Show THE STORY THUS PAR FAR the amerl ameri tn can troops arrived in adano with major coppolo jop polo the anicot officer in charge sergeant borth was in charge ol of security the major was determined to hold the confidence ol of the people and to replace pl their bell stolen by the nazis de tilte ie orders order issued by general ni arvin barring carts from the city coppolo recalled the order to permit food and water to enter the city lord bruncin high british official on the arigot called upon major coppolo Jop polo and after rece receiving v ing reports on the e 7 work 0 t Is done at ad adano a no expressed hl se 1 f a as s well satisfied with the progress in made ade the major was guy ily pleased lord bruncin told the major how bow be might get a bell CHAPTER XVI I 1 found that your barbarians had smashed my terra cotta head it was done by the florentine camil liani in the sixteenth century what value can you place on that they tore my venus it was by giorgione what is the price of tha that t they smashed the glasses in wh which ich my mother drank her bridal toasts in venice how many lira do you think they were worth to me p began to cry and became incoherent major coppolo was furious he called up captain purvis and said fP purvis urvis the matter with yo your r men did you know taeun been behaving like a bunch of wild men in their billet this fellow was good enough to let them use his house bouse 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 at your billet end and have them in your office in 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 th he said come lets go down to your house arld see exactly what they did so the two men walked down the to the beautiful house led the major through the rooms on the second floor and allowed him the broken things major coppolo was terribly depressed by what he saw there is no excuse for it he said softly to who was beyond lury fury major coppolo took up to the MP headquarters captain caplain purvis had chuck bill and there As soon as the major came in the three boys stood at attention at ease major coppolo said but ut listen the three boys stood at ease you fellows ought to be sent home to the states he said what kind of an example do you think you men are for the people here how io eo you think well ever persuade them that were decent people if you behave like we all live in the woods and have shaggy fur said we mean no hurt major the major said your intentions dont make the slightest bit of difference its the result that matters said we was doin it for YOU FOU major 4 what do you mean doing it for in me e how could you think I 1 would want you to do anything like that said we was lookin for it a present for you sir thought that if the major stacked UP HP to all the boasting chuck schultz had done about him the night belore or e he ought to be able to talk the their ir 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 goin to be B R goin tway away present the major said chos going away said well corporal schultz tz here said chuck schultz said you let me matidle addle this major copolo turned on corporal schultz chultz say what is this all about anyway chuck schultz saw that there was no 0 o way out he said there 0 no o excuse for what we done major we e was very drunk I 1 think heres still a little drunk raised a threatening fist fisl and said why you I 1 major coppolo said all al this about a present chuck said sir we just got some son kind nd of a drunk idea that you was n bout out th the e best officer we ever seen d we figured we wanted to give you a present we thought maybe we could find a present for you in ii the we house we knew you was ital i more or less and we thought f tk i ma 7 for adal 0 r herseth r eisei c S 1 creatures rEA TURES like something italia n from the house ss all there was to it major coppolo said and his voice was much softer r im not italian bys boys im american and some abe times im not 01 as proud of it as a id like to be then the major turned to at and he said in italian italian 1 I ha hardly adly know what to tell you I 1 kr 0 that no apologies and no payment haa bavm can ever return wh what yo you U have lost 10 I 1 I 1 wish elsh to tell you y that th these men who committed the crime are sorry y for what they th did now that they realize how cruel they 7 were to you I 1 wish to tell ell you that I 1 feel less pr proud oud of being e an american rican than I 1 did yesterday K day these men will wi be pun dished ha justly emd and severely y for what t they echave have done I 1 want you to Ms file a claim for payment for what was destroyed and I 1 blame you for doubling the prices all I 1 can say said 1 I dont know about most americans but I 1 know I 1 ican carl always get justice from yo you u mister major the major said good day quat I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 VID major was terribly depressed by what he saw from now on your lious house e 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 if you had cut his arm off he loved those things you busted up 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 litle tle 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 bill said thank you sir well take care of the house said yes sir we sure will As soon as they were outside chuck said I 1 tell you about that guy said the best guy I 1 ever seen in this army 11 bill said the thing that got me said about my down was what he 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 three days he would could every two or send a note to major coppolo Jop polo many suggestions many were silly were had already coppolo about things major maio r he sent a done but one day note which caught major Jop interest which trite interested rested major the Th ehing thing the fact note was in this coppolo cacopardo cacopardo blamed the black that ato old fascist graft now ma on market a acutely te aware w are of 0 a was jor r coppolo market he he hada had il intended tended mack black the it now S investigate to time t for or some what he found was disturbing he did and tur bing the black market was riot the fault of corrupt fascists it was not even the fault of the merchants who jacked their prices out of all bounds it was the fault of the invaders demonstrably it was thel the I 1 fault of the americans there were two reasons why the americans gave adano its black market and the inflation which inevitably evit ably went with it one reason was american generosity apparently the italians thought the americans were coming to their soil armed mainly with cigarettes and candies for every grown person asked for cigarettes and every child shouted in the streets for candies and the americans gave w what hat was begged they also gave C rations both cans which they had opened and had been unable knabl e to finish and unopened cans when they bought bought anything they figured the price by their heart and the second thing was that when they bought anything and could not find an italian speak ing pal to dicker for them they just paid what they figured they would have paid in the united states he traced the black market in wine to the house of carmelina wife of the lazy fatta the very first person who bought wine from carmelina on the very first night of the invasion was corporal chuck schultz Car story to the major was that the corporal had just handed her a dollar and walked 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 for that grade of wine before the iri invasion had been twenty lira or twenty cents 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 carabiniero Carabi 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 for a poor italian peasant sergeant having addressed the purple slip reporting the countermand order on the carts to the wrong person did not ha help elp much As soon as the wrong person opened up the envelope and read the slip he forwarded it to the right person the 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 marvins earvins Mar vins issuing the order that carts should be stopped on the outskirts of adano then he wrote in pencil on the upper left hand corner of the slip usual copies for division files one extra copy to be sent to colonel middleton marked for general marvins earvins Mar vins information and then he tossed the slip in his outgoing basket it happens that col norris had an assistant one lieutenant butters who was very inquisitive 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 mail more carefully than either colonel norris or his technical sergeant the morning after the technical sergeant put the purple slip and the 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 couf 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 copies into a portfolio on his own desk later in the day when the colonel was out to a conference lieutenant B utters butters took out the purple slip and the four copies he called the technical sergeant over to his desk di did d Y you ou see these the lieutenant ten an t asked the technical sergeant who was afraid he had made a mistake in t typing ping said merely yes sir well that major was right the lieutenant said the technical sergeant who the faintest idea what the purple slip was about said he was tto TO BE I 1 |