Doris Johnstone & Ann Stringer | GSMC Classics: Soldiers of the Press

Welcome to GSMC Classics, your portal to the past where timeless tales come to life! Join us as we embark on another captivating journey through history with "Soldiers of the Press," a riveting war drama series that held audiences spellbound during World War II.  

Narrated by correspondents from the United Press, including the distinguished voices of Walter Cronkike and Harrison Salisbury, "Soldiers of the Press" provided a crucial link to the recent news and action unfolding during one of the most turbulent periods in modern history.  

In this rebroadcast presented by GSMC Classics, we shine a spotlight on the remarkable contributions of Doris Johnstone and Ann Stringer, two courageous journalists whose stories deserve to be heard. Amidst the chaos and uncertainty of war, they fearlessly reported from the front lines, providing a voice to the voiceless and shining a light on the human cost of conflict.  

Join us as we delve into the archives to uncover some of Johnstone and Stringer's most compelling broadcasts, offering a glimpse into the triumphs and tragedies of wartime journalism. From the trenches to the home front, their words resonate with a timeless relevance that continues to inspire us today.  

But "Soldiers of the Press" is more than just a recounting of historical events; it's a celebration of the indomitable spirit of the human soul and the enduring legacy of those who risked everything to bring the truth to light. Through Johnstone and Stringer's lens, we gain a deeper appreciation for the courage and resilience of those who bore witness to history.  

Don't miss the rebroadcast of this unforgettable episode on our YouTube channel, Apple Podcast, JioSaavn, and Deezer, and experience the magic of "GSMC Classics: Soldiers of the Press" as we honor the legacy of Doris Johnstone, Ann Stringer, and the brave men and women who shaped the course of history through their words and deeds.  

We would like to thank our Sponsor: GSMC Podcast Network
Advertise with us: https://gsmcpodcast.com/advertise-with-us
Website: https://gsmcpodcast.com/gsmc-classics-soldiers-of-the-press/
GSMC Podcast Network YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@gsmcpodcastnetwork
GSMC Sports Network YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GSMCSportsNetwork. GSMC Entertainment Network YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GSMCEntertainmentNetwork GSMC News Network YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GSMCNEWSNETWORK

Disclaimer: GSMC Podcast Network presents these shows as historical content and have brought them to you unedited. Remember that times have changed and some shows might not reflect the standards of today’s society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Golden State Media Concepts or the GSMC Podcast Network. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and give you a glimpse into the past.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Golden State Media Concepts presents the GSMCClassic Series with episodes of some of your
favorites from a Day gone By,a Time gone By. Join us as
we time travel to some of yourclassic favorites from yesteryear. The GSMC Podcast
Network invites you to sit back,relax, and enjoy the GSMC Classic Series

(00:26):
on the Golden State Media Concepts PodcastNetwork. This week hide Out. On
one of our recent programs, wetold you the story of the liberation of

(00:46):
the American civilian Attornees and the Philippines. Now we're going to tell you the
story of a courageous woman correspondent whorefused to give in to the jets.
Instead, she fled Manila in thewake of the advancing enemy and lived in
the hills of Luzan loyal Pilipino gorillas. Her name Doris Johnston. There's not

(01:15):
much time, miss Justin. Youare sure you want to go with us?
I'm ready, Manuel, You're crazy, Daris, stay with us in
Manila. No, Bill, Iknow what I'm doing, but you're a
woman, Darris. Hiding out inthe mountains is all right for a man.
Mustname is Justin? Chaps, getcloser yet? Manuel. Listen,
Dell. I saw what the Jetsdid the Hancout in nineteen thirty eight,
and I know what they're going todo to Manila. I'll take the hill.
Oh love, Jarris's along, belland good luck. Come on,

(01:38):
man, Doris, come back.This woman who is he for? Placose
name is Doris Johnson's news reporter JohnstonReporter with what she escaped in Hills January

(02:02):
second, nineteen forty two with aPhilipino named Manuel Lutez. We must find
out you here, scow here thebrutal. This woman is dangerous to the
fun. We will find her.Don't worry already. Our scouts are calling
the years of how much fun?Thank you? No time, Miss Jonathan,

(02:30):
Job's coming. We must story waitget behind rock jop where listen friend
he Job scout down, Man,you're going any no time now more hory

(03:00):
more Japs come sooner. Well,Miss Johnston, we are here. So
this is your right on tolf ofthe peak. It is safer. Come
meet our leader. Yes, willPhilly wilcome an American woman? Yes,

(03:29):
she comes with me all the wayfrom Manila, Missus Johnston, our leader
along Philip and guerrillas welcome you.They some food, I guess there hungry.
Now we must talk. Tell meManuela, what did you find out
the Japs? Are they they almostcaught? Yes, we got one,
but even now they are coming thehills of Luzanne searching for us. It's

