Americans To Strike Japs With Overwhelming Force

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 119, 22 May 1945, Page 5

Americans To Strike Japs With Overwhelming Force

Rec. 11.30. WASHINGTON, May 21. "American forces are preparing to strike the Japanese with overwhelming force," President Truman told a joint session of Congress when presenting the Congressional Medal of Honour to 24-year-old Technical Sergeant Jake Lindsey, the. 100 th infantryman to receive the decoration in" thia war. "Through - him," President- Truman said/'' we pay a grateful nation's tribute to the courage of our fighting men;- Sergeant- Lindsey's inspiring deeds - on the battlefield require no further praise from any man! No officer ordered Sergeant Lindsey to stand • alone against a company of the, enemy. No officer ordered him, when wounded, to engage eight. Germans in hand-to-hand combat. Those decisions were a flash of nobility which we like 1 to think is a part of every American. "Since the beginning of this war 223 Medals of Honour have been awarded—l 62 to the Army, 33 to the iNavy, 27 to the Marines and one to

the Coast Guard. Fifty of the 100 medals awarded s to infantrymen have be6n. for acts performed in the field :and it seems fitting in this symbolic ceremony :that we should honour the infantryman. There is little glamour in his service. He faces not only the enemy before him, but also cold, heat, rain, snow, dust and mud. He endures and rises above them to such valorous deeds as those we celebrate. "This occasion follows complete victory in Europe and finds us striking devastating blows in the Pacific. We are preparing to strike them later in overwhelming force." "President Truman joined in the applause when Sergeant Lindsey, accompanied by General George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, accepted the medal. It was the first time such a presentation had been made at a session of Congress. General Marshall was overheard, during the applause, whispering to Sergeant Lindsey: "Give 'em a bow." •