March 25, 1942 – News Of The World – NBC – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
March 25, 1942 – Continuing on the heels of the arrival of General Douglas MacArthur to Australia, first reports from NBC Correspondents in Canberra told of MacArthur’s arrival at Parliament as guest of Prime Minister John Curtin for what promised to be a knock-down-drag-out session of this governing body. According to reports, it did not disappoint. Staying an hour and a half longer than his allotted time, MacArthur remarked that,” if the Australians fought as well as they argued, Allied victory in the Pacific was assured”.
Meanwhile, Soviet Ambassador Ivan Maisky called for a second front to be opened by the allies which he predicted would end the war quicker. Ironically, only weeks earlier, General De Gaulle was asking for the same thing, in using almost exactly the same words. There was a movement afoot to open a second front, but timing above all was everything. British bombers went on a full-assault of the Ruhr region of Germany including the newest and biggest types of bombers being developed in Britain, and results of the raid were said to be good. It was disclosed that men would be conscripted for the Home Guard; those part-time soldiers who would hold each locality in case of invasion or guard the country while regular mobile forces are sent abroad.
And word from Washington was that, coming soon would be an announcement that an all-out mobilization of war workers for war work would begin; turning the entire man and woman workforce in America into war production channels in order to achieve 100% defense work. The idea of a selective-service type draft for workers was mentioned, but nothing was formalized. But some kind of mobilzation was needed and it was likely to happened within the coming weeks.
And that was just a part of what was going on, this March 25th in 1942 as presented by NBC’s News Of The World.
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