The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-12-30
Mediterranean Hitch-Hiker
Finds Travelling Tough
HENRY TAYLOR EMPLOYS DEVIOUS DEVICES
AND DETOURS ON LONG ROAD TO ROME

the earliest relic from its hom'
port of Valencia. What with goat
and other types of impediment'
aboard, the start on the road t,
Rome from the quay-side at Tan
giers was haphazard, to say tn,
least. Time means no more tt
Moslems than to goats; so, as thu
only non Moslem non-goat passen.
ger, I just had to wait. The bal
ance of the daylight hours were
consumed, on arrival at Algeciras
by Spanish inspectors whose Gus
toms and currency control makes
a fine-toothed comb look like 8
rake. They did everything except
clip the goats.
Gibraltar lay across the harbor
But the harbor had been closed by
the Spanish military. So in the only
automobile available-an English
Morris runabout-I ratified off on g
50-mile tour of back-country Spain
Thus it took full day to make the
30-mile, crow-f1ight trip from Tan
gier to Gibraltar.
Once arrived, and in the hands
of the U. S. Army, things speedec
up. Inside The Rock, made 6
night visit which took me up anc
down innumerable inclines to al
levels of gun emplacements, search
light batteries, and more gun EN-.
placements. This went on so long
that I wound up sleeping at the air.
port, and got an early take-off from
the greatly expanded field.
LOOKS PEACEFUL
We went out across the brilliant.
ly sunlit. dazzingly blue Mediter.
ranean, its shoreline softly trimmed
in purple and studded with pic
turesque white huoses. It was as il
peace were everywhere over these
gentle waters, and that all this wal
for the eyes alone of poets anc
lovers, instead of being a haven fol
submarines, dive-bombers and gun.
laden conveys.
We flew close along the noun
tains near the Algerian shoreline
to an intermediate field, and Their
on to Algiers. Distances hereabout
are much greater than homebodies
probably realize. Our soldiers ano
sailors are finding the Mediter-
ranean very big place. For ex-
ample, when our forces landed in
Algiers, and Rommel stood at the
Nile, the spacial separation was as
if we had swarmed the bank of the
Hudson river while The Fox painted
on the plains around Denver.
AS for Naples, it is a thousand
miles from Gibraltar, and Algiers
is less than half way. Algiers is
600 miles behind the front.
GETS A LIFT
On the second evening, I met 8
hoSpitable general friend oil
many years-who helped brush
aside this hitchhiker's problems by
agreeing to take me with him on 9
flight to Italy in a converted bomb
er at dawn next morning. So al
daylight, away we went nonstop
to Naples. 1t was a big break fol-
me because this 60O-mile Jump L
heavily bottle-necked for trips like
this.
Having scattered my luggage be.
hind, all that I had by now wa.
field rations and friend who Ii
as thoughtful and considerate as
when he wore one bar. But I dis
covered that the friend was all
needed where was going.
After flying low over the African
coast. and circling occasionally to
have a look, we made the long jumr
over the sea to the Italian main
land, our only beachhead to the
continent of Europe. We went ovel
Salerno where the beaches still show
the marks of an historic fight, anc
then over Vesuvius, which is q
counterpoint of Gibraltar at the enc
of this first salient on the road tt
Rome.
Henry J. Taylor