European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse The final peace cold War continued from Page 41 at the same time the of Ungstad edition was being lambasted by the new York paper pm for having become a a spiritless and censor Ridden House Organ of the army brass and the War pm charged that stripes had left a More than 500,000 gis in the Eto without a single newspaper periodical or other publication which they can Call their own or use As an instrument for the inalienable american right of free Pung stadts a executive editor maj. Neil t. Regan rebutted the charges but pm insisted on having the last word. Perhaps it had exaggerated its claim that the stars and stripes was Only for generals the new York paper said in a second editorial. A majors seem to play a big role the Rome paper had its own problems in the form of one it. Gen. John c. H. Lee the commander of . Forces in the Mediterranean. Leeds Middle initials stood for Clifford Hodges but most gis referred to him As a court House or adding the a a Jesus Christ either Way Lee was a demanding Quick to anger officer who had once insisted that the paper use cinc instead of for in headlines referring to president Roosevelt. In March Lee ordered that officers on his personal staff begin censoring the papers mail Call column to prevent i Gripe letters from making it to print. To Leeds Way of thinking the postwar army was to be a professional organization of volunteers rather than the a a democratic Force that had existed during the War. Its members consequently would be subject to a different Type of discipline and there would be no More letters that might adversely affect morale. Leeds order brought a storm of protest from Many quarters including the papers staff of four officers and 51 enlisted men who threatened to quit. In an editorial splashed across five columns the staff also announced that it was discontinuing the mail Call column rather than give in to the general a censorship. The general a order was eventually withdrawn but not before the new York times printed an editorial backing Lee and complaining that the army so Soldier newspapers were indeed As the general had charged lowering morale. A the editors fail to realize a the paper said a that their duty is not merely to reflect the views of the readers but to Lead them. Too often some papers show an amazing Lack of the Rome edition was closed up two months later sparing court House Lee and the times further headaches. Lee by april so Many staffers had departed for discharge in the United states that stripes was forced to shut Down the of Ungstad edition and merge operations at Altdorf in Southern Germany. The move created a single european edition since the venerable London stars and stripes had closed the previous october the victim of dwindling circulation. The addition of the of Ungstad staff in Altdorf a newsroom office at the Paris edition following the paper s closure on feb. 1,1946. Flo allowed an almost instant increase in the size of the paper from four to 12 pages As Well As the addition of color comics and other extras. The influx of Pung stadts a Odd assortment of civilians displaced persons dependents and other hangers on also earned Altdorf the nickname of a bavarian boo town a since the paper was the towns leading Industry and employer. Most of the staff was billeted in Homes taken from prominent nazis Many of them renamed after american presidents or generals including Macarthur Jefferson Lincoln and Roosevelt. Social life entered around the Balser House where mess sgt. Robert Wacker worked marvels with the staffs i rations and the Goldner Hirsch an ancient inn that housed the circulation Drivers. There clustered around Large round tables and sipping draft Lowenbraun the staff would argue the varied merits of journalism and life. A otherwise you had to make your own excitement a remembers David Eynon an Lichfield Beai Ingi Ca or of Doie charged attrial club. Us a Rakity Altdorf Cra photographer who now lives in Bryn mawr a. Quot luckily the streets were filled with hot and cold running Fraulein As the expression goes. It was a real captains Paradise from that when not chasing dirndl Eynon roamed Bavaria in a jeep doing an interview column called the inquiring photographer. He also teamed with staff writers for More conventional stories including an interview with count Paul Esterhazy and his family Austro hungarian Royalty who were making do in a Carriage House outside Berchtesgaden. Staff writer Jim Mclean left the interview convinced of the family a authenticity. A one of them turned Down a cigarette a he confided to his colleagues. While the big Story was the nazi War trials taking place a Short 15 Miles away in Nurnberg there was plenty of other news for the Altdorf staff to cover including the september 1946 release of a new Batch of military currency. The new Money called scrip was designed to thwart Black marketeers who had stockpiled Large amounts of the old Allied military currency. The scripts Issue a and the stripes Story about it a were handled with All the secrecy of the a Day landings. The scrip Story praised by All the top military officials in Europe May have actually helped quell plans to retire the stars and stripes name according to some Altdorf Era staffers. As the Story goes there had been a plan afoot to rename the paper the occupation chronicle in much the same Way that the world War i stripes had been remade into the maroc news a four Page paper started in 1919 for the american army of the occupation. Altdorf staffers weren to alone in opposing the idea employees of an army weekly called the Frankfurt chronicle announced that they a be damned if they would give up their name. The scrip Story is believed to have helped convince the brass that stripes was still worthy of its name. At any rate the idea eventually died. The stripes consolidation in Bavaria had triggered the need for major additions and remodelling at Altdorf to include everything from continued on Page 45 saturday april 18, 1992 50th anniversary special edition a Page 43
