SILVER STAR
  Maj. Joseph S. Pirruccello

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS
  Maj. Robert D. McCarten, Capts. Robert E. Dethlefsen, Kenneth W. Trout, Lts. James H. Collins, William T. Larkin, Teller S. Price, Austin H. Russell, Robert K. Berry, Marvin W. Fey, Chester M. Bawol, Albert J. English, Harold W. Goad, Allen Kass, Frank J. Maholhic, John E. Stephens, Harold K. Trinkle, Irving L. Kuehnast, Hugh R. Walker, Robert E. Reimann, Ray L. Ryder, Richard N. Cordell, Michael E. Donovan, James F. Duffy, Hugo R. Franz, Jr., William B. Goris, Harold V. Larkin, James R. Meyer, Claudius B. Ward, T/Sgts. William T. Hays, Delmar C. Harland, Phillip E. Patterson, William T. Anderson, Omar A. Austin, Minor F. Green, Max H. Isaacs, James Marshall, Leo E. McDaniel, Ernest M. Neil, Jerald O. Peck, Royal E. Peterson, Louis L. Russell, Roman H. Shaffer, Theodore S. Smith, Charles Steinberg, S/Sgts. Richard L. Johnson, Grant L. Butcher, Robert V. Gamble, Richard J. Lauritzen, Victor L. Miramontesi, Clarence E. Pawkett, Elliot J. Ryan, George D. Samson, Lewis Hume, Jr., Sidney S. Tronic, Melvin R. London, Vernon S. Cook, Charles E. Douglas, Thomas Pratt, Robert E. Hutton, Vernon F. Willette, Warren W. Stubbs, Robert R. Banner, William P. Burtch, Henry J. Caldwell, Richard C. Johnson, William H. Kirk, Ernest G. Schuessler, Sgts. Leonard M. Josephs, William H. Potthast, Alfred Sullender.

OAK LEAF CLUSTER   (To the Distinguished Flying Cross)
  Maj. Wesley Werner, Capt. Francis N. Thompson, Lts. Warren M. Vandebogart, Ralph M. Olson, T/Sgt. Royal E. Peterson.

OAK LEAF CLUSTER   (To the Air Medal)
  Lts. James R. Barton, Bill Wright, Jasper L. Godwin, Francis T. Bonsteel, Jr., Gordon E. Cleland, Joseph B. Coambs, Robert P. Currie, Walter C. Stewart, Jr., John E. Thornton, Richard L. Weis.

AIR MEDAL
  Capts. James O. Reebuck, Don P. Webster, Elmer L. Tarbox, John A. Hass, Oswald O. Southworth, Aiden L. McMurtry, Lts. Thomas S. Ingham, Jr., William T. Larkin, Robert B. McKee, Jr., Ja,mes H. Collins, Joseph A. Lessard, Clyde E. Trussell, Jr., Paul F. Taylor, William A. Adams, Richard E. Newsby, Vern W. Keele, Homer C. Haarbauer, Harold W. Manifold, Russell L. Rauch, Joel H. Teasley, John A. Neudorfer, John A. Podawiltz, Lawrence E. Skipper, Hugh R. Walker, T/Sgts. Robert A. Mocklin, Raymond H. Nichols, Pete Hinman, Sydney A. Nunez, S/Sgts. Jerry M. Brown, Charles F. Haggerty, Robert J. Breakie, Marvin A. Buchfhrer, Joseph A. Mueller, Lester J. Raasch, Gerald M. Weber, John F. Jaeger, Robert H. Murphy, Marshall W. Rusth, Conway W. Smith, Francis J. Winderl, Joseph E. Woodburn, Sgts. Douglas M. Labat, Sam Cohen, Jack D. Leeper, Pfcs. Robert C. Mason, Bruce A. Craft.

