fi«' ~ P. r.. ....u 5. J'OST~-

.Paide"iUe. Mont.

PermIt No. .J39

-

..

Pearl Harbor convinced aU of us that weneeded to get into large-scale productionin the shortest possible time an~ thatevery precaution should be taken to in-sure future production ... It was apparent'that the united maximum effort of every-one in this country was needed. It wasa case 'Of "United we stand ... Divided wefail.". The folks in Montana formed ateam and that team has been honored fortheir united work.

,.

•

Tea_work Wins Awardsrr HE National Security Award was~iven at Creat Falls Saturday night,March 25. to the Reduction' Departmentand the Wire and Cable Department atCreat Falls and the Slag Treating Plant atEast Helena. In Butte on Monday night.March 27, the same award was presented'to the Reduction Department at Ana-conda, the Mining Division in Butte, andfhe Lumber Department at Bonner. These'six departments of the Anaconda Cog-per Mining Company were honored bythe Office of Civilian Defense for theirprecautions taken against air raids,fires, sabotage. explosion and similarhazards.

In order to maintain around-the-clock production, it is necessary to main-tain around-the-clock protection fromfire. sabotage, ~ccidents and air-raid at-tack. In Butte in order to be preparedfor a black-out it was necessary to segre-gate the lighting circuits with specialswitching facilities conveniently locatedand easy to operate. In all there were.forty-seven control stations established'in the mine yards with operators desig-n ate d w h i c h included Special PlantGuards, resident watchmen and opera-tion personnel. All switch handles oroperating ropes were identified with thestandard "black-out yellow" paint. Atotal black-out for the entire "Hill" canbe completed in less than two minutes.

During 1942 and 1943 and to thepresent time in 1944, instructors havetrained a total of 1.550 mine employesin First-Aid. There are two distinct ef-.2.

forts in First-Aid training. They are theU. S. Bureau of Mines and the AmericanRed Cross. By agreement between theU. S. Bureau of Mines and the AmericanRed Cross, the Bureau of Mines sponsorsFirst-Aid training of employed personnelin mining and allied industries. An in-tensified accident prevention campaignhas also b.een carried on.

Within twenty-four hours after thePearl Harbor aVack the mines and plantsin Butte were entirely guarded by Aux-iliary Military Police. Army of the U. S.,Ninth Service Command. The guardforce numbered two hundred thirty-fivemen until January of this year when acurtailment was ordered. Fifty-eightMilitary Drill periods for each shift wereheld. When the Internal Security Di-vision ordered the photographing andfingerprinting of all employees of theCompany, the guard force arranged forthe same and 9.221 were fingerprintedand photographed. at an average of sixmen every five minutes. They alsohandled the issuing of all 'passes and

- identification cards. To date 10.403passes have been issued in Butte.

Because of these and similar pro-tective measures employed so success-fully in the six departments of the Ana-conda Copper Mining Company. theNational Security Award was presented.lieutenant Colonel Charles J. Allen saidin presenting the award:

"This award is not given to manage-ment or to any individual. It is given inrecognition of a collective effort.

"Not all of those who serve ourcountry may gain glory on the battle-fields of the world. Each hour of work,each pound of ore, the smallest effort onthe part of the workers honored here,are bullets--civilian bullets-fired indefense of the country against the enemy.

"The efforts of all concerned in fireprevention, security and protection ofplants. the study and furtherance of aidsto reduce natural and human hazards.the courses in First Aid and other featuresof protection assigned to the Office ofCivilian Defense is only part of the work.effort and energy expended by thosehonored in this citation."

THE SECOND AWARIJTeamwork at the Anaconda Reduc-

tion Works of Anaconda, the Great FallsReduction Plant, and the East Helena SlagTreating Plant was again rewarded asstated in the following letter from UnderSecretary of War, Robert P. Patterson:

"I am pleased to inform you thatyou have won -fbr the third time theArmy-Navy Production Award for highachievement in the production of warmaterial.

"In maintaining the fine recordwhich first brought you distinction, youhave set an inspiring example for your,fellow Americans on the production front.

"This renewal adds a second WhiteStar to you r Army-Navy ProductionAward flag, ~nd stands as a symbol ofyour great and continuing contributionto the cause of freedom."

APRIL 14, 1944.

