The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1942-11-05
Yank Filters in
Australia
By ". B. Courtney
(WNU Featur-Through special arrange
u,ent with Golfers Weekly.)

Australia. The Darwin area Is
about as far from Sydney and Mel
bourne as Death Valley is from New
York. 1t is probably wilder in ma
ture and ruder in its white men than
any other part of earth under a
United Nations flag.
Even the Australians, usually sem
sitive about references to whatever
section of their country. admit IT'S
'.bloody Godforsaken.' But it's
home, for the time being at least. to
many Yank bomber and pursuit kids
whose advanced flying bases, hacked
from the desert scrub and the morl-
bund red earth by their w engl-
neers and labor battalions. white
and Negro, dot the "bush' here
aboutS.
So very young and lean, habitually
wearing only shorts and rubber
sneakers, cooked to a partridge
brown, raising as much beard as
they can, with huge pistols dangling
from web belts, these raklsh ana
raffsh airmen look, after a couple
of weeks, like student pirates.
Life Without Women.
They have to be tough and in
genious to survive down heroine
flies, the mosquitoes, the snakes, the
heat and the eye-splitting glare that
makes the inside of your head raw,
the unbearable loneliness OF LIE
without women.
They eat only Aussie chow-and
second best at that. When they get
lump sugar, they mark it with ink
for use as playing cards or doml-
noes. The difficulties Of transpor-
tation have begged down most OF
the commissary. recreational and
morale services of our W army.
Cigarettes and other amenities
are likely to be stolen before they
can pass the long overland trek
from our base ports.
When staff officers fly in for visits,
they usually load their planes with
comforts for the Yanks here-maga-
zines, candy. playing cards, clga-
rettes and the like. l saw a whole
group Jump away from unfinished
dinner, with shouts of boyish glee,
when Gen. Ralph Royce produced
out Of his plane a baseball, a bat
and some felders' mitts.
American Ingenuity.
Their toughness they take out on
the Nips. The only superiority we
have in the air of the Southwest
Pacific is skill and heart. Their in
genuity is expressed in little ways
at once familiar and endearing to
an American visitor.
Northern territory is the Land OF
the White Ant. These various ter
mites build structures. some low
mounds, some 20-foot columns, until
the plains around Darwin, seen in
the moonlight, give you the impress
sion of ruined castles and villages
in miniature.
The so-called magnetic" nests
are the most famous-tall, slabwise,
sharply tempted pillars. the ends OF
which always point exactly north
and south. Woody substance inside,
they are covered with fine clay that
hardens into fortresses that repel
all the termites' enemies.
The Yanks found a use for these.
They ak off the tops, chisel out a
hollow in the bases-and have fine
barbecue or picnic stoves!
All Kinds of Hunting.
The chief unrationed recreation Of
the Yank airmen here is hunting
Nips in the air. kangaroos, snakes,
dingoes or wild dogs, emus, ducks.
buffalo, crocodiles on the ground.
The kangaroo remains of greatest
interest. The boys catch young ones
and try to tame them; each plans
to take a roo home with him. But
they find the 'roos dumb and un'
responsible; lust misshapen rab'
bits"
One squad tent has a mascot
an old roo that, on his own,
attached himself. He will eat food
that's set on the ground. He comes
in at night and sleeps under one O.
the cots. But if you try to pet him
he runs out. At ~reveille he moves
out about 80 feet from the tent; sits
there all day, watching. sidestep
ping anyone who goes near him. Ir
four months of this, nc one has sue
ceeded in touching him.
The Yanks try to build up auxil
larry afraid warning services witt
their wild-pet friends. Goannas.
type of monitor lizard, are plentiful
in all the camps-roam about al
day on their business of catching in
sects, not allowing the advent O.
thousands of men to disturb theil
lives. They are not dangerous-ex
cept that If you stand m%otionless
one may think you are a tree ant
run up you, with unfortunate results
to your clothes and skin from it
knife-like claws. The goannas stane
on their hind legs and turn theil