Evening star., 1942-08-03
0yefed and Bored,
American Flyers in
China Complain
Jops Seldom Come Over.
So Group Thinks
Of Cokes and Beer
by WILLIAM McGAFTIN,
Wide World.

by WILLIAM McGAFT1N,
Wide World.
WITH THE UNITED STATES
ARMY AIR FORCES IN CHINA,
Aug. ST. have Just completed q
tour Of Americas aerial front in
China: have met the boys there,
seen how they are living. talked with
them and found out what they are
thinking.
This being what the Chinese call
the period Of great heat, most of
them are thinking longingly Of the
cokes and ice-cold beer back in the
States. They are 80 newly away
from home that they haven't for
gotten the taste. Out here they
have only water-without ice and
boiled - that 1t Is thoroughly nat
One red-headed young fellow
wiped his brown and remarked quite
seriously:
I'D give . hundred bucks Of good
American money right now for .
bottle Of beer. My mother weaned
me on the stun, and look at me
now-my tongue hanging out in q
placs where the nearest bottle Is 4
thousand miles away"
Jsps Don't Come Often
These men lead simple, monoto-
nous lives. The Japanese don't often
come looking for trouble, 80 they
have to 60 out and find some.
On days when they're not doing
that, they sit the clock around In
thatched-roof alert shacks" at the
edge Of their cow-pasture air fields.
On the all-weather rock runways,
products OF the labors Of thousands
Of coolies. are their pea shooters"
sttll bearing the grinning shark
mouth smblem which was carried
ovsr from the AVG because Of its
known terrifying effect on the super
Gtitutioux japanese.
Were overfed and under
omused," n the common complaint.
They read . lot. In whatever they
ean get. One group was consuming
with great delight . 1924 vintage
masazme. They play . little poker,
and they dose . little.
They spend their evenings bat
taing mosquitoes and trying to keep
oool, and wear mosquito boots con-
stantly ~ protection against the
ever-present danger Of malaria.
They eat foreign food (that is, non
Chinese food as near American as
posNble) without chopsticks and
wash It down with boiled water.
Beds Are Hard.
They sleep on hard Chinese beds
tthe Chinese like them hard, say
they give you q straight back In
wooden barracks called hostels. Can
dies and oil lamps furnish the light,
but that doesn't matter 80 much be-
cause, except for those on duty,
the men rarely stay up long after
dark.
Each camp usually has portable
photograph or two, . great prize
In this womanless wilderness. But
records are somewhat Of = problem.
A group OF Seventh Day Adventist
missionaries did their bit by con-
tributing all the old records they
had. Few were any newer than
sometimes I'm Happy" d92D but
ct least they are music and there
fore welcome.
Sometimes the myers pick up
japanese music broadcasts when
they're in the air. In our plane I
listened to. up-to-date American
swing records, Japanese come-on
effort to get you to li\ten to the
propaganda which followed in Eng
lish.
On the field the boys amuse them
selves playing with Joe" Brig. Gen.
Claire Chennault's Dachshund,
which was given him by Capt. John
bill" Williams Of Red Key, Ind.
Joe gets air-sick so he never gets to
take trip with the general.
Always "Shop" Talk.
There's a lot Of shop talk all
the cine. Unlike the Hollywood
variety Of air hero, these men have
no aversion to talking about mates
who have been killed, nor are they
superstitious about three on a
match.
They talked quite freely, for
instance. about two pursuit pilots
who were lost in raid on Lnchwan
July 10. They were John Pete
Petach OF Perth Amboy, N. j., and
Arnold w. Red" Shambling OF
Commerce. Okla.
Both AVG flyers, they stayed over
for q few weeks to help the Army
Air Forces get established. They
new two Of the four planes which
attacked Japanese headquarters at
Linchwan in support Of Chinese
troops.
Petach, leading the formation
vas hit by nti-aircraft, his wing
came Of and he crashed.
Shambling is listed simply ..
missing, his fate uncertain.
Petach. a big, good looking fellow
was killed only a few days before
he was scheduled to start for home
With his pretty young wife, thu
former Emma Jane Foster Of Stat.
College, Pa. She was an AVG nurse
and they were married about foul
months ago. She took his deatf
with her chin up-"a thorough
bred, Just like Pete"
Rescued by Guerrinas.
It's because casualties have beer
20 few that each case Is well known
The only other instance was ,
lucky one for young Harry Bolste
Of Baytovn, Tex, who had brough
down two Japanese before he wa!
QUICKLY KILLS