Here's the Army-N3vy "E" Production Flag with the second Star added

-

COPPER COMMANDO is the officialnewspaper of the Victory Labor-Manage-ment Production Committees of the Ana-conda Copper ~ining Company and itsUnion Representafives at BuH-e, Ana-conda, Creat Falls and East Helena, Mon-tana. It is issued every two weeks ••••COPPER COMMANDO is headed by ajoint committee from Labor and Manage-ment, its policies are shaped by both sidesand are dictated by neither .••. COPPERCOMMANDO was established at therecommendation of the War Departmentwith the concurrence of the War Produc-tion Board. Its editors are Bob Newcomband Marg Sammons; its safety editor isJohn L. Boardman; its chief photographeris AI Cusdorf; its staff photographeris Les Bi~hop•••• Its Editorial Board con-sists of: Denis McCarthy, CIO; John F.Bird, AFL$...,Ed Renouard, ACM, from ,.Butte; Dan Byrne, CIO; Joe Marick, AFL;C. A. Lemmon. ACM, from Anaconda;Jack Clark, CIO; Herb Donaldson, AFL,and E. S. Bardwell, ACM, from CreatFalls•••• COPPER COMMANDO ismcfiled to the home of every employee ofACM in the four locations-if you arenot receiving your copy advise COPPERCOMMANDO at 112 Hamilton Street,Buffe, or, beffer still, drop in and tell us.This is Vol. 2, No. 17.

>

In This IssueTHE FRONT COVER • • • • •The picture in the upper left shows thespeakers at the Award Ceremonies inGreat Falls while the one to the rightcovers the Butte award. That's GeneralDenson in the middle picture. In thelower left, the crew of Hell's Angels istalking to Morlan Lee, a miner who camefrom the Homestake to Butte to minecopper. The lower right shows Sgt. Fair-field and Sgt. Kosilla on the job.

TEAMWORK WINS AWARDS. 2Two awards have· ...heen given the Mon-'tana plants of the Anaconda Copper Min-ing Company. The second White Star wasadded to the Army-Navy ProductionAward Flags at Anaconda, 'Great Fallsand East Helena. The National SecurityAward was given to Butte, Anaconda,Great Falls, East Helena and Bonner.Both awards are a result of teamwork.

SALUTE TO TEAM WORK • • •The National Security Award of theOffice of Civilian Defense was presentedto the Great Falls Reduction Plant andwire and Cable Plant as well as to theEast Helena Slag Treating Plant Saturdaynight, March 25. There are pictures toshow each part of the impressive award'ceremony. The speakers urged con-tinued teamwork to win the war.

1 HONORINC TEAMWORK • 6• •On Monday night, March 27, at" theAmerican Legion Hall in Butte, the Na-tional Security Award of the Office ofCivilian Defense was given to the Ana-.conda Copper Mining Company plants atButte, Anaconda and Bonner. If youweren't able to attend, see the pictureswhich cover the ceremony hom start tofinish. There's a quote from GoyernorFord's address too.

WE MAKE THE CRADE • • • • ,. 9The Anaconda entry at the fi rst NationalLabor-Management Production Exposi-tion, held in Washington in March, andnow on display at the Murray MotorSales rooms in Butte, attracted interestedcrowds in Washington and was con-sidered by many government officialsas the best exhibit on display.

HELL'S ANCELS • • 104 The Flying Fortress "Hell's Angels"

looked like a flying autograph: book whenit arrived in Butte under the auspices ofthe Victory-Labor Management Commit-tee. Two of its former pilots and itsground crew of six were aboard to tell thefolks in Butte and Anaconda the realmeaning of "teamwork." Each insistedthat the others were responsible for theforty-eight successful bombing missions.

On tour, left to right: F. S. Weimer, Eugene Savage, Maior Barker, R. B.Ceneral Denson watched Ed Donaven at the Zinc Plant First-Aid StationCaples, Ceneral Denson, Rollin Kennard, E. C. Van Blarcom, Lt. Campbell. demonstrate bandaging an imaginary cut on Aiel( Cowie's arm.

A special concert was given before the presentation of the a"';ards by the550th Army Band of the United States Army Air Base at Creat Falls.

Brigadier Ceneral Denson arrived at the banquet room of the Civic Audi.Jorium in Creat Falls with F. S. Weimer and E. M. Baldwin.

