The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 63

I mm el 4 i GRIN AND BEAR IT BY LICHTY AN AUTHOR BOWS BY ANDREW HAMILTON LosattffclcsCfmcs 5 SUNDAY, OCT. 24, 1954 Part II ITALIAN PERILS BY WALTER LIPPMANN "There's a 'hep-cat' on the phone, Senator! Wants to know where he can buy your crazy, mixed-up record your opponent's talking about." "Can't gent have a 'do it yourself project without you guys bustin' in too, had ambitions once but them aptitude tests was my undoing! "Thank you very much, Chief! I'm sure my class found this little visit very educational! -JFP 1 and show the alumni "You haven't said a word all evening, Roscde! What are you doing? building up suspense? "Have you heard Junior's imitation of a Boy Scout, dear? SEYMOUR FAMILY BY LEE SHIPPEY 'Now qet out there, men! that you re not sages of congratulations began to flow In. The New York Times on Nov, 1, 1944, carried an editorial which stated: "No finer piece of straightforward, unvarnished description of a complicated action has come out of this war than Adm. Nimitz's summary of the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea The report moves swiftly, as the action must have moved; it throbs with the stimulating pace of direct statement; it leaves room for the imagination to picture the exciting events but at the same time limits the area in which the imagination takes flight. Communique 168 may be a minor victory Miller took the communique to him and got his signature on it.

Because we'd already missed Sunday morning deadlines on the mainland and because of the extraordinary length of the communique, we decided to hold the release until noon the next day, Sunday, Oct. 29. soon as it was mimeographed and distributed to the war their typewriters began to clack out the second most important story of the naval phase of World War II in the Pacifiq surpassed only by the surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay nine months later. In a few days the mes Not long ago my 6-year-old son Bruce and I were watching Victory at Sea on television. Suddenly he asked: 'Daddy, what did you do in the war? Were you a pilot?" I said no.

"Were you on a carrier?" "Not very often. Mostly I was stationed at naval bases and on islands in the Pacific." "Did you shoot at the enemy?" he persisted. 'i dodged some bombs and kamikazes and almost got mixed up with the great typhoon of December, 1944 but I didn't do any shooting." He thought about it for a moment. "But what DID you do, Daddy?" "I was a public information officer In the Navy. That means I wrote about the war and told what other Navy men did.

You understand how Daddy writes articles now for the magazines?" "Yes." "During the war I did pretty much the same thing. I wrote stories which told the people back home about our ships, the enemy's ships and the fighting on the sea. And I wrote Pacific Fleet Communique No. 168." In years to come I don't know how many times Bruce will have to defend his. honor and mine because Daddy didn't fly a plane, skipper a submarine or lead a commando raid.

But some day, perhaps, he will know what Communique 168 was. And why it was important to his Daddy who makes a living- by stringing words together. As a Navy public information officer, I served on the staff of Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz at Pearl Harbor and at Guam. One of my chores, which I shared with Vernon F.

(Bud) Lyon, former Los Angeles public relations man, was to write the daily press communique. When I came on duty at 8 a.m., I checked the overnight file of top secret dispatches from Fleet. These deocribed the previous day's actions air strikes, surface bombardments, submarine sinkings. My job was to boil down the action into a clear, concise press communique. It was then checked with the staff communications officer, the operations officer, the combat readiness officer, the intelligence officer, the air officer, the Deputy Chief of Staff and the Chief of the Joint Staff.

Finally, I straightened my shoulders, marched past the Marine Corps sentry into Adm. Nimitz's office and stood at attention until he recognized me. The admiral always dressed in freshly laundered khakis, shirt sleeves cut off at the elbow and a tiny ring of five gold stars on his open collar. Sometimes he wore shorts. His snow-white hair, sea-blue eyes and bronze skin made him an unforgettable figure.

"Good morning, Hamilton," he would say. He would read the communique thoughtf nlly, make few if any changes and initial it at the bottom with his famous W. In mid-October, 1044, Bud Lyon went out with the USS Iowa, flagship of the 3rd Fleet, which was blasting shore positions in the Philippines, China and Japan. It was during this period 10 years ago this week that the big number on the communique board came up 168, For several days there were rumors of something significant brewing. It was no secret that the U.S.

Fleet had been searching for the main body of the Japanese fleet for a final showdown. Midway and the Coral Sea were holding actions. But a decisive sea battle between the two great naval forces had not been fought. Dispatches that reached Adm. i i z' Pearl Harbor headquarters the last week in October made it appear as if the enemy were finally engaged.

The messages from the PARIS Shortly before leaving Rome I had two talks which interested me very much. One was with an official who is working on the plan for the economic development of Italy. Essentially it is a plan which calls for capital development designed to create productive jobs for the unemployed and the underemployed, the official argued his case with much force and eloquence. But being an American, I was bound to wonder when he would get around to explaining the American contribution to the plan in the way of credits or grants in aid. He never did get around to that and finally I asked him whether Italy would be able to execute the plan out of her own resources.

