Evening star., 1943-07-05
Sally Norbeck Lives
Close 10 War as Driver
0fAirfie|d CIubmobi|e
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff Correspondent.

ALGIERS (By MaiD.-1t's q lonf
call from a white coated biochemis'
in test -tube-filled laboratory at
Columbia Hospital and Sally Nor
beck, 1900 block Of New Hampshire
avenue NV, driving a coffee ano
doughnut truck scores Of miles 9
day to . dozen or so airnelds.
Few have been In as close contact
with the progress of the war in the
Mediterranean area the past eight
weeks as the blonde daughter OF
the late Senator Norbeck Of South
Dakota. She went into the REQ
Cross service directly from a job ss
laboratory assistant to DR.. Tomas
Cajigas, well-known Washington
pathologist.
Miss Norbeck now Is a member OF
q team OF four girls who serve
doughnuts and coffee to the crews
of the Flying Fortresses and their
fighter escorts as soon as they return
from daily raids over the Mediter-
ranean islands and Italy. They
cover an area stretched out fol
about IS miles.
Among First to Know.
The Job includes feeding about
1000 men a day, including the
ground crews of the planes. so in
tensive has been the activity of the
last few weeks. She and her COM
rades often are the first to know the
story OF a mission. who among their
friends has come back with a victory
and who, as is too often the case
will not come back any more.
The girls-the rest of the team
is made up of Elsa Frame and Mar
garet Ridsdale of Philadelphia and
Betty Doubleday Of Tyron, N. c.
are close friends Of two-thirds OF
the pilots, navigators and bombar-
diers whose names appear in the
news from North Africa. They have
had their share OF flying on prac-
tice hights-it is prohibited to take
girls on missions-and Miss Norbeck
says the barren Algerian mountains
thousands Of feet below now look
as familiar to her as the back yard
at home.
Close to Front.
For more than a month before
the close of ground hostilities they
were closer to the front than any
other woman except q few nurses,
and their actual contact with the
war was much closer than any of
these. The four girls now have set
up housekeeping after a fashion In
one Of the few French houses in
q nearly 90 per cent Arab town.
The one souvenir of the war
I've made up my mind to take home
to Washington" Miss Norbeck says,
'is a piece Of the wallpaper in our
living room. It's the wierdest stuff
I've ever seen. It is of deep flame
color with silhouettes OF man and
a woman sitting on sand beach
under an umbrella.
"At first we thought we might
make some sort of home of the
place. We cleaned up the rooms and
arranged q table with an Army
blanket for a tablecloth. But it
turned out to be just a place to
sleep in for few hours every night
until the call comes to start out
with the truck again to catch some
returning mission.
Given Job as Experiment.
THE flyers can't keep regular
hours these days and neither can
we. As a result I can hardly re-
member when we've had a meal at
home"
Miss Norbeck and Miss Ridsdale
landed at Oran February 81 and
spent few days as hospital work.
ers before they were assigned, pure
ly as an experiment, to the job Of
running a clubmobile among the
advanced airfields.
There isn't much in common
between shaking up test tubes and
driving a truck in North Africa -
she says, but from all I hear about
Washington these days, think this
Job is lot the safest"