Following the arrival of the speakers on the platform, presentation of Colorswas made by the 550th Color Cuard of the U. S. Ar...,. Air Baae.

Salute to TealDworkFor a job well done. the National Security Award of the Officeof Civilian Defense was presented to the Creat Falls ReductionPlant and Wire and Cable Plant as well as to the East HelenaSlag Treating Plant. Continued teamwork was urged by thespeakers at the award ce[emony ...SATURDA'y morning, Brigadier General Eley P. Denson, hisAide, Lieutenant Ray Campbell, Major Barker, Kenneth Ham-maker, Assistant Regional Director, Office of Civilian Defense,San Francisco, accompanied by officials of the Company, touredthe plant at Great Falls. Brigadier Denson was particularlyinterested in talking to the men on the job who are doing sucha fine job in producing the vital materials of war. The pictureon the, front cover shows him in the Zinc Plant Sub-Station.It was with first-hand information that Brigadier GeneralDenson spoke at the award ceremony in the evening and said:

"The present conflict is not merely a war between oppos-ing armies-it is a war of men and machines with the latterplaying an increasingly important role. In its simplest form,it is a war of production lines. The side which produces the'most planes, tanks, guns, ships and shells is goingto win. Inthe past two and one-half years, American industry and laborhave performed miracles of production. We can't rest onthose laurels. This war is far from being 'won,

"When the long-awaited invasion of the European Con-tinent takes place, unheard of quantities of ammunition andother materiel will be consumed. I can think of no productwhich is more essential to the war than copper, zinc and-lead,used as they are in almost every instrument of war-shells,ships, trucks, communications, to mention only a few. It is upto the plants such as these, and the employee's of those plants,to see that every need of the Armed Forces is met.

"In peacetime one thinks of plant protection as a neces-sary, but not too important factor, in the successful operationof an industrial plant. With the impact of war, it is .vital.

"All-out production must be maintained. The loss oftime through accident or disease, the destruction of productionfacilities by fire, the damage caused by acts of enemy agentsor saboteurs. all adversely affect production of needed material,without which battles will be lost.

"Recognizing those facts, farsighted industries increasedand i5reatly extended the scope of their security programs,

•"The plants which are represented here were among thefirst to recognize the necessity for, and to put into effect, asecurity program. Through the cooperation of all the em-ployees and the management, a program was set up which hasfunctioned with outstanding success. I trust it will continueto so function. I cannot stress enough the danger of lettingdown in our efforts at this time. It is a critical one. Thebattle of production is not yet won, but it will be if we will allcontinue to put forth our very best. and then a little more."

r:

.' ,I

Eugene W. Savage, Assistant Director Montana War Council, was Masterof Ceremonies. After the presentation of the Co~ors. he took over.

Brigadier Ceneral Denson was introduced by Eugene. Savage. Awards werepresented by him. following his talk urging contin.ued teamwork.

F. S. Weimer. Ceneral Superintendent, Creat Falls Reduction Department,accepted the awards for Creat Falls and East Helena from Ceneral Denson.

Kenneth Hammaker, Assistant Regional Director, Office of Civilian Defense,brought greetings from Major Ceneral Ulysses S.Crant, III, Chief.

That's Mary Holman. wife of Art Holman, sitting with Jim Logan whileher husband photographed the crowd. Mike Wynn is there, too•

AFL, CIO and Management representatives turned out to see the awardgiven at Creat Falls in recognition of "Teamwork" in the plants.

..

This shot was taken just as the folks were leaving. Yes. that's Mary EllenWhitaker, in the center. You'll remember her as the cute messen,er Cirl.

Dave Lawlor, shown holding his coat and hat, is in charge of safety at Creatfalls. His expression tells how pleased he is over the Award.

Here's Denis McCarthy, Margaret Loughrin and Fred Oke who have. beenleaders in the Office of Civilian Defense work since its organization.

,-

Long before the show was scheduled to ~art, the crowd started to assemble.There's Sam Treloar, Hal Rahilly, Mike Lacey and wife.

Charles F. Staples, who has been in charge of the war protection of theBa.tte mines and shops, arrived with Company and Army men.