His answer threw much light, I think, on the underlying realities. "If this were a Communist government," he said, "it could carry out the plan without foreign assistance. It would be able to tax. It would be able to compel workers to accept temporarily less pay. It would dare to cut down consumption in all classes.

It would form capital by forced savings. It would remove the displaced workers of obsolete industries to other regions. It would impose measures of agricultural improvement. "It would be able to do all these things because it would not have to worry about the Chamber of Deputies and about elections and about newspapers and about being put out of office. "But," he went on to say, "the democratic, parties cannot do this even if they wanted to because they are not strong enough as governments to impose so much sacrifice upon the population.

So in Italy, which is a free country by a fairly narrow margin, democracy requires subsidies from abroad. It needs them to make up the difference between what can be done by democratic consent and what needs to be done in order to solve economic and social problems." I had a talk with another man who was much concerned about the revival of Fascism. "We have decided," he said, "not to surrender the state to the Communists, not to allow them to take power even if circumstances were to give them the legal votes. We shall use the whole force of the state to prevent their taking power legally. "That in the last resort will be our answer to Communist propaganda.

But of course the answer will require actions which will in fact put in charge of our affairs soldiers, policemen, and men who are temperamentally akin to the Fascists. So we shall avert the Communist danger but the price may be the loss of our democracy and our liberties." In principle it is clear, it seems to me, that democracies cannot permit totalitarian parties to enjoy civil rights and to win elections and then, having taken over power, to abolish elections and civil rights. If the Italian democratic parties have really decided not to surrender the state, they have in principle taken the right decision. With weak democratic government thwe is a great danger that the democrats would simply be pushed aside, would abdicate their responsibilities, and would leave the dirty work to be done by a minority. If that is so, the great question arises as to whether the basic' decision should not now be brought, into the open, and publicly declared and its principle openly discussed and vindicated.

The question of principle is whether a free and democratic state has the right to allow institutions to be used by totalitarian parties to destroy freedom and democracy. FLAVOR FROM THE COUNTRY PRESS COMPILED BY KERWIN HOOVER overpaid! compared to the 'overwhelming' one it relates, but it is no less appreciated for all that." Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal sent a plain language dispatch to Adm. Nimitz which read: "YOUR COMMUNIQUE NUMBER 168 DESCRIBING THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE PHILIPPINES WAS EXCELLENT FOR PRECISION AND CLARITY AND FOR THE FACT THAT IT WAS UN-DERSTANDABLE TO THE LAYMAN." That's the story of Communique 168. The circumstances of its birth have never' been told in detail before and few people today even remember it, "The years go. by in a hurry It's only the days that are long" is an old quotation.

In my own calendar, the are not long enough. In spite of the warmth, the days slip away. And am reminded of a couplet in an ancient reader, "May each descending sun view some worthy action done." I wonder how many of us work at it? 'Monterey Park Progress, Nell Bruggemeyer. At our house we have a family reunion every morning. It starts between 6 and 7 o'clock when Jerilynn, 3, pokes her tousled head around the corner, smiling By George Clark I) on earth who can snore But Bud Lyon remembers it.

Last year when I lunched with him in New York, he said: "I don't have many regrets about the war. I came out of it with my life and my health. But I do envy you one thing. You wrote the big one when it came along;" It will be some time before 6-year-old Bruce has the faintest idea what Communique 168 was all about. Daddy doesn't believe for a moment in the present situation that the pen is mightier than the sword.

But he hopes that Bruce will eventually derstand that authorship of "the big one" means more to a writing man than a rhestful of medals. her cutest, followed shortly by Randy, 6, who makes his sleepy way to the bed and crawls in, too. Pretty soon Jerilynn decides to shift sides, Randy objects and we're off on another day. The reunion is over and everyone gets up and votes four different ways on what to have for breakfast. Pis-mo Times, Howard Seelye.

It won't be too long until many bands oi ewes begin lambing down here on the desert. Can just see those cute little woolly bundles of energy kicking up their heels, jumping sideways and playing follow the leader. Anyone who would not enjoy watching them play just couldn't enjoy anything. Mojave Desert News, Holderness. There are those who long for the good old days, and those who want everything to remain just as it is.

In a way I can't blame them. There comes a time for each of us when it is easier to drift with the tide than to put out the effort to go forward. But no business, no nation and, I might add, no city or community can just "sit still." Fillmore Herald, Brice Van Horn. Most embarrassed young-man in town is one who rushed forward Galahadlike to pick up a handkerchief dropped along a main street curb by a smartly gowned miss. He found to his dismay it was one of those paper affairs now so much in vogue.

As the young man sulked from the scene he was heard to mutter: "Nuts to chivalry!" Santa Paula Citizen-Review, Maxwell Pollard. Fleet began to refer to unfamiliar geographic locations: Surigao Strait, San Bernardino Strait, Polillo Islands, Sibuyan Sea, Sulu Sea, Cape Engano. But exactly what forces were involved? Where was Adm. Halsey? What was happening to MacArthur's troops on Leyte? For three days newspapers and radio commentators headlined the battle between the U.S. Pacific Fleet and the Japanese imperial fleet, but the reports were confused, incomplete, overlapping.

