The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-03
X. E.F. TRAINS
 HARD AS MEN AWAIT ACTION
By WILLIAM R. DOWNS

United Press Stan Correspondent
 London. Sept. S-(UP)-Britain begins her fourth year of war--as she did in World War I--with United States doughboys polishing their rifles and whetting their bay- onets for Q go at the same old enemy.
 For the past seven months and eight days the Tanks have been arriving, training, flying, maneu- vering, marching and toughening for "The Day" when they reverse the process Hitler started in Aus tria while most of them were in school.
 Military security precludes even an estimate of the number of men -pilots, artillerymen, tankmen and infantrymen-who have arrived in the British Isles. It only can be said the number has not yet reached the hundreds of thousands.
 However, since that gray, rainy January 26th when Minnesota boy, Milbnurn Henke, stepped of the first convoy, at least four major arrivals have been announced. Tn addition, bomber and fighter pilots are now flying against the Luft- waffe.
 Britain To Be Major Base
 United States Army and Air Corps officials make no secret of their intentions to make Britain the major base of operations when the western front campaign opens.
 Scattered in Army posts and airflelds throughout the United Kingdom, the infantryman and the pilot are feeling the strain of seven months of inactivity. Many of the troops are trained Task Forces who were prepared for in- Stant action when they arrived. Tank formations were fully exper- fenced and hardened by the gigan- tic naneuvers completed in the south last year.
 However, United States com manders have put their troops on Commando basis and they have been-and still are-going through the most strenuous exercises includ- ing cliff sealing, long distance over- night marching, river fording and every other form of instruction which will aid them when they land in Europe.
 Head man for all United States fighting forces in Britain is It. Gen. D. Eisenhower, 5l, Kansas-reared commander of U. s. forces in the European theater, Eisenhower was appointed as head of Americas in- vasion forces in mid-July and since has earned the respect of his Amer ican and British colleagues.
 General Spaatz Popular
 The Air Corps most popular fly ing officer is Maj Gen. Carl Spaatz, 51, former pilot of the Army's en- durance plane Question Mark" and head of the Air Forces here. Under Spaatz is 46-year-old Maj. Gen. Ira Baker, chief of American bomber command and Maj.-Gen. Frank O'D. Hunter commands U. S. fighter squardons.
 Commander of the ground forces perhaps the second most impor- tant job in the European theater- is Maj. Gen. Mark Clark who at 46 is one of the Army's youngest off, i cers to hold such a responsible post. |
 Toughest officer of the lot char acteristically handles the toughest | job, that of preparation. Comman- der of the Services of Supply is Maj. Gen. John c. H. Lee, 55, whose responsibility includes such duties as unloading ships. feeding nursing and billeting troops.
 Ulster has developed a healthy respect for the American dough- boy but its greatest kudos go to Mai. Russell P. Hartle, 53, commander of the U. s. forces in Northern Island. He is the oldest | commander from point of service on this side of the Atlantic.