Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994 TAG: 9403080133
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Greg Edwards
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In recognition of the sacrifice of the region's veterans, we take the following look at a selection of World War II headlines from the South Pacific, Europe and the home front for the week of Sunday, March 5, through Saturday, March 11, 1944:
American Flying Fortresses bombed Berlin for the first time in the war as part of an extensive daylight attack on eastern Germany by the U.S. Eighth Air Force. An escort of Mustangs accompanied the bombers attacking Berlin, equaling the deepest fighter penetration ever made into Europe. Fourteen bombers and 26 fighters were missing after the operation.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover announced the arrest of 31 people in Miami and Miami Beach in the initial phase of a nationwide investigation of a "black market" in railroad reservations. Those arrested included 16 railroad employees, 14 hotel workers and one taxicab driver.
American invaders of the Admiralty Islands stood their ground in one of the fiercest fights of the Pacific war, killing or wounding 3,000 Japanese as American troops took control of Los Negros Island.
Recognizing the 11th anniversary of his first inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, joined by his family, prayed for peace during religious services at the White House.
Fighting for his life before a military court of Free French in Algiers, Pierre Pucheu, French minister of interior in the Vichy government, argued that the Vichy regime had prevented Germany from occupying all of France and from taking Spain and North Africa.
Lt. Beulah A. Buchanan, a navy nurse, said wounded Marines from Tarawa were the best patients she had ever attended. Buchanan had left her home in Rural Retreat to join the Navy in 1922.
The William Fleming Colonels defeated the William Byrd Terriers 33-28 in the final game of the Radford tournament to become champions of the western district class B basketball teams. George Manuel scored 23 points to lead the Fleming victory.
In a unique letter to "every American serving under my command," Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower told U.S. forces in Britain that they must respect the British. He asked American officers to be especially careful concerning improper use of motor transportation, drinking in public places and excessive drinking at any time, loud or profane language, slovenliness in appearance, and disrespect of civilians.
Marshal Josef Stalin announced that the Red Army in the Ukraine had posted the most significant Russian victories since Stalingrad, routing 12 German divisions and sweeping into southern Poland.
Don Whitehead, an AP war correspondent on leave from the Mediterranean front, told the Kiwanis club in his native Coeburn that he believed the Italian campaign would be a long, drawn-out affair. There is no sign in Italy that the German army is ready to crack, he said.
The Southwest Virginia town of Abingdon was digging out of the ruins caused by a tornado. State troopers and town police diverted sightseers from the stricken Stonewall Heights residential area.
Accompanying 850 heavy bombers on the second U.S. raid of the week on Berlin, fighter pilot Lt. Glenn H. Pipes, 20, of 13th Street in Roanoke, chased a pair of German fighter planes almost into the streets of Berlin, diving at 600 miles per hour and spraying tracer bullets at the fleeing German planes. U.S. raiders downed 176 German planes in the attack.
A bonus bill providing benefits as high as $4,500 for overseas fighting men got off to a bad start in the Senate, as it was assigned to a finance committee for study rather than the military affairs committee chaired by one of its sponsors.
The first U.S. Immigration Service watchtower had been completed on the Arizona border.
More than three-fourths of the Welsh coalfields supplying one-sixth of England's fuel had shut down as the result of a strike, which was spreading rapidly.
The House of Delegates passed 76-5 a Senate bill calling for the consolidation of Radford Teachers College with Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The bill called for complete consolidation within four years.
Technical Sgt. Charles E. Kelly, one of seven Pittsburgh brothers in the war, was decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor for the exploits that had made him a living legend in the Italian fighting. Known to his friends as "Commando Kelly."
The U.S. publicly accused Ireland of harboring Axis spies endangering the coming allied invasion of Europe. The Irish prime minister said he had American assurances that the United States did not plan to invade Ireland because of the Irish refusal to expel enemy officials.
Irvin S. Cobb, one of America's best-known humorists, died at the age of 67 at the Sheraton Hotel in New York. He was a Paducah, Ky., resident.
The National D-Day Memorial Foundation is selling commemorative bumper stickers for $1 and enameled pins for $5 as fund-raisers.
If you are interested in buying these items, write the foundation at 2551 Ave. S.W., Roanoke, Va. 24015, or call 774-7045.
by CNB