The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1943-12-22
Shirt ond Typewriter
Constitute Equipment
Reporters OF Current War Do
keot Job Of Bouncing About


experiment and path blazing.
This foresight paid dividends
IN an impressive list Of United
Press "firsts' and exclusives
first" like the revelation Of
Fortress area bombing and Eek
clusives" like the touching story
of the Mathis brothers, one of
whom won the Congressional
Medal OF Honor because, though
MORALLY wounded, he stuck by
his bombsisht until his cook
les were gone.
Presently in the field and
constantly on the go TO cover
every facet OF the American
side of the air war are two
young United Press veterans,
Collie Small and Douglas Wer-
ner.
They are the boys with the
musette bags. where or
whether-they will sleep when
night comes-they never know.
On operational days, when
the Fortresses and Liberators
and ThunderboltS and Maraud-
ers and Lightnings are out,
these correspondents may visit
as many as four different bases,
each as much as 100 miles from
the others.
Small and Werner stop at
each base first to tackle flying
operations and intelligence COM
manders TO get the basic facts
Of the day mission, and then TO
get the human, personal expert
ence stories from the men who
have just returned from fight
ing five miles high in the skies
for their countries and for their
lives.
After the filters turn in to rest
up for the next days job, Small
and Werner assemble and write
their stories and send them, de-
spite communication ball-ups
and hazy. dim transmission lines
10 the desk at the United
Press bureau in London.
PROCESS YARNS
There skilled desk men like
William b. Dickinson, Phil
Ault and Ed Murray men
whose names seldom appear
over the air stories il the papers
assemble the Small and Wer-
ner reports into the fact-packed,
fastmOving c count which
United Press lays on clients
desks within minutes, some
times even before Small or
Werner have hung up the re-
.celver at their end.
After~telephoning, the CORE
spondcnts may 60 around TO the
back door Of the mess to beg a
late meal from the chef-per-
haps their food that day. Later
they grope their way TO
strange barrack where they'll
crawl in beside some weary
flier or bomb loader or an in
telligence officer destined to be
awakened in an hour to plan the
next days mission.
II there is a mission the next
day, Small and Werner are al
the GRIND. again. But even if
there is no mission, their rou-
tine differs only slightly. They
take little more time but they
continue their unending tour of
the bases, now TO pick up the
feature stories that come from
reticent, modest filters only on
the day after"
Yet all this effort and perser-
verance are not enough to
achieve the complete coverage
that United Press wants. Stand
ing by especially TO give the
folks back home intimate, per-
sonal glimpses of their men at
war are top-flight writer's Jim
McGlincy and Dudley Ann Har-
mon.
Armed with tips from Small
/ or Werner-and with musette
bags now swung over their
shoulders-they dash into the
field TO pick up any undevel-
oped angle for another United
Press exclusive.
In London, / am constantly
kept busy assessing the facts,
interviewing those ''in the
know at the Air Ministry and
Eighth Air Force headquarters,
and seeking TO interpret the de-
veloping air war, as we'll TO call
future plays so that Small, Wer-
ner and myself can be at the
scene when the big story
breaks.
Even here UPS constant at
htention 10 the air war doesn't
end. Long time stars of the UPS
foreign staff, such as Virgil
Pinkley and Ed, Beattie, fire.
quently dip into the subject TO
bring il into focus with the
overall picture of the Allied and
enemy war efforts. 6
Their interpretive dispatches
are based on direct acquaint-
ance with the generals and air
marshsls who direct the war