(03:53):
you you take it away. TheScots borrowed them. You're bet scoat what
he is dead? Steady as wrongas this woman remains as rodd our policies
or philiples and says jeopardy. Sowomens got right off on hor words may
find their way all to the enemy, the Japanese, and out hundreds of

(04:23):
small searching parties that we managed tolose them for the first few months.
And during that time I watched theFilipino guerrilla movement grow from small bands of
students into disciplined, responsible groups,raiding Japanese outposts in the mountains of Luzan,
striking light, lightning, and thenwithdrawing to their hideouts, just wading

(04:45):
party in the valley. Which wayare they heading? This way up the
mountain? Get them in together.We must give them a welcome. And
then I placed Philippe good the trapis said, but are you sure if

(05:10):
you will wait until they enter oursemi circle. Before you open fire,
you will give the order. Yes, Now I'll go back to your name.
See I go you, Miss Johnson, stay with me. They're coming
in this perfect twenty of the leafwire. He can't wait, you can't

(05:41):
fire, fail fail again? Whatthe good? They are everywhere? They
are reading or occupied, count murderingour carton. I have a suggestion.

(06:08):
We must change our methods from violenceto friendship. Vio is the code of
the Famorai. Yes, but wecan be violent through a friendship. We
have warned our pounds to the ground, but or the inhabitants. But suppose

(06:29):
we were to I think I understand. Suppose we were to organize, shall
we say, neighborhood associations, makefriends with the Filipinos and use them to
spy on the grilla. It mightwork, And yet there is no harm

(06:53):
in trying, is there? No? There is no harm in saying.
And so the Japanese organize their neighborhoodassociations not only to capture gorilla leaders,

(07:13):
but to law on me from thehills of Luzan, away from my gorilla
friends. It worked to a point. By bribes, they persuaded some Filipino
families to spy on one another.But the way the spying was carried out,
well, Sally, you understand youspy on me and I spy on
you. A Philly fair. It'sfunny. The jets go to my family

(07:36):
in the village of Antida. Firstthey tell my little son to spy on
my older son. Then they tellmy olders and to spy on my daughter,
and my daughter to spy on mywife. And who does your wife
spy on me? Spy on me? What did they tell the jets?
They must tell them something, Ohthey do they do. They tell jets
we are at such and such aplace. And when the jets go there,

(07:59):
they say, we have just leftand alread another such and such a
place. I don't even understand.Here is missus Johnstone. The Jap tongue
is hanging out much lore, Ispy on you are making We have tried
everything. No, there is onething we have not tried. This is

(08:24):
Geri Darida. His name faripe Garon. He has a family, two boys,
one girl. Wife. Yes seesall what the young son and what
of the young son? Tell him? We will murder his family. Un
restless newspaper woman is surrendered to usat once excellence. You are a brave

(09:01):
woman, Miss Johnson. Someday youwill write about the Philipino Garillas. No,
I can promise you that, Philippe. I wonder what your people think.
Perhaps they think you are dead.No, you know it has been
two years since you left Manila withme. Yeah, two years and two
months. Man, you know hardto believe that this is March nineteen forty
three. You are one of us, Miss Johnson, and we shall never

(09:22):
forget anything. Listen, someone's coming. It's Diego, a young son.
He's come nineteen miles from your village, Philipe. Diego. Something wrong to
take Mama, Lucrisia, Tito,your family, Philippi? What else?
Diego? What job commander? Yousee all die this American woman, Sina,
No, no, japsy must haveanswered tonight. We answer with this,

(09:45):
No, Philippe. This time thegun does not help. I'm going
to give myself up, no,Miss Johnson. Yes, hiding and sharing
your privations and risks is one thing, but your family, No, I
can't do that. You are praywoman, Miss Johnstone. I'm proud to
have been one of you, MissJohnson. Don't say it felice. I

(10:05):
understand, do you go, Yes, miss we haven't much time. We
must start that at once. Sorry, Jack, commence here tonight. You
must come or you kill fire.I had no choice. The chase was
over. I entered a certain townon the morning of March thirteenth, nineteen

(10:26):
forty three, and went to apre arranged house. There I sat alone
and waited. Yes you dis Johnson, who correspondent? I am you are
under larreath. The rest you know. I spent two months in Japanese jails

(10:56):
in central Luzon before being interned atlast Da as an enemy alien. There
are remained until my rescue by Americanparatoopers. I left Las Daniels in a
tank. Once I looked back andsaw columns of smoke rising from the distance.
Our prison was a blazing inferno.But through the smoke and flames,
I could see the smiling faces ofManuel and Philippe, and I could guess

(11:20):
what they were thinking up in thehills of Luzan. We are free.
No, no, Missus Johnston,Still we meet again in Manila. Long
live freedom. You have just heardDoris Johnston's dramatic, soul stirring United Press

(11:48):
story hide Out a saga of thegallant Filipino guerrillas. United Press correspondents are
in the thicker battle on every fightingfront around the globe and in the capitals
of the free world, bringing youthe latest developments of the war, sending
you colorful accounts such as this ofthe action that will ultimately spell victory.
We will bring you another thrilling storyof these soldiers of the press soon.