Honoring TeaIDworkON Mond,ay night, March 27, at the American Legion Hallin Buffe, the National Security Award of the Office of CivilianDefense was presented to the Anaconda Copper Mining Com-pany plants at Buffe, Anaconda and Bonner.

As the principal speaker of the evening, Covernor SamC. Ford, representing the Montana War Council, said: "It isgratifying to read the declaration that 'the greatest single factoragainst sabotage in industry can be the understanding andaggressive cooperation of all loyal employees,' because tonight'sawards betoken that cooperation between industry and em-ployees which makes for the best possible protection of theplants during the time of war and gives eloquent testimonyto the loyalty and cooperative spirit of the workers in thoseplants."

Stirring musical selections were presented before the award ceremonies bythe 550th Army Band of the Great Falls Army Base.

The presentation of Colors was made by the Color Cuard, HeadquartersMontana Recruiting and Induction District, U. S. Army.

All stood at attention while the Fifth Army Band played "The Star-SpangledBanner," M/Sgt. Victor T. Nixon directing.

Eugene W. Savage, Assistant Director Montana War Council, was Masterof Ceremonies and introduced Lieutenant Colonel Charles J. Allen.

•

Lieut. Col. Charles J. Allen, Commanding Officef', Eastern Security District,Ninth Service Command, Fort Douglas, was the first speaker.

Lieut. Col. AJlen presented the awards. The first award was given to J. J.Carrigan, Manager of Mines, Mining Division, Butte.

I

W. E. Mitchell, Manager, Reduction Department, Anaconda, accepted theaward for Anaconda when it was presented by Lieut. Col. Allen.

'~W'".~ !-'~f' : ':,,;,I, t

Then came the presentation of the award by ~ieut. Col. Allen to W. C.Lubrecht, Manager, Lumber Department, Bonner.

t

Covernor Sam C. Ford, Chairman, Montana War Council, extended con-gratulatiol!s on the cooperation evidenced in the award.

Next speaker was Kenneth Hammaker, Associate Regional Director, Officeof Civilian Defense, San Francisco, Californja.

We got this shot of Chief of Police Bart Riley and his assistant, John Duggan.along with Boy Scouts active in OCD work, as they were :eaving.

No one seemed to be in a hurry to leave. Small groups of friends gatheredand visited. From the expression they enjoyed themselves.

APRIL 14, 1944. .7.II ,

A T the National Labor-ManagementCommittee exposition held in Washing-ton last month', spotlight of national in-terest was thrown on this movement.

What emerged as the rrlost sig-nificant statement about labor and man-agement cooperation was mad e b yCharles E. Wilson, second in commandof War Production Board under DonaldM. Nelson. Mr. Wilson's remarks,which were published' and carried overthe radio, were to the general effect thatif we are to rebuild any sort of nation,then we must have the fullest possiblecooperation between labor and manage-ment. Labor and manage'ment, he said \in effect, have done 'a remarkable. job 'to,help win the war; they ~ust stick to-gether and work together if we are towin the peace.

. These are no idle mouthings froma politician. Mr. Wilson is no bureau-crat seeking political f~vors. Mr. Wilson

\ happens to be president of General Elec-tric, one of the greatest industrial em-pires in this country. He is on leave fromhis post and is paid one dollar a y.ear. Hewants nothing better than to return toGeneral Electric and has several timesasked permission to do so. He is credited,along with Donald Nelson, with havingmarshaled the great industrial forces ofthis country.. We mention these points becausewe think it is important to bear in mindthe type of man who has made these re-marks about labor-management coopera-tion. He is, in the fullest sense, a "man-agement man." But he knows that thestaggering accomplishments of GeneralElectric could not ha~e been realized un-less industry and lahor in their vast fac-tories had pulled together. He takes thestand, along wit~ many other foresightedAmerican industrialists, that that's theway to get things done properly.

To be perfectly blunt about it, thereis not the slightest question but that

~frictions in inclustry in the past two yearshave cost the lives of American fightingmen-how many we shall never know.But whenever the r e is a productionstoppage or slow-down (and it doesn'tmake any difference which side is re-sponsible for it) , the. final day of victoryis postponed iust that much longer. Thiscold, cruel fact is apparent to a man ofMr. Wilson's intelligence and it is appar-ent to any level-headed, clear-thinkingperson.

