Jesting Admiral

Copy from Admiral Nimitz' press conference at Pearl Harbor clacked monotonously on one of the Associated Press's San Francisco teletypes. Suddenly a side item from Pearl Harbor set another teletype going. Bureau Manager Harold Turnblad whistled in surprise as he read: "Powerful Allied naval forces have attacked a portion of the Japanese fleet lying at anchor near the entrance to Fusan Harbor on the southeast coast of Korea . . . 26 of approximately 80 ships . . . were set afire . . . more than 70 Japanese vessels, including warships and transports, were . . . sunk."

Turnblad got off a bulletin over the A.P. domestic wire. Then the Honolulu teletype bucked and started again with the last line of the attack story, quoting Admiral Nimitz: "This communique, incidentally, is dated late June, 1592." Turnblad's whistle died. He fired a stop order after his bulletin, soon enough to catch the newspapers, but too late to prevent a broadcast over some San Francisco stations.

Later the red-faced A.P. explained to press and radio editors: "The Honolulu dispatch . . . gave no indication that Nimitz was jesting until transmission of the text of his simulated communique had been completed. The bulletin was killed . . . the moment the San Francisco cable desk discovered the Admiral was . . . quoting medieval history."

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