The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1943-04-01
Boy
Writes From
North Africa
John Darlington Gives
His Impressions of
Life on Distant Front.
SAYS COMING OF
AMERICANS GOD-SEND

AMEhlCANS GOD-SEND
The following letter was received
by Mr.. and Mrs. VIM. ]. Dorring-
ton of Conrad, from their son, John.
who is in north Africa. Inasmuch
as the Dorringtons were longtime
residents of Libby, the letter will
be read with much interest by
many. John writes, in part, as fol-
lows.
suppose you have been getting
quite anxious to hear from me and
am wondering just where I'm at.
Well lot has happened since last
heard from you. Censorship does
not permit the disclosure of our To-
cation outside of that we are To-
Gated along the coastline of North
Africa. The coastline is really
nothing like ! expected to find. It's
rich in agriculture and the land
scape is supposed to be similar to
| that of southern California.
The trip over was without incl
dent under rather crowded condi-
tons. The grub wasn't anything to
brag about but there were so many
of us that it made it rather hard to
accommodate us. The Atlantic was
rather rough at times but once we
passed into the Mediterranean the
sea was beautiful and calm. 1t sure
felt good to be back on dry land
again and | was glad that I never
became a sailor instead of a sol
der. | sure don't envy Lyle at all.
My body seems to be taking an
awful beating lying on the ground
/ in pup tents. There just doesn't
seem to be the fun in 1t that there
was when / was back home and
camped out. The rains come just
about every other day and when -
rains it really pours. The mud here
is just about like the gumbo there
1t really makes things sloppy and
hard to keep shoes or anything else
clean. It's really no lie when they
say the nights in Africa are rather
nippy.
Our outfit is camped in field
not far from fairly large city.
compared to the cities of Montana.
went into town couple of days
ago on pass. While there took
the first bath that I've had for the
past month. 1t really felt good. The
city is very picturesque and is just
like most old European towns The
houses are crowded closely to-
gether along narrow streets. The
European settlement is built separ-
ate from the Moslem section. The
largest buildings are about ten
stories and are very modern in arch
itecture and design. They have fun
ny little street cars that run all over
town furnishing the most used
means Of transportation. Taxi cabs,
what few there are, are the old
horse and buggies or carts pulled by
burrows There seems to be very
| few civilian cars. What few CT
william trucks I've seen are charcoal
burners.
The Moslem men or natives wear
red fezzes like the Shriners wear
and the women are dressed in white
from head to foot with veil COW
ering the face The children are rag
ged and half starved 1t seems the
enemy marched through and took
everything in sight, SO the coming
of the Americans has been a God
send.
The European folk are very we'll
dressed good looking and gracious.
/ United Nation service men line the
streets everywhere.
4 | cannot predict our next move
but at present everything is serene
and calm. / am in the best of
| health. The outdoor life is sure
wonderful compared to that stuffy
office at CroWder. So far | have
1 enjoyed every bit of 1t and would
not have missed it for anything
may change my mind later. I'm
really not any more war conscious
\ than | was when | was home last,
SO my mind is at ease, SO to speak
/ only wished | would have
brought along few more personal
belongings with me such as a cam
era, few more toilet articles and
few boxes of candy, etc. There
really isn't much more | can say
about myself SO will tell more about
the country and people.
The predominating language is
French with Spanish and Arabian
second. There are very few of us
that can understand much of their
lingo but cap all make out enough
to get by. Werhave a linguist in the
outfit who interprets for us The
natives seem to learn our language
awfully fast.
We are paid in francs. Fifty
1 francs for dollar. The bigger the
amount of money the bigger they
make the bills until they get about
magazine size. The natives sell the
boys good wine from SO to, 100
/ francs and really do big business.
/ There seems to be an abundance
of oranges grown here.
After leaving Crowder, Uncle
Sam did pretty good job Of show
ing us America before putting us
out to sea. We passed through all
! the middle western states. just
ahot,t nna full week in travelling tn