People (,-' PlacesTHE c r e w of the bomber "Hell'sAngels" practice as wellas preach "team-work." That's the reason there wereforty missions in "Hell's Angels" overenemy-occupied territory without a me-chanical failure. Conscious as they areof the need of teamwork between laborand management if the vital war ma-terials are to be supplied the boys on thefiring line, the members of the crew par-ticularly wanted to see the Victory Labor-Management exhibit of the AnacondaCopper Mining Company and its Unionrepresentatives which was recently dis-played in Washington and is now ondisplay in the Murray Motor Sales rooms.at the corner of Granite and Main Streets,Butte .: They evidenced great interest in itas did Chief justice Howard A. johnson,Sheriff AI McLeod, Chi'ef of Police BartRiley and his assistant, John Duggan, Cap-tain Butler of Fort Douglas, Mr. johnsonof the Bureau of Mines, Mr. McMillan andMr. Olsen. The picture below shows themafter looking it over. The exhibit itself

. can't be seen very well because of thereflection in the glass, but look over onthe next page and see how it looked whenit was set up in Washington.

W'ASHINGTON LETTERSA great many letters have come in

'complimenting the Labor-ManagementCommittee. j. E. Van Gundy, MiningDivision. War Production Board, wrote:"Your exhibit has received widespreadpraise. The exhibit was well plannedand is appropriately displayed. All whoparticipated in its preparation deservemuch credit as it demonstrates clearlywhat has been accomplished through thecooperation of Management and Labor."

W. A. janssen, Chief, Metals andMinerals Unit. Department of Commerce,stated in his letter: "Today was the first

.....,

real opportunity f have had to corn-fortably enjoy the Anaconda CopperCommando display at the Labor-Man-agement Exhibit. At each other time Ifound myself being jostled about by manyinterested persons. Your Labor-Manage-ment Committee is to be commended forhaving developed a very interesting dis-play. The display very definitely sym-bol izes what a labor-management groupreally can do if they make up their mindsto it and then do it."

. In a letter from John P. Frey, Presi-dent, Metal Trades Department, Amer-ican Federation of Labor. Mr. Frey says:"I purposely looked over the other ex-hibits before visiting the display of theAnaconda Cop per Mining Company.This impressed me as the most effectivein the exposition, both in space and rna-terial. While looking over the exhibita Government representative came alongand said: 'Frey, what do you think of theexhibit?' I replied that it was the mostcomplete that I had seen. 'Well,' hesaid, 'it is something more than that, forAnaconda Copper Mining Company madethe most satisfactory progress with labor-management cooperation.' It made astrong impression to have a Governmentofficial make this statement. It indi-cated the extent to which managementand labor in the A. C. M. Company had~een able to put thei r heads together to.increase production."

F. H. Hayes, Acting Chief, PrimaryProduction Branch, Copper Division,wrote: "I attended the opening session.and was very much impressed by theAnaconda exhibit. It seemed to me thatthe presentation of exhibits and materialwas splendid and indicated very closecooperation between labor and manage-ment in the operation of the Anaconda1 ..pants.

-

•

..

• <Ii

,

We Makethe Grade

Anaconda entry at the f!rst NationalLabor-Management Production Exposi-tion, held in Was-hington in Marc,h, at-tracted interested crowds, and many ob-servers hailed ,it as the best exhibit ofthem all.

-

IN stiff competition with exhibits fromallover the country, the display of theLabor-Management Committees of theAnaconda Copper Mining Company andits Union representatives came throughwith flying colors. COPPER COMMAN-DO, as the official newspaper of the com-mittees at Butte, Anaconda. Great Fallsand East Hele;;a. "covered" the show and'came away with the impression that. inthe view· of the visitors who attended.ours was the best.

The display, which was built fromscratch at the Anaconda Carpenter Shopin Butte under the direction of ArthurLinforth, was shipped to the nation'scapital in late February, in time for theopening of the exposition in the Depart-ment of Commerce building auditoriumon February 28. The show ran twoweeks.

