2S NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No. 50 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1953 Per Copy—15^
Returnees Tell Of
2,300 Deaths In
Korean Stockades
By ROBERT EUNSON
FREEDOM VILLAGE, Korea,
UPi — Two American soldiers who
endured more than two years of
misery as prisoners of the Com
munists told Saturday how more
than 2,300 comrades died of ex
haustion, hunger and wounds in
two North Korean stockades.
M/Sgt. Gilbert Christie, 42, of
Montezuma, Ind., said “much over
50 per cent” of 3,000 prisoners in
his camp died during the winter
of April 1950-51.
Cpl. John L. Watters, Jr., of
Beckley, W. Va., said 800 out of
1,500 United Nations captives died
in Camp No. 5 at Pyoktang be
tween April 1, 1951 and August,
1952.
Christie described a bitter
march as a captive in the winter
of 1950:
“I, myself, was one of the for
tunate ones. I collapsed and pass
ed out and rode the rest of the
day on a cow. I had two wounds
—a fragment in the chest and a
broken arm—and I needed help
from one of the fellows who kept
me balanced on top of the cow.”
Watters said he was wounded
in the leg, hip and stomach near
Kunu Nov. 26, 1950, and was
taken to a Korean hut 50 miles
north of the city.
“They started bringing in more
wounded until there were 24 al
together within two weeks,” he
related. “Many of the wounded
died. In fact, out of the 24, only
three are living.”
Allied planes strafed the area,
he said, since there were no mark
ings to show that U.N. captives
were held there.
“They strafed us about a dozen
times. I was grazed slightly in
the back by a bullet.”
$100,000 Offered
First Red Pilot To
Surrender MIG-15
TOKYO, UP) — The Allied high
command tonight offered $100,000
to the first Communist flier to
land his Russian - made jet in
South Korea, a move designed to
undermine the morale of the Red
air force.
In a move unprecedented in the
Korean war, the command pro
mised political asylum for the
first flier to come over and any
others who would follow. Those
who follow would get $50,000.
An official announcement said
the offer was made to get “in
valuable technical intelligence”
and to sow distrust and suspicion
in the Communist air force.
The leaflets dropped in North
Korea carried a photograph of
Franciszek Jarewski, a Polish jet
pilot who flew his MIG-15 to
Denmark and was given political
asylum only recently.
MUNICH, Germany, UPl—Polish
jet pilot Franciszek Jarewski, who
escaped from his Communist-dom
inated homeland by flying a
Soviet MIG-15 to Denmark, said
today he is going to America to
try to join the U.S. Air Force.
French Attempt Stem
Communist Drive In Laos
HANOI, Indochina, (fl)—French
transport planes poured a steady
stream of troops and war material
into the Laotian royal seat of
Laungprabang today as Commun
ist-led Vietminh forces drove to
ward the city. The best estimates
are that the invaders are four or
five days away.
Alaska Statehood
Before Congress
Again Today
WASHINGTON, W—1The Alas
ka statehood question came up
for congressional consideration
again today.
Chairman Saylor (R-Pa) called
his House territories subcommit
tee together for deliberations that
are expected to last several days.
The Pennsylvanians says he ex
pects difficulties with some phases
of the bill, but has predicted that
both the statehood legislation and
a companion measure to permit
Alaskans to elect their own gov
ernor will be approved by the
full interior committee.
Opponents in earlier hearings
centered their fire on these three
points:
(1) A proposal to give the
territory its choice of 43,350,000
acres of land. They contend this
is the bulk of the good land in
Alaska’s 375 million acres and
would leave the federal govern
ment with “wastelands.”
(2) A proposed 50 million dol
lar grant to the new state. Secre
tary of the Interior McKay, al
though taking no position on the
bill, told the subcommittee he
would question the wisdom of
launching the new state with a
gift.
