Show with ea ernie nie pyle at the front tank destroyer unit Is very proud of its guns combat team confident differs little from battle tried outfit by ernie pyle SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND I 1 went out the other day with a tank destroyer unit they have been over here long enough to form an opinion of english weather but you cant print it in a nice newspaper like this it was the first time in I 1 had been inot mot yet been in battle there so much difference as you might think the really notice noticeable aDle difference afler M A is is their eagerness to get a crack at the jer ries after they have been cracking ag at them a few months be just as eager to h let somebody else have a turn at it but outside of ernie pyle that they t talk alk and act about the same as men who have been be en in in combat they cuss a lot razz each other about their home states complain about the food take great pride in their guns and talk about how they wish they were home just as though they had been away for years this unit has been training together for nearly two tivo years they dont yet realize what a terrific advantage that gives them but they will realize it as soon as they are in battle they are a vast team of firepower composed of dozens of little teams each one centering around one gun they have done it so long they know automatically what to do they all know every man on the team and they know his personality and how he will react they have faith in each other only those who have fought know what confidence that produces A typical gun commander is sergt dick showalter S ghar ker st muncie ind I 1 have a special reason for mentioning him for while I 1 was talking with a group of sorl soldiers diers he came up and introduced himself and said 1 I married a girl from your home town now things like that are always happening to me except that nine times out of ten the people are mixed up people will come up and say dont you remember me I 1 used to deliver papers at your house and it will turn out they lived in a town I 1 had never heard of and were thinking of two other fellows when sergeant showalter said he had married a girl from my home town I 1 slightly arched my handsome eyebrows and said yes yes he said 1 I married edna kuhns 64 why I 1 said 1 I was raised with the kuhns kids they lived just across the fence from our farm ave known them all my life what I 1 said said sergeant showalter and the then n we left the crowd and sat on the grass leaning against a rock sergeant showalter worked in factories before the war he has been commander of his gun for more than a year and a half he is a small fellow quiet serious conscientious i and extremely proud of his crew and of the way they take their responsibility one of showalters best buddies L in his crew is pac bob cartwright of daytona beach fla he is a a small reddish good natured fellow when we met I 1 said that youve got in your mouth louth he grinned and said chabin Ch awin tobacco which was just what I 1 thought it was he manages to keep well stocked by trading stuff with boys who dont chew bob is very young he know much when he came into the army but showalter says hes the best there is now As I 1 said the boys are very proud of their guns they sa say y had fine training and lots of practice on moving targets they say that on direct fire they can hit a moving tank at about a mile jand and almost never miss anxious anxious to get at it and get it over with and get back home they know it wont be easy on the other side living rough now but they know it will be lots tougher rougher pretty soon As they say the chow is bad here compared to what it was in america but they dont complain too much because they know its going to get worse they know be on C and K rations and had experience with them on maneuvers but when I 1 spoke of our best ration the 10 in I field ration they had never heard of it they have been working hard since they hit england made long night trips and done a lot of practice firing and sometimes they have to work as late as 10 at night when I 1 saw them they were making preparations for moving overseas it takes a lot of 0 work to get your equipment ready for an amphibious move worked so hard they had time to get bored there are some american outfits that have been here for two years without action and there are canadians who have been marching up and down for four years how kept from going nuts is beyond me the comman commander der of the tank de battalion I 1 have been visiting is col joseph deeley of sheboygan falls wis he used to run a wool carding mill there I 1 like his attitude toward things when I 1 first showed up he was perfectly courteous but he made plenty sure I 1 had proper credentials and what not As he said they have had plenty of security preached into them back home and this indeed is a critical period and he taking any chances but once he had assured himself I 1 was all right he called in his sergeants and told them to go around and tell their men they were perfectly free to show me any and all eq equipment they had and talk to me as f reely freely as they wanted to As I 1 told him later I 1 dont think he need have bothered for these boys approaching war tor for the first time pumped me so thoroughly on what war is like that I 1 hardly got a chance to ask any questions of them maybe ill have to write some security regulations of my 0 wn own just out of self protection who the devil is reporting this war one company commander capt charles harding of olmsted falls near cleveland had just had a letter from home telling him to keep an eye out for me he figured that in a war this big our paths would never cross but they did another ohioan came up and introduced trod himself this was pec james francis mcclory of guthrie street cleveland mcclory is what is aptly known in the battalion as a character he used to be le a prize fighter being in the horny handed world of pugilists he has a great affinity for apes theres an almost human ape at the zoo in a nearby city which mcclory goes to see every time he gets a pass he calls him alfred the ape and says he sure wishes he could take him back to cleveland mcclory used to work for the cleveland welding company which made bicycles when I 1 asked him what he did he said oh I 1 was just a nod hod knocker you can kid lots with mcclory when I 1 went to write down his name I 1 put sergeant in front of it and he said no no id never get to be a sergeant if the war lasted 50 years so I 1 said well corporal then but he said no I 1 aint even got sense enough to be a corporal so I 1 said well we simply cant ha have ve you a private what would the mcclous of the world think with you only a private so we compromised and made him a pac mcclory is one of those guys who are good for the morale of an outfit he is always doing or saying ing something funny and he is a good soldier he is one of the kind who are fanatically loyal he has a great affection for his company commander capt john jay kennedy of 15 lawndale Fawn dale road roslindale Ros lindale mass once when s some ome gasoline caught fire mcclory threw himself on the captain and knocked him out of the way saving him from serious injury another time when captain kennedys Kenn edys mother was very ill mcclory took the last money he had bad and telegraphed home to his own parish to have a mass said tor for the captains mother |