SOLOMONS M.i 7WL. | '(&>$.>$, Ifrf-Z Tue irflrines have t?,ken the offensive again in the Solorcon IsleJids. So we are informed by a Navy department bulletin. On the north shore of Guadalcanal Island, the leathernecks launched a two-day attack, and they advanced against the Jap opposition. The Navy bulletin puts it in these words?- "U# S. marines succeeded in extending our positions. So you can picture our soldiers of the sea battling their way along the beaches of a tropical island - using those marine tactics of modern fighting, • talking the enemy, atraaEtag attacking with the ko^zj; <^^3 ,■£ latest types of equipment. And they were well antitat by air power, army air power. The Navy bulletin says?- "Army fighters assisted^y strafing enemy troops and installations." The new offensive by the marines was part of a general report of activity in the Solomon Island area. Today*s bulletin states?- "Marine Corps aircraft attacked a Japanese force of two light cruisers and four destroyers in the area north of New Georgia Island. A direct hit damaged one of the cruisers, and when last seen she was down by the bow." And we are told that the other cruiser was damaged too. In addition, all sorts of air fighting is reported - with the Japs losing a lot of planes shot down RUSSIA There is little late news froze Soviet Buseia, where the fighting has lapsed into the desoltory stage. At Stalingrad, after a period of inaction, the Qennnns are launching new attacks* But it is the same old story thay don*t appear to be getting anywhere. Farther south in the Caucasus, the Nasi war machine seems to be stalled in its drive against the oil well area of Orozny. Meanwhile, it is growing cold at the battlefronts •• the approach of the Russian winter, iriLLKII President Boosevelt is going to dmtmx. confer with Wendell Willkie either tonight or tomorrow morning. This was stated by the President at the White House news conference today. Willkie landed at Minneapolis by plane this afternoon — after his trip around the world as a presidential emissary. He is on his way east now* and got a message from the President Mr**! asking him to call at the White House at his convenience. The President nitx told Willkie that he would be delighted to receive a report about the around-the-world trip, ind that report will be made either tonight or tomorrow morning. Today brought prompt action on Presidenbfioosevelt*8 declaration last night that the drafting eighteen and nineteen year old youths was inevitable. This was one of the important statements of the presidential fireside chat, which touched upon such war time problems as a second front, war production, and the possible drafting of labor for war industries and farms. As for the eighteen and nineteen year xijtxynJtiuxwzx olds, he pointed out that younger men maice better soldiers than older men* Ittkxtk That thought was echoed today by Secretary of War Stirason, who described the eighteen and nineteen year olds in these words:- •Particularly well adapted to military training. Their response to leadership, their recovery from fatigue* their enthusiasm or flair for soldiering, " said he. •are exceptional as compared with older age groups.* The Secretary stated this in a War Department message asking Congress to reduce the draft age to eighteen and do this immediately. And Congress responded by getting busy right away, preparing the MU. Administration leader Senator Barkley warned his colleagues that the lowering of the draft age should not he Impeded by those of election. They should pass a bill at once and never mind votes and politics. "i7e are in a war ."said Senator Barkley, and I don't think Congress ought to keep its mind on “lections*• V O V EHIBSRY k headline war corruption scandal broke In Washington today, when President Boosevelt ordered the seizure of plants and the arrest of several persons. The charges — bribery. It EUcton, Maryland, there Is a company manufacturing explosives, w hich, with two subsidiaries, holds large contracts with the Army and Navy. The naking of the explosives has been supervised by civilian inspectors. Now the accusation is, that company officials bribed these inspectors. Tae White House statement says:- "The inspectors are charged with accenting bribes in the guise of service fees. • i So the President today ordered the Navy to take over the plants, and ne operate them - so that the manufacture of explosives may not be interrupted. And company officials and civilian inspectors of the Army and Navy were placed under arrest* POLL IA£ The House of Representatives this afternoon passed the law forbidding poll taxes. According to this measure, no state hereafter would be allowed to make the payment of poll tax 1 a qualification for voting in national elections. This action by the House was taken in the face of bitter opposition put up by members from the South - the South being the section where you’ll find poll taxes. The Southern legislators denounced the bill as an unconstitutional violation of the right of states to establish voting qualifications. The advocates of the bill argued that poll taxes led to political corruption - because politicians, by paying a tax to voters, influenced