The Iola Register from Iola, Kansas • 1

iii i TrTii iji i-jiui 1 i7ruitiin i -t itate kistor.ical society rOPEKA KAKSAS HE IOLA REGISTE SIX PAGES Sneceaaor to The Tola Daily Reyister, The Iola Daily Record, and Iola Daily Index. IOLA, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 4, 1944. Th Weekly Remitter, Established 186T. The Iola Daily Register, Established 1897. VOLUME XLVII No.

241 Race to Capture i American Armored Tide weeps BULLETINS Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, Aug. 4. (AP) The Americans were believed tonight to have swept close to St. Nazaire, virtually completing the cutoff of the Brest peninsula. Advanced forces were believed well beyond any points thus far officially disclosed.

Polish Underground Holds Part of Warsaw London, Aug. 4. (AP) The Polish Telegraph Agency said tonight that Gen. Bors underground army inside Warsaw had captured the chief skyscraper in the capital, the 16-story Prudential building, the general post office, main power station and gas works. The battle is general and centers of action are all over the city with the exception of Zoli-borz, where our troops were scattered by enemy armored units, Gen.

Bor radioed from the beleaguered city, the agency said. "The Polish flag is flying from all the captured buildings. The telephone exchange has been attacked several times but we have not succeeded in taking it so far. Now we have the initiative well In our hands. The population enthusiastically supports our fight.

Streets are cut up by barricades. The entire Stare Mlas-tro region, which is the old city of Warsaw, is in our hands. Trapped Japs Are Doomed Striking out in full blitz fashion, American armored forces threatened peninsula. Capitalizing on the breakthrough Normandy front around Pontorson, Brittany province, another had taken Brest an da third was striking at port troops ran headon into a heavy of Brecey. (NEA Telephoto.) Only Death Or Surrender Await 47,000 Nips On New Guinea, Guam U.

S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters, Pearl Harbor, Aug. 4. (AP) Two powerful traps today enmeshed more than 7,000 Japanese on Guams north plateau and some 40,000 more in the British New Guinea jungles, with only death or surrender awaiting them. Already the Japanese death toll in those areas is upwards of 26.000.

On Guam, where 7,893 enemy dead have been counted, American marines and soldiers are pushing the desperately fighting Japanese toward the sea. with only eight miles to go. Make Soicide Charges In British New Guinea, where a Japanese army, once 60.000 strong is caught between Australians at the Sepik river on the east and Americans below Aitape on the west, the starving and poorly supplied Nipponese are beating like waves on a rocky shore against the Americans. Carrying 75-mm. mountain guns forward on their backs and firing at point-blank range, the Japanese made four suicidal attacks Wednesday extending over 11 hours.

Accus- tomed to such banzai charges, the molition of houses on both ap-Americans waited until the enemy proaches, was within close range and mowed him down. "Natives reported enemy casualties and damage in his rear to be assuming alarming proportions, Mac-Arthur said by way of expanding the picture. conquest of Frances Breton at the southern end of the one column took Rennes, capital of Dinan in drive aimed at port of St. Malo. To north and east, British German counterattack east To Outskirts Of Florence Fall Believed Imminent As Enemy Lines Crack Under Pressure (By NOLAND NORGAARD.) Rome, Aug.

4. (AP) South African troops of the British Eighth army entered the outskirts of Flor ence today and found five of the six bridges crossing the Amo river into the historic art treasure chest had been destroyed by the retreating Germans. The most noted of the bridges, the Pontevecchio, alone was left standing and it was blocked by the de- Defended For Weeks Florence, a city of 322.000 population, had been stoutly defended by the Germans for weeks as one of the strongest outposts of their gothic line in the Apennines rising to the north. Brittany The 35th Is Cited Commended for Action In Normandy; Former K. N.

G. 3Ien in Outfit Kansas City, Aug. 4. (AP) The 35th Division, which still includes Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska men despite many changes, has been commended for its action in Normandy. First official information that the 35th was in France came yesterday in a dispatch from Washington which said the 13th infantry, a regiment of the 35th, had been commended in Normandy.

-The 35th was making Its first stand with the enemy when it pushed eastward across the Normandy battlefield last month, and was in on the capture of St. Lo July 18. Mobilized in 1940 Maj. Gen. Ralph E.

Truman, retired, formerly commanding general of the 35th, received a copy of the order commending the division. General Truman was in command of the boys from the farms and towns of the Middle West when they were mobilized in December, 1940, and sent to Camp Robinson, for training. The order commending the 35th was dated July 19, the day after the Americans entered St. Lo. It was addressed to the entire division and was signed by MaJ.

