WW2 Chapter 36 - Newspaper Reports (October 23-24, 1944)

 

AP News Article (underlined by his parents)

Franklin’s family must have anxiously waited for delivery of the newspaper each day for any information about the 7^th Infantry Division.

Al Dopking, a correspondent with the Associated Press, bravely accompanied the 7th during some of their operations. However, what little information was released to the public was probably heavily censored by the military.

AP Report, Oct. 23, 1944:  “Correspondent Al Dopking, on the southern front, reported that Yank Seventh Infantry troops, led by tanks, were moving up the open valley inland from Dulag where one of the first American Beachheads was established.”

AP Report, Oct. 24:   “Doughboys of the Seventh division struggled through dense undergrowth under a broiling sun to take the San Pablo field. Their circuitous march of 12 miles represented an advance of seven miles. They were paced by medium tanks which knocked out light enemy opposition, leaving only rearguard snipers to be wiped out by the infantry.”