the casting of ballots. The one negro member of Congress denounced poll taxes as a means of preventing members of his race from voting in southern states. M CKINLEY _C0N£UERED_AGAIN As you all know by now, some of the b est that stories^have come out of this war have been released many weeks after the event -- for military reasons. One such first account was released here in Y*ashington today, at a luncheon held at the National Georgraphic Society where we were guests of Dr- Gilbert Grosvenor, head of the society, and his second in command, Dr. LaGorce; and at which I had the honor to preside* It was attended not only by scientific men, but. by two of our highest ranking army officials, Major General E. 3. Gregory, head of the Quartermaster Corps, and Major General George E. S+ratemeyer, Chief of Staff to General Arnold, head of the Army Air Forces, Anc we listened spellbound to the thrilling and hitherto untold story of the recent conquest of Mt. McKinley. For the highest mountain in North America has just been conquered -- for the third time. This time an Army exploit. And then the two generals gave me permission to break the story. mckinley -2 Although we are only hearing about it now, the ascent of McKinley took place this summer, on July Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth. The first party to scale McKinley in ten years. In fact, the only other two successful expeditions were those of long ago, the t irst led by two Alaskans, Archdeacon Stuck and Harry Karstens; and the second led by Alfred Lindley, Erxing Strom, Grant Pearson and Harry Liek. Presumably Dr* CooK never got there! Then there was the Belmore e r 3rowne-Kerschel Park expedition which was driven off the mountain by a tremendous storm when they were within three hundred feet of their goal, In a way, this latest coi* quest of McKinley is the most important of all, because the party lived high up on the mountain at altitudes varying from fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand feet, for three weeks, testing equipment for the Quartermaster Corps, the Air Forces, and the U.S. Ground Forces. Also testing foods, and testing the strains that human beings can MCKINLEY - 3 the effect of living at altitudes with the thermometer always below zero. Usually far below. Who were the men who accomplished this feat? The expedition was led by Lieutenant Colonel Frank G. Ranchman of the U.S. Apniy Quartermaster Corps. There were seventeen on the trip. Colonel Marchman and eight others remained at the base camp. The regaining eight -- all veteran mountaineers -- made the test high up on Mt. McKinley. Seven scaled the summit, 'which is just over twenty thousand feet. Those who got to the top were Alaskan Explorer Bradiord Washburn, who represented the U.S. Army Air Forces; Captain Bob Bates, who has scaled some of the unmapped mountains of i Alaska, and has also tackled the terrifying peaks of the Karakoram in Central Asia; ana .iajor Albert I.. Jackman, representing the u.S. Army Ground Force... Major Jackman at that time was test officer of General nydcNair* s new Also Squadron mounta in regiment, the Eighty-Seventh. Leader Peter Webb, who represented the mckinley . 4 Royal Canadian Air Force. And who now, by virtue of his :.aving been on McKinley, has reached the summit of a higher mountain than any other living Canadian. Another was Einar Nilsson of the U.S. Quartermaster Corps, a mountaineer from the Sierras, and apparently a man of great strength. Dr*. Sterling Hendricks of the Quartermaster Corps, a scientist and a mountaineer who a year ago, with Bradford Washburn, made the first ascent of Mt. Hayes. And, D~. Terris Morre of the Quartermaster.Corps, who has climbed Mt. Fairweather and other peaks im Alaska, but who is known still more widely because he was one of the leaders of an expedition to the Himalayas, that scaled Minya Lanka in remote Tibet. Because they were testing such ia^ge Quantities of equipment, and so many different kinds of iooci, this latest expedition to the glacial regions around the summit of McKinley could not backpack everything up the mountain. That would have been impossible. So they got the cooperation of the Army Air Forces, and the masses of equipment to be tested were dropped from bombers, "D.C.3W Transports, and smaller planes. Some twenty-two huadred pounds of stuff was dropped by parachute, landing on the snowfields, and among the crevasses above Karstens Ridge on Harper Glacier, at between fifteen and eighteen thousand feet. Rounding up all this and carrying it to the main camp was a tremendous task, because of the difficulty of working at such an altitude. There was an eighth member of the mountain party -- Captain Rex Gibson of the Canadian Army, perhaps the leading mountain climber of Canada. But he i ailed to reach the summit because he was overcome by mysterious convulsions. And his tent mate, Cap!;xn Bob Bates of the U.S. Army thought he was going to die. Bates was even looking for a place to bury him in the ice, up fchere near the summit of the highest peak in North America. But Gibson showed iron nerve. In great pain.te struggled M c K inley - 5 down the mountain. Then, near the base, while