V-Mail IT'S OFF, ON AGAIN   If you haven't heard from honey-bun lately, it may mean that she's met a sailor and has forgotten you, or it may not. On the other hand, if you suddenly get two exactly similar letters in her own fair hand, this doesn't necessarily prove that she's gone off her chump.   What's happened is that there's been another plane accident and "a little mail," to quote the Theater Postal Officer's office, got lost. The "little mail" turns out to be 8,000 - count 'em - 8,000 letters for up-country A.P.O.'s.   Which doesn't mean a thing to the modern A.P.O. As in a similar case recently, the A.P.O. station at an East Indian Port was notified, reprocessing was immediately begun and those little envelopes will be winging their way to their rightful recipients again.   There may be some duplication. So, if you get two letters instead of the one you are supposed to receive, be big about it. Pass the extra copy along to a buddy. he'll appreciate it, and so, undoubtedly, will honey-bun.

14TH CONTINUES DRIVE
Varied Attacks Keep Japs Busy Over Wide Area

  14TH AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS - Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault, who has been a ranking Jap nemesis from the days when his guiding genius helped the Flying Tigers hold the skies over Burma until his present role as Commanding General of the 14th Air Force, unleashed his flying commandos on Jap objectives again last week, continuing their performance of the week before when they sent 78 Jap Zero fighters plummeting to the earth in flames. Three days of versatile attacks, from dive-bombing missions to heavy bombardment on Jap shipping lanes and dock targets, kept the Nips harassed and completed a big month of 14th activity.
  The P-40-conscious Japs received a visit from two waves of the famed 14th fighter planes on August 27th, when they attacked targets in the vicinity of Yochow, the first flight sweeping the river stretches, strafing and burning river craft, while the second peeled off and headed for a motor convoy where four trucks were destroyed and 15 damaged, all loaded with Jap troops. Two steamers of 125 and 65-foot dimensions were burned, as well as one small steamer and a small gunboat, and rail installations and moving trains were raked by the bomb-toting P-40's.

JAP BASES HIT
  On the 29th and 30th P-40's accompanied by B-25's bombed advance enemy bases from occupied China to Indo-China, bombing and strafing selected and opportune targets of enemy transportation, communication, airfields and shipping facilities. The enemy air base at Kingmen was the first target, where the entire installation was blasted with hits, with plumes of flame vomiting up from runways, taxi strips, revetments and hangars.
  The Canton-Hankow Railway was the victim of raids on August 30th, when four locomotives and four railroad stations were blown up, skip bombing along the route took a heavy toll on moving targets and the Changanyi Railroad Station, where warehouses, a water tower and 10 railway cars were destroyed.
  The strategic enemy staging point at Owchikow in the Tung Ting Lake area was bombed and strafed twice, destroying fuel storage dumps, machine gun and anti-aircraft positions and other important installations.
  Shipping again was the target off Hong Kong when P-40's attacked two 250-ton freighters, escorted by an armed sub-chaser, badly damaging or destroying their targets, while in another attack along the Yangtze, fighters caught and thoroughly strafed two 75-foot gunboats and a large river boat, leaving all ships in a sinking condition.

AIRDROME BLASTED
  Completing the month's activity, on August 31st B-24's and P-40's blasted runways at the Gialam Airdrome near Hanoi, dive-bombed a 450-foot ship near Stonecutter's Island off Hong Kong, dive-bombed positions south of Hankow on the Hankow-Canton Railroad, struck at yards at Yoyang, rolling stock at Changanyi and a grain warehouse at Sinti, while B-25's attacked the new Remy Airfield at Ichang on the upper Yangtze, all with excellent results.
  Cost of the entire operations for the five-day period was but one plane, which was reported as missing.

---

SO THE 10TH AIR FORCE CAN'T HIT THE MYITNGE BRIDGE, HEY? Sometimes it's almost impossible not to feel a little sorry for Mr. Moto in Burma. He works so hard and gets so little done. The above pictures tell part of the story of the fruitlessness of his efforts. On August 3, bombers of the 10th Air Force knocked out one span of the famous Myitnge Bridge, which the Japs must have to supply their troops in Burma. So Mr. Jap went industriously to work to replace it. With great effort he got pontoons under the fallen span, as the picture on the left shows, and was about to float it back into position. The hard-hearted 10th waited until the job was almost done. Then, this week, they let loose with another load, as seen in the center picture. The results? The picture, right, tells all. Now our little slant-eyed brothers have another span to worry about, but plenty. Must be discouraging.

