Evening star., 1943-04-17

ago when Willie
Henry McLemore. wouldn't touch
tea. Holly Bluff, which lies near
Yazoo City and has a population OF
all of 400, if you can count the field =
hands, isn't tea-drinking town.
When Willie first got here he
thought it kind of silly if not down.
right sissy to have cup of tea in the
morning and to pause in the middle
of the afternoon for shot of the
same timid refreshment. Being from
Mississippi he figured that when
a man got thirst he either scooped
himself handful of spring water
or turned the handle on the well
until he could get hold of the =
bucket and tip it to his mouth. 0a
1 know Willie because we came r,
over here together. He was strictly
Holly Bluff, nothing else. He felt
that the world and all the people
worth inhabiting it were confined.
! within the sign posts reading Holly
Bluff, Unincorporated." He was
ready and willing to think the Eng
lish we're queer people and that all
their habits and customs were those 5
of an odd people who didn't know
what the world was all about.
Change Is Important.
That's why his taking up the tea
habit is important And, even more
| important in a world where strane-
ers are trying to pull together to-
ward a common end is why he
! learned to like tea Willie learned
to like tea because the British be-
| friended him. Willie learned to like
tea because he had an experience
or two that taught him there isn't
much difference between boy who
wheels a Spitfre through the air
for England and boy who tools a
plane through the skies Tor
| America.
Willie hadn't been here long
before they had him ferrying planes
from Point A to Point b. It was
| his job to ferry one OF the hottest
/ ships in the world. Willie got lost
/ very often on this tight little isle.
/ There is the weather for one thing.
| There is always a haze about 1000
feet up and England is tiny for
boys who took their training in the
wide open spaces Of Arizona. Cali
fornia, Texas, Georgia and Florida.
England seems all iammed up. You
can't follow a railroad line because
the railroad lines crisscross by the
hundreds.
You can't tell anything from the
air at first Willie told me. Eng
land all looks the same as two
poSsums. Every town has a white
church with a steeple and every
steeple is surrounded by a bunch
OF houses that all look alike up in
| the air. You can see Is towns that
are the same and they must all be
the same size. In the United States
a man can see town and tell
where he is. Like around Holly
Bluff, if you see big town, you
know that's Yazoo City.
Treated Like Rich Cousin.
But that amt true over here.
So got lost ferrying those planes.
My gas started getting low. I
couldn't find the home base so I
started landing whenever 1 found
a field. 1t was always a Raj field.
They treated me like l was a rich
cousin. Id hop out of the plane,
tell 'em I was lost and they'd give
me some tea. Then they'd give me
some more tea and some cakes.
Man! I'm telling you, I landed at
half Of the RAF fields in England
and the boys were all the same.
Have some tea they'd say. 'Havs
a biscuit Then they'd tell me where
I was.
"One time I was only II miles
from my field when I landed and
got directions and tea. A little
later I landed and got more tea and
found I was 13 miles away. BY
the time got home I loved tea.
When I get back to Holly Bluff
I am going to have my tea. Papa
may get mad when I ring the
dinner gong at in the afternoon
and have all the cotton pickers stop
for little rest, but I'm gonna do
it
If there is any moral in this story
this is it: Willie and all the other
American flyers have learned to
like and respect their British
cousins. They came over almost
anxious not to like them. Now thev
fly wing to wing with respect and
trust. From this feeling and not
from the words of statesmen will
come the union of the Allied Ma.
tions after the war.
| distributed by McNausht Syndicate, Inc)
| Hn-Il ~