Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 11, 1994 TAG: 9405110092
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Greg Edwards
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
American bombers, Liberators, Marauders and Flying Fortresses struck at potential invasion areas between Calais and Dieppe, Berlin, Bucharest and at vital Romanian rail yards and oil fields.
Harold Balfour, Britain's air undersecretary, told the nation that incessant bombing of Nazi-occupied Europe by Allied bombers had begun an invasion whose second phase would be opened by land operations. Bomb-battered Germans were told by Field Marshall Erwin Rommel that the invasion ``must be reckoned as imminent.''
Kathleen Kennedy, daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, former ambassador to Great Britain, was married to Lord Hartington, 26, heir of the British Duke of Devonshire.
The United States had lost 13 Army generals, eight admirals and two Marine Corps generals, either killed or missing in action since the start of the war.
More than 1,000 American flyers were taking enforced vacations in Swiss and Swedish hotels because they had the bad luck to be forced down in the neutral countries. Smaller numbers were guests of the Portuguese and Turkish governments.
As a result of the Irish government's refusal to break diplomatic relations with Axis powers or expel Axis agents from Ireland, the U.S. government added the names of 36 Irish firms or individuals to its economic black list.
A Covington American Legion Post was forming a ``Smokes for Yanks Club'' whose goal was to provide free cigarettes for the country's fighting forces.
The St. Louis Cardinals yielded their National League lead to the Cincinnati Reds, who beat the Cards 2-0 on Bucky Walters' four-hit pitching. Elsewhere in sports, former American League batting champion Ted Williams received his Navy aviator's wings and a second-lieutenant's commission in the Marine Corps Reserve.
Rosemary Dew, a senior from Roanoke, was the May Queen at Roanoke College.
The Chinese high command announced that its troops had repulsed a Japanese attack at the key city of Loyang, a gateway to central China.
Solomon-based bombers hit the beleaguered Japanese base of Rabaul, New Britain. Efforts to neutralize the base continued for the 12th consecutive week with 7,737 tons of bombs having been dropped during the campaign so far.
Lt. Robert Stone of Martinsville, who had been reported missing in combat action over New Guinea, was safely back at his base. Stone and his crew had been forced to bail out and had spent eight days hiking through the jungle.
The government returned operation of Montgomery Ward to the firm's management as CIO unions won collective bargaining elections at the company's Chicago plants.
The Red Army captured the Crimean fortress and port town of Sevastopol after a 24-day siege.
Eva Price of Rorer Avenue in Roanoke was picked as Virginia's War Mother of 1944 by the Women's Division of the Virginia War Finance Committee.
James Forrestal, a Democrat, was named by President Franklin Roosevelt to succeed the late Frank Knox as Secretary of the Navy.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Stillwell's land invasion forces and Allied airborne commandos or ``chindits'' were closing a trap in northern Burma on the crack Japanese 18th Division.
A blanket draft deferment for ``an indefinite period'' was ordered for all men over 30 in essential war industries.
The 5th and 8th Armies in Italy punched out gains as deep as two and three miles on the first day of an all-out offensive described as the first of the final battles to destroy the German resistance in the country.
The National D-Day Memorial Foundation is seeking World War II documents, photographs and other artifacts, copies of which will be buried in a time capsule at the War Memorial in downtown Roanoke on June 5, the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Allied invasion of France. If you want to participate, call Bob Slaughter at 989-6512 or John Will Creasy at 774-8101.
by CNB