---

DING-HOW FOLLIES SCORE SMASH HIT AT CHINA BASE  By S/Sgt. ROBERT E. BADGER   CHINA AIR BASE - The "Ding How Follies" lived up to their name.   They were really "ding how," or as the Chinese, who have relinquished this phrase to their American allies would say, the show was really "okay."   A capacity audience, headlined by Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault, applauded enthusiastically the first dramatic effort staged recently by the men of Col. Eugene H. Beebe's heavy bomb group.   Directed by Lt. Arthur "Red" Karp and Lt. Mark M. Conn, the "follies" included a variety of acts - a strip tease by Pfc. Richard Donegan, risqu songs by Sgt. John J. Atkoczaitis, trumpet solos by Bob Cobb, who formerly played with Al Donahue and Bob Chester's orchestra, harmonica selections by a trio composed of Lt. Vacat, S/Sgt. Russell Toutant and Cpl. Bill Ellis, accordion solos by S/Sgt. Mitchell Wojciechoski, barber shop tunes by Sgt. James R. Kline, Sgt. W. J. Walsh, Cpl. Frank Sole and T/Sgt. Al Piro, who was master of ceremonies; selections by an orchestra led by Lt. Addison bailey; skits starring Lt. Richard B. Young, Pfc. Donegan and Pvt. Ed Peters; choral numbers by a group of Chinese cadets; and a dance (?) by members of the chorus - Sgt. Bill Stewart, S/Sgt. Carl Rudin, Sgt. Mike Pollock, Pvt. Peters, S/Sgt. Toutant and Cpl. John Prewitt, all daintily attired in chiffon, crepe and other gauzy material designed to show the allure of their footballish figures.

EFM Dilemma
CAPTAIN URGES REFORM

 By Capt. ARTHUR N. ARENSON

  ASSAM Q.M. DEPOT - We up here are in a dilemma about EFM messages. We think it's a swell service in general, but our big beef comes when we try to use it. In short, we go nuts trying to pick out at least three of the standard texts which, when put together, won't make the folks back home start working on a padded cell to house us on our return.
  For instance, if a loving son wishes to tell his aged mother in as many words as possible for Rs. 1/11 that he's okay, getting three square meals of corned willy daily and is catching up on bunk fatigue, this (using the longest available messages) would be it:
  "Hearing your voice on the wireless gave me a wonderful thrill. Glad and proud to hear of your decoration; everybody thrilled. I wish we were together on this special occasion; all my best wishes for a speedy reunion."
  Whereupon, Mater starts the rumor that her dear little Elmer has been shell-shocked.
  Then, the faithful husband who thinks always of his dear little wife (hoping she is allergic to 4-F Charlies) wants to send an inexpensive cablegram. (he would send a first class cablegram had he not been taught a new game called "African Dominoes.") naturally, he wants to give the message that personal touch - typical of a loving spouse. With happy heart he searches for three good lines for Rs. 1/11. After fussing, fuming and sprouting several gray hairs he sends this message:
  "All well; children evacuated. Good show; keep it up. Hope you are improving."
  In reply he gets a curt little note informing him that the apple of his eye has left to get the "death do us part" vow Reno-vated.
  Then there is the candidate for the Brush Off Club who thinks a cablegram to his Sugar might mend the rift. He reads, rereads and reads again the almost unlimited abundance of stock phrases, but to no avail. None seem to suffice for a sugar report.
  In desperation he holds a one-man lottery. Into a hat he places numbered slips of paper corresponding with the numbers of the available messages and proceeds to withdraw three slips. The numbers drawn are 86, 79 and 119. His message is as follows: "Daughter born. Illness is not serious. Good luck; keep it up."
  Honest, guys, something oughta be done.

---

EXPOSED No matter what he has been telling the G.I.'s of the 14th Air Force, Marion Hargrove, author of the Army best-seller "See Here, Private Hargrove," is no sergeant, only a T/4th.  Read Hargrove's story for the gory details.

