| Show 1 1 With Ernie Pyle in lf Italy ly 7 Shell Lands by Anzio Theater Theater- Star Says What Was That WITH THE FIFTH ARMY BEACHHEAD F FORCES b R C E S IN ITALY ITALY ITALY-As As tiny and shell-raked shell as our our- Anzio beachhead i Is life In some respects Is astonishingly normal For example the Fifth army runs a daily dally movie here It started less than a month month after our troops first landed They put on two shows a day and weve we've had such recent pictures pictures pictures pic pic- tures as Abbott and Costello In Hit the Ice Jean Arthur inThe inThe In InThe The More the Merrier and Rosalind Russell In What a Woman I 1 go occasionally just to kill time at night since the place where I write has no electricity and I haven't got enough Abe Lincoln in me to do my work by candlelight A funny thing happened at atthe atthe atthe the movie the other night I Iwas Iwas Iwas was standing outside the buildIng building building build- build Ing with a big bunch of soldiers soldiers soldiers sol sol- sol sol- diers waiting for the first show to end As we stood there a ashell ashell ashell shell suddenly whipped in scared us out of ot our wits and exploded ed behind the building When the boys came out after after after aft aft- er the first show ended they were laughing about the odd timing in the pictures picture's dialog The exploding shell made a big boom inside the theater and just as It went off there was a aa aa aa a pause in the films film's dialog and the heroine slowly turned her head to the audience and said What was that 1 Also our beachhead has a rest camp ha ha hat for infantry troops The camp Is under artillery artillery artillery ar ar- ar- ar tillery fire as is everything else on the beachhead But still it serves its purpose by getting the men out of the foxholes and as somebody said Theres a hell of a lot of difference difference difference dif dif- ference getting shells spasmodically spasmodically spasmodically at long range and in being being being be be- ing right up under Jerrys Jerry's nose where hes he's aiming at you personally per per- Furthermore our beachhead has a big modern bakery which has been working under fire for weeks turning out luscious crisp loaves of white bread from Its portable ovens at a pace of around pounds a day More than 80 soldiers work inthis inthis in inthis this bakery It is the first draftee baking outfit in our army and the company will be three years old in June They've been overseas a year and a half and have baked through halt half a dozen bitter campaigns They've had casualties right here on the beachhead both physical and mental from too much shelling Their orders are areto areto areto to keep right on baking through an artillery barrage but when air raiders come over they ey turn out the fires and go to the theraid the theraid ai raid shelter Life seemed very tc the bakery when I 1 visited th them tola The shift leader at the time t Sergeant Frank fifa burgh who showed me ar around The boys were glad to hap bar a visitor and they gave me e a a pi pito to take home m They said they'd had 8 shell e I s ot ao this side of the them and t that s of ot them and in front and hi hind It was beli believable everything was running running- finning so smoothly that t their stones o shells seemed quite acad like some mathematical ti th without reality But when I left the bake oak we hadn't go gone e a hundred y l j till an 88 smacked into the oi ground just the width of fa 1 road from our feet I If It j t thit ground hadn't been muddy th absorbing the fragments ft n would have got some hot ai in our jeep and probably lt gg ai in our as the persons lawn WY 1 say II m The baker boys' boys story of ot s sing wn ing ceased to be academic nghi rigg then but I 1 still held onto m pie pie Ji At the movie the other aM aMI I ran ran onto one of the two soldiers sol sol- diers diers' who had so nicely voI to help lug my gear J the boat the day we hit tJ beachhead 1 They were Corporal B Berl Bertl l Hunter of Tonkawa Okla Private Paul Norman T Dg n Moines Momes Iowa Hunter is in lath tI engineers and Norman is h Ini i signal company and worn 1 the message center The boYs boji say they dont don't mind it on to th beachhead S sa On the boat they and son other soldiers had a frisky Ii brown puppy they'd bought Naples for two packs of CIg and some gumdrops fl They couldn't think what name the dog so I suggests they call him Anzio So So- SoAm Am Anil Amit it is and hes he's still here ml wit them having the time of L h hyoung young life J |
