Evening star., 1942-12-01


told this story:
"On Sunday, November 8, my out
fit went ashore in troop landing
boats. Three battalions had pre-
ceded my company and as I waded
through water up to my neck to
the beach there was no gunfire. A
bunch of Arabs greeted us, but all
they could say was 'seegarettes.
"We went inland about two miles
before running into enemy fire. One
of my truck drivers reported to me
that one of our 81 millimeter guns
had been isloated in forward posi-
ton. They needed help, badly.
Taking my sergeant and a driver,
went forward in weapon carrier
to aid this gun and its crew. When
we were about 100 yards from the
gun, the enemy spotted us and
started spraying the truck with
machine gun fire. The bullets
splashed on our windshield and we
jumped out. While we were crawl
ing to the gun position we heard
a loud roar. Looking back we saw
that our truck had caught fire and
exploded
Reach Gun Position.
1--WE managed to get to the gun
position and spotted a French tank
on hill. We let go with a round.
We got that tank, but another
appeared We got that one, too.
About that time three or four more
tanks came over the hill and then
some more. There must have been
about a dozen of 'em. coming at us
from all directions with their ma
chine guns and 20 millimeter guns
blazing away.
"All I could think was to keep
that gun firing! Keep that gun
firing! The No. l gunner got hit.
l took his place. The No. 2 gunner,
standing beside me, got hit, too, but
he leaned against the carriage and
continued to load.
Just then shell hit our travers-
ing mechanism and the gun was
jammed. We tried to fix it. Bullets
were everywhere. Something struck
my left wrist and I fell. I looked
around and saw that all my men
were down. prayed. I believe the
others were praying. too, because I
saw one of them making the sign of
the cross.
I'VE Rugged the ground as the
tanks got nearer. They kept on
firing. When they got to about S
feet from us they stopped. The
crews dismounted and came over to
us. A French officer leaned over me
He looked at my army and started
to talk. I couldn't understand his
words but knew what he was say
ing by the tone of his voice. He was
asking me, Does it hurt?' I shall
never forget the look of sympathy
on his face.
Taken to Hospital
They took us to hospital, where
French doctor who could speak
some English operated on me. We
had two meals a day, with lots OF
goat meat, but they must have for
gotten to skin the goats. Once they
gave us sardines'
Pvt. McNutt said his party scram-
bled through the surf and pushed on
under fire of snipers hidden in the
fields. After marching inland all
day, his party dug in under shell
and machine gun fire. 1t took
further questioning to elicit from
him that he was one of the group
that silenced the machine gun nests
before he was shot.
I'VE sure had a good time on the
trip over" said Pvt. Lastokein..
Cards - music - nobody worrying
about anything. The morning when
we pulled offshore we saw warship
firing. We got our equipment into
a landing boat and started over.
Nobody took it hard. 1t was just
like another maneuver. Then
shell from the fort hit the water
close to us. The coxn told us to
brace ourselves and a minute later
we hit bottom. We lowered the end
gate and rushed out through about
80 yards of surf A shellburst scared
me Tor a moment. Then my cor
poral went ahead and told me to
take charge of the squad. AS I
started up hill piece of shrapnel
got me in the leg. I lit a cigarette.
Strafed on Beach.
"On the beach planes were STRAIT
ing us. We moved into some under
growth and I undressed and looked
at my wound. Then another fellow