Evening star., 1941-06-21

McLemOre. swung low over
Lawson Field and almost as fast-as
you can say plop-plop-plop boys
tumbled from the ship 10 swing ike
giant powder puffs against the sky.
As they fell they yelled "Gero-
nimo Geronimo and they were
still yelling it when they pounded
TO earth.
During the rest Of the day l must
have heard it a thousand times.
In the gymnasium where the hand
picked, volunteer parachutists work
like college athletes to further
harden whipcord bodies. In the
rigging room as they dried, cleaned
and folded their own chutes, on the
calisthenics ground, where. come
dust, mud or high water, they
/ tumble and roll and somersaUlt TO
develop catlike sureness.
1t was Geronimo Geronimo
there, and it was Geronimo Ger
onimo' in the mess hall, the bar
racks. the recreation room and on
the giant training towers where re-
cruits are hoisted aloft time and
again until mans old fear Of height
is conquered.
From early morning until late
evening it is work and more work to
develop the most efficient and fast
/ est striking force in the world
Seven months ago the battalion
started from scratch. Practically
all the officers had to work with
was the spirit of the men embodied
in the cry of Geronimo Geronimo
They only are paid $50 a month,
the same as any other enlisted man,
( out they stop at nothing.
I heard a sergeant ask an officer
20 allow him to bail out at 250 feet.
He was told it was too dangerous;
that he could not miss getting hurt.
Somebody's got to come out that
low, captain the sergeant argued,
ito find out how it can be done.
might as we'll take the rap as any
/ one else"
/ I heard three boys request that
they be allowed to make a jump
into cIump OF big pine trees. This
from 450 feet. mind you. and from
a plane moving at around 100 miles
per hour.
"ThereII be plenty Of landings to
be made in trees II We get in a fight. -
they pointed out, and We might as
we'll get used to it."
watched an oficer-an officer IS
the first to bail out when the 5Olst
makes mass jump, the last in the
German ARMY watched an officer
step out into space to test new
equipment, Just tour years out Of
West Point, he gave 1t the Oh "Ge-
ronimO' as he began his gamble
with gravity.
No one knew Just how the cry was
adopted. One of the early chutists
yelled the famed chitttain's name,
and they've all been yelling it ever
! since.
The day with 50lst showed me
that courage is to be found in un-
expected places. A group of re-
crultS, still so raw that they had
not even been ,aken for a ride IN
the tame tower that Is a duplicate
OF the one that thrilled Worlds Fair
visitors, lounged against the rigging
building.
"Where'd they come from7" l
asked Capt Roy Lindqulst, "and
what did they do before they VOL
unteered for this branch of the serr-
lce?' "Darned If l know" the cap
tain said. Why don't you ask
them?' So l did.
My name is Joe Stokes, sir" a
big blond fellow said. Il was a
sausage grinder in a meat factory"
I'm Roy Dawson, sir. No sir,
never had ridden in a plane. was
a roofing and sheet metal worker"
MY names Earl Matthews. I'm a
farmer from Alabama. I never saw
a plane very close until 1 got here"
Il was a radio repairman. NY
names Neal Levine. 1 never have
been in plane"
There was Lorenzo Kabberg, who
had spent the past five years as a
bookkeeper.
There was Franklin Backus. fresh
from job as an interior decorator,
and Howard Marlett, who had come
straight from mine. Looking at
them there, ready to tackle the
toughest job in the Army, eager to
risk their lives in practice for per-
hapS a still more hazardous task, 1t
gave me a new faith in this country.
It's hard to stomach defeatism
when the MarIetts and the Levines
and the Stokes and the Kabbergs
leap in the air with the cry OF
Geronimo Geronimo" yelling in
their throats.
II a showdown comes you take the
America First Committee, I'll take
the 501st.
Distributed by McNauEht Syndicate. Inc)