Sewickley Herald

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The Sewiekley Valley’s Home News Weekly
Voi. 41 Ho. 45
SEWICKLEY, PA., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1944
Woe Reíoys Vital Orders fo.Air Force in England

Corporal Elizabeth Gilligan of Brooklyn, New York, switchboard operator In the teletype room of the Eighth Air Force Headquarters in England, performs « war-winning job, of vital importance. Tho WAC lists contain 239 jobs open for women.	_
WAC Recruiting Stressed Here
To ini crest the •women of Sewiekley I in the Women’s Army Corps and. to stiin-| ulate enlistments in this component of the Army, a special recruiting team coming directly from the Pittsburgh Office will be in Sewiekley, Monday and Tuesday, November 13 and .14. Headquarters will bo in the Sewiekley ¡Municipal'Building.
If weather permits, a jeep will be I: used and as .many people as possible will | be given rides in the vehicle. A train-I ing film, “To the Ladies,” and “The ¡Bat-. I tie of Russia,” will be shown at the I municipal building on those nights that the unit is in Sewiekley. The team will
Corporal Eva Sickeler of the WAO
Home on a 30-day furlough, after nearly two years’ service in North Africa and Italy, Corporal 11 va Sickeler, i Highland Lane, Edgeworth, is looking forward to being returned to duty abroad, preferably in Prance,
. SIl(i wns one of tile ifirst four WiAC’s | in the, Pittsburgh' district, having oil-t listed in August, 1042, and was sent to [ the war zone in January, 1943. After I , Months in Algiers-, sho was stationed in Naples for four (notithg.. The above i ,!r° Was taken just before sho board* od tho homeward plane.
concentrate on making .personal calls to the homes of eligible women of the city.
The special team is Headed by Capt. Albert W. Lathrop, anti-aircraft artillery officer with 25 months service overseas in the European /rheater. He is assisted by lst.,Lt. C. O. Hutton, 2nd Lt. Gilbert Schwartz and six enlisted men and women.
Five thousand women from .Western Pennsylvania are now needed for- service with- the Medical Department to take part in the vast rehabilitation program of tho United States Army.. Those? women who meet the .basic requirements of the Women’s Army Corps may be sent to any of the -specialized schools maintained by the Army, where they will receive training under some of the most renowned professional men in the medical .field.
The needs of our fighting men, to make them again normal and healthy and return them, in fit condition for civilian life, must bo met by the Women’s Army Corps.
Leetsdale WAC In Italy
Allied Force Headquarters, Italy: Serving with a platoon assigned to the Signal Corps in Italy is Corporal Sarah D, McKee, daughter of Ira M. McKee, Sr., of 185- Broad Street, Leetsdale. Joining the Women’s Army Corps in September, 1942, sho was assigned to .the Air Forces in Boston and later was sent overseas. Corporal (McKee works in the formation department of a telephone exchange and received her rating and the good conduct medal shortly after her arrival in Italy.
In Coast Guard Reserve
Miss Mary Wilson Fletcher, A.S., (W-10), U. S. Coast Guard Reserve ('SPARS’), departed last Thursday for tho Const Guard training station, Edit* more Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida, for her basic training. Daughter of ¡Mr. and Mrs, R. M, Fletcher of ‘Fairacres,’ Sewiekley Heights, she is a graduate of Sewiekley High School, and has boon employed its a stenographer at the Wiu, AI, Orr Co., 1-228 Brighton Hoad, N. S,, Pittsburgh.
Our Printing-Shop Will Serve You Well
Elmer R. Winters Receives the D.S.C.
.15th AAF in Italy: Technical Sergeant Elmer R. Winters, radio operator gunner on an AAF fB-17 Flying Fortress, operating out. of I-taly, of 823 Centennial Avenue, Sewiekley, was recently awarded the Nation’s highest award, Tho Distinguished Service. Cross, for action with the loth AAF, operating in the Mediterranean theater. The award was made by command of Lieutenant-General Ira Faker, commanding tho Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
Tho award reads: “For extraordinary heroism while on an important mission on July 18, 19-14. In- an attack on a strategically important airdome, unusually adverse weather caused the group of which Sergeant Winters was a member, to become separated from the other groups and tho protective coverage of accompanying fighter escorts. After reaching the initial point, the formation was subjected to a savagely •aggressive attack from over 200 enemy fighter aircraft- during which Sergeant Winters was painfully injured by bursting shell fire. Although one arm was so shattered it was useless, and liis face
John M. Fundís
John M, Fundis, son of Air. and (Mrs. C. E. Fundis, River Road, Hnysville, an Aircraft Electrician, on B*20’s, who. is sc-rving_somewhqrejn_Indiu.jv.itlL.the 20th Air Force, has been promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
Ho graduated from tho Embry Riddle School January 31, 1943; then was stationed nt Tinker Field, Oklahoma City until December; and took a special course on tho R-29 air piano at the- Boeing Aircraft Company plant at Wichita, Kansas, before going overseas-,
and back seriously injured by shell fragments. Sergeant .Winters refused first aid and continued to man his guns, subsequently succeeded in . destroying two enemy aircraft and damaging another. Despite the fact that lie- was .suffering from extreme pain and considerably weakened by loss of blood, lie •took tlie only bomb-strike pictures of the mission, thereby insuring invaluable photographic intelligence data which substantiated the success of this mission. Not until the enemy fighter aircraft attacks had been completely-broken. off and -tlie flight was enroute to base did Sergeant Winters leave his post and permit his fello-w crow .members to administer first aid. By his extraordinary heroism, gallantry and determination in the face of overwhelming opposition, Sergeant Winters has reflected great credit upon himself and the entire Armed Forces of the United States of America.”
Sergeant Winters has also been presented the Air Medal'with four Oak Leaf Clusters for “meritorious achievement in aerial flight,” and tlie Purple Heart for injuries sustained on the above mentioned mission. Ho wears the bine and gold ribbon of ijie Distinguished Unit Citation, presented his group for “outstanding performance of duty in armed conflict with tine- enemy.” Sergeant Winters has flown over fifty combat missions over Yugoslavia,-Germany, Hungary, Rumania and Ozecho-slavalria.
A graduate of Sewiekley High School with the class of .1939, Sergeant Winters brother, Mr. Edward J. Winters, resides at the above Sewiekley address.
Sergeant Winters was home recently on furlough.
ON THE ‘PRINCETON’
Karl Smith Rescued After Sinking
Karl Smith, former manager of the Elmhurst Inn, was aboard the light carrier, ‘Princeton’ when it was sunk in the groat naval battle of the Philippines, was rescued and is safe, according to word received from him, Thursday morning. No details , were learned by his wife, who is teaching school- at Winchester, Virginia.
It had. been revealed last week, however, that some of the 1300 officers and moil' who survived- the sinking swam f-or as long as four hours in shark-infested waters before being picked up by destroyers circulating -the carrier, which had been ripped and torn by a series of tremendous explosions. Tlie eyewitness stories dispatched by the United Press stated that at 9:38 a. m. October 24th, a Jap dive-bomber dropped two bombs, one of which -ploughed through tlie ‘Princeton’s’ flight deck amidships. The abandon 'ship order was given thirty minutes .later but nine hours passed before tho carrier was sunk by U. S. guns and torpedoes.
Survivors said that rescuing whale boats fired light machine guns and crewmen throw hand grenades to distract, tho sharks from the swimming men. There were no reports of the sharks- attacking survivors, ns the big fish seemed to be mostly curious. The. ‘Princeton’ was the first combat ship lost in the Central Pacific campaign since Tarawa.
Price Five Cents.