The local Labor-Management Com-mittees' -exhibit occupied one of the fourkey posts in the hall. In many respectsit was the best space, for it command:dthe immediate attention of everyone whoentered the auditorium. Other out-standing exhibits included those of the1'nternational Harvester Co .. which wasbeside ours; International Business Ma-chines Corp.; Curtiss-Wright Corp.:Western Electric Co.; Westinghouse Elec-tric and Manufacturing Co., and severalmore. All in all, about 500 committeeswere represented, half with so-called"live" exhibits and the remainderthrough special exhibit reports. The ex-hibits overflowed the main auditorium,making it necessary for many of the ex-hibitors to display their wares in thelobby and in corridors. -

Opening night brought a number ofleaders in public and industrial life to thehall. and COPPER COMMANDO wasable to obtain a number of pictures ofthese prominent people as they viewedthe exhibits. Their pictures are shownin connection with this report.

The Anaconda exhibit was divided in-to three major parts: The main areashowed, in an educational and interest-ing manner. the Montana operations; thenext largest areas showed the activitiesof the four Victory Labor-ManagementProduction Committees, and the thirdareas were devoted to COPPER COM-MANDO. Serving on the ExpositionSub-committee with Mr. Linforth wereCharles Gardner, representing the ButteMiners' Union; John Bird of the Electri-cians' Union, representing A. F. L., andW. J. McMahon, general secretary of theButte commi ttee.

Here's the Labor-Management Committees' exhibit as s.hown at the National Labor-Management Production ~xp05ition in the Department of Commerce Building.

Charles Wilson, Executive Vice Chairman of WPB, right, and Ceorge Westfeld ofAmerican Brass inspect Anaconda's Labor-Management CommiHees' exhibit.

P. C. Spilsbury, left, ACM consulting engineer, chats with Herb Heasley, RaymondBellamy. T. K. Quinn, Tom Hand and W. E. Chalmers of Drive Headquarters.

HERE'S Sergeant John R. Kosilla (with bomb). Master Sergeant Fabian S. Folmer and Captain John R. Johnston standing by Hell's Angels.

The Flying Fortress Hell's Angels looked like a flying autograph book, with all avail-able space covered with signatures of airmen who remained in England. Too, therewere paintings of forty-eight bombs, representing the p I a n e's completed in,issions,eighteen swastikas, the number of Cerman planes shot down by its gunners, and its per-sonal emble~ painted on one side--a winged figure looking less like an angel than acupid o~ roller skates. Here's the history of the bomber, as told by the crewmen at theLabor-Management meeting.

Two of the former pilots of Hell's Angels,Captain Irl Baldwin and Captain John R. Johnston,and its ground Crew of six, M/Sgt:'Fabian Folmer,Sgt. John R. Kosilla, S/Sgt. Ernest H. Touhey, Sgt.Wilson Fairfield, T/Sgt. Edward A. West, Jr., and$ISgt. Kasmer Wegrzyn were aboard the bomberwhen it lanced in Butte. These eight men in in-formal meetings with the Labor-ManagementCommittees of Butte and Anaconda gave a newmeaning to the word "teamwork". There's realteamwork between the men who fly and theground crew who make it possible for them to fly.The pilots give all credit to the ground crew andthe ground crew gives all credit to the pilots forthe forty-eight successful bombing missions inEurope. The following story is told by them:Captain Baldwin: "First of all I would like tomention that these men here are the membersof the ground crew who keep the ship flying. Cap-tain Johnston and I are the fliers. We started outfrom the States and flew over to England.

"1.'11tell you of one particular mission. It wasaround 3 :30 in the morning when we were called.We had breakfast and were briefed on the tar-get; the fighters we might encounter and theenemy flight positions we would want to avoid.Then we went out to the plane. We took off and

got in formation. We were approaching the tar-get over 20,000 feet when they started shootingup flak. Flak is anti-aircraft shells that aretimed to explode. We headed for the target. Forthe first time the fighters came through theirown flak to shoot at us. There were about eightythat day, which was one of the earlier raids andeighty was a lot to us then. One plane was hit byflak and it blew off the nose, setting the nose,wheels, and wing on fire. The plane started losingaltitude. The fighters were all coming in, Everygun on that plane was still shooting. None of themen got out of it. Just about the same time on theleft a plane got it in the engines which causedthem to fall out of formation. They can't keep upthe air speeds so they start dropping back. Assoon as they get out of formation, fighters comein around like flies. and they don't stand a chance.About the same time another ship got a direct hitby a 20 mm shell which killed the pilot and co-pilot) didn't watch this plane, but the other boyssaw it crash. That was four planes in about fourseconds. By this time we had dropped our bombsover the target and turned around and startedback out. As soon as we got out ever the waterthe fighters left so we got home.