Gen. Charles H. Corlett, commanding general of the 19th corps, from headquarters in Normandy. About 750 men from the Kansas City area were among units of the 35th who reported for duty in 1940 The division inherits a fighting reputation from its predecessor, the old 35th of World War I. which was composed of national guard troops from Missouri and Kansas.

It fought with distinction in the Argonne and in other sectors in 1917 and 1918. Lt. Col. R. L.

Thompson and Major Myron Funk are two Iola officers with the 35th division in France. A number of enlisted men from here are believed to be with this division also, but names cannot be ascertained due to recent changes of address. Rival Polish Leaders Confer Moscow, Aug. 4. (AP) Premier Stanislaw Mikoiajczyk of the Polish government in exile prepared today to open discussions with the rival Polish Committee of National Liberation after conferring with Premier Joseph Stalin for 214 hours last night.

The fact that the Polish premier will discuss matters with the Polish committee in Moscow was hailed as a good sign here by foreign missions which continued to look on the situation with reserved optimism. Mikoiajczyk kept in touch with the British and American ambassadors, reporting on hi3 talk with Stalin and reiterating that Stalin had made a deep impression upon him. Mikoiajczyk was said to have been appreciative of the way the Soviet leader received him and the frankness with which the conversations were carried out. No official statement was issued after the Poles talk with Stalin. Nazi Sub Sunk in Attempt To Raid Convoy Off Coast Washington, Aug.

4. CAP) The navy has disclosed that a German U-boat recently sought to attack a convoy off the Atlantic coast but that, after an hour and a half of furious battling, the submarine was sunk by three destroyed escorts. About a dozen of the raiders crew, including her commander, were taken prisoner. The WAR TODAY BY DEWITT MACKENZIE The fast-moving conquest of Brittany seems to be developing into an astonishing race to determine whether the speeding American armored columns can overrun the great peninsula with its magnificent ports before the weakened Germans can bring up reinforcements. Thus far the Yanks havent encountered any organized Nazi front, and resistance has been comparatively light.

This has been due in considerable degree to the fact that the Hitlerites have had to pull many troops out of Brittany to defend their tottering Normandy line. Of course we dont know how strongly the ports of Brest. St. Nazaire and Lorient our chief objectives may be garrisoned. However, we get some measure of enemy weakness in our walk-over at the Breton capital of Rennes.

This is a pivotal rqll and highway center and the Nazis would defend it to the best of their ability. If the Germans arent already holding the ports strongly, their prospects are slim. By capturing Rennes the Americans have severed the main railroad into the peninsula and one column is thrusting swiftly across the base of the big triangle towards St. Nazalre while another heads for Brest at the apex. Although the southern sector of the base Is still open, the Allied air armada is rendering communications devilshly precarious.

The sky navy is a major factor in this battle of lightning movement which may teach Adolf something about the blitz warfare he initiated in 39 with so much guttural bombast. The Breton peninsula is a pearl of great price. Not only will its fine ports greatly increase our capacity to pour troops and materiel into France but and this is of great importance Hitlers U-boats have been using Brest Lorient and St. Nazaire as prime bases from which to raid Allied shipping. Berlin now admits that Marshal Rommel, field commander on the invasion front, suffered concussion of the brain, although he is said to be doing well.

One wonders how much the Nazis have felt the loss of his undoubted Skill. They likely wish now he could have remained on the job, to settle the argument with his old antagonist, Montgomery. For my money Monty is the better man by a long way. I followed the tracks of the Montgomery-Rommel duel from El Alamein to Bengasi, close to 600 miles, and anyone who saw the pattern in the sands of the desert couldnt doubt who was top man. Allied progress in the battle of France is indeed gratifying.

As Montgomery says, W6 are hitting the Hun a good crack. Bo are the Red armies, and the Allies in Italy. (Continued on Fage 6, No. 3) Says Job Rationing Plan Working Well The new priority referral, or Job-rationing plan of the United States Employment Service 13 working pretty well these days, according to Manager Cole of the Chanute office, who was in Iola today. The new plan requires virtually all new employment and changes of employment to be handled through the U.

