Evening star., 1940-09-13
By the Associated Press.


don't have to go to a distant front
The front comes to them. It's theil
Office and their doorstep. their au-
tomobileS or the bus or taxis they're
riding in. It's everywhere they
move.
And the "men at the front" may
be any of their neighbors, their gro
Ger, tailor. favorite bartender OF
waiter, the cop on the beat, the
watchman or charwoman, bus con-
ductor or insurance clerk.
Now you see them, now you don t
as the air raid sirens scream and
the City of Dreadful Nights resounds
to the rumble of explosions and the
crump and crash of bombs and fall
ing walls.
Reporters Experiences.
When you're in London you're in
escapably a part of it. Everywhere
you hear stories Here are examples
of a few Associated Press staff tx-
perienCeS:
Dwight Pitkin, native of Alta
mont, Ill. reported: There's some
thing in the old saying about the
folly of wisdom where ignorance is
bliss-particularly when it comes 10
distinguishing the noises that keer
you awake at nights in London.
Coming out of a theater during
night attack I saw searchlights
playing over an angry red sky. Anti
aircraft guns were blasting away
and I heard the occasional crump
of bomb I grabbed a taXicab and
we sped away.
"All of sudden there was flash
and a blast that sWerved the cab
But there was no debris. I thought
1t must have been an anti-aircraft
gun, and I said so to the driver as
we reached my hotel.
That was no gun he said. No
guns in that part of town. That
was an incendiary bomb. Didn't you
vnotice the blue white fash?'"
Tom Yarbrough, Oklahoma City
Okla, reporter: The plane bring
ing me from Ireland last week
crossed the Channel seven times
IN two days before it was able to
land safely. Then things moved
fast. I waited outside Commons
until the all-clear signal to hear
Prime Minister Churchill. Two days
later as planes circled over the cen
ter of London. stood on an apart
ment house roof and watched the
puff Of smoke grow to a gigantic
glow, then TAXED to the scene of
the fire. I heard time bombs eX-
ploding startllngly close. Back on
my rooftop observation post that
night I watched the silhouetted
panorama f1ecked with intermittent
flashes. The whistling scream and
an earspltting crash seemed to be
next door, although actually it was
a mile or more away. But I took
belly landing and since then
have been learning to do without
sleep, and without buses and taxis.
Hurt Missing Bus.
Reporter Hugh Wagnon. native of
Calvin, Okla: I've got a bandage
over my left eye and another around
the left knee. Everybody asks, Air
raid casualty?' and laugh when I
say No, missed the bus
But that's what happened. I
fell trying to catch one and was
fixed up in hospital. After chang
ing my torn clothing the air sirens
T
in the dock area, luckily managed
TO snag cab, picked up a photog-
rapher and hurried to the scene
''Flremen were playing jets Of
water on great fires as new eXplo-
sions rent the air One landing par
ticularly close clinched the argu-
ment of police to take cover on one
side of brick wall. After return
ing to the office l wrote my story
before remembering. 10 hours after
the bus accident, that I hadn't had
dinner ard that knee and head were
throbbing with pain
Edwin Stout. WinterSet, Iowa. re-
porter: The wars getting my wind
and my knees. I spend most the
night running up and downstairs
from our Office shelter in the base
ment to the roof where I take looks
at the raids.
An incendiary bomb landed in
street SO yards from me Saturday
night. Tuesday night I was walk
ing to work around midnight and
ducked into a shelter when the
bombing began to get heavy. Going
out little later a policeman started
me off on the last mile with the
reassuring note, Go at your own
risk Our guns are firing tonight.
They were, all right, all right"
Godfrey Anderson, English-born
reporter: Il didn't like that mo-
ment on the way to the fire started
by incendiary bombs behind St.
Pauls Cathedral. The sudden
whine of a high-explosive bomb
started me sprinting up side street.
] hoped I was running away from
that bomb, but I may have been
running the wrong way. 1 couldn't
find any shelter clear of plate glass,
so lay face down on the pavement.
Just as I did I became acutely con-
scious I had automatically hitched
my trousers to preserve the crease.
The whine of that bomb seemed to
last half a minute"
Raced Nazi Planes.
George Angus, telegraph operator:
81 bicycled nine miles to the office
Sunday night, six of them through
hail of anti-aircraft fragments
and bomb shrapnel. Three circling
raiders were overhead, just about
keeping pace with me while I rode
furiously. Finally I decided it was
silly racing their circlings and /
pulled up and lay fiat under a tree.
The anti-aircraft fire was then at its
stiffest and shrapnel was plopping
in the road all around. I started
off again only to find was catching
up with the planes just as their in
cendiary bombs were setting fire to