(3) A contention by Rep. Pillion
(R-NY> that a provision should
be written into the bill to “pro
tect” the large states. He says he
does not consider it fair that Al
aska, with 160,000 people should
be given two senators when New
York, with 14 million residents,
also has only two.
He frequently asked statehood
proponents if they would be will
ing to waive the right to sen
ators until Alaska’s population in
creases to the average representa
tion per senator. The answer was
always “no.”
6 School Children Killed
In Volcano Eruption
TOKYO, UPi — A s o volcano
erupted thunderously today, kill
ing at least six of 400 school chil
dren peering into its depths.
One hundred children were re
ported injured in'Aso’s first erup
tion in 20 years.
The youngsters were on an ex
cursion inside the 15-mile-wide
great crater of 5,267-foot Mt. Aso
on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost
island.
They were looking into one of
five volcanic peaks inside the gap
ing crater when it awakened with
a smoking roar, blasting rocks
wildly into the air. Some were
the size of a man’s head.
Plane Crackup
Kills Billy Levy,
Kathryn Moses
Billy Levy, well-known bush
pilot operating out of Kotzebue,
and his passenger, Kathryn Moses,
were killed late Saturday about
10 miles from Shishmaref, it is
reported. He was the son of Beu
lah Levy.
Levy had made a flight to Dio
mede that day and was taking
his passenger to Deering. Other
pilots report that it was very fog
gy in the area.
John Cross, Wien pilot stationed
at Kotzebue, has gone to Shish
maref to pick up the bodies.
Levy’s mother is scheduled to
arrive in Kotzebue tomorrow from
Seattle and his aunt, Mrs. Myra
McDonald, left this morning for
Kotzebue.
Billy was 20 years old and was
born in Kotzebue. He became in
terested in flying through Archie
Ferguson who gave him his early
training. He later received his
license from a flying school in
Seattle.
Kathryn Moses is the daughter
of Bessie Moses of Shishmaref.
Recommends Public
Health Service Administer
ANS Health Program
WASHINGTON, UP — Alaska’s
health commissioner says he be
lieves the territory’s natives and
Eskimos would receive better
medical treatment of its health
program was administered by the
U. S. Public Health Service in
stead of the Bureau of Indian Af
fairs.
Dr. C. Earl Albrecht of Juneau
told a House Interior subcommit
tee that transfer of the program
to the Public Health Service of
fered the best means of obtaining
administration on the local level
because of the service’s policy of
decentralization.
The territorial commissioner re
ferred to testimony by representa
tives of Indian tribes in the con
tinental D.S. on the high incidence
of tuberculosis among their tribes
and observed that Alaska’s natives
have the “highest rate in the
world.”
He said that as early as 1904,
doctors were saying something
should be done about TB among
Alaska’s natives, Jaut as late as
1946 only 76 patients were hospit
alized for treatment. Today, he
said, there are 550 persons re
ceiving treatment as the result of
an intensified program by the
territorial government.
Albrecht said “many Alaskan
hospitals have no staffs over long
periods of time” because of the
inability of the Indian Bureau to
attract medical personnel. He
joined with other witnesses in
expressing belief this situation
might be corrected under Public
Health Service administration.
TEST FLIGHT DISASTER
WESTHAMPTON, N.Y., UP —A
secret experimental flight by a
B - 29 Superfort and an F - 84
Thunder jet ended in flaming dis
aster Friday, with the two craft
carrying all their six crewmen to
death.
De Gaulle Loses Out
PARIS, UP) — French voters
turned their backs on Gen.
Charles de Gaulle’s rally of the
French people in municipal elec
tions Sunday.
At the same time, the Com
munists just about held their own
in the working class districts of
the big cities, but lost votes and
control of some town halls in ru
ral areas.
The biggest gainers from the
rebuff to the rally of the French
people were independents who
rallied around the name of former
Premier Antoine Pinay. During
his term of office, Pinay made a
determined and well publicized
effort to hold down prices that
won him great personal popular
ity.
