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Long Before United States Entered War, Pan American Began Paving Way By Laying String Of Air Bases; Local Boys Volunteered, Went To Africa To Help Build Them(Editor’s Note: James Glasscock, former member of The Herald editorial staff, was a junim airport manager with Pan American Airways-Africa, Ltd., inBritish West Africa a year ago when Marshal Rommel’s forces were threatening Alexandria and the Nile.)By JAMES GLASSCOCK V/JONTHS before the UnitedStates entered the war, a group of Brownsville men paved the way for the great invasionof Italy, now taking place.The story goes back two years to September, 1941. when President Roosevelt asked Pan erican Airways to establish an plane ferry and transport te across .Africa to feed supplies to British forces in theMiddle East.Pan American went to its Western Division headquartersat Brownsville for the ramrod of this pioneering trailway, selecting Operations Manager George Kraigher as head of the Africanoperations.Took Brownsville BoysKraigher took with him H. C.Christoferson, '’hief pilot, and many Pan American employees from Brownsville who volunteered with PAA-Africa.They included:Operations personnel—F. A. “Sandy” St. Clair. D. C. Sewell, Jr., Frank P. Glen, E. P. Whitney, Ralph Parmley, W. R. Mc-Elhannon. L. H. Knowles. T. F, Austin. C A. Govttte. William E. McDavitt, Jr. and Gordon F. Maxwell;Meteorologist Georgie Matris-ciana;Maintenancemen Harry Driver, Jody Brown. Floyd E. Anderson, James H. Cowan, F. T. Haile, Kenneth H. Herridge. Merlin Rasco and William D. Weisen;Communications— Jack Winn. Roland Fife. William Carroll and John Cameron.Finance Department: Dale Har rison, John Hill, R. L. Jones, Santas Ceyanes. John Forbes and Clarence Steurmer.The story of Kraigher and his Texans, augmented by other Pan American men from virtually every state in the union, whipped the airline into shape in a matter of days as has ben frequently told.The vital role played by PAA-Africa in shaping the Mediterranean has not been fully reported. however.When the United States was forced into the war on December 7, 1941, life continued as usual for the Pan-Africans. They had already been at war aaginst the Axis for three months With the cooperation of the Royal Air Force and British Overseas Airways Corporation, they had established a network of landing fields from Africa's west coast, through the British colonies of the Gold Coast and Nigeria, up through the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and into Egypt, later extending the route to Arabia and India.Ready For ActionThus the United States Army already had a going establishment across Africa’s broad jung-RATION CALENDARMEAT, BUTTER, CHEESE.ETC. Ration Book No. 3BrownWhenGoodStampsGood .UntilC D E F -- NOW -- Oct. 30G -- NOW -- Dec. 4H -- Oct. 31 -- Dec. 4J -- Nov. 7 —Dec. 4K -- Nov. 14 -- Dec. 4Ration Book No. 1 Stamp No. 18 Now Good. Ration Book No. 3 AirplaneStamp No. 1 Good Nov. 1.GASOLINEAll A stamps No. for 3 gallons each ber 21st.8 now good until Novem-PROCESSED FOODSRation Book No. 2 Blue WhenStamps GoodAll B and C stamps good for 2 gallons each indefinitely.GoodUntilX Y ZNOWNov. 20SUGARJAM, JELLY. PRESERVES, ETC.Does not includes Citrus Marmalade.Sales stopped until Oct. 31Dati on Q aaL* \Ia Oles, savannahs and veldt when the high command in Washington elected to militarize the airline.Pan American had improved existing landing fields, constructed others, erected barracks, electric light plants, mess halls, recreation halls, hangars and office buildings, and when the Army moved in there was little more to do except to expand accommodations.Kraigher entered the ArmyAir Transport Command as a lieutenant colonel, later beingpromoted to colonel, while Christoferson also received a commission as lieutenant colonel. A great number of the other Pan-Africans, with a year’* experience in Africa. Arabia and India, also accepted commissions and remained to continue their work with the Air Transport Command.Bombers flown from the States by way of 8outh America were ferried by PAA, U. 8. Army, and RAF pilots across Africa to the vital Middle Eastern front, and other ships went on to Russia and China.Fighters were shipped by boat to a British base somewhere on the West African coast, assembled and ferried across the continent under the wing of a Beau-fighter or other twin-engin*plane which carried a navigator.Despite a large number of planes flown into Egypt and the great mass of ammunition received by General Montgomery. Marshal Rommel continued to press into Egypt- menacing the Nile and the Suez Canal in the summer of 1942Evacuated CiviliansWhen many civilians were evacuated from Cairo that sum-ntinuing StrikesWillIiring StrAtigerLegislation, Says Author Of Present LawnfBY JAMES THRASHERNEA Staff CorrespondentWASHINGTON, — It's pretty hard job these days to find any enthusiasm for the operations of the War Labor Disputes Act, better known as the Con-nally-Smuh Anti-Strike Law. Organ i z e d labor, naturally,doesn’t like it and never has. And obviously the Pres ident doesn't, for he voted it last June. But now even its co-authors admit that this piece of legislation, passed over the veto in a burst of congressi o n a 1 fireworks, is something less than a howlingsuccess.The law, which was designed to stop strikes in war industries, hasn't. And