S. E. S. office so that referrals may be handled in such a way as to fill war-important Jobs first. Mr.

Cole said that this is being done. He also said that most men are accepting the first Job offered theiyi, partly because of their desire to help the war effort, but also because each man is first offered a jobin which he can use his highest skiR and is not urged to accept a job which he could not reasonably take and keep without hardship. Our business is to fill the vitally necessary Jobs first, Mr. Cole explained. "After those Jobs are filled or when we have men and women unable to fill those Jobs, we are going to serve every employer, essential or non-essential, to the best of our ability.

Our chief problem is to get more men and women to take jobs. A representative of Mr. Coles office is at the city hall in Iola each Tuesday afternoon from 1 until 4:30. Rotarians Shown Film Giving Story of Steel A motion, picture prepared by the United States Steel Corporation showing the methods used In the production of steel used in the construction of war machines was shown to the Iola Rotary club last night. The title of the picture is To Each Other.

It is a story built about the correspondence between an elderly worker in a steel plant and his son on the fighting front. The manufacture of steel plates for tanks, ships and similar vehicles is shown. The casting of gun barrels, carriages, eta, and many other implements of war are explained. The tremendous expansion of the Industry during the, war and the important part it Is playing is 'graphically revealed by the film. Visitors included Frank Reynolds, former member of the Iola club.

who now lives at Neosho, Missouri, pni is a there. 1 Tokyo Says P-38s Attack Manchuria New York, Aug. 4. CAP) Japanese broadcasts said today P-38 planes had attacked Southern Manchuria and that this proved that a raid by fighter planes from continental bases is possible. A broadcast heard by FCC monitors said it was clear that the enemy had a design to attack Manchuria continuously.

Tokyo claimed that todays raid did no damage. B-29 Superfortresses went to Manchuria last week. Myitkyina Falls After Long Siege Victory a Big Step Toward Opening New Land Route to China; Control Two Airfields By CHARLES A. GRUMICH Southeast Asia Command Headquarters, Kandy, Celon, Aug. 4.

(AP) American, Imperial and Chinese forces have captured' Myitkyina, ma jor Japanese base in Northern Buma, after a bitter and bloody siege that began last May 17, it was announced to day. At least 3,000 Japanese were slain there during the 214 months of fighting. The last remnants of the garrison either were killed or captured in the final mop-up of this largest city in northern Burma. The victory gave the Allies control of two Myitkyina airfields and an. important road and rail junction off the upper Irrawaddy river for a prospective link-up with Chinese forces in Yunnan to the east in a combined effort to open a land route to China.

Only 20-Mile Gap Forward Allied troops in North Burma are firmly established probably not more than 20 miles from advance elements of the Chinese moving westward. Possibly patrol contacts already have been made through the rugged mountains. Fall of the city, which had been in enemy hands more than two years came after Allied forces had put to flight Japanese troops who invaded northeast India. A new phase of the North Burma and China campaigns is expected to be mounted from Myitkyina under Joseph W. Stilwell, recently nomi nated to be a four-star general.

But (Continued on Page 6, No. 1) Frank Ostrander Dies After Long Illness rSiweitl Tb R(iitr) Humboldt, Aug. 4. Frank Ostrander, 74, died yesterday afternoon at the home of his daughter, Mrs. B.

J. Collison, after an illness of two years. Mr. Ostrander was bom near Humboldt November 13, 1869, and spent his entire life in this vicinity and near Chanute. He was engaged in the farming industry and retired several years ago.

He was married to Ada Ziegler in Humboldt in 1892. He was a member of the Humboldt Baptist church. The survivors include five sons, Ray and Verne Ostrander of Humboldt; Cline Ostrander of Orange, Pfc. Glen Ostrander, who is stationed on the island of Corsica; and Cpl. Charles Ostrander, stationed in Italy; two daughters, Mrs.

B. J. Collison of Humboldt, and Mrs. Ross Cress of Chanute. Mrs.

Ostrander passed away several years ago. No funeral arrangements have yet been made. Mrs. Elizabeth Sharon Dies at County Home Mrs. Elizabeth Sharon died early this morning at the county home.

She was 78 years old. Mrs. Sharon was bom In Wright county, Missouri. She came to Allen county in 1904. She leaves three sons, C.

T. Sharon, Clovis, Calif, A1 Sharon, Mountain View, Calif, and Roy Sharon, Portland, Ore. Funeral arrangements have not been completed and will be announced later by the Releford Funeral Home. Rev. P.

O. Hanson Speaks At 8, Sunday Night Four Chinas will be the theme used by the Rev. Perry O. Hanson, missionary on furlough from China, at the union church service in the court house park Sunday evening. The meeting will start at 8 oclock instead of 8:30, since the days are getting shorter.

