Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1942-12-18
Mail from Home
i'm Africa
BY Frank CerpGsi
(WNU Feature--Through special arrange
nent with Golfers Weekly

AS any top sergeant will tell you,
the cornerstone Of morale among
troops is mail from home. In this
respect, our troops in Africa have
been luckier than most soldiers fight
ing on distant fronts.
l was present when they opened
letters postmarked ten days and less
from the date of receipt. You can
watch their spirits rise at mail time,
as Enthusiastically as the red column
moves upward in a thermometer
when you put match under the
bulb.
They provide fair sample Of
what our army is like in the field.
A few months ago, men who now
live in tents, barracks and huts were
soda jerkers, business men and me-
chanics. They were junknen from
Joplin, well drillers from Waco,
pants pressers from Philly. But they
look and act like an army.
Their equipment from the neat in
sigma on shoulders and collars to
their weapons, is indubitably the
best in the world, and the envy of
all soldiers who see it.
Proud of Their Equipment.
Pride in themselves, but particu-
larly in their equipment, is one of
our soldiers characteristics that inn
presses you most. In the air force,
judging from the conversation at
mealtimes and while waiting about
for the boys to return from their
raids, airplanes supersede even the
soldiers classic subject of small talk
women. They'll talk airplanes un-
til your head buzzes. They'll talk
~Nyou into a tail spin, for instance,
about Minnie.
ing Minnie was born in the factories of
H&he Consolidated Aircraft company
in California about two years ago,
which is long time for an airplane
Last December 81, Minnie was flown
to Trinidad by a redhead named H.
M. Markey Of Dill Field, Florida.
In Trinidad, Minnie developed a
leaky gas tank and was laid over
for repairs so long that the boys
speculated on whether she'd ever get
away.
One morning Capt. Horace Wade,
slight, sandy-haired fellow from
Magnolia, Texas, with a sort of half
pay blond mustache, took Minnie off
on what was to be a remarkable
career. Minnie fought the Japs off
Borneo, returning from one mission
with the scalp of Jap cruiser dan
Cling from her blunt and lethal
snout.
Minnie flew supplies into the be-
leaguered Philippines and brought
out valuable pilots who thus lived to
fight another day. She did recon-
naissance work through acr'j of
flax over Burma, Malaga ar / the
Dutch East Indies Minnie flew
General Wavell from Java to Ceylon,
evacuated women and children out
of Borneo. She carried Brereton all
over India on survey of new air
routes and, just for exercise, bombed
Rangoon once.
Now Minnie's in the Middle East,
her complexion blotched by wind,
sand and monsoon, but coveted by
the British, who can't have her.
Men of Wade's squadron feel that
Minnie after more than four hun
dred hours in the air and more than
100000 air-miles-which is about
four times around the world-has
earned rest.
She lies out in field now, care
fully tended by Sergeants Pekuri,
Hitchcock and others, who keep her
ready for more hours, more miles,
but not in action. They're afraid
something might happen to her.
When she dies, they want to see
Minnie die this side of heaven,
where they can pick up the pieces
and give them proper burial.
Group of Raiders Expected.
The major interrupted this senti-
mental small talk about Minnie to
remind us that group of raiders
would be getting in soon. We went
out and found the steps under the
control tower crowded with men,
all talking in subdued way.
We lighted cigarettes, flashes of
lighters and matches revealing lean
sunburned features of American
faces.
Soon the first ships motors sound
ed overhead, and the control tower
gave her the green light. There was
deep silence on the runway. Men
watched the landing intently, catch
ing every detail of operation.
One after another they came in,
until all had checked in except one.
Conversation stopped, and all wait
ed quietly, smoking in the dark.
Then we heard her motors. The
sound men made at that moment
was not exactly cheer, but some
thing like that-a sudden animated
sound of relieved voices talking
about everything except that air
plane up there. Very soon she was
down, too, and all the planes had
returned safely. Figures dim in the
darkness started piling out of trucks
that had gone to various planes to
take off crews.