NAVY REVEALS HOW CHEROKEE BOY SERVED IN DANGEROUS ROLE
WASHINGTON - It can now be revealed that W. H. Hatterman,
pharmacist's mate, first class, 720 North First Street, Cherokee, Iowa,
played an important role in one of the most romantic and dangerous
episodes of the war against Japan - as a member of a Naval group of
guerrillas, intelligence agents and weather observers behind the
Japanese lines in Asia.
The group, now known as SACO -
Sino-American Co-operative Organization - began shortly after
Pearl Harbor as strictly a weather reporting unit.
The project grew
until it was providing the United States fleet, the army's 14th Air
Force, and the Chinese and American army headquarters with weather
reports and with intelligence on movement of Jap ships, troops and
supplies.
Finally, it became a dangerous fighting outfit,
killing Japs, blowing up trains, and raiding Jap outposts. Its
activities finally extended all the way from Indo-China to the Gobi
Desert.
SACO intelligence allowed the 14th Air Force to nine
coastal waters; forcing Jap shipping out to sea, where they were
attacked by American submarines, on information from SACO.
Weather information helped the Navy decide when to stage invasions on Jap islands and raids on the Jap homeland.
Usually,
it was possible to enter or depart from Jap territory by air, but SACO
and Americans became adept at Chinese disguises and, guided by SACO
Chinese, slipped through enemy lines when they chose. Through months
and years, not one SACO member was detected.
(Source: Reprinted from Cherokee Daily Times, 9-22-1945 and published in the Cherokee Historical Society's WWII Special Edition publication, 1979)
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