Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-30

beautiful letter from his mother,
which I reprinted. The second
story was about how we snapped
lucky charms. I gave Elmer little
green porcelain elephant with big
ears, and he gave me an old silver
dollar. The third story-and I'll
never forget writing twas when
I heard that my green elephant.
which was pinned to the firewsll Of
his Thunderbolt, had failed him and
he had gone down under a Focke-
Wulfs fire.
Elephant Half good"
This is the fourth story about
Elmer, and it's the happiest one.
Just about q week before I left
London, there was knock on my
door and there stood Elmer. All SIX
feet-something of him, grinning
from ear to ear. don't know where
he had been, what had happened to
him, or how he arrived at my door,
because he wasn't at liberty to tell
any Of these things. All I know Is
that it was swell to hear him say,
That elephant Of yours was half
good anyhow. Now you cook me
some hot chocolate, only don't
make it hot chocolate"
only hope that all Of the other
so-called lucky pieces that I handed
o,lf IN mir flvnre uorL q f.. wall NA,u~r
thing about the kids who are flying
the bombers and the fighter planes
over there - they prefer . lucky
charm that can be divided In two
parts 50 they can take half OF It,
I took new pair Of cuff links to
England and I often wished that
/ had taken dozens Of pairs. The
boys like to carry one cuff link with
them on their missions and tell you
as they leave, "11l bring it back to
you. won't ruin that Set for YOU.
The one link you have wouldn't be
bit of good without this one" 1t
seems to give them a tie to the
earth and to living when they have
something they feel they must re-
turn.
have one garter that has been
on Is missions by now and hope
that 1t will be returned at the
end Of the war, ragged though 1t
may be. have a pocket knife
without chain. The chain may
be sweeping over the coast of France
right now. have one pipe bowl
without stem, and the stem has
been In more than one dive on
enemy ships. These odd personal
items have seen tucked away a.
Fortresses were having their bomb
bay loaded at midnight for 4 dawn
take-of1. have had pilot or bonn
barber or tail gunner cali to me
as he claMbered in his ship, III
bring your stuff back to you, BROTH
er. Don't fret about it while I'm
gone"
Ran Out Of Pairs.
I hadn't been around our air
bases IN England very long before
ran out OF things that could
be divided. So, I started giving
away the darndest things for GOOD
luck pieces to boys I lived with
on the bases.
Billy Medole is flying an old
baseball writer's card that I dug
out, OF my wallet. Willie Hegemar
has proof that he is a member Of
the international Club of Chicaeo's
Drake Hotel. Billy Southworth can
cash a check at any Knott Hotel
he comes across in Europe. Billy
Calhoun, the boy who flew Clark
Gable on his first flight, can get
in any PEA golf tournament free
If he happens to run across one up
there at $1,000 feet. He has NV
PEA badge. My membership card
to the National Press Club In
Washington is tackled in the cockpit
OF the Thunderbolt piloted by Tom
my Pittman.
hope the rest OF these bows
won't give me the Jolt Elmer did,
I'm looking forward to the day when
all the lucky charms come home
to roost and the boys who carried
them just come home.
Distributed By MeNsuxht. Syndicate. ln.)