A clarinet quartet arranged by T. O. Canatsey will provide special music. Envoy Carl Amick will preside and lead the singing. Reds Crash Toward Silesia Other Army Groups Pour Shells On East Prussia, Near Pass Into Czecho-SIovakia By DANIEL De LUCE Moscow, Aug.

4. (AP) Russian hosts which smashed the German Vistula river line advanced swiftly today to within 91 miles of German Silesia while other army groups in the north shelled towns and villages inside East Prussia from positions three miles from the frontier. Another triumph in the Carpathians carried the Red army within five miles of Czecho-SIovakia after chasing the Germans from Jabon-kow, a short distance from the crest of Uzok pass, through which Russia invaded Hungary in the first world war. Russian forces moved within 58 miles of Krakow, fifth city of old Poland, over difficult hill country. In this area west of the Vistula, some 110 miles below beleaguered Warsaw, the Russians were within 30 miles of Tamow and 28 of Kielce (pop.

58.200) last large Nazi bastion before Krakow. Silent on Warsaw Official sources were silent on the siege of Warsaw, where Marshal Konstantin Korkossovskys army group was pulled up Just east of the Polish capital. In the Baltic states, Russian tanks were patrolling the shores of the Gulf of Riga 25 miles west of Riga and Pravda said they were striking both east toward that capital of 393,000 and also west toward Liepaja, Latvias second city and a west coast seaport. All along the front from the Baltic to the Carpathians, the Germans were reported rolling up reserves, particularly in the Warsaw and Visula breach area. Concentrations of the German air force appeared in a desperate attempt to check Russian lunges.

The belief in Moscow quarters was that the Vistula breakthrough might be the start of a serious German rout. Russian planes as well as cannon strongly attacked East Prussian towns and lines of communication, despite poor flying weather. Enemy Lines Stiffen German resistance stiffened appreciably near the Prussian border town of Eydtkuhnen. But along the Niemen river due east of Tilsit, Gen. Ivan Chemiakhovsky struck straight into the Germans and captured Lukse, 42 miles from that rail town.

Some 200 towns were swept up in that area. The midnight communique listed 6,400 Germans killed, raising Nazi losses in three days to above 30,000. (The Berlin radio said the Russians had thrown new tank and infantry divisions into the Augustow area, eight miles from the southeast frontier of East Prussia, and gained nearly five miles. A commentator said the Russians held three small bridgeheads across the Vistula big bend, 57 miles below Warsaw, as well as a big bridgehead in the Warka area, 30 miles south of the capital. He said the Russians were trying to spear toward Radom, city of 77,900, about 25 miles to the west.

The Germans said Warsaw was not as endangered now as during the last few days. Slightly Cooler Weather Due Topeka, Aug. 4. (AP) Kansans were promised a little relief from the heat and possibly a few scattered showers in the east and south tonight and Saturday by Meteorologist S. D.

Flora. The northwestern part of the state was slated for cooler weather today and tomorrow. Flora said the temperature in the east and south might drop slightly late tonight after a scorcher today. Cooler weather in the northwestern part of the country is moving this way, he said. The thermometer was expected to stand between 100 and 105 in eastern and southern Kansas today and between 74 and 78 in the east tonight.

Northwest Kansas was to have 65-100 degree weather today and in the west tonight it will be between 65-70 except in the extreme northwest where it will be about 60. Predictions for tomorrow are for 90 to 95 in the east and near 90 in the north. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year in Topeka, which had 100 degrees. Dodge City also had 100. CoffeyvCle had 102, Wichita and Goodland 99, and in Kansas City it was 101.

No rain fell in Kansas yesterday and no higher water was reported. The low mark in the east last night was 77 to 80. It was 64 at Goodland. Cut Off Most of Peninsula Swift Drive Carries to Within 43 Miles of St. Nazaire and Nantes; Mop Up on Rennes By DWIGHT PITKIN (Associated Press War Editor) American armor and infantry spread out over Brittany today in stepped up pow- er drives toward five important seaports and cut off most of the peninsula.

Ope spearhead cut two-thirds of the way across the Breton peninsula to within 43 miles of the ports of Nantes and St. Nazaire as strong U. S. forces 20 miles behind the vanguard mopped up German suicide squads in by-passed Rennes. Other forces wheeled westward about one-fourth the distance to the tip of the peninsula and the naval base at Brest.