(12:11):
Be sure to listen and listen forUnited Press news on the air. Look
for you noted Press dispatches and yourfavorite newspapers. They are your guarantees of
the world's best coverage of the world'sbiggest news. Dolders off the fast,

(12:46):
bravest men in the Army Roon excelledbravery in the face of enemy fire,
a courage and daring that has inspiredmen of all ranks. Are the Second
Armored Division for being the first menof an invading army to cross the German

(13:07):
Rhine in a hundred and forty yearshigh. Award to the Captain and to
each of his men the Silver Star. And what the old man means,
Missus Stringer, is that they're thebravest damned men in the army. As

(13:28):
I and Stringer of the United Pressstood there with the colonel. Fifteen bearded,
sodden and grimy men stepped forward toreceive their awards from Brigadier General T.
D. White, commander of thesecond Armored Division. There's bitter cold
and rains streamed down their mud flexedface. Look at those guys, will

(13:48):
you yeah? Fidgeting like schoolboys?Can you imagine they're being nervous now after
what they've been throom crossing the AdolfHitler Bridge, perfect targets against the raging
fire. Germany's throwing everything at them, the whole bridge mind and ready to
go off at any moment. Exactlywould you like to meet these men,
Missus Stringer? What do you think? All right? Captain? Well,

(14:09):
captain, have you got a minute? Somebody here would like to meet you?
Or should it be the other wayaround or the other way around?
But definitely here's your man, MissusStringer, the guy who led the patrol
across the bridge. Captain, MissusM. Stringer, of you, p
how do you do? Cathy?Let him meet you, Missus Stringer.
Gosh, boys getting almost civilized.Captain, I'd like to hear the full

(14:33):
story of that crossing missus Stringer fromthe beginning, please, Captain. Well,
first, the orders came down fromthe command post, and you kind
of had a feeling it was somethingbig, didn't you. Yeah, I
had an idea, be something toughthat certainly wasn't any idle hunt, no
man. But as I was saying, the orders came down, it's just
afternoon. Then I got my patroltogether and we hustled off to the post

(14:54):
for briefing. Gentlemen, you areabout to cross the Rhine, Captain.
To night you will take you offpatrol to the Adolf Hitler Bridge at Fording,
Yes, Sir, At approximately tenthirty you will start up the ramp

(15:16):
and work your way across the bridge. Any specific objectives, Sir. We
want to find out how heavily thebridge is mine, how heavily the bridge
is guarded, I understand, sir. Now, Captain, you are to
cut every demolition rigging you find.Of course, kill every jerry you can't
all right, area maps, Captain, that bridge is fourteen hundred feet long.

(15:39):
I don't need to tell you thatevery foot is dangerous mine ready to
blow up at any moment. TheGermans are raking it with fire. So
good luck man and god speed.They'll need it the rest of the afternoon.

(16:07):
It was a stringer. We studiedthose maps. The men knew their
lives could depend on how well theyknew them. In about nine point thirty
we started out. It was darkas pitch and the sniper fire was cutting
the grass and flowers. Yeah,spread out, man, they come up.
They spotted us. Captain, getnext to those buildings, work your
way along, and when we getclose enough, we'll make a break for

(16:29):
it. All right, men,run calm okays we made a captain.
No one here, but boy,those cherries really got a zee eye here.
We made us. Now we gotto do is get across the bridge.

(16:59):
It was exactly ten twenty five.Then it's a stringer. Our artillery
was giving us hot support. ButJerry guns had set a terrific fire in
the house just behind the bridge,and the fine major PHIFC targeting like ducks
in the shooting gallery. And youshould have heard the shells whistling around our
ears. All right, man,get going up the ramp now, hell

(17:25):
man down, every one of you. We gotta figure out something now.
Most down, Hey, Captain,I got an idea we could use one
now, why can't we duck overthe side of the ramp and can't walk
along that railing? Yeah, westick our fet in the pailings and work
away across. I'll go first.Come on, man, all right,
man, come on, but watchyour step. It's a seventy five foot
drop and those cobblestones are mighty high. Older man, sartant, what's your

(17:56):
trouble, Captain, No trouble much. He's damn pal's in with the ramp.
Uh uh. Now I'll have toget right out on that bridge.
All right, man, I'll takeBrown, Allwitz, m quinn Cross and
Miller sad and you take the rest. Yes, I'll take my men and
go across the far railing. Youthink you wouldn't go along on this side
and once for those wires? Allright, get started? Man, Thank

