Released by O. 8. War Department. Bureau of Public Relation! HIS NEGRO TROOPS DID VELL—Major General Raymond S. Lehman, Commanding General if the 93rd Infantry Division at lougainville in the South Pacific— tis troops "won their spurs” in the Irive against the Japs. (U. 8 Irmy Signal Corps Photo.) Renraw, Restless Qa "CERTAIN DAYS’* Of Tha Moath? Cf functional periodic disturbances ■n«v. you feel nervous, tired, restless, "dragged out"—at such times—try tu rnout Lydia E. Plnkham'a Vegetable Compound to relieve such symptoms. It helps nature! Plnkham’s Compound Is ihn a grand stomachic tonic. Follow label directions. Worth tryingt lYDIt E. HNKHAM’S SgSS ANP FINDS MORALE i SHOT AMONG 553RD FLIERS TRAINING IN SO. CAROLINA RACE PREJUDICE, DISCRIM INATION RULES AMONG PILOTS, GROUND CREW AT DIXIE AIRFIELD. EDITOR'S NOTEs Because of persistent reports that the 55SD pursuit squadron had been “rail roaded" from Selfridge field, Mich., to Walterboro airbase, S. C., for protesting segregation at the northern training field, the Associated Negro Press sent a re porter to Walterboro to obtain the facts in the case for the read ers of this newspaper. What this correspondent, Ernest Johnson, chief of the ANP Washington bureau, found is contained in three articles, the first of which f olloWSQ. BY ERNEST JOHNSON WALTERBORO AIRBASE, S.C. July 24 (ANP)—Because morale of men at this airbase was reported low Because a hero of the 99th Pursuit squadron, back from overseas, had been dismissed from the service thru co*urt-martial, and at least two other men have been court-martialed— And because rumors of general un rest and discrimination had been re ported, the Associated Negro Press undertook an on-the-spot investigat CHAS. £. SANDALL SAYS: 'WE MAINTAIN HIGH TAVERN STANDARDS By EDUCATION" This Committee’s chief aim is to maintain good condi tions in places where legal beer is sold. Since the best informed tavern keepers are generally those who best conduct their places in the public interest, we supply helpful booklets, bulletins and other educational matter, suggesting the best ways to conduct their places. As a result, Nebraska taverns have improved and, with our. j help, will continue to improve. 'if& NEBRASKA COMMITTEE BREWING industry foundation CHARLES E SAHOAU, Stott Director • 710 FIRST NATIONAL OLDS.. LINCOLN ion of the situation. I The outfit involved is what form- ( erly was the 553d Pursuit squadron, • which had been stationed at Selfridge j field, Mich., until May 7 when it was j suddenly transferred to this South South Carolina post, in the middle of Dixie and all it means. The picture is not a happy one. There is indeed much room for im provement on the part of the army air forces if training and the estab lishment—yes, the establishment—of high morale are to be achieved among a group of men who in a relatively short time will eb flying high over Germany for the cause of America. By the same token, these men and related ground personnel have the re~ sponsibility of constantly exhibiting their diligence in accordance with army regulations, knowing as they do that despite the demonstrated capab ility of the 99th Pursuit squadron, there is still a segment of the army which even now would prefer not to see Negroes develop in the air branch of this country’s armed services. The 553rd. flying P-47 Thunder bolts, hadn’t cracked up yet, as Maj or Joseph B. Price, assistant director of flying operations and training not ed. In fact, there hadn’t been a fat ality among the men since a short time before leaving Selfridge field, a | favorable record. The seed of discord took root al Selfridge. Six officers from the 99th had returned from overseas to work with the nucleus of the 553rd, which was activated last November at Selfridge Field and Oscoda, Mich They were 1st Lts. Walter Lawson, Graham Smith, Louis R. Purnell, Spann Watson, Charles W. Dryden and Lee Rayford. The outfit was ultimately to be officered with all Negro personel. In due course the men were united at Selfridge and for a time had a succession of commanding officers. The last of them, Lt. Col. Sam P Triffy, came south with them. Under I IE-- ! “IT PATS TO LOOK WELL” MAYO’S BARBER SHOP Ladies and Children’s Wnrk A Specialty 2422 LAKE ST. Something for Nothing the J3iaa(5&8f way Americans could never have built the greatest nation in the world bv adopting the pigeons' policy of living on charity. Instead, they succeeded because they have always cherished their right to : • ; to wo*b 5fbs of their own choice ... to earn a fair reward for their labor, enabling them to build their own destinies. ''Something for nothing" sounds like a foreign phrase to American ears. It may be good enough for pigeons, but pigeons wanf to live on Americans want FREE ENTERPRISE! NEBRASKA POWER COMPANY Copyright, 1844, Bozeli & Jacob* f Inter-Racial Outing - A SUNDAY Outing Program has been recently inaugurated by community groups through the Thames Street USO. Newport. R. I., for patients of the U. S. Naval Hos pital. The program consists of an ocean drive in private cars and a visit to the beach where sun um brellas and free refreshments are provided. At the end of the day. the men are invited to private homes for supper and entertain ment by the junior hostesses of the community. Above are a few of a group entertained at the home of Mrs. Abe Smith, pictured with her guests. one o fthese commanders, Lt. Col. Charles Gayle, the men observed a tendency to place Negro officers as assistants to white supervisory pers onnel in the table of organization. Lts. Rayford and Purnell decided they preferred fighting and so went overseas with the 332nd Fighter group. Trainees of the 553rd stuck tongues in cheeks. While at Selfridge the issue of the officers’ club arose and a plan to pro vide separate facilities for the races was thwarted after the Negro fliers had voted unanimously to refuse the separate club. The under-current of