The Wilmington morning star., 1944-01-24
With
The AEF
BY KENNETH L. DIXON

WITH THE AEF IN ITALY. ia,
2o.-Delayed) -P- Actor H,,n,
phrey Bogart is tagged for life
lar as Italians are concernos.
When he appeared on Naples st,o.,
the youngsters started giving ~
with the rrrrttt-rrrrtttt of q r WI
chinegun and yelled "Gangster. '4s'
Chicago, gangster de Chicago ;, 10
Not that the movie tougb u
attempts to avoid the role, n.y. ",
first line when he steps up on + +ha
back of a truck and looks o,,. Nls
the tired unshaven CTS who b.' a.
been pushing the front fartber 1--WE We
Italy day after day is ALWAYS ao ~
for laugh. '''0
I'm looking for a new noh ,
ne snarls, glazing at the assent,
ed soldiers. you guys look Tts
a likely bunch of trigger men
He takes a lot of kidding ahon,
how he ought to get prruI'
heart for his first "paracbnp. ta
jur,p," when he collected wa,.
over his right eye. 1t hapnero ls
when he made the mistake Of coIo
brating his 44th birthday with son, NJ,
paratroopers.~
Before knew it," ne saws 90
was on the table with the w.
troopers and we were yelling CO..
onimo' and jumping off. | sues,
my chute failed to open"
The Gerry brothers who used n
be pretty well known in polo cir.
Giles, are lucky. They have been
in the same outfit, P-4O fighter
bomber group, as ground Officers
ever since coming overseas IA
months ago.
Both are captains, both are mar.
ried and both have two children,
boy and girl apiece. Robert wbo
IS 81, used to be in the real estate
business at Westbury, L. l., and
Henry, who is 29, was a LAWYER
and lived alta Delhi, N. Y, although
his family now lives at 995 Fifth
Avenue, New York City.
By coincidence, they got togeth.
err about three weeks before the
outfit sailed from the States. Since
then they've been through the Tuni.
sian, Sicilian, and Italian cam.
paigns together, much to the envy
Of thousands of other soldiers, who
usually find their brothers fighting
on the other side of the world.
Prof. Amedeo Maiuri is a short
cid man with thinning grey hah.
He sits in his office high and far
back in the cold and barren store
building which, as the famous
Naples museum, once housed the
: art treasures of centuries.
There, with lone doorman pro.
viding the only remaining live
, touch of grandeur, in the huge
! building which has been stripped
of paintings and sandbagged
) against bomb conclusion, ne waits
for peace. And in the midst Of his
, tory's worst war he continues Su'
, pervising the resurrection Of the
ruins of other wars.
r He is the superintendent general
5 CT antiquities and excavations ac'
! cording to his formal title, and
: with his hornrimmed glasses on
} his nose and his worn cravat snug
ly tied against his faded but I'M
maculately clean shirt collar, he
still refuses to admit that anything
could interfere with the importance
Of museum work.
During the early days OF the IN
vasion the Germans were IN ana
. around Pompeii, which the proteS'
sor also supervises. Ignoring me
battle, he drove to Pompeii, found
bombs falling there and tried 10
f send word to the Red Cross leI'
I ing both sides that the excavations
+ there housed no soldiers at lhe
{ moment and please not to ruin 'n'
J uins of Pompeii. -.
On the way back to Naples hl'
: car was strafed and his leg orok
en-. At the hospital he heard lna
: Germans were ransacking his nu
scum, so he cajoled friends ln.'
: helping him out with the attend,
r ants, who pointed out that ne "9S
: 100 old a man to be moving arouA"
5 with a freshly broken leg.
! So, when American doughOV ~,
l entered Naples and eVen'udn'
walked through the long cold enp,
ty corridors of his museum pas'
the sandbags and the empty p.
j., ture frames, they suddenly CAM IN
,, upon uniformed doorman VIM ~ =.
And there, propped up on '0'
+ sisted on announcing them ,..c.
shivering from the cold bus qsis ~
ing anyone to touch what reIliall so
: Of his museum, lay the ageo p''
/ lessor, broken leg and all