"We had six men on the ground crew fromthe time it landed in England to the present time.

They did such good work that we never had toturn around for any mechanical failures or diffi-culties of that sort. I would like to introduceCaptain Johnston who flew the last missions andflew it back 10 the States."Captain Johnston: "I think you all understandthat all our operations were done in the daytime.Usually when we had a raid during the day, theboys of the ground crew worked for sixteen hoursout of the twenty-four to get the ship in readi-ness. It is the job of the ground crews to keep theship in a flying status at all times. Usually weknow the night before. Ninety per cent of thework on the ships is done at night. They don'thave hangars to work in. England is everythingyou read about it. It is cold, 'damp, and foggy.

'The Schweinjurt raid was one raid I wason. It was in August. That raid was one of thelongest and deepest penetrations. That day I re-call we were briefed for 360 single engine and385 twin engine fighters en route to our target.I was in the leading group and was one of thefirst over the target. This .raid was a maximumeffort. We had everything up we could put inthe air. At that time we didn't have too manyships over there. In fact, I have talked to some.of the fliers that have returned here recently and

J

HERE'S Captain John R. Johnston, Master Sergeant Fabian Fol~er, andCaptain Ir' E. Baldwin talking to Marg Sammons upon arrival.

they say there is' really a shortage of planes, somany of them have bien shot up. It is hard forthe American people to imagine this. We lose 48or 60 B-17 or liberators and that is not the com-plete loss for So many are disabled that it takes amonth or longer before they get back on combatstatus. Sixty planes with ten men, that is 600 menlost. On many of the ships that do return thegunner, navigator, pilot or others are killed orwounded. The loss hasn't been too bad but it issomething that people don't realize. Speaking ofthis Schweinjurt raid, on that mission it was al-most eight hours from the time we took off tothe time we landed back. We encountered prac-tically everything we were briefed on; in fact, wefought our way in and fought our way out. Thatwas the day twin-engined fighters started usingrockets. They would burst right in front of us andwe didn't know what in the world they were. Itdidn't look like flak. I recall looking off to myside right after we had passed Frankfort. We werewell in Germany at the time I saw sixteen com-ing in. I saw three B-I7's explode in mid-air. V;lehad a pretty good run on Our target. Incidentally,the target was a ball-bearing factory. It was pro-ducing well over sixty per cent of the bearingsused by the Germans. As we made our run, wecould see the other ships dropping their bombs.It was only a matter of minutes until that factorywas in flames. The smoke was almost one milehigh.

"The altitude that we fly on our missions isw~1Iabove 20,000 feet. The temperature is usu-ally 50 below zero. If there is electrical troublewith the flying suits--especially those of tailorwaist gunners-unless the gunner gets his auxil-iary equipment working, he will freeze to deathinside of seconds. Many of the boys have theirfingers cut off where they were frozen. I thinkthe Germans are very good fighters and I thinkeveryone respects them. They are a long way frombeing whipped. I don't think the battle has even ...started yet.

"I would like to tell you a little somethingabout the ground crew here. They have been to-gether about two years as a team, have spent

AN old-time' miner, a miner loaned from Homestake and Reverend Logeewere caught chatting with the crew of Hell's Angels at the Butte Airport.

about eighteen months on Hell's Angels. Duringthat time Hell's Angels has' been very fortunateOver two hundred holes in it have been patchedby Sergeant Wegrzyn and crew. It has had nine-teen engine changes. It has to its credit eighteenGerman fighters and it went on its first fortyraids without ever turning back due to a me-chanical failure. The crew chief has been award-ed the Legion of Merit, which is the fourth high-est award that can be awarded to a man. Iwould like to introduce. you to Master SergeantFolmer of Mansfield, Ohio."Master Sergeant Folmer: "I can't tell any hair-raising experiences about flying over Germany butprobably a lot of you wonder just what our workis. When a machine is returned, as CaptainJohnston has said, our primary thought is to havethat ship ready to go in the shortest possible time.The more planes the more bombs we can drop onGermany. The ships land after dark, but if it isat all possible for it to be put in commission forthe next day it is done. The boys do it willingly.The ground crews usually have a contest on to seehow many times their ship can be put back readyfor missions. Three airplanes, including ours, hadthe highest record. One of those ships has overseventy missions to its credit, so those boys aredoing a real job.Sergeant West: "1 will never forget when theships come back from the raids. They come overthe field Circling and some of them drop redflares. They aren't doing that just for fun. Thosered flares mean that there are dead or woundedon the ship. All attention is given to that ship.The crews all rush out to give blood or do what-ever is necessary. Those ships have the priorityof landing. The planes circle the field until thoseships have been taken care of. Then the groundcrews go back to their own ships. There is a loudspeaker system at headquarters that reaches everybui Iding. The plane gives the information to thehospital as to what type of blood is needed andall the boys get out their dog tags to see what typeof blood he has. If they have that type they justtake off for the hospital right away. Our barrackswere about half a mile from the hospital and by