Dulles Reports NATO
Conference Strengthens
American Security
WASHINGTON, W) — Secretary
of State Dulles returned from an
Atlantic Alliance meeting today to
report to President Eisenhower
and Congress that “we accom
plished some good, hard, practical
results” in the interests of Ameri
can security.
Ministers of the North Atlantic
Council countries in Paris were so
busy with their own work, he told
reporters, that “we didn’t have
time” to give very much study to
Saturday’s Moscow press state
ment generally rejecting Eisen
hower’s recent peace plan but
stating a readiness to engage in
talks with the Western powers.
Dulles offered no other comment
on the Moscow reaction.
Of the Paris session he said:
“We had, I think, a very suc
cessful meeting. We were very
realistic. We have, I think on the
one hand fully protected the in
terests of the United States and
on the other hand built up thq
strength of NATO in which we
were all interested.”
The Secretary of State now
faces the task of seeking vital
financial support from Congress
for the slowed - down European
defense program.
Lawyers Help ReWrite
Amendment Limiting
Treaty-Making Powers
WASHINGTON, UP) — Senator
Bricker (R-Ohio) said today of
ficials of the American Bar Asso
ciation have been called in to help
rewrite his proposed constitution
al amendment to limit treaty
making powers.
But Bricker said in an inter
view he does not expect any
major changes to be made in the
proposal, which Secretary of State
Dulles has said would hamper
President Eisenhower in .his con
duct of foreign relations. The
President has also opposed it.
The Bricker resolution has 63
signers, and the Ohio senator
said he is confident it is gaining
strength despite administration
opposition.
In general, the proposed amend
ment wbuld provide that no
treaty should change U.S. internal
law. It would require congression
al approval of executive agree
ments,
Removal of Day
Seen As Threat to
Nation’s Resources
WASHINGTON, UR — Senator
Humphrey (D-Minn) protested
Sunday that removal of Albert
M. Day as director of the federal
Fish and Wildlife Service indi
cates a. “pattern of breaking down
the safeguards the nation has
erected . to protect our resources
from exploitation.”
Humphrey made public a
sharply worded letter . to Secre
tary of the Interior McKay who
replaced Day with John L. Farley
of Seattle.
“My real concern is the dan
ger of undermining our vital con
servation programs,” the Senator
said, “not just the welfare of an
individual employee who may
have been unfairly treated, no
matter how worthy or capable he
may be.”
“If personnel of the govern
ment’s agencies created to safe
guard natural resources are sub
ject to political pressure,” Hum
phrey said, “then policies, too, can
be expected to follows the whims
of political preference and favor
itism rather than unbiased na
tional interest.”
The senator said an era of “ex
ploitation rather than conserva
tion” now threatens and that
career officials face loss of jobs
unless they “knuckle under to
new leadership.”
Expressing fear that similar
action may be taken in federal
bureaus handling public lands,
parks, forests and soil conserva
tion, Humphrey asked McKay “to
take careful stock of where recent
political moves are leading us, and
to assert your responsibility and
influence toward protecting the
nation from having the stage set
for mass raids on the public do
main, instead of aiding and abet
ting such a conspiracy by elimin
ating men who have made vigil
ant watchfulness their career.”
Gov. Heintzleman
Pledges Better
Service From
Govt. Agencies
SEWARD, UP) — Gov. B. Frank
Heintzleman pledged here Satur
day night that under his admin
istration Alaskans will get better
service from federal and territor
ial agencies and wi/1 receive the
“utmost value” for their tax dol
lars.
He told Seward Republicans
that “the people voted for a
change last year and that is what
they are going to get.”
One of his first jobs, he said,
will be to “improve the quality of
the administration in the terri
tory.”
Heintzleman predicted that 1954
will be “a year of unparalleled
achievement” in Alaska, and
added that his administration is
laying the 'foundation for “one of
the best states in the union, which
I feel will result in a relatively
short time.”
Alaska’s economy, he said, is
too dependent on military defense
spending.