Evening star., 1941-09-21

The mosquitoes, it is true, take
full advantage of their opportunity
and come on in endless, dronins
waves. But they can be endured
especially when one knows that it is
only for night or two. And there
are the compensating factors-the
chance really to look at the stars
surprising brilliance Of an aerial
fare dropped over the enemy lines
by a blacked-out plane, the soft
damp warmth of the Southern all
and the harmonious chorus OF
strange little noises that fill a
Louisiana night when the bedlam OF
mock battle has yielded to sleep.
My first night at the front was
passed with the Blue Army's I'd Bat
talon, 180th Infantry, on a minia-
ture hill studded with scrub pine
trees. The hill rose gently from the
lowland along a bayou, where We
had spent the day pursuing soldiers
of the Red Army and being chased
in turn.
Battalion Turns In.
1t was just after II o'clock when
the battalion turned in for the
night. the men knowing they were
to be routed out at m. for a dawn
attack. Needless to say, there was
no ceremony about going to sleep
The men simply dropped in theil
tracks and went to sleep. They hac
been at the front for four days
and nights. with very little sleep
and even the toughest youngsters
from the Oklahoma mountains gel
tired. But tired or not these mer
were willing to do whatever had tc
be done, and they jumped up ir
the morning fresh and ready fol
more
Hardly 10 minutes had passed be-
fore the commanding officer, 1t
Col. Joseph D. Garrison, discovered
that no guard had been posted. A
sergeant was instructed to assign
eight men TO sentry duty-half an
hour for each. With considerable
difficulty the soundly sleeping men
were aroused and given their in
structions. but there was no grum-
bling. BE sure I'm awake when
my turn comes and III do it," was
the typical response.
Both discipline and morale in this
outfit are excellent. The quality of
the morale is self evident, but one
has to look twice to be sure of the
discipline. In fact. it would be diff
flcult to conceive of a more undis-
ciplined lot if the judgment were
based on a superficial examination.
But Discipline Is There.
The language employed by the
men. both in the presence of their
officers and among themselves, is
early Anglo-Saxon-direct, plain,
vigorous and wholly unsuited for
polite conversation. After four days
in the field without opportunity to
shave, bathe or change clothing they
look more like tramps than soldiers,
and certainly the casual visitor,
looking for the conventional salut-
ing, heel-clicking picture, would be
sadly disillusioned. But the dis
cipline is there, nevertheless.
When an order is given, no mat
ter how difficult or unpleasant the
assignment, it is obeyed, promptly
and efficiently. When a man re-
turns from a mission he addresses
his officer as sir" If there is a
report to be made he makes it with
out elaboration. In the occasional
instance where a task has been per-
formed sloppily, the offender is re-
buked sharply and made to do it over
again. But there was little evidence
that l could see of work dodging.
and the men themselves seemed con-
temptuous of a shirker.
1t is no accident that the 45th
Division. of which this I'd Battalion
is a typical unit. is generally con-
sidered to be one of the two best
combat groups in the Sd Army For
the men have discipline-not of the
textbook variety, but the tough, nom
brittle type that doesn't crack under
pressure.
Colonel Studious and Retiring.
For this, I think, much of the
credit should 60 to Col. Garrison.
It seems rather strange to dnd q