Evening star., 1943-11-28

MAJ. Musso. lerno, whert
news stories in September said q
hospital was set up and Immediately
put in working order under fire"
Maj. Musso gives interesting side
lights on his life as an Army sur
geon in the following excerpts from
his letters:
September 81: AS usual, when
ever I get to a new area, the bugs
try me out for size. There are five
men in my tent (the unholy four
and the chaplain-he acts as buf-
fer. Naturally, the bugs chose my
tender white meat for their break
fast, dinner and supper. Not to ex-
aggerate, I have about 40 bites on
my legs and buttocks. They all oc-
Cured one afternoon when I was
trying to get little shut-eye after
48 hours without sleep. (Of course !
didn't feel them-I was out cold!)
At present they are all healing we'll
but still itch a little"
Ice Cold Water for Baths.
eve were lucky to find a damned
dp piodliVd1lA oVl Cdlil d0ouO AOO al 0S
away from our bivouac area and
use it for bath tub. The water is
Ice cold, but quite refreshing when
one is hot, sticky and dirty.
Laundry is still major problem
I had native woman wash some
Of my wool o. DIS. Dry cleaning,
of course. is non-existant. When
she brought them back I had to do
them over again myself, for they
we're not rinsed out properly and
not ironed-soap spots all other
them.
September %: I keep meeting
people here who at some time or
other have lived in the States. It's
really amazing how many times I've
approached individuals in their ma
tive tongue Utalian), only to have
them answer in English. Sorta
makes one feel foolish
Our Boys Can Take 1t.
September "a: I'm doing a great
deal of the work like, but it makes
me heartsick to have to do it. I
rather look forward to the short pc
riods of inactivity and absence of
suffering. One thing really stands
out, and that is the ability of our
boys to take it. There is very little
bellyaching The ones that do COM
plain usually have nothing wrong
with them.
September 25: Yesterday morning
q couple of farmers came into our
camp with baskets of grapes and
apples. We bought scads of them,
Tor we are practically starved for
fresh fruit.
"One that I had befriended the
day previously brought me a half
dozen freshly-laid eggs. 1t seems
50 long since I saw nice golden yel-
low eggs staring me in the face from
a breakfast dish. Naturally 1 am
going to share by booty with the
unholy four. 1t will make quite
party.
Clothes for Turkeys.
'I must not forget to tell you
about the turkeys. We've been eat
ing &C" rations for some time now
and are pretty we'll fed up. How
ever, my farmer friend is going to
bring us a couple of young turkeys
for which we are going to give him
a pair of shoes and some excess
underwear. Maj. Patterson is going
to cook them over an open f1re-he
had better not ruin them or we shall
ruin him.
The natives are pathetically poor
they lack most food, clothing and
soap. They will give practically
anything for few bars of ordinary
G. I. soap. Needless to say, we
would trade the whole country for
a sight of the Statue of Liberty.
September 26. It's Sunday morn
Ing. My farmer friends arrived as
per schedule bringing two of the
cutest little turkeys you ever saw;
also dried figs. apples and almonds
and three bottles of white wine.
The turkeys are twins-so young
1t took us some time to decide who
was going to kill and dress them.
We finally took them down to the
kitchen and turned them over to
Moon" the mess sergeant.
Keeps Notes of Experiences.
October 4: Those news articles
you read about our unit, while un-
doubtedly true, painted our situa-
ton a little more precarious than
we thought it was 1t is pleasant
20 look back on things OF that sort.
Have been trying to keep short notes
on our experiences so that I can
keep my stories straight. Feel Ger
tain that no one will believe me
anyway.
Have been, of late, taking care
of a number of injured civilians.
These people are really in pa
thetic state-not only are they
caught between two fires, but they
have also been despoiled of all their
worldly possessions We are doing
all we can to help them out. They
are surprised at the kindness of the
average American.
October 6: Somehow, it doesn't
SCCllk lCdl w llldG Gill llSlS, ol
that what has happened was not
merely a dream. Several of the
men have received news clippings
similar to the one mailed me.
Moves Into City Base.
October 13: We are now estab-
nshed in a fairly large city in hos
pital buildings. AS yet we have no
running water, but despite that han
dicap have things functioning rather
we'll
Am having a wonderful time
talking the native language with
nuns who supervise each floor. They
have been wonderful, understanding
and quite anxious to see a rapid
finish to the hostilities. For the
time being I share rather COM
Portable room with Bill CONFESS the
other two Of the unholy four being
directly across the CORRIDOR. The
sister looks after our rooms. keeping
them spotless and even seeing to ii
that our laundry is done. However
I am not too optimistic as to the
length of our stay here in compara-
tive comfort. Needless to say, we
are doing about twice the amount
of work that a unit of this kind Is