Show 1 IA A A ja 0 bell BID o n I 1 I 1 jw fo c r Adano JL i 1 asaei 4 8 john herseth cd c D 42 W N U r s me u st ss w THE STORY THUS SPARt faill the anted amerl jn can troops arrived in adano with major the aagot officer in charge borth ivas wa in charge of secarl i ty the major was w determined to hold bold T the ui confidence of the ui people and to r re I 1 V place their bell stolen by the nazil naili despite orders orden issued by general marvin barring carts from the city coppolo recalled tau ed the order to permit food and water to enter the city lord Run clin high british official laPon on the maingot called upon major coppolo Jop lop polo and alter after receiving re ports on oa the work done at adano ex pressed himself as well satisfied with the ess tirade de the major was na naturally pleated lord bruncin told the major how haw he might get a bell I 1 charter CHAPTER XVI I 1 found that your barbarians had smashed my terra cotta head it was done by the florentine caell llant ilant in the sixteenth century what value can you place on that they lapre r e my venus it was by giorgione Glor glone gione ch bahat at I 1 Is the price ot of that they arn srn smashed shed the glasses in which my mother drank her bridal t toasts in venice how many lira do you think they were fere worth to me began to cry and become became incoherent major coppolo was furious he called up captain purvis and said purvis the matter with your men did you know been behaving like a bunch of wild men in their billet this fellow was good enough to let them use his house ind and some of the stuff in it why the hell did they have to abuse it I 1 want you to find out who busted up the stuff down ayour ay your billet and have them in your office in fifteen minutes and he hung up without waiting for the astonished captain to take a deep breath major coppolo walked around to the other side of his desk and patted the sobbing on the shoulder he said come quat lets go down to your house and see exactly what they did so the two men walked down the treet street to the beautiful house quat boccal led the major through the booths oms on the second floor and showed bowed him the broken things thing major coppolo was ter terribly rily depressed by what he saw there is no excuse for it he said softly to who was beyond fury major coppolo took up to the MP M P headquarters captain purvis had chuck gill bill and there As soon as the major came in the three boys stood a at t attention at t ease major coppolo said but listen the three boys stood at ease you fellows ought to be sent home to the states he said 11 what kind of an example do you th think you men are for the people herer here how how do you think well ever persuade them that were decent people if cipu behave like we all live in the and have shaggy fur 11 said we mean no hurt major the major said your intentions dont make the slightest bit of difference its the result that ahat matters said we was doln it tor for you major what do you mean doing it tor for me how could you think I 1 would want you to do anything like that said we was lookin tor for a present for you sir thought that if 11 the major stacked up to all the boasting chuck schultz had done about him the night before he ought to be able to talk their way out of this fix the major said why would you want to get me a present ive never seen you before said were just enlisted men we seen you before major coppolo said 1 I still want to know how you thought you were getting me a present and why you were said it was gain to be a goin away present the major said chos going away said well corporal schultz here said chuck schultz said you let me handle bandle this major coppolo turned on corporal a schultz say what Is this all about achuck awa w chuck schultz saw that there was no way out he said there no excuse for what we done major we was very drunk I 1 think heres still a little drunk raised a threatening fist and said why you major jmajor coppolo said all this about a present chuck said sir we just got some kind of a drunk idea that you was about the best officer we ever seen and we figured we wanted to give you a present we thought maybe we could find a present tor for you in the house we knew you w was as italian more or less and we thought like something italian from the house all there was to it major coppolo said and his voice ayas byas much softer im not italian vacys im american and sometimes im not as proud of it as id like to be then the major turned to quat trocha hl and he said in italian 1 I hardly know what to tell you I 1 know that no apologies and no payment can ever return what you have lost I 1 wish to tell you that 6 these men who committed the crime are sorry for or what they did now that they realize how cruet cruel they were to you I 1 wish to tell you that I 1 feel less proud of being an american than I 1 did yesterday these men will be punished justly and severely for or what they have done I 1 want you to file a claim lor for payment tor for what was destroyed s st and I 1 blame you tor for doubling the prices all I 1 can say 11 said 1 I dont know about most americans but I 1 know I 1 ean can always get justice irom from you mister major the major said good day quat from now on your house will be kept nicely I 1 can promise you that left the major turned to the three boys he said 1 I dont know whether you realize yet what youve done to this italian its as it if you had cut his arm off he loyed loved those things you busted u up P now I 1 just told him that you three would be punished severely as severely as you have hurt him the three boys stiffened up a little the major said im going to make this your punishment to have this mans unhappiness on your conscience and from now on to keep his house as clean as If everything in it belonged to your own mother all youre dismissed chuck said yes sir thank you sir said thank you sir air bill said thank you sir well take care of the house said yes sir we sure will As soon as they were outside wr I 1 1 9 major was terribly depressed by what he h e saw chuck said I 1 tell you about that guy said the best guy I 1 ever seen in Ws this army bill said the thing that got me down was what he said about my mother mom was always so proud of her glass cut glass it was I 1 feel like I 1 busted it last night having weathered eighty two winters cacopardo was not the