The port of St. Malo to the north was outflanked. A 27-mile drive west of Rennes placed Americans 108 mUes east of Brest and also menaced the U-boat base of Lorient on the south coast. Reap Super "Blitz The Germans who had sown the blitz in France with their lightning warfare four years ago were reaping a super-blitz. The capture of Rennes, key to the defenses of Brittany, was announced yesterday, but dispatches from the battlefront said Germans within the city were making a desperate last stand against American motorized infantry.

An arr column that by-passed embattled Rennes galloped 20 miles to the southwest, within 40 miles of St. Nazaire. In Brittany, American forces also struck west on the north side of fhe peninsula towards the big port Brest, apparently by-parsing fortress port of St. Malo on a island in the bay cf Mcnt St. Michel.

Nazis Hold One Line In Normandy, battered German forces were reported retreating in confusion and abandoning equipment everywhere except a shoit stretch between Vlre and Caen as the great Allied offensive threatened the whole 40,000 square mile area between the Seine and Loire rivers of northwest France. In the Caumont sector German counterattacks staved off an immediate threat to Aunay-Sur-Odon and drove the British from three villages west of Aunay. A British staff officer said the counter-attacks might be the enemys final gesture to cover a retreat from the river bastion. Oerman casualties since the invasion were estimated at 200,000, An armada of 2,200 American warplanes attacked targets in Germany, including a robot bomb development center, today after night bombers from Britain and Italy hammered German supply routes across France. The British government speeded up the evacuation of women and children from London following yesterdays intensive flying bomb assaults on southern England.

Push Production Of Heavy Tires Washington, Aug. 4. (API-Backed by an army promise to furlough some soldiers to help meet manpower requirements, manufacturers of heavy truck and bus tires turned today to the task of boosting output 30 per cent in August and September. The new production goal to meet the critical shortage of heavy casings was announced yesterday by Charles E. Wilson, executive vice chairman of the War Production Board.

Maj. Gen. Lucius D. Clay of the army service forces said the army considered the tire situation so serious it had decided to furlough back to manufactures all non-infantry soldiers over 30 yrnr? old who have had one years experience as heavy tire builders. Only soldiers in this country will be eligible: Move to Clear London Of Women and Children London, Aug.

4. (AP) The British governments program to clear London of women and children was stepped up today following the 14-hour record flying bomb blasting yesterday. AH' mothers with children of school age now may register for evacuation. Heretofore all children were eligible for government aid In leaving, but only expectant mothers or those with children under five years of age came under the program. The Nazis robot blows on London and southern England off during the night after Allied libers hammered the launching with 3,000 tons of bombs.

It was announced officially that only a few persons bad been killed. Philadelphia, Aug. 4. (AP) Leaders of Philadelphias striking transport workers voted late today to continue the four-day-old work stoppage that has cut war production in this second largest arsenal of the nation despite appeals from Maj. Gen.

Philip Hayes, now operating the system for the army. Rennes, Aug. 4. (AP) American troops completed the occupation of Rennes today, moving in behind fleeing Germans who had mined and blasted the heart of the city into a shambles. Nazis Set Up Army Purge Court Berlin Reports Eleven Officers Dead Or Imprisoned By Special Court of Inquiry London, Aug.

4. (AP) Berlin announced today a special court of honor had been set up to purge the German army of elements hostile to Hitler, and said 11 officers including a field marshal already had been fired or jailed. The announcement said nine officers accused of participating in the plotting for the July 20 bomb attack upon Hitler were dead eight by their own hands and four by execution. Col. Gen.

Ludwig Beck, former army chief, was listed among the four "traitors who pleaded guilty by committing ruicide The five off! cers put to death, including Gen. Frederich Olbright and Count Claus von Stauffenberg the latter allegedly placed the bomb aimed at Hitler were "executed by shooting the day of the -assassination attempt, lt was announced. Stormed Maginot Line The ousted marshal was Erwin von Witzleben, one of the leaders in the storming of the Maginot line. "The army has requested Hitler to carry out a purge in the army to cleanse it of the July 20 traitors, the broadcast announcement said, and added that the fuehrer had approved. This inquiry into Germanys military set-up was disclosed along with Nazi party measures to strengthen the home front for the utmost war effort.

The court of honor was reported established by a decree issued by Hitler today. The dismissal from the army said a decree from Hitlers headquarters provided that they be tried by Heinrich Himmlers dread "peoples court. Deserted to Russians The announcement said Artillery General Llndemann had deserted to the Russians. A Maj. Gen.