the co-authors, Sen. Tom Connally of Texas and Rep. Howard Smith of Virginia, are neither surprised nor pleased in that order.A COMPROMISE ACT 'That's the Smith Act,” says the senator. “There was no such provision in my bill that passed the Senate. But the House killed the Senate bill and substituted the Smith bill. What we have now is a compromise which we had to take, because we needed something right then to try to insure full war production without interruptionsRep. Smith isn’t pleased because he hoped that workers, given a chance to ballot secretly,would vote overwhelmingly toforego any thought of strikes in wartime.ftWomen drivers employed by the St. Louis Army Or dnance Depot were ordered from their jeeps and other light cars to drive huge trucks during the t ruck-driver's strike In the south. A group of them are pictured as they prepared to take out a convoy of vital war supplies, under police protection. The action of the Teamsters’ Cnion was one of the Mun authorised” strikes that have marked the sdmtttedfailure of th e anti-strike law.“I intended in this law to give the men the free, democratic choice of expressing their wishessettled in 30 days, the law ordersth* NLRB to take the secret ballot.Formal NLRB statistics on the’ an'c rtrxoroHrtn nnn1the result he was aiming at. As for Sen.Connally, he’d just as soon be left out of all this discussion—except to make it plainthat the chickens have not come home to roost In his officemer, Pan American flew a large number down to Khartoum. I Newspapers in the States carried great blazing headlines!about Rommels slashing victories but the Pan-Africans paid little attention to the news. They went about their job* as though they were operating a domestic airline back in AmericaThen, too, many of the Americans scattered over Africa received little news in those days.At one of the main baes, a daily bulletin was issued, reporting the progress of the war inone paragraph leads from thevarious fronts. Pilots who entered Cairo regularly received a greater volume of Information through the daily newspapers there, but others heard only fragmentary accounts of the war.At last, in October. 1942, General Montgomery* was ready for hLs great drive westward. Bombers and fighters and munitions were flow*n across the continent in ever-tncreasing numbers.On one memorable night at the main PAA-Armv base somewhere In West Africa, most of the men at the field were routed out of their bunks to load every available plane with cargo to besped to Montgomery' Hundredsof thousands of pounds of ammunition were flowm to Egypt, and the Army Air Transport Command months later asserted that supplies of anti-tank shells flown to Egypt during that period helped Montgomery to turnthe tide of battle.An odd commentary on war is that sometimes the men closest to it know the least about It.Snch was true In November last year when the kmericans and British invaded North Africa.The men at my base weresoundly sleeping that Saturday night when President Roosevelt made his dramatic radio announcement of the bold invasion of French North Africa The time difference, of course, gava the people in the United States the advantage on that particular piece of news, since it was about four oclock in the morning ta West Africa.Even when the men awoke the next morning, many didn t hear of the landings for several hours They were vtgue rumors floating around the mes* table* about an “Invasion’ in the north, butthe informants wertn t alwayscertain whether Americana had landed or whether the Germane had invaded Dakar.Since Vichy French territory surrounded this particular base, a German landing would have made that field very untenable,to say the least.News Finally Confirmed*Finally, official bulletins confirmed the news that Americana had invaded North Africa, and the field personnel became as excited as If they were hearing news of a great football victory. That was a cosmopolitan bunch —U. 3 soldiers. South Africans, Royal Air Force. Royal Navy officers and men. a sprinkling of Chinese aviation cadets en route home, a Fighting French official. and the civilian Pan-Africans.The post went on a complete alert, the blackout «a made even blacker, and American soldiers put on their battle helmets and carried firearms at ail times.♦*ae*tIt***Thlt;* attitude of the Vichy * French was uncertain for many « days, and it was not until Admi- • rai Darlan announced the French' would cease resistance that the I complete alert was relaxed at • our base.»From then on. the Allies mar- » ched to victories In North Afrl- • ca, the Mediterranean. Sicily, ’ and on into Italy proper.Africa was succeeded by Eu- * rope as a battlefield, but re- * mamed a powerful supply base I You won't find Colonels Krai- « gher. Cristofferson and the rest of those Brownsville men claiming any credit for the African victory which made the European Invasion possible. They simply did a job they had been delegated to do.The facts speak for themselves, however. Their pioneering mads possible today s growing headlines of Allied successes In Italy.a*DR. OLMSTEDOptometristMember Better Vision Lostitui# Room 207, First Natl Bank BldgBrownsviller\- - - m
Newspaper Details
Brownsville Herald
Brownsville, Texas, US
Sun, Oct 31, 1943
Page 47
Full Page
Clipped by
Catheryn L.
USA 16 Aug 2019
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