World War II Chronicle: December 12, 1942
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Senator Harry S. Truman warns that the Army and Navy need more materials than the economy is currently capable of producing (see today’s front page)… Below the fold we learn that the troopship SS President Coolidge has been sunk. Details on the loss are forthcoming. 5,000 soldiers were aboard the vessel as it entered the harbor at Espiritu Santu, and although the ship sunk in 90 minutes, all but two were saved. Capt. Elwood J. Euart of the 103rd Field Artillery Battalion perished after he reentered the sinking ship to evacuate men who were trapped in the infirmary. He saved the men but was unable to make it back out himself before the ship sunk. His remains were recovered in 2015 and his body was transferred to the St. Francis Cemetery in Pawtucket, Rhode Island…
George Fielding Eliot column on page 13… Also on the same page, the son of former U.S. Senator Smith W. Brookhart has flown some 58 combat missions in the Sothwest Pacific. 1st Lt. Joseph W. Brookhart claims four splashed enemy fighters and was the copilot on the B-17 that took Gen. Douglas MacArthur to New Guinea. His father was a lieutenant colonel with service in the Spanish-American War and World War I and was president of the National Rifle Association. Brother Lt. Col. Smith W. Brookhart Jr. is part of the prosecution during the Nuremburg Trials…
Still on page 13 is an account from Marine double ace 1st Lt. Jack E. Conger, who tried to kill a Japanese plane with his propeller when his guns ran out of ammunition over Guadalcanal. Both planes ended up in the water, and as Conger tried to swim to shore, the enemy pilot splashed down right next to him. A boat comes up to rescue the downed aviators and when Conger tries to pull his foe out of the water, the Japanese pilot tries to kill Conger with a handgun he had been concealing. Fortunately the water had fouled the gun, and Conger knocks out his adversary with a fuel can and takes him prisoner. The two meet again in 1990 and Petty Officer Second Class Shiro Ishikawa is able to thank Conger for sparing his life…
Sports section begins on page 25, where Grantland Rice lists the best football players he has watched. Also, Rice asks New York Giants skipper Steve Owen to put together his lineup of all-time greats. If you haven’t head of him (I hadn’t), Owen is on the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1920s and a member of pro football’s Hall of Fame.
Roving Reporter by Ernie Pyle
WITH THE AMERICAN FORCES IN ALGERIA — Norman Harrington is a sergeant, but he doesn’t even bother to wear his stripes. His only interest is in doing for the Army what he was doing as a civilian — superb photography.
Last spring he spent $200 traveling between Maryland and Washington to pave his way into the right branch of the Army. He had a dozen people write letters of recommendation. He had no ambition to join the Army and become a truck driver.
His traveling money was well spent. The Army finally enlisted him in the signal corps’ photographic school — a round peg in a round hole. He was even excused from the redundancy of attending the Army’s photographic school and being taught stuff he already knew.
Today his teammate, Pvt. Ned Modica, says he is the best newsreel man in the Army.
During their second night on African soil the two photographers slept in another country schoolhouse — this time on desks. They actually only slept about three hours out of the first 60.
At dawn a colonel rushed up and asked Harrington if he wanted to ride along on a reconnoitering trip that Capt. Paul Gale was making in a jeep. Harrington grabbed his camera and jumped in.
Pvt. Harold Lebaron was driving. They drove several miles, passing troops on the way, and finally came to a small town and parked the jeep. While Captain Gale went about his business, Harrington got out his equipment and took pictures of the local people and the shell-marked walls. Everybody was nice. Things seemed normal.
They were about ready to leave when some American troops came marching in. Only then did they realize they had unwittingly spent a nice hour in a town that hadn’t yet been captured!
They started back in their jeep to a command post several miles to the rear. Captain Gale was sitting beside the driver, Lebaron. Sergeant Harrington was in the back seat. The top was down, and the windshield folded flat and covered — for a windshield can create a glare that makes a perfect target for snipers.
It’s funny the things you learn in war. For instance, the soldiers were issued sunglasses before coming ashore, but had to abandon them because the glasses caught the sun and made nice targets.
The three drove on along the highway, among vineyards, under a warm African sun. Everything quiet. The Algerian phase of the war seemed about over.
Sudden, for no apparent reason, Lebaronfell over his steering wheel, and the jeep swerved. Blood splashed down over his uniform. He never uttered a sound.
Unheard and unseen, a sniper’s bullet had taken him just over the right eye. He died instantly.
Harrington reached over the body and grabbed the wheel. Captain Gale got his foot around the dead driver’s leg and shoved the throttle to the floor. Two more shots zipped past but missed. The jeep roared down the road and out of danger, with one man steering and another man at the throttle.
When they got back, the colonel who had asked Harrington if he wanted to make the trip saw what had happened, and remarked to Ned Modlen, “It’s getting pretty hot, isn’t it?” There was no reply, for just at that moment all the soldiers jumped up and started to retreat. It was on an order from the commander executing a change in tactics, but Ned didn’t know that at the time.
He said to a man leaning against him, “Let’s get the hell out of here,” and whirled about to start running. And as he turned the man fell heavily to the ground — dead.
Modica never knew who it was that died while leaning against him.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 12 December 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-12-12/ed-1/