SUNK BY BOMB

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24066, 10 September 1941, Page 7

SUNK BY BOMB

ATTACK FROM AIR AMERICAN FREIGHTER KKII SEA INCIDENT (Reed. 12.50 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. P The State Department announced to-day that the American freighter Steel Seafarer, of 5719 tons, was sunk in the Red Sea by an aerial bomb on Sunday. The aircraft which dropped the bomb was not identified. All hands are sat'e. Large quantities of war materials have been shipped to the British armies through the Red Sea recently in American freighters, President Roosevelt having allowed them to use these waters since the British drove the Italians from their African colonies bordering the lied Sea. It is predicted that when Mr. Roosevelt makes his broadcast on Thursday he will warn Germany and Italy that America insists on the freedom of the seas. He is expected to ask Congress, or at least to prepare the people, for an amendment to the Neutrality Act and a stiffer maritime policy. COURAGEOUS AIRMAN COMRADE'S LIFE SAVED FIRE INSIDE A BOMBER LONDON, Sept. 8

How a South African air gunner saved a comrade's life and won the Distinguished I' lying Medal is told b\ the British official wireless. Francis Joubert was one of the two members of the crew in a Maryland bomber which was set on fire by Nazi fighters. His fellow gunner was badly wounded. Flames spread rapidly through the machine, and eventually the order was given to abandon the aircraft. With great courage Joubert went to the assistance of his helpless wounded partner, assisting him from the turret to the escape hatch. He was again in difficulty when the wounded man's parachute harness became tangled in the mechanism of the gun, but he solved this by dropping both gun and wounded man through the hatch. As he did so his own ripcord caught in the gun and his parachute immediately opened inside the aircraft. Grasping the folds of the parachute in his arms Joubert jumped, but it was a long while before his parachute opened. Even then it was found to have a number of holes burned in it from the fire inside the aircraft. FILM INQUIRY PROPAGANDA ALLEGATIONS (Reed. 7.10 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Sept. 9 Mr. Wendell Willkie. on behalf of the motion picture industry, told a committee of the Senate that the industry is disputing the legality of the inquiry into the allegations made that films are being used as pro-war propaganda. But. nevertheless, it intends to produce witnesses to protect the good name of fiitn producers. The Fight for Freedom Committee denounced the inquiry as "the most barefaced attempt at censorship and racial persecution that has ever been tried." Senator Bennett Clark thereupon denounced the Fight for Freedom Committee as an organisation making no secret of its determination to involve the United States in a bloody and useless war.

ENVOY TO INDO CHINA (Real. 11.1"> p.m.) TOKIO. -Sept. M Mr. Kenkiclii Yoshizawa, former Foreign .Minister, has been appointed Japanese Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary to French Indo-China, as a result of "the increasingly friendly relations following the conclusion of the joint defence pact." lie will be empowered to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the Gov-ernor-General and also will be head of various Japanese organisations in Indo- ( hina.