Llndemann, commander of the 361st German infantry division was reported by the Russians on July 23 to have been captured in Poland along with 15,000 officers and men. Among those on the court of inquiry, the official news agency listed Marshal Von Rundstedt, deposed commander Jn France and frequently reported a victim of the purge. Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the high command, also was named for the court. Nine Allied Ships Sunk By Germans London, Aug. 4.

(AP) The German communique asserted today that one Allied cruiser, three destroyers and five transport ships had been sunk by weapons of the German navy and by German U-boats in waters off the invasion front The broadcast bulletin, which gave no date of the alleged sinkings lacked Allied confirmation. The communique said the warships and transports together with one special ship reported sunk totaled 36,000 tons. Report German Troops Moving Out of Finland Stockholm, Aug. 4. (AP) Afton-bladet said today that long trainloads of German troops had been seen moving toward Hango, Finlands southwestern coastal fortress, where transports were waiting to carry them out of the country.

The newspaper, which quoted a traveler from Finland, said the troops were taking their guns and tanks with them. Front dispatches said the Germans were pulling back behind the Greve preparatory to a withdrawal from the art center. The latest advance gave the Eighth army a strong hold on the hills two miles northeast of Larmo la. Giogoli, less than five miles southwest of Florence, was captured in the course of the thrust. Nazi Defenses Cracking Enemy resistance continued strong due south of Florence, after the Nazis pulled back and permitted South African armored units, employing American Sherman tanks and a British Guards brigade, to capture the important town of Im-pruneta, five and a half miles south of Florences outskirts.

Despite this opposition, however, there were indications that the ruthless pressure on the contracting arc around Florence was steadily breaking down Nazi strength and city might fall to Gen. Sir Harold Alexanders troops any time. Allied artillery was now in a position to shell enemy positions. The Arno river crossings immediately west of Florence and the bridgehead across the Pesa river farther to the west have been strengthened sufficiently to become a grave threat to German troops on the south banks of the Arno. Resistance Costs Germans The last defenses of Florence began Saturday generally fair and cooler, showers in extreme southeast in morning; highest temperatures 80 in northwest to 85-90 in southeast portion; Sunday fair and cooler in est.

77. Precipitation for the 24 hours ending at 8 a. m. today, total for this year to date, 31.11; excess since January 1, 8.65 inches. Sunrise 6:27 a.

set 8:29 p. m. Thermograph Readings Ending Acts to Boost Lagging War Production BY STERLING F. GREEN Washington, Aug. 4.

(AP) War Mobilization Director James F. Byrnes today ordered the fixing of employment ceilings on non-essential and less essential factories to free 200,000 workers for lagging war production programs. Byrnes, in a directive to all war agencies, ordered them to use every available power of government to force compliance with the manpower ceilings, directing them even to withhold materials, equipment, power or transportation from civilian and non-essential employers who fail to comply. We have the enemy on the ropes; he is dazed and his knees are buckling, Byrnes asserted in a statement accompanying the directive. This is no time to take a holiday and give him time to recover.

It is time to finish the job. We cannot let down our men in the armed services. Simultaneously, Byrnes told a news conference the war department is expanding the use of war prisoners, not on weapons and ex- plosives, but on other essential mill- bitter fighting and an tary supplies where their use will spokesman declared the Ger- free American workers for the vital (Continued on Page 6, No. 2) weapons program. Also, Byrnes disclosed he was trying to arrange for the importation of unskilled foreign labor presumably from Mexico for a limited period where it is impossible to secure adequate local labor.

collapsing only after many days Kansas Partly cloudy in west, local thundershowers in east portion tonight, cooler tonight; Sgt. Max W. Barker Awarded Air Medal (Sdocii! to Th Rfiter1 Sergeant Max W. Barker, La-Harpe, has been awarded the Air hours ending 5 p. m.

yesterday, 102; Medal for meritorious achievement i lowest last night, 77; normal for in accomplishing with distinction i today, 80; excess yesterday, exseveral aerial operational missions cess since January 1, 312 degrees; over enemy occupied continental this date last' year, highest, 94; low- southeast portion. Temperature Highest for the 24 i Europe. He is based somewhere in England. Sgt. Barker graduated from the Washington high school in Lallarpe and attended the Kansas State Teachers college.

Prior to entering military service in November, 1942, he was a coin machine operator in Iola. His mother, Mrs. Maude Smith, Colony. Sgt. Barker is a radio operator on a B-24 Liberator.

His bombardment group was recently cited by Major General James P. Hodges for distinguished and outstanding per- formance of duty over a six months period, cl combat operations,.