resentment developed among the col ored officers and evidenced itself in sundry ways. On May 5 the 553rd entrained for Walterboro airbase. They were not told then or since then why they had been moved south. They accepted opinion among them, however, is that the move was made for the explicit purpose of subjecting them truly to the rigors of segregation as only the south can practice it, and thereby kill their spirit. That spirit today is low, and the transfer is a contributing factor. None of the ranking officers with whom I talked, from Col. Ivor Mas sey, deputy commanding officer of the first air force, down know or was prepared to say why the trans fer was made. An obvious explana tion might well have been the conjec ture made by William H. Hastie, for merly civilian aide to the secretary of war, a short time ago, namely that the main stream of flight straining is in the south, and that it proper that Negro trainees should receive their training where all other to-be flying officers are schooled. But not even this reason was advanced by the commanding officers. “I don’t know was generally their reply to the ques tion. Incidentally, when the transfer was made, none of the colored boys was permitted to fly his craft down al though the whites did. Reason given was that eating facilities might not have been available to them at itei mediate stops enroute. “That was a slap in the face,” was the comment of one of the fellows with whom I! talked, “especially to the boys who had been overseas.” The fact remains that the 553rd, officers and enlisted men, arrived at Walterboro on Monday, May 7, found themselves no longer a com plete organization but rather than the flyers were now a replacement train ing unit, and the ground crew a part of the base personnel and real segre gation on an army post was staring them straight in the face. Public relations officers at Walter boro explained that the post had pre viously been a sub-base of a base near Charleston but more recently had been given full base status. Further, it was explained that Walterboro had since the arrival of the 553rd, became a location for advanced training for . — - pilots who would shortly thereafter leave as replacements for men of the 99th and 332nd. The only pilots at the base are colored, except for the various supervisory personnel (in structors). Total personnel at Wal terboro was estimated at approximate ly 1,600 men of which about one third are Negroes. Until July 8, the day before my arrival, the Walterboro airbase had been under the comand of Col. Wil liam M. Prince. He was succeeded on that day by Col. Guy Kirksey. Prior to the arrival of the former 553rd a coolred aviation squadron, (separate) had come in. The num ber was not large. Altogether, separate facilities for almost everything but hospital care were provided. At first no attempt was made by public relations officers to make distinction between the char acter of the Negro personel, preferr ing tc refer to all of them as RTU (replacement training unit), and the reason offered as justification for separate facilities was that “the RTU has a schedule to make.” it i many ucvciupeu, nowever, tnai as a means of getting around racial designations for the use of certain facilities, two classes of individuals were recognized and defined: RTU for the colored; base personnel for the white. Hence, when the sign was put up, upon orders of Col. Prince, over the entrance to a service center where sodas are dispensed, it said for “base personnl.” It mans “Negroes keep out.” They have been refused service and so have kept out. These definitions ignored the fact that both the aviation squadron (sep arate) and the ground crew which ac companied the 553rd, all Negroes, had become part of the base person nel. Col. Prince admitted later in my talk with him that these deductions were accurate. When he was asked about their actual inclusion, he said simply that “they should have been taken into the housekeeping,” but re minded that “South Carolina has al ways been a state which believes in the separation of the races.” He was merely conforming. (To Be Continued) FEPC CONSIDERS POLICY ON NEGRO LAY-OFFS BY ERNEST E. JOHNSON Washington, July 24 (ANP)—Ex ploratory conversations were begun at the offices of the FEPC last week looking to the establishment of a pol icy to be pursued toward restraining disproportionate lay-offs among Ne gro war workers due to cutbacks and the introduction of reconversion pro gram*. These informal talks, it is learned unofficially, have not yet gone out side of the agency, but ultimately will be extended to include the viewpoints of other agencies which might con ceivably have a finger in the matter, notably the Wa-r Manpower commis sion, the war and navy departments, and perhaps the U. S. Maritime com mission. FEPC is keenly aware of the say ing that thd Negro is generally the last hired and the first fired. Be cause this happens to be the demon strated case in their own experience, the agency would iike to find some way of altering this tradition and thereby aid Negroes in retaining some of the industrial gains which have been made in the period of the war. Admittedly, The Problem Is A Difficult One . One of the ideas advanced at the initial discussions was one which would call upon employers to observe certain agreed quotas in the matter of lay-offs. For example, whereas Nc groes may have come into the employ relatively late and so have little sen iority, some basis might be found for retaining a number of these workers irrespective of seniority, Obviously this is an approach which would have to have the sanction of labor unions which In many instances control or "police ' hirings and firings of all workers. The problem was also recognized that under such a quota arrangement, other “interest” groups might u«e the plan as a precedeoted, push their own claims for “special treatment". Fur ther, because general quotas for