On Saturday, Oct. 28, Capt. Harold B. Miller, Fleet public relations officer, told me to "wrap it all up in one communique." By then some photos had been flown back and more complete reports were in. Gradually the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle began to fit together and the outlines of the historic action emerged.

It was not a single battle but a three-ringed circus: 1 Adm. Oldendorf and the old battleships that had been humiliated at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, got their revenge by the classic "crossing of the of the Japanese forces that slipped through Surigao Strait. 2 Adm. Sprague and his tiny "jeep carriers" slugged it out with Japanese battleships and cruisers that sneaked through- our aerial attacks in the San Bernardino Straits.

3 Adm. Halsey and the 3rd Fleet sank four Japanese carriers and several other vessels off Northern Luzon. It was apparent that no ordinary brief communique of 100 or 200 words would cover this battle. The canvas was too broad, the action too decisive, the significance too great. The situation called for a long, detailed communique that would delineate clearly and forcefully the historic five days between Oct.

22 and 27. And so I worked and reworked the communique all day long. By early evening, I had 1400 words of tightly written copy. Then began the rounds of the Pacific Fleet headquarters to re-check with all concerned. Capt.

Miller accompanied me. Last to see Communique 168 before it went to Adm. Nimitz was the late Adm. Forrest Sherman. He took special pain3 to revise a phrase here, add a word there.

I can still remember what he said when he'd completed checking the communique and tossed it back: "There's one for history!" When the final draft was ready for Adm. Nimitz, it was nearly midnight and he'd retired to his bungalow not far from his office. Capt. Outdoors the sun was blazing, but inside the pet shop the gloom was like that In a forest. Gregory Seymour, entering to buy cat meat, was almost blinded by the sudden contrast.

He paused for a moment to let his vision somewhat get adjusted, for he is very nearsighted and such changes from brightness to shadows often make him bump into persons or pillars which he has not seen. But after blinking his eyes three times he saw an aisle leading to the counter at the rear at which one other customer, a woman, was waiting. Seymour advanced slowly, still not sure of his vision, and stopped a few feet behind the other customer. She was an attractive young wpman, but inaction seemed to bore her. She turned in Seymour's direction, flashed a coaxing smile and said: "Hello, you handsome thing!" Surprised but far from displeased, Seymour quickly looked all about.

No, no one else was visible. "Why don't you say something, you handsome thing?" demanded the young woman. Seymour straightened his tie and smiled. "Well, frankly," he said diffidently, "I'm surprised at such discernment The young woman stared. But at that instant a burly man called from the street door: "Hey, Babe, I can't wait all day." "Come here, Bill," said the girl.

"I may need you to mash something." The big fellow advanced, glowering. The proprietor came hurrying to the counter. "Here's your meat at last, Mrs. Whiffle," he said. "Sorry you had to wait so long." "What do I mash?" demanded the big fellow.

The young woman studied Seymour. "Nothing," she said. "Absolutely nothing. Let's go." As they left the proprietor chuckled: "Guess she was mad because the parrot wouldn't talk back to her. He usually does." Then Seymour saw, just beside him, the cage housing a huge, gaudy parrot, the handsome thing the girl had been addressing.

Nearsighted eyes are bad enough. Don't let your vanity get nearsighted, too. HOME-TOVN We're feeling pretty cocky this week. Our two sons made the Highway Junior Safety Patrol, and while this eliminates our last possible chance of ever getting the lawn cut, at least we now have no trouble in getting the young stalwarts up in the morning. Lemon Grove Review, Chan Mason, Sam Kolovos is convalescing at home, watched over by his pet cat Kalamazoo and dogs Petunia and Andy.

"I love the desert," Sam said when I called on him, "and over in that drawer is over 300 cards from real friends who remembered me in the hospital. They can take my personal effects, leave me stranded, but let NO MAN take these get-well cards from me. They mean more to me than anything I can think of." Randsburg Desert -Mountain' News, Bob Pruett. I'd love to have our town become a Christmas fairyland this time. It does take a bit of doing, so that's why I'm mentioning it so early.

This year we're going to set up in front of our place a pretty little tree, decorated with round, sparkling silver decorations no more than the tops and bottoms saved from the tin cans we open at our house. It costs nothing but a bit. of effort. If we do it and if you do it and your neighbor on the other side does it, too, ours could be the prettiest Christmas town of all! Blue Lake Advocate, As Hannah Says. Times really have changed.

We can remember when a local family could brag about having the same telephone number for 25 years. There just isn't any small-town aristocracy any more. Hemet News, Homer D. King. We'd like to nominate bandsman James Presley for being a man of steel steel nerves, that is.

We passed by the school band room the other evening' and the sounds were almost terrifying. It was a warmup period prior to the actual practice session. These aspiring musicians of the modern generation certainly have plenty of lung power. Wasco News, Wally Shafer. THE NEIGHBORS 'You're the only person I W.il while he planning for the future..