Mediterranean Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1962, Naples, Naples By Sid Schapiro staff writer b17 named stars and stripes prize winning editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post dispatch. Then there s Dick Wingert whose cartoon Hubert still appears in stripes and Dave Breger. Today american Allied and local civilians gather the news write the headlines print the paper Man the Newsstands and keep the accounts. Things slowed Down in the postwar Days and the uj3. Army of occupation dropped to a single division and some constabulary forces. Things began warming up again in 1948 with the russian blockade of Berlin. On August nato came into being and on oct. 24, 1950, the . 7th army was reactivated. This time stripes was ready and waiting when the yanks came Over again of Cir divisions were sent to Europe and circulation figures began to mount from a of about to peacetime records. Not Only has stripes grown to 24 pages but copies Are sold daily in 33 countries from Iceland to Ghana and As far East As Calcutta in the san Francisco Apo zone since world War ii reporter photographer teams have flown faster than sound in Jet fighters gotten soaked at sea with the Navy and plodded through the mud that is always there when the infantry goes on an exercise. Life since the War has t been As dangerous As in combat Days but it has. Had its excitements. On March 8, stripes correspondent Ernie Reed then covering Vienna got into a fight with a russian Soldier who was trying to Kidnap an austrian girl. Ernie had arrived in front of the grand hotel minutes after the russian had shot the girl s companion . Pfc Jack l. Grunden. Ernie had wrested the girl from the Soldier the Coupler cad. Gone Only a Fey feet Wilien they were surrounded by a dozen soviet soldiers with fixed bayonets who spirited the girl away. About 13 years later in the same City photographer Guenther segue Tyler stole a March on other photographers Cov ering the Kennedy Khrushchev meetings. Three Pool photographers from among the hundreds Gai sered were chosen to actual Schuettler was t among them. On the Day of the conference German born lensman Schuettler waited outside the american ambassador s residence where the meeting was to be held. He was standing in a driving downpour won Dering How he could get in when four russian to men loaded with equipment approached him. Taking him for a local austrian the russians asked sex i Schuettler in broken German How they could find the Confer ence halt the russians were wearing the Green press cards that could gain them admittance to the meeting. Thinking fast Guenther said. A Tovar Icho i la help then grabbing a tripod from one of the russians and slinging it Over his shoulder he herded the four past the guards following close behind. Since he was t required to share his photos with the newsmen s Pool Schuett Ler got stripes an armful of exclusives. The photo staff has always done Well professionally but red Grandy chief photographer hit a double Jackpot in april .1951. On april 12, he was with Gen Eisen Hower when the shape commander got editor s note the wartime staff of the stars and stripes in London came through the German air raids dodged the Al and v-2 Buzz bombs and acquired a taste for warm Beer Tea and fish chips. On the occasion of the newspaper s 20th anniversary Sid Scha Piro who became an sides staffer Early in and is now supervisory editor in stripes new York Bureau offers some recollections. Eight members of the staff took a hike that went Down in the annals As the longest pub crawl in modern Lon Don history. The stripes officer in charge maj ens Ley m. Llewellyn called a Friday morning inspection. All those gigged for various out of uniform infractions were ordered to take a 10-mile hike. The Oil designated a Crossroads spot five Miles out of the heart of London As the goal. Fear of a spot Check kept the men marching in formation on the Way out. But on the Way Back it began to Sprinkle. Looks like gainsaid one of the hikers. Better take cover got to keep your troops Well dry on the outside said the lieutenant marching them into the nearest pub. There were a lot of other pubs on the Way among the legendary tales is one on Warren Mcdonnell who handled Busi Ness affairs for the paper. Whenever my Iton Neu a private at the time would Sug Gest something to the Oil Llewellyn would reply Fine Mac change it one Day Mcdonnell was concerned about the unpredictable English weather delay ing prompt air delivery of the newspaper. He began i m worried about the weather change it Mac just change blow it out your b-bag1." griping gis would Bellow at each other in world War ii. It was staffer Charlie White who wrote the Story that led ultimately to the stars and stripes a bag department an infantryman named Devevey livings ton needed a pair of size 13 epee shoes. In desperation he wrote a plaintive plea for help to the paper. Charlie wrote a Story asking if anyone in the army could help pvt Livingston find a pair of shoes to fit him. But Dewey Livingston had disappeared get tired. Of being. Custodian of a growing pile of huge Bro he wrote a daily Story about his shoe Imren Tuszy wid pleaded with Dewey Plase get his shoes Charlie never did hear from Dewey but instead began receiving pleas from other soldiers asking for Odd sized shoes. Out of this grew a help wanted column run by pvt Lou Rakin a former new Jersey police court judge. And water the column s title became a bag. A flying fortress group christened one of its b17s stars and reporter Charles Kiley flew the first mis Sion with its Crew. A few months later when it was ready for its 25th and he returned to Fly again. There was a siege of typically bad English weather that grounded All planes for five Days. After being assured the soupy weather would continue Kiley returned to London on an assignment. Late that afternoon an officer called from the base to Tell Kiley the weather had cleared unexpectedly that morning and the stars and stripes had gone out. Its bombs had hit the target in Germany but on the Way Back an me109 had shot the fortress into the North sea. None of its occupants was Ever found. Stripes had its share of characters. This one came to the paper from a re placement depot in England when a Call went out for an enlisted Man with news paper circulation experience. A depot lieutenant checked service rec ords and was impressed when he found pvt William d. Estoff s civilian occupation listed As Bill Estoff a successful night club operator and business Man in civilian life As a Lark had listed himself As a Bookie the lieutenant said aloud thalls something like what the stars and stripes needs. Books newspapers can t be much the Bookie became an indispensable member of the organization. To pc never a Dull moment Al stripes. There was the night talk spread around London of a pilotless plane shot Down. The next Day Learned it was the German Al Buzz bomb. During those Buzz bomb Days it was the practice of the air raid Warden on duty on the roof of the building to signal when a roaring Al was headed in our director. The newsroom s lights would flick off and on in signalling us to get away from the windows in Case of shattering Glass. For the first dozen or so of the Buzz bombs we bounced up from our seats and headed for the classless corridor. But you can t get out a paper that we just kept banging away at our typewriters As lights flickered after that. Then came the missile that made its Mark unannounced. The bang its calling card. The word that president Truman had fired Gen Douglas Mac Arthur the famous Well ill be darned photo that red took hit the press circuits of the world and won an award As the Best spot news photo of the year. Nine Days later red hit pay dirt again when he caught the tender reunion scene of mrs. Robert a. Vogeler greeting her husband who had just been released after .17 months in a communist Hungary jail. As technological advances shrank our world stripes area of coverage increased and one of our reporter photographers Marty Gershen can boast that he suffered a Frostbitten Finger covering news in ice land and dysentery while covering the air Force in Chittagong East Pakistan. Stripes has become a rather quiet out fit today. For while its readers still Are primarily . Military or government. Civilian personnel there now Are thousands of family people looking to stripes for their daily news. So the paper has become concerned Over the postwar years with Christmas colouring contests school news and fashion advice. But it is a Serviceman s newspaper dedicated to the . Soldier Sailor airman and Marine serving his country abroad. And while stripes Sells the paper today it was distributed free to . Troops in Lebanon during the crisis there and it is always delivered free to troops engaged in a division size exercise or larger. London 1945 extras announcing surrender of nazi pour from presses. April 18, 1962 stars and stripes 20th anniversary supplement Page 5