trying to iicKINLEY_* 6 ford a stream he was caught in the swirling torrent and carried a hundred yards oefore he was lucky enough to be hauled out by one of the other men. Afterward, they discovered that his back was broken in four places. Brad Washburn and Dr.. Sterling Hendricks told us about finding a cache of food that was left high up on the mountain by Erling Strom and Alfred Lindley and their companions ten years ago. It included canned chicken, sausages, and pemican biscuit. All as fresh as the day. it was » mckinley 7 leit in ere. uo the climbers on this present ascent had a feast on that ten year old chicken and other stuff. One o: trie weirdest stories they told us concerned Lr. ierris Moree's sKi boots. Eleven years ago, an American mountaineer named Allen Carpe* was climbing vrith Terris Moore in the Fairweather range, in Alaska. Moore loaned a pair of ski boots to 4 Carpe*, who kept them. Then, in 'Thirty-Two, Carpe* and Theodore Koven made an attempt to conquer McKinley the year of the successful Strom-Lindley expedition. Carpe* and Koven plunged into a crevasse and froze to death high up on the mountain. Carpe's body was never found. Some time later a special expedition went back, found the body of Koven, and brought him down the mountain. They left his boots behind. And here is the incredible part:- this recent expedition found a pair of ski boots far up on the mountain. They were going to turn them over to the McKinlev Park Museum. But suddenly Terris Moore sighted them, and shouted:- Sure enough, when he examined them and put them on, he found they were the same boots he had loaned to Allen Carpe* eleven years before, and Carpe’ had passed them on to Koven. I could talk about this expedition for the rest of this evening’s broadcast, and tomorrow night as well. But there isn’t time. I’ll merely add this:- 3rad Y.ashburn and Captain Bob Bates told me, and the others confirmed it, that this was the first expedition they haa ever been on where the personal relations were practically perfect. Which is unusual with any party that stays long, in the ice, at high altitudes. Also, they made many important and interesting di£Cover‘ies that should play a real part in the winning of this war They found out what concentrated foods are best for use in cold climates. And perhaps more important still, they discovered what articles oi clothing should not be worn. And they came back convinced that the layer "Key, those are my boots.*" McKINLEY - 9 theory is the sound one. That is, an outer thin layer, and under that layers of woolen garments, and so on, but nothing bulky. Layers, so you can take one or two off when you are too warm, and put others on when you are cold. Which you can’t do with single heavy garments. And finally they found that the new Army equipment is better than anything the explorers had ever used in the past. But those important details will come out in their technical reports, the rqports they have made to General Gregory of the Quartermaster Corps, to the Royal Canadian Air Force by Squadron Leader Webb, and to General Arnold and General Stratemeyer of the d. S. Army Air Force by Bradford Washburn. But this, more or less sketchy story I have just £oId you , is the first announcement that has been made of this extremely important expedition and conquest of Mt. McKinley- woii, The world of boring, the realm of the fight racket - is puzzled and perplexed. Who Is the heavyweight champion? Has Joe Louis retired? What did the Brown Bomber mean men he said what he said? People who are financially .ntorestea •heavyweight championship affairs, give explanations, each according to his own fancy. For example, here is a proclamation from l f X-o Tight Manager Jimmy Johnson - he directs the destinies of Bob Paster, a perennial heavyweight challenger, Johnson says he*11 claim the heavyweight title for Pastor, on the grounds that Louis hns retired. The “bomber has knocked Paster out a couple of times, and so I suppose the philosophy is - if you canH lick him, retire him. Manager Johnson scouts the theory that Joe Louis didn't mean to say he was retiring. He says that version is the invention of people who not have an interest in the Bomber's career - like Louis's own co-manager, Boxborough, and Mike Jacobs, the big shot of prizefight promotion, "Until I hear Jo* Louis himself say that he has not decided to retire," says Johnson, "I will claim the title for Pastor, " So what has Joe himself to say to clarify the situation? Yesterday he intimated that he did not mean to say he was retiring. Today we have something more complex — not from Joe himself, but from his comaanding officer, Referring to the champ by his right name of Barrow, Major General Bobinaon wires:- "Sergeant Barrow states that what he meant to convey was that he considers his ring career terminated for the duration of the war. Ami that, if the war lasts two years longer, he will be too old to fight," All of which puts the emphasis on a big "if ", Many a mighty and historic thing depends on how long this greatest of wars will last. And among the less mighty and not so historic is the question of the retirement of the prizefight champ, CUk ~^WVVV- ^ -IA- vv^ '