make up for this”’
5. Extorted gifts — ' paid for
with office collections and the sub
ject of “considerable resentment,”
according to Dr. Wells.
6. Duty gifts — Neckties and
handkerchiefs “tendered to some
one you don’t really care about but
toward whom you feel you have
a duty,” says Dr. Hetherington.
7. The creative gift — elabor
ately packaged, “one which takes
longer to wrap than to buy,” Dr.
Hetherington says.
Atlas Shot Across Atlantic
By JACK KING
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., UP)
— The Air Force has shot an
Atlas missile on a successful
5,300-mile flight across the Atlan
tic just six days after its prede
cessor became the nation’s biggest
satellite.
The latest Attas triumph — the
third big one in a row — was
announced some four hours after
the blastoff of the 80-foot rocket
late Tuesday night.
There was no official word from
the launching site, but Col. John
Powers said at Air Force Ballis
tic Missile Division Headquarters
in Inglewood. Calif., that pre
liminary reports showed the Atlas
test ran smoothly.
The spectacular Christmas fire
works display followed on the
heels of last Thursday’s satellite
launching and the first 6,325-mile
intercontinental range Atlas shot
November 28.
The four-ton Atlas now in or
bit is signaling President Eisen
hower’s “Peace on earth” message
to the world.
CONSCIENCE . .
GLENDIVE, Mont., (ffl — The
unidentified man said his con
science bothered him. He appeared
at two Glendive stores just be
fore Christmas tp pay them for
goods he shoplifted two years ago.
One store got $33, the other $10.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, GUV'NER!
SALT LAKE CITY, UP) — Mem
bers of Governor George D.
Clyde’s administration gave him
two Christmas gifts Tuesday They
called them the “keys to success
in balancing the state budget.”
The items: A rubber slide rule
and a tiny press that pfrints fake
money.
1,958th Birthday Of Prince Of Peace
Again Finds The World In Turmoil
(By The Associated Press)
Religious services in Christian
communities throughout the world
today quietly commemorated the
eve of the day almost two thous
and years ago when the Prince of
Peace was born in Bethlehem.
Thousands of pilgrims gathered
in Bethlehem to offer prayers for
peace in a world which lives in
the shadow of war. Many millions
more made the short pilgrimmage
to their community centers of
worship for Christmas Eve serv
ices.
The theme of “Peace on earth,
good will to men” was repeated
in thousands of churches.
For many in the United States
it was a day of irritation.
New Yorkers were still without
their newspapers as a two-week
old strike of deliverymen contin
ued Thousasds of travelers com
peted for plane space made scarce
by two airline strikes.
In Bethlehem, between 4,000
and 5,000 foreign tourists crowded
into thi bleak little hilltop town
12 miles south of Jerusalem where
Christ was (born.
Another 1,737 Christians from
Israel, mostly Arabs, received Is
raeli permission to cross the Pal
estine war truce line in Jerusa
lem to attend the Bethlehem
services.
Christmas brought no relaxa
tion of tension in Germany, where
the Christmas tree originated and ■
17 million were expected to be
lighted this year. Residents of
West Berlin prepared to celebrate
the holiday, but wondered if this
would be their last free Christmas
because of Soviet efforts to force
the Western allies out of the city
110 miles behind the Iron Curtain.
The people of Russia’s European
satellites went to church as the
West did, but in the Soviet Union
December 24 was just another day.
Those whose faith has survived
the Communist government’s long
campaign against religion, sched
uled their holidays by the old
Russian calendar, and Christmas
for them comes January 7.
President Again
Pledges Peace
In Yuletide Message
WASHINGTON, UR — President
Eisenhower used the occasion of
lighting the national Christmas
tree Tuesday night to pledge again
that the United States wants
peace, not war.
“The people of the United States
do not wish to enslave or control
any other nation or any other
people,” Eisenhower said in a brief
address.
“The United States will never
use its strength to break the
peace.”
Fisenhower made no reference
to his arlier Christmas wish of
“Peace on earth and good will to
men everywhere,” as recorded and
broadcast from the Atlas satellite
last wek. But he said that Christ
mas mssage, not limited to this
nation or the free world, “is a.
universal, divine spark that lights
the soul of mankind.”
French Franc To Be
Devaluated, Is Rumor
PARIS, W) — Rumors of a de
valuation of the French Franc in
the next few days circulated in
Paris today. Even the authorita
tive newspaper Le Monde carried
them in a front-page article.
Official sources would not com
ment, but said that economic and
social reforms were in the offing.
This would not automatically
mean any monetary reform is
contemplated.
Finance Minister Antoine Pinay
has repeatedly denied rumors that
the franc would be devalued.
WEATHER FORECAST
Compiled by the
U.S. Dept, of Commerce Weither Bureau
Cloudy with light snow today
Low tonight, 15-20.
Christmas Day — Little tem
perature change.
CLEARING THE WAY
BAKERSFIELD, Calif., UR —
Jeffrey Martin, 6, checked his cal
endar, noted Santa Claus had a
visit scheduled this week and de
cided to clear last year’s deliver
ies out of the way Jeff piled ail
his toys on a bed and burned
them.
Search South Of
Anchorage Area
For Missing Plane
ANCHORAGE, UP) — A search
for a missing Air Force C54 trans
port plane went into its third day
with hopes waning for the 15 men
aboard.
Swirling light snow and lim
ited daylight hampered the hunt,
centered in the Mt. Iliamna-Chisik
Island area 125 miles southwest
of here.
The four-engine plane vanished
on a regular supply mission to
Shemya, near the tip of the Aleu
tian Island chain Among those
aboard were the’ Shemya Air
Force base commander, Lt. Col.
George I. Poole, 43, Tampa, Fla.,
and a Protestant Chaplain, Capt.
Evered D. Cagle, Tatum, N. M.,
who was going to Shemya for
Christmas services.
The C54 was tracked for nearly
an hour by radar after takeoff.
here Monday from Elmendorf
AFB, and then it disappeared from
the radar-scope. The last fix on
the plane was near 10.000-foot
Mt Iliamna.
Nighttime temperatures in the
area have been 10-15 degrees be
low freezing, relatively mild for
this time of year.
Search planes flew over the
region yesterday without finding
any clue to the fate of the missing
transport.
Seven Dead In Tennessee
Bus, Truck Collision
PULASKI, Tenn., (#) — A Grey
hound bus collided with two
trucks while trying to pass on a
wet, fog-shrouded hill at twilight
Tuesday, killing seven persons and
injuring 12.
Flames burst out in the bus min
utes after it crashed to a halt in
a gully seven miles south of here.
A majority of the estimated 23
passengers scrambled out before
the fire got to them.
* Three of the dead were badly
burned. The others apparently
were thrown from the bus.
The bus driver, who last sum
mer received an award for 15
years of safe driving, was among
the dead.
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