least cooled in his desire to help the americans by general marvins earvins Mar vins behavior every two or three days he would send a note to major coppolo Jop polo many were silly suggestions many were about things major coppolo had already done but one day he sent a note which caught major Jop interest the thing which interested major coppolo in this note was the fact act that old cacopardo blamed the black market on fascist graft now major coppolo was acutely aware 0 of the bla black ck market he had Intended for some time to investigate it now he did and what he found was disturbing tur bing the black market was not the fault of corrupt fascists it was not even the fault 0 of the merchants who jacked their prices out ot of at ar bounds it was the fault of the invaders demonstrably it was the fault of the americans there were two reasons why the americans gave adano its black market and the inflation which inevitably evit ably y went with it one reason was american generosity apparently the he t italians thought the americans were coming to their soil armed mainly with cigarettes and candies for every grown person asked tor for cigarettes and every child shouted in the streets for candies and the americans gave what was begged they also gave C rations both cans which they had opened and had been unable to finish and unopened cans when they bought anything they figured the price by their heart and the second thing was that when w hen they bought anything and could not find an italian speak ing pal to dicker tor for them they just paid what they figured they would have paid in the united states here are four our examples that major coppolo dug up which show exactly how the black market and inflation grew up he traced the black market in wine to the house of carmelina Carm ellna wife ot of the lazy fatta the very first person who bought wine from carmelina Carm ellna on the very first night of the invasion was corporal chuck schultz Carmell Carmeli nas nals story to the major was that the corporal had just handed her a dollar and w walked a I 1 k ed away story was that the italian lady had haggled and shouted and threatened to call the police in any case schultz paid a dollar the regular price tor for that grade ot of wine before the invasion had been twenty lira or twenty cents four soldiers sauntered into a barber shop one morning and made motions with their fingers around their skulls that indicated they wanted haircuts none ot of them could speak italian so they based their payment on what they had last paid for haircuts in the states each plunked flunked down a fifty cent piece and eald a id keep the change joe the regular price tor for haircuts had been three lira or three cents shaves had cost two lira here in one mornings work the barber had made two hundred lira he retired to a life of leisure and refused to cut any hair for three weeks till his money gave out to stop or at least to curb the black market major coppolo did three things he put the town out of bounds to american soldiers who from then on could enter only on business he had the Carabin carabiniero Carabini erl ferl stop all foodstuffs from leaving the town and he fined anyone caught selling overprice over price or under measure three thousand lira a lifetimes savings tor for a poor italian peasant sergeant having addressed the purple slip reporting the countermand order on the carts to the wrong person did not help much As soon as the wron wrong g person opened up the envelope and read the slip he forwarded it to the right person the ne right person was col W W norris gone G one officer of the division the wrong person put the purple slip on his desk col norris who was burdened down with much too much paper work did not even read it all the way through he just read the first part about general Mar earvins marvins vins issuing the order that carts should be stopped on the outskirts of adano then he wrote in pencil on the upper left hand comer of the slip usual copies for division files one extra copy to be sent to colonel middleton marked for general Mar earvins marvins vins information 11 and then he tossed the slip in his outgoing basket A couple of hours later a technical sergeant emptied col norriss outgoing basket and in time got around to making three copies of the purple slip for the files of the division where they would be burled never to be seen again one copy went under MP M P s one copy into the personnel me file and the third into the intelligence files under occupied cu pled territory disciplinary measures the technical sergeant recopied the purple slip so that he could make a clean top copy for colonel middleton and the general he wanted to get ahead he want to do anything sloppy he was so careful in his typing that he even notice what the purple slip said the technical sergeant put the tour four copies and the original purple slip into col norriss morriss incoming basket it happens that col norris had an assistant one lieutenant butters who was very inquisitive lie he annoyed the colonel often by reading over his shoulder he always wanted to know what the battle order was the moment it was drawn up before it even went to regimental commanders the only advantage of lieutenant butters curiosity was that he usually read colonel norriss mall mail more carefully than either colonel norris or his technical sergeant the morning after the technical sergeant put the purple slip and the tour four copies into the colonels incoming basket lieutenant butters got up bright and early dressed shaved out of his helmet and before breakfast went to colonel norriss desk and went through his incoming basket when he came to the purple slip and the four copies he took the papers out of the pile read until he had finished put the pile back into the incoming basket and then tucked the purple slip and the four our copies into a portfolio on his own desk later in the day when the colo nel was out to a conference lieutenant butters took out the purple slip and the four copies he call called d the technical sergeant over to his desk did you see these the lieutenant asked the technical sergeant who was afraid he had made a mistake in typing said merely yes sir i well that major was right the lieutenant said 1 the technical sergeant who the faintest idoa ida what the pu purple aple slip alp was about said he 11 was TO BE CONTINUED |