Attending Officers Survey Course
Lt. George McO. Gibbs, son of Air, and Airs, Ralph W. Gibbs, 45.1. Ain pic Lane,..Edgeworth.. hqaJiaen_sele£ipd. to -attend the. Officers Survey Course nt the Field Artillery School* Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Tn the-ROTO in September, 19-40, lie enlisted in the reserves in the fall of .1942, and was called to active duty in April* 1943* training nt, Fort Bragg and Princeton and then attending Officers Candidate School nt Fort Sill, whore lie recently graduated.
Ensign Richard T. Frick, Jr.
Richard Thomas Frick, Jr.,, sou of Airs. Henry O. Rea of “Windward,” Sewiekley Heights, graduated on October 11th from the Naval Air Training Bases* Corpus ¡Oliristi, Texas* and was commissioned an Ensign in tlie- U. S. ■Naval Reserve. Ho is a former student of Princeton University.
Each Naval aviator is an expert flyer, navigator, aerologist, gunner and radio operator.
-Naval aviators fly carrier-based or land-based planos-iir combat zones, or at Naval Air Stations at home and abroad.	1
Types of planes -in Naval -aviation include fighters, dive bombers, scout and observation, multi-engined bombers, patrol planes and air transports.
-Whether in the Marine -Corps or in the Navy, Naval aviators wear the famous “Wings of Gold.”
James Rains, son of Mr. and -Mrs, L. F. Rains of 439 Atuple Lane, Edgeworth, lias graduated from the V-12 Unit at Franklin and AlarshtiH. and left for Duke University, where he will join -the N. R. O. T. C., after spending some time at home.
Michael G. Lebhaft
Pfc. Alichael Charles Lobhaft* Jr., son of Mr. and 'Airs-. Michael Lobhaft, 23.1. School Street.* Gleiifield, received liis wings as an aerial gunner nt the 'Harlingen, Texas, Army Air Field last month. Ho enlisted in June, .1943* as an Army Aviation cadet, underwent training at Greensboro* N. O., at State Teachers College, Kutztown, Pa., at tho Liberator mechanics school at ICoeslor Field, Miss., and last August finished the course in the machinists school at Willow Run.
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