The Charlotte News

Tuesday, September 15, 1942

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page tells of the transfer of Rear Admiral John Towers to the position of commander of the air force within the Pacific Fleet. His replacement in his former position, chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, was Rear Admiral John McCain of Mississippi, grandfather of Senator John McCain of Arizona. Admiral McCain had previously commanded air operations in the South Pacific, which of course included those supporting the Guadalcanal Campaign.

Stressing the performance of shipboard anti-aircraft guns, Rear Admiral W. H. Blandy, Navy Ordnance Chief, returned from an inspection tour of the Pacific operations declaring that all was going well, that the Allies now possessed the capability to meet and knock from the air any Japanese aircraft or flotilla brought to the fray. He urged offensive action.

General MacArthur’s headquarters in Brisbane, Australia reported that 450 Japanese prisoners of war taken August 7, upon seizure by the Allies of Guadalcanal and Tulagi, had been so pleased not to be killed, a fate for which they were prepared, and with the subsequent treatment they received, that some had expressed the desire never to return to Japan. That sentiment was not surprising when another front page report from Milne Bay in New Guinea indicates that the Japanese had killed their own wounded to avoid enemy capture, a familiar story repeating reports from the winter that downed Japanese pilots were strafed and killed by their fellow pilots to prevent interrogation by the Allies.

From Stalingrad, the reports continued to be bleak, heralding the fall of the city; yet, the tenacious Russians continued to fight and retreat to the wall. To hold the city was an imperative, a task not only commanded by Stalin, but one, if it were to fail, which every Russian understood entailed the consequence of certain death.

From the mental institution at Morganton came the news that the recommendations of Governor Broughton’s blue ribbon commission were going to be implemented, with emergency stop-gap measures instituted immediately to achieve a more balanced diet for patients, including plentiful whole milk, the elimination of boiling of nutrient value from food, assurance against patients serving food, and the placing of screen wire on windows—basic sorts of measures which one would think in hindsight would not have taken a series of articles running in newspapers statewide and a Governor’s investigatory commission to recommend and implement--that is, had anyone with any sense been minding the store to begin with, as obviously was not the case.

"So what if he scratches his head sores before handing you the bread, boss man. Ain’t he got the right to scratch his head? Are you trying to start some trouble up in here? Eat the bread and mind you own bu’ness. Count yo’se’f lucky, son, that you got bread to eat."

Borrowing its initial phrase from Kasper Gutman, "A New Day Dawns" on the editorial page expands on the front page article, praising the Governor for personally coming to the institution to inaugurate the changes.

"Dog Fight" chronicles the critique by the Truman Committee in the Senate on insufficiently maneuverable Allied airplanes, specifically the cumbersome lot of the American-manufactured fighters when compared to the Zero, consequent of the weight of armor and heavy artillery. The editorial points out, however, that the very day this criticism was being uttered, the Army air force in the Solomons had shot down ten Japanese bombers without a single loss.

The preview of the sports page on the front page mentions Frank Howard of Clemson, beginning his third season as head coach. Howard had been a standout player at the University of Alabama under Wallace Wade, graduating in 1931. His coaching days at Clemson, though rocky during his first eight seasons, 3-6-1 in 1942, for instance, after going 7-2 the previous year and 6-2-1 in his first season, would achieve practically legendary status at the South Carolina school during the ensuing twelve years through 1959, including six major bowl appearances in that period. His last decade as head coach, ending in 1969, was largely mediocre.

And, here is another clip we found today. On October 9, 1966, Martin Luther King discussed the impact on the civil rights movement of both the advocacy of "black power" abroad the country and the upcoming gubernatorial election, starring Lester Maddox.

The setting of this press conference outside an Atlanta motel reminds strangely of the Lorraine in Memphis a mere 543 days later at 6:01 p.m. CST.

Where is the 18.5 minute gap?

October 9, coincidentally, was John Lennon’s birthday.