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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
May 22, 1940
Page
1
Senate naval subcommittee added 478 million to the navy supply bill to raise enlisted strength by 25 000 and include 60.8 million cash plus 100 million contract authority after presidential approval. Total navy funding under expanded defense reaches 1.464 billion, versus 1.823 billion for the army.
The French report the recapture of Arras by a counterattack relieving pressure on Allied troops in Belgium. General Weygand visited the front to plan preparations for a counter assault as Berlin depicts the German coastal push as desperate.
The piece frames Allied resolve with cautious optimism despite a dangerous German push in northern France. It quotes French Premier Reynaud and notes German advances along the coast, while stressing that a decisive turn requires a miracle.
Washington May 22 Indications that President Roosevelt might recall dollar a year men into the administration emerged as talks of coalition government stirred by Alf Landon. Landon arrived and refused to discuss a coalition cabinet. White House secretary Stephen Early said the president has no plan for a complex national defense machine and any new aides would cooperate with existing officials. Early noted three of six $10 000 a year administrative assistants may be added and some may serve at $1 a year as in wartime. There is to be no pyramiding of agencies, only simplification of the 1917 1918 setup. The president will invite chosen gentlemen but is not ready to name them.
The Decatur Chamber of Commerce leads a census check for the 1940 tally with church and civic support. By midday more than 200 residents said they had not been enumerated and a protest will be filed against the initial total of 16 373. Residents uncounted are urged to contact the Chamber at 69.
Reporter Louis P. Lochner chronicles the capture of Bathe, the last major Liege fortification, as artillery and Stuka bombers pound the defenses between Eupen and Malmedy. Nazi swastikas were raised atop the fort about 20 minutes after dive-bomber assaults began at 3 p.m. local time.
In Columbia South Carolina on May 22 the murder trial for Mrs May Walker Burleson began with jury selection of about an hour. Burleson a socialite artist and former suffragette leader from Galveston Texas faces acquittal on temporary insanity defense. The slain woman was the second wife of her former husband Col Richard C Burleson an artillery expert with the Sixth Army Division.
Sheriff Foster King said two German aliens traveling to Mexico on a motorcycle and sidecar were questioned in Tuscaloosa. They identified as a doctor and an engineer, bore Nazi emblems, but were not detained. The sheriff gave FBI full information and noted passports were valid.
An Alabama group to promote a 10-year plan for balanced prosperity will hold a meeting in Montgomery on May 29. Donald Comer textile manufacturer is chairman, named by Governor Ixon to cooperate in the plan sponsored on a south side basis by the Southern Governors' conference.
Priceville High School celebrates its first dual top honors with J. C. White Jr as valedictorian and Dwight Smith as salutatorian both posting averages above 94. White is athletically and socially active and plans Auburn study in agriculture. Smith is noted in athletics and dramatics with college plans pending.
The American Civil Liberties Union seeks an injunction to stop Georgia Governor Rivers from ordering alien registration. ACLU director Roger Baldwin argues state registration infringes federal supremacy and cites prior constitutional rulings. Rivers cites Fort Benning and other military posts in Georgia as basis for the crackdown on fifth columnists.
A crowd in London shouted "kill the murdering swine" as 22 captured German fliers were landed in England from two Belgian ships. Military police restrained the women while the prisoners were taken to internment camps. A Briton aboard reported Dieppe bombardment and mine danger preventing port departures.
Parliament approved a sweeping war emergency bill giving Churchill's government power to conscript labor and wealth, create production councils, control wages and profits, and even close or destroy firms as needed to mobilize resources for the war effort.
H J Thomason prominent farmer of Hartselle Route 1 died at his home at 6 pm Tuesday aged 75 His funeral will be at 8 pm daylight saving time Thursday at Herring cemetery with Rev Roscoe Wilhite Rev Frank T Smith and Rev Lannie Smallwood officiating Pallbearers include J W Sivley D S Sivley W O Clark Jeff Rowe E R Barkley and Clarence Winslett He lived in Massey community five miles west of Falkville and was widely known. survived by six sons John A Thomason Decatur Sam Little Rock F B Oscar Tennis and Billy Hartselle Route 1 a daughter Mrs Sarah Wallace Hartselle a brother E P Thomason Port Arthur Texas.
A Royal Air Force pilot recalls standing alone as German troops advanced toward the sea. He hurled a hand grenade from his car, dashed through ruins, and narrowly escaped while bullets peppered the ground and his helmet was clipped. He then joined advancing Allied forces in a truck.
A standard Red Cross first aid class begins Monday night May 27 at Decatur city hall. Floyd Elkins, chief of the Decatur fire department and Red Cross certified, will teach. Classes meet Monday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. and are open to anyone wishing to take the course.
A. W. Huckle publisher of the Rock Hill Herald South Carolina was elected president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association at a May meeting in Mineral Wells Texas drawing many congratulations from peers and members.
Optimism sweeps France as French shock troops reportedly retake Arras and push back German guards near Abbeville. Weygand warns of hard fights ahead while Britain enacts a dictatorship bill to mobilize resources. Channel pressures ease as Allied counterattacks lift morale.
The Tennessee river gauge reads 20 as it falls with a high of 83 and a low of 59 over the past 24 hours, trace rain reported. Alabama forecasts considerable cloudiness with thunder showers in the north tonight and Thursday showers, cooler conditions in north and central areas, and breezes shifting to moderate northerly by Thursday afternoon. Tennessee expects scattered showers tonight and Thursday, slightly west portions tonight and in the west.
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