Hargrove Tells All
EX-PRIVATE SEES DIM FUTURE
 By T/4TH MARION HARGROVE
  In my first twenty-six months as a plain blunt warrior in this man's Army, I have had little or no trouble with the Army Finance Department. I have gone far out of my way to maintain friendly relations with the AFD. I might say that I have gone more than halfway in friendly overtures.
  On the whole, the Finance Department has been a pretty good bunch of joes. They have red-lined my name on the payroll, sometimes as often as eight times in one year, but I have never chided nor scolded them for it. I never opened my mouth when their boys over at the Office of Dependency Benefits trailed me around the world for four months with a notice that the compulsory allotment of $50 (gold) per month for my good and trusting wife, Mrs. Alison B. P. Hargrove, had been cancelled.
  The postcard they sent was addressed, as plain as day, to T/4 Marion Hargrove and it said that the Government was no longer contributing to the support of the aforementioned Mrs. Hargrove - because I was in an ineligible grade.

HARGROVE EXPOSED
  The news and the postcard and the whole idea of the thing were painful and depressing. In the first place, I had been batting it about the whole 14th Air Force that I was a full-ranking sergeant and when the gang of hoodlums at the message center saw the address, the whole 14th soon knew that my three stripes were gold instead of silver, that I was just another technician posing as a non-com. To a retired non-com, this come-down is most galling. Hell, I was a full corporal once!
  The combination of T/4 and "ineligible grade" provided gory and unnecessary material for the boisterous and unfunny cut-ups of Headquarters Squadron, an outfit of amateur comedians without one straight-man in the whole crowd. I have been subjected to every form of corn and ridicule. I have been called the Army's ranking technician-fourth; I have been referred to as the only technician-fourth to be found in the first three grades; I have answered to the designation, "technician fourth-grade first-class." My life has become a hell.
  Besides these awkward barbs of purest humor, I have been besieged by letters from my good and trusting wife, Mrs. Alison B. P. Hargrove, who wants to know what has happened to the monthly allowance I promised the government would send her. Since Mrs. Hargrove has a wicked left jab and a good three-inch reach on me, this is no laughing matter.
  In spite of all these troubles, however, I have never made one complaint or uttered one word of bitterness toward the Office of Dependency Benefits or toward my great and good friends of the Army Finance Department.

SAD, SAD NEWS
  Today was a different matter. Today brought the sort of news that strikes at the heart of a man and fills him with disillusionment and despair. Today the Finance Department has lost a faithful friend, namely me.
  According to a note which reached the squadron today, heavily burdened with a couple of dozen endorsements from Fort Bragg and 42nd Street and the Port of Embarkation which shipped me out, I owe the Army Finance Department five dollars and ten cents, which they have been trying to collect since November, 1941.
  This base and insulting document, which was read to me word by word by our first sergeant, says that through someone's oversight the Army started paying me thirty dollars a month in October, 1941, when I was supposed to be drawing $21 a month. Before I finished my four months as a private third-class I had collected the staggering total of $5.10 (gold). Relentless and determined, slow but sure, the Finance Department's investigators have dogged my footsteps for almost two years - and now they have me, dead to rights.
  We have decided, the first sergeant and I, to have the $5.10 deducted from next month's pay. It will mean that instead of fourteen dollars and some odd cents, I will be paid only nine dollars and some-odd cents, which will scarcely buy three bottles of Chinese gin. After that, I suppose, things on the surface will be calm and serene.

DARK FUTURE
  The first sergeant will be happy. The Army Finance Department will be happy. But I won't be happy.

ROUNDUP HAS VISITOR The full story of how "Anna," a 125-pound Bengal tiger cub, happened to visit the Roundup office is related below.  Here Anna takes a look at a recent Roundup, held up for her by Sgt. Hattley McDowell, and if we judge her expression correctly, isn't too much impressed.

For me, peace and security and all hope for the future are gone. In a glorious post-war world, I shall be a hoarder, a man afraid to splurge on a 10-cent cigar, a man who doesn't dare spend his justly earned wages. I shall always be haunted by the fear that some day - maybe 10, maybe 20 years from now - I shall hear iron-shod boots in the corridor and be clapped on the shoulder by an MP who brings me this sort of note:
  "The civilian, Marion Hargrove, is herewith informed that he owes the War Department the sum of ---, representing bills for Government Issue laundry services contracted and unpaid during the month of July, 1941. Unless immediate action is taken to pay this amount . . . "
  Ain't that a helluva future to look forward to?

