VC and captives celebrate release
SAIGON — (UPI) — Two American civilians released from Viet Cong captivity revealed today the Communists gave them a warm sendoff which included singing, partying and a priceless gift—a certificate granting them immunity from recapture for 15 days.
Robert W. Monahan, 41, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Thomas R. Scales, 45, Matamoras, Pa., told newsmen that in their seven months of captivity they had only one close brush with death. That was during an attack by U.S. planes.
THE MEN, both construction workers, were weak and weary, but nevertheless in good spirits as they described their ordeal of roaming through South Viet Nam jungles, living and working like Viet Cong.
They said it was their singing which literally helped save their lives. The Viet Cong had set a "good attitude" as a requirement for release, and the Americans tried to display a cheerful outlook by song.
"We sang 'Jingle Bells,'' Wild Irish Rose,' anything we thought of," Scales said.
He said shortly before their release, "each of us had to sing and give our views of how we were treated." The Viet Cong then agreed to free them, and threw a farewell party.
Scales said there was "liceorce type whiskey" and "they gave us tobacco, molasses and peanuts." Then, the guerrillas came up and congratulated them on their release and presented the Americans with the certificates.
Stolen paintings found under a bed and bush
LONDON — (UPI) — Rembrandt and Rubens were found stuffed under a rumpled bed in a filthy ramshackle room. The neon glow from the brassy dives blinked at the window.
Scotland Yard detectives gingerly lifted the three canvases, worth perhaps $4 million. On the Soho street below, urchins begged pennies from passersby.
History's biggest art theft was en route to a climax.
HOURS LATER, a young London drifter was charged with stealing eight masterpieces worth $8.4 million.
Nobody really knew why.
Michael Hall, 32, was to be formally arraigned in magistrate's court later today. He was arrested and charged by Scotland Yard detectives last night, only hours
after all eight paintings were recovered. Underworld tipsters were said to have aided both the recovery and capture.
Police believed two persons were responsible. One had art knowledge keen enough to snatch the best of the 300 paintings displayed.
Three of the paintings—including the most valuable of the lot, Rembrandt's "Girl at a Window"
—were found under a rumpled bed. The other five were found under a holly bush in a public park two miles from the Dulwich Gallery.
Daily Kansan Thursday, January 5.1967
War deaths mount in'66
SAIGON—(UPI)—U.S. military officials reported today that more than 5,000 American servicemen were killed in Viet Nam fighting during 1966.
In another comparison pointing to escalation of the war, U.S. spokesmen reported that there were 389,000 American fighting men in Viet Nam at the end of 1966. Troop strength rose throughout the year at a rate of about 4,000 per month.
The breakdown reported on the number of U.S. servicemen in Viet Nam at year's end included: Army 244,000, Navy 23,- 000, Marine Corps 68,000, Air Force 54,000 and 400 Coast Guardmen.
EGLIN AFB, Fla.—(UPI)—An Air Force Phantom jet fighter chased a runaway U.S. missile 90 miles firing antiaircraft missiles and cannon Wednesday in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy it before it reached Cuba.
Jet pursues missile
The unarmed missile—an outdated Mace being used as a drone target—was only damaged by the fighter and passed over the western tip of Cuba at 25,000 feet before crashing into the Caribbean Sea.
Launched from the air proving grounds at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle Wednesday morning, the missile was supposed to circle over the Gulf of Mexico where two F4 Phantom
jets were to shoot it down in a fighter-interceptor test.
IT VEERED OFF course, however, and headed straight for Cuba. An emergency effort to fire the missile's destruct system, which would have destroyed the rocket in flight, failed.
The missile had no warhead, but could have touched off an international incident had it crashed on the Communist island of Premier Fidel Castro.
To forestall this possibility, the State Department quickly asked the Swiss ambassador in Havana to explain the circumstances of the wayward missile to the Cuban government.
Deep snow, strong winds down fliers, trap climbers
FAIRPLAY, Colo. — (UPI) — Searchers on foot and in the air resume today a search of a rugged mountain in snowy, bitterly cold weather for a crashed private plane with five persons aboard.
An Illinois family of four and their pilot apparently survived the crash yesterday on the desolate, storm-swept 14,037-foot Mt. Sherman. A brief radioed distress call said two persons were injured.
WINDS GUSTING to more than 80 miles an hour, snow drifts over 20 feet deep and sub-zero temperatures frustrated attempts to reach the downed craft.
MOOSE, Wyo. — (UPI) Winds of 60 miles an hour, subzero temperatures and stinging, blinding snow trapped a party of 10 mountain climbers for six days in a tiny hut near the top of picturesque Grand Teton mountain.
More than 200 searchers—including two Ft. Carson giant helicopters carrying medical and mountain climbing teams—planned to comb this central Colorado mountain area for the lost aircraft.
Two of the ten reached a ranger station at Grand Teton National Park yesterday. The other eight camped at Moose Meadow, five miles from the nearest road, and planned to come out late this afternoon.
THE TWO MEN who came out said the other climbers were tired, but uninjured. They said the fierce storms forced them back after they got within 300 feet of the peak of the 13,766-foot mountain.
The mountaineers, led by Paul Petzoldt of Lander, Wyo., had not been heard from in eight days. They were two days overdue when radio contact finally was made late yesterday.
Police guard Ruby body
CHICAGO — (UPI) — Police alerted for "trouble" today guarded the body of Jack Ruby, who his family died of neglect and "mental anguish" while in a Dallas jail.
As final preparations were made for tomorrow morning's service, Hershey Weinstein, president of the Original Weinstein and Son Funeral Home, told police he received a "threatening" person-to-person telephone call from Dallas.
"You could possibly have trouble," Weinstein said the male caller said. "You'd better have security."
THE RUBY FAMILY charged that Dallas authorities contributed to Ruby's death by ignoring his health. Dallas city officials denied the charges but Dr. Eugene Frenkel, who treated him for cancer, said symptoms of Ruby's cancer apparently developed undetected while he languished in jail.
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