the time we got away you couldn't get within 500yards of the hospital. -Master Sergeant Folmer: "You often read abouthow these ships com'e back. Sergeant Wegrzyn,will you give the people an idea just how muchdamage can be done to a ship by flak?"Sergeant Wegrzyn: "The yerman 20·.mm shelland rocket is an explosive shell and its destructive.power is very great. When it penetrates the skin,which is aluminum sheet metal, it leaves a cleanhole, but when it gets inside it explodes andwrecks everything. The shrapnel embeds itselfin everything. It is a hard job to replace muchof the equipment that is wrecked for a lot of theforming has to be done by hand for we haven'tany machines to form bulkheads and such. Thereare no machine shops to take care of all that.When we first got over there, the "U" boat war-fare was pretty tough and a lot of our ships weregetting sunk. We didn't have any aluminum. Weused to go around to the mess hall where theyhad tin cans 'and gather them up and we used tincans to patch up the holes. Flak is anti-aircraftfire. It i!>timed and explodes at certain height.-The destructive area of the flak is 50 yards."Master Sergeant Folmer: "There is probably onequestion we have been asked more than anyother: How do you feel since you came back? Ithink I can speak for the rest of the boys here.Those posters may look like a piece of paper buton those posters is what we all feel (posters on

-the board of the four freedoms). When we leftfor overseas we might have had an automobile oranyone thing-s-nota big thing. Most of us tookit for granted. When you get over there youthink about those things and can't have them.Then you realize what a swell place this is to livein. We have often talked about teamwork .. Youthink you are not doing anything. People likeyou are the ones that are affording us these privi-leges. The people here have treated us swell,given us what we need to fight with. With goodpilots like Captain Baldwin and Captain Johnstonand the swell bunch of people here, there is noreason why this country can't come out on top.We had it and we are going to keep it."

THOUSANDS of people from Butte and the surrounding country drove tothe BuHe Airport to lee the much publicized Hell's Angels.

CHILDREN crowded around the famous pilots, Captain Baldwin and Cap.tail\ Johnston, and the six members of the ,round crew seekin, autograph ..

...

BrassMill

YOU wi II probably remember our tell-ing you about how cartridge brass ismade in long thin coils at Waterbury.When these coils are finished. some ofthem are shipped to Torrington for themanufacture of 30 caliber cups. Theseare made of cartridge brass, composed of. nominally seventy per cent copper andthirty per cent zinc.. In the top left pic-ture Bill Griffiths is running a coil into thecupping press for cartridge cups for Gar-and rifles; in the picture at the right astrip of metal is shown coming out of thepress after the cups have been stamped.with Louie Sedor standing at the machine.

,\ .

Our fighting forces use a tremedousnumber of 30 ealibee cartridges and themill at Torrington turns out cartridgecups in vast quantities. Here i$ the story.

It is amazing to see the number ofcups manufactured there. After they"'have been stamped out. the cups gothrough a giant cleaning and annealingoperation which is impossible to photo-graph because of the fact that it is en- \S.

closed. But in the picture at the lowerright, we see the discharge end of the fur- ,nace with the cups being pushed into'barrels for shipment. That is Percy Smithat the left; Henry Fritz is the man in thebackground and that is Gilbert Pustingerin the right foreground. In the pictureat the lower left. Mrs. Ann Miller, aninspector for the Ordnance Branch. WarDepartment. is seen examining the cups.

I' '

v