Evening star., 1943-09-28
Palermo, Bombed to Ruins in Invasion,
Returns to Partial NormuIity in Month
BY THOMAS X. HENRY,
Stat Staff Correspondent.

the greatest art and music centers
of the earth, a solidly constructed
city OF wide streets and luxurious
palaces-was bleaching skeleton
beside the Mediterranean.
Buildings were roofiess, window
less f1oorless. Streets were impass-
able from debris. Except for an
occasional sentry there was hardly
any sign of human life. but only
hordes of starved cats prowling over
the wreckage
Not store of any kind was open.
OF the normal population of nearly
half million barely $4,000 remained.
The city had been subjected to
bombing after bombing by both
American and British air forces. It
looked to those who saw it during
the first days of its occupation the
most battered city on earth. They
had not yet seen Messina. 1t was
difficult to imagine that Palermo
could shake off for years the grave
clothes of such desolation
Streets Are Cleared.
But cities have a mystical vitality.
Today one passing along the princi-
pal streets hardly would notice the
destruction. They have been cleared
completely of debris. Temporary
roofs have been thrown over build
ings. All the stores are open and
doing thriving business, with at
tractive wares of all sorts. Streets
and sidewalks are crowded with
fairly well-dressed people Hawkers
| have stands on the street corners.
The cries of newsboys echo from
morning to night.
The people seem happy. Approx
mately two-thirds of the population
has returned. They had been hid
! ing in the hills, in country villages,
in caves among the rocks. The water
supply has been restored, the sew
age system repaired, the dead de-
Gently buried. The electric power
system is operating fairly efficiently.
Colorfully uniformed police have
little difficulty in keeping order.
In a month Palermo has risen
from the dead. The same is true of
smaller Sicilian cities. How it hap
| pened is something of a mystery to
those who have had the chief roles
in this drama of resurrection.
AMG, which has had a guiding
hand in the restoration and was
constantly squirting local officials to
get all the normal city services back
in operation, is partly responsible
So are the American Army engineers
who co-operated with the military
government. But both these or
ganizations are quick to disclaim
much credit. 1t must be due, they
say. to city's extraordinary tenac-
ity of life. 1t takes lot to kill
| it.
The first few days here it used
to give me the creeps," says the
mayor of Palermo" an American
major who was mayor of small city
near Washington before entering the
service. Il felt as if I was walking
through city of dead, as if every
step I took was over graves. It
seemed impossible ever to bring
order out of such chaos. I used
to go out alone afternoons to the
great Cathedral of Monreale-one
OF the most celebrated in Europe
to ponder over the problems which
confronted U.s."
Population Returns.
But in a few days the AMG Off
GERS found that Palermo was coming
to life of it's own accord. One bv
one the stores began to reopen. At
f1rSt there were very slender stocks
of goods on display With the end
OF the Messina campaign more and
more American soldiers poured into
Palermo. 1t became leave center.
Stores with displays of goods which
men in uniform with a couple of
months pay in their pockets could
be expected to buy, opened with as
founding rapidity.
Where the stocks came from no.
body knows. They had been hidden
away Somewhere-silks and satins,
china and glassware elaborately dec
Grated with gold leaf, typewriters
and swords, cruciflxes and ice cream.
Showcases were piled high with
souvenirs made for the sole purpose
of selling to soldiers. Presumably
they originally had been manufac-
tured to sell to the German troops.
There seemed to be an inexhaus-
tible supply of everything. Prices,
OF course, mounted from day to
day, unless complaints we're made
to the AMG authorities. Soldiers
never stopped to question the value
OF anything. Sullenness might have
been expected on the part of the
people toward an army which had
wrought such devastation, but Moth
ing OF the sort was apparent. Every
body seemed to like the Americans.
Everybody wanted news of cousins
and nephews in Minneapolis or New
Orleans. Everybody in Palermo has
a host of relatives in the United
States, it seems.
Army Engineers Assist.
The objective of AMG is to get
things running smoothly under the
guidance of local officials who can
be trusted and then turn the whole
job over to them as rapidly as pos
sible. The first concern was purely
! Piiy SlCdi-Uo lcSlOTc dt least
nucleus of the city services essen
tial to life and health. Here the
Army engineers co-operated with the
mayor. Soldiers as we'll as civilians
had to live in the city. The breaks
in the water mains we're repaired.
The main streets were cleared so
that military traffic could get
through. Labor gangs of prisoners
were set to work. All were Italians.
They worked hard and faithfully
under the engineer officers. A force
of 800 civilians was employed and
jobs given to local contractors. Re-
lief measures were put into effect,
as far as possible through local Or
ganizations. Some American rations
were distributed. Wheat was pried
loose from the hidden stores of the
farmers in the nearby countryside.
While these preliminary restora-
ton measures we're underway refu-
gees began streaming back from the