(18:17):
happened? Do you take that blowthis bridge tonight? No, Sageant,
Jerry wouldn't do that to us,not much privately, missus Stringer. I
had the same kind of feeling thesergeant had. I kept thinking that blow
that bridge a minute we stepped onit. But the only thing that when

(18:37):
we hit the roadway was yeah,water boy, listen to that slapping and
stuff may not have our names onit, but it sure got on our
initials anyway. Walking them right downin the middle of the streak. That
boy is walking down to meet us. Boy Hitler won't be very proud of
his bridge when that crowd gets thrownit. Then, captain, look here,

(19:00):
it's cut'em. No, No, like this, Captain, they
flowed us up. Oh step morerequire you know, missus Springer, cutting

(19:22):
those price wise was like the kickoffin a football game. And then on
I wasn't quite so scared. Iwas too busy thinking about the job I
had to do it. And youfound other riggings. Oh yes, we
kept cutting them every few yards.Those honies really had that bridge wired,
as we had reason to learn thatso much later. But we found more
than just why capt'n cap'n can youcome here a minute? I'm on right

(19:45):
up, sat jokay, I'm okay, hey right here. Take a look.
Thermite thermite bomb? Yeah, whatdo we do it? So I
know that I haven't go off andhit when it hits the water and it
really give the jury the tip off? Now we gotta pull a fuse.

(20:06):
Give me your fire start. Yeah, hey, yeah, cap'n. Look,
for God's sake, take it easy. That thing may go off right
in your face. There there,I think I got it. Yeah,
that's it here. I sided tothrow it in the river. Can't hurt
anybody now. Moved a lot morecautiously after that, feeling our way across

(20:32):
like blind man. Then when wewere about three quarters of the way,
Hey, hey, cap'n, look, I'm damn. I had a bridge
on fire. From flowing up bridge, cap'n and flowing it easy. Take
it easy, that's don't worry aboutit's just the fire said for the mortar
show. Relax, what cap'n?What are the flames spread of that?
Honey? Dyam? And look atbit fire spread, capt'n? What about
it? Yeah, well we'll betrapped. Fire at this end, fire

(20:53):
at the other end, us inthe middle. Worry about that fire back
there? One up aheads the baby. Yeah, look at that. Thanks
right, boy, it's really gettinghot. I don't worry it beIN's half
as hant as the place we're gone. But listen to that stuff, worn
men. We're still about fifty peoplefrom that fire. We gotta keep gone.
Get it's as possible. If anopening anywhere we'll go through. Come

(21:15):
on, then we'll go on work. Those boys went on in, Missus
Stringer, into a wall of fire. If I had been any openings,
they would have found them. Butas long as we couldn't get through on
that end, my next move wasto get the men off the bridge before
the fire reached the dynamite or wewere trapped. They were the damn bravest

(21:37):
men in the army, Missus Stringer, and you brought them all back.
Yeah, we were lucky. Youknow. We scarcely had reached our side
of the river, not more thanfive or ten minutes, when all of
a sudden, after filing my story, I saw that bridge, fourteen hundred

(22:11):
feet of twisted steel and powdered concrete. They can grotesquely up out of the
water. I looked across the forbiddingcliffs on the other side of the Rhine.
I thought, what a bloody jobit would be to reach them.
But we know now that a bridgeacross the Rhine has been taken taken by
other men just as brave as thesebrave as men in the army. You

(23:02):
have just heard, You're not inpress correspondent Dan Stringer's gripping story of the
men who crossed the Rhine, thestory of the bravest men of the army.
Like an stringer, hundreds of UnitedPress correspondents are working in the smoke
of battle on every fighting front andin the capitals of the free world,
sending you the latest developments in thenews. We will bring you another stirring
story of these soldiers of the presssoup. Be sure to listen and listen

(23:26):
for you United Press news on theair. Look for you United Press dispatches
in your favorite newspaper. They areyour guarantee of the world's best coverage of
the world's biggest news. You've beenlistening to the GSMC Classics Series, part

(23:47):
of the Golden State Media Concepts podcastNetwork. Follow us at www dot gsmcpodcast
dot com and find all of ourtimeless programming by typing gs MC Classics into
any podcast app including Apple Podcasts,Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and
more. Remember to subscribe to theGSMC Classics Series podcasts of your choice to

(24:12):
stay up to date on new episodes, and if you could take a minute
to give us a nice review thatreally helps us to get this ageless programming
out to others who would enjoy itjust as much as you have. Check
out all of our GSMC Classics Seriespodcasts. Whether you're in the mood for
comedy, romance, adventure, history, science fiction, horror, or anything

(24:34):
in between, the GSMC Classics Serieshas you covered. Thank you, and
we hope you've enjoyed today's program onthe Golden State Media Concepts Podcast Network.