---

SIXTH CHENNAULT NOW IN SERVICE

  SHREVEPORT - Robert Kenneth Chennault, 18, son of Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault, Commander of the Fourteenth USAAF in China, was inducted into the Armed Forces here. Robert is the fifth of the general's sons to enter the U.S. forces.
  The other four sons are Lt. Col. John S., who is now in the Aleutians; Claire, who is an aviation cadet; Charles, who is an Air Force sergeant and David, who is a Navy fireman, first class.

---

Tiger
‘ROUND-UP’ ACQUIRES NEW STAFF MEMBER

  It was on Wednesday, at just the time each week when Ye Ed is in the final throes of putting the Roundup to bed and hence not fit company for man nor beast, that the bland and innocent-faced sergeant advanced with military tread to the table at which Ye Ed was fighting the last bloody battle with the make-up sheet for last week's Roundup.
  "Good morning, sir," the sergeant said. "I'm Sergeant Hatley McDowell."
  "So what?" we snarled. "So I came to ask you, sir," the sergeant replied, "what am I going to do about the tiger?"
  Ye Ed jumped to his feet. "Gawd, it's getting me!" he moaned. "Do you know, Sergeant, it sounded to me exactly as if you'd said 'what am I going to do about the tiger?'"
  "That's what I did say," the sarge stoutly maintained. "Gen. McCabe told me to ask you what to do with the tiger."
  And it wasn't a gag. This soldier actually had a 125-pound Bengal tiger cub chained outside, which he was now, as directed, turning over to the Roundup. The idea, he said, was that we were supposed to make it a Theater mascot, or something. Anyway, the Roundup was supposed to see to it that the tiger got a good home and plenty of red meat for diet.
  Now it could be that there are people in the world who need a tiger. The Roundup, although officially supposed to be the Voice of the Theater, actually can speak only for itself. But, so far as we could see, we need a tiger strictly the same way Hitler needed a second front. Frankly, we just wouldn't know what to do with it.
  We got frantically on the phone. We called genial Col. Frank Milani, chief of the Adjutant General's Office at Rear Echelon Headquarters. We don't know why we selected him to call, particularly, unless it was because of the vague idea that all newcomers to Rear Echelon are supposed to clear through his office. Even so, we somehow failed to convince Col. Milani that the tiger was his baby.
  The next thing we knew, Brig. Gen. Benjamin G. Ferris, Commanding General, Rear Echelon, was in on the deal - and frankly, Ye Ed, a timid soul, does not know which makes him more nervous, tigers or generals. We're not speaking of Gen. Ferris in particular, just, to coin a phrase, generals in general. Fortunately, we did not have to deal with Gen. Ferris directly. But in a round-about way we got a message which boiled down to: "Nay tiger, sahib." Nay tiger, that is, in the vicinity of Rear Echelon Headquarters.
  So now the tiger, figuratively speaking, has gone up and down the line and is back in the sergeant's lap. He loves the tiger and wants to keep him. But at last report he was writing to the zoo at Lahore, asking if they could use one (1) tiger.
  Meanwhile, the tiger is queening it over the boiler room in one of the Rear Echelon barracks, while the commanding officer thereof is thumbing violently through Army regulations to prove that there's nothing in his orders, damnit, that says he has to play nurse-maid to a hell-cat.
  And that's the last we heard about the tiger. Frankly, it's the last we want to hear.

---

The C.B.I. Roundup is a weekly newspaper published by and for the men of the United States Army Forces in China, Burma, and India, from news and pictures supplied by staff members, soldier correspondents, the United press and the War Department. The Roundup is published Thursday of each week and is printed by The Statesman in New Delhi, India. Editorial matter should be sent directly to Lt. Floyd Walter, Rear Echelon Hq., U.S.A.F. C.B.I., New Delhi, and should arrive not later than Monday in order to make that week's issue. Pictures must arrive by Sunday and must be negatives or enlargements. Stories should contain full name and organization of sender.

---

SEPTEMBER  9,  1943  

Adapted from the original issue of CBI Roundup

Copyright © 2009 Carl Warren Weidenburner






 TOP OF PAGE       PRINT THIS PAGE       ABOUT THIS PAGE       SEND COMMENTS 


 PREVIOUS ISSUE       CLOSE THIS WINDOW       NEXT ISSUE