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2 COMMAND REPORT

Three FAF Bases Publish Papers

THIRD STRIKE has become the official publication of Atsugi AAB following a recent change of publishers which occured when the base Information and Education Office took over the job of putting out the paper.
Formerly published by the Third Bomb Group (L), the transfer was necessary due to an acute shortage of qualified personnel in that organization. Not much better off in the "enlisted manpower" situation, Base I & E has tackled the job in hopes of putting out a "bang-up" newspaper through the use of its extensive news coverage possibilities.
Bearing the brunt of the burden in making the paper a success is Second Lieutenant Ted Guerin, assistant I & E officer. Up to now, Guerin practically has been doing a one-man job of preparing the four page sheet for final printing. Relying on his limited commercial art background and knowledge of printing and make-up, he also interviews, writes, shoots and develops pictures, designs and edits the majority of the material to be published. Following the axiom "one picture is worth a thousand words," Lieutenant Guerin plans to feature pictures and art work to dress up the paper for its readers.
Base news, pin-ups, inquiring photographer, tourist and sightseeing information, sports and cartoons constitute the major portions of THIRD STRIKE which will continue as a bi-monthly.
THIRD STRIKE replaces the tri-weekly mimeographed newspaper, AIRVIEW.
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Base Two of the Fifth Fighter Command has changed the name of its daily publication from SERVICE HERALD to BASE TWO HERALD.
Published by the 58th Air Service Group and originally intended for the personnel of that organization only, is has now graduated from a unit to a base paper. The Herald intends to publish a weekly Saturday Supplement which will give latest Stateside information and other topics of current interest.

Base One and other VFC units receive their information and news from the Command's daily paper, FIGHTER COVER, which likewise publishes a special Saturday Supplement.
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The "invader", base newspaper of Johnson Field has recently changed its name and now appears as the "Guidon."

The new name, chosen from a large number submitted in a one-week contest open to the officers and men of the base, was submitted by T/4 Yasuo Koyanagi of the 386th Air Service Squadron.

The old "Invader" (with the capital "I") began publication in New Guinea as the base newspaper of Fifth Air Force Headquarters and continued at every stop from New Guinea to Irumagawa on the long haul to Tokyo. When the Fifth moved to Tokyo the paper remained behind as the Irumagawa AAB publication.

T/4 Koyanagi, a Nisei from Fresno, California, in submitting his suggestion for the new name wrote, "It ("Guidon") exemplifies the aim of our occupation, as we lead this nation towards a peaceful way of living, and democratic rule."

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[[image: 5]]
COMMAND REPORT
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FIFTH AIR FORCE
COMMAND REPORT is published weekly by Fifth Air Force Headquarters under the supervision of the Public Relations Office and Information and Education Section. Distribution is free to Army personnel.

Editorial and business office, 4th floor, Meiji Building. News and editorial, phone Meiji 232; business and circulation, phone Meiji 532. Address all correspondence to COMMAND REPORT, Fifth Air Force Headquarters, APO 710. COMMAND REPORT receives Camp Newspaper Service material. Republication of credited matter prohibited without permission of CNS, 205 E. 42nd St., N.Y.C. 17. Printed by Dai-Nippon Printing Co., Tokyo
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[[image: photo of burning Japanese ship]]
[[caption: SCENES LIKE this, showing a Japanese freighter burning in the foreground and another sunk in the upper right, became commonplace when the Fifth Air Force launched an offensive on Rabaul Harbor, later to be called the "American Pearl Harbor Day."
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[[boxed logo]] The Fighting Fifth [/boxed logo]]

In the late summer of 1942 the Solomons campaign was started. Like the Papuan campaign, its immediate objective was the security of Australia. But the Jap invasion of Guadalcanal and other islands of the Solomons endangered the entire push back to the Philippines to a critical degree.

Guadalcanal had to be retaken.

AAF planes, later to be formed into the Thirteenth Air Force, launched attacks from Espiritu Santu on Jap Positions on Guadalcanal and Tulagi while planes of the future Fifth Air Force struck at Rabaul.  Navy and marine flyers ranged up and down the Solomons, striking at shipping and at air fields, preparing for the day of invasion. On August 7 the marines went ashore on Guadalcanal.

For three months they battled the Japs on little better than even terms. Allied strength was barely adequate and the enemy kept pouring reinforcements in from Rabaul. But incessant serial and naval patrol and attacks on shipping, gradually cut into the Japs ability to bolster their failing troops and turned the tide of battle.

By late October we had air superiority and by mind-November heavy bombers were flying from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The battle was won and mopping up completed in February, 1943.

Guadalcanal was followed by the invasion of the New Georgia Islands and Bougainville. These steps put Rabaul within easy fighter range of the Thirteenth Air Force. But Bougainville was not taken easily. Ground fighting, like that on Guadalcanal was bitter and costly. the enemy struck with his full air power again and again, but as in New Guinea, the U.S. Flyers were his masters.

They had met overwhelming numbers and by out-flying and out-thinking the enemy, had racked up rations of 10, 20, and even 30 to 1 destroyed. By late 1943 pyramiding enemy losses coupled with mounting U.S. production made it clear that destruction of the Jap Air Force was only a matter of time.
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49ers Qualify for Lifetime TS Card

It was a sad day for the 49th Fighter Group when it moved from its new base near Atsugi to Chitose, Hokkaido recently. Sad! Because the 49ers had just completed three months hard work on the base and didn't get to enjoy the resulting comforts.

Just two weeks before the big move the officers had moved into their new Officers' Mess and bar. Both had been built by the officers and Japanese carpenters from the ground up. Flight Officer Elmer Brooks, of Mesa, Arizona, chief constructionist, figured that the big 130'x40' mess hall alone would have cost $20,000 to build back in the States.

Interior of the building was a knotty pine, stained finish with semi-indirect lighting behind frosted glass set in the ceiling. Soft cushioned chairs set officers in "Class A's" up to white clothed tables as Japanese waiters in white jackets strutted around giving quick, courteous service. Then at one end of he dining hall was a lounge with 20 upholstered chairs and eight soft divans. Steam heat made the building a favorite spot to catch up on the much discussed "occupation fat-catting."

Just a few steps through a hall was "Auger Inn," the fashionable and latest in cozy bars. Easy chairs and divans set around low tables under the dim colored lights made a perfect setting for "when are we going home" or "why do we have to move" discussions. Those who couldn't stand to talk about "it" propped themselves up to the graciously curved bar on a high bar stool for "have one on me."

The officers got only 15 days and nights enjoyment of their hard earned comforts. Enlisted men in the 49th sacrificed postponed luxurious surroundings for "not so luxurious" but immediate comfort in their mess hall and club. But even so, the new replacements just comming into the group in January expressed pleasant surprise that "this mess hall is finer than any we had in the States." Enlisted men, too, ate off white table-cloths and chinaware and served themselves cafeteria style - which they preferred. However, they used Jap waiters to fill their plates and cups with "seconds" and clear the dishes from the tables.

But all these comforts were left behind when the 49th moved to Hokkaido where the group figured it would have to start all over again to  make things comfy.
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GIs Mob PX Opening
FUKUOKA, KYUSHU - Candy-loving GIs turned a sneak opening of the Fifth Fighter Command Base II PX into a bargain-counter scramble for purchases recently.

"The ideal of the opening," Lieutenant Otis Dixon, PX officer, ruefully stated, "was to try out our Japanese clerks on a few customers so they could learn the ropes without confusion, but they got an ordeal from GIs who hadn't seen the inside of a PX for some time. The word certainly spread fast"