The Wilmington morning star., 1944-05-20
BY ERNIE PYLE
A B-26 BASE SOMEWHERE II

A B-26 BASE SOMEWHERE IN
ENGLAND, May 2O-(by wireless)
The men in the B-26 squadron I
have been visiting live exceedingly
we'll for wartime. They realize it,
too, and are full Of appreciation.
You almost never hear an airman
gripping about things around here.
This is an old station, and well
established. Our men are comfort
ably housed and wonderfully fed
The officers have a club of their
own, with a bar and big lounge
room, and the Red Cross provides
big club right on the station for
the enlisted men.
There are all kinds of outdoor
games, such as baseball, badmin-
ton, volleyball, tennis. and even
golf at a nearby town. One of the
pilots came back from golfing and
said:
81 don't know what they charged
me a green's fee for. was never
anywhere near the green's
At first I lived with the younger
officers of the squadron. then l
moved over with the enlisted gum
ners, radiomen and flight engine
ers. They live only little differ
emily. And the line between officers
and enlisted men among the COM
bat crews is so fine that you are
barely aware of any difference
after a few days acquaintance
with them.
First I'll try to tell you how the
officers live. I stayed in the hut of
nv friends Lieutenants Lindsey
Greene and Jack Arnold. There is
usually a spare cot in any hut, for
there is almost always one man
away on leave.
This barracks is a curved steel
Nissen hut, with doors and win
dows at each end but none along
the sides. The floor is bare con-
crete. Eight men live in the hut.
Three are pilots, the others bonn
bardiers and navigators. One is a
captain, the others are lieutenants.
The boys sleep on black steel
cots with cheap mattresses. They
have rough white sheets and Army
blankets. They are all wearing
summer underwear now, and they
sleep in it. When the last one goes
to bed he turns out the light and
opens one door for ventilation. OF
course until the lights are out the
hut has to be BACKED out.
Each cot has a bed lamp rugged
over it, with a shade made from
empty fruit-juice can.
The boys have a few bureaus
and tables they bought or dug up
from somewhere. On the tables are
pictures of their girls and parents,
and on the corrugated steel walls
they have pasted pin-up girls from
Yank and other magazines.
In the center of the hut is
rectangular stove made of two
steel boxes welded together. They
burn wood or coal in it, and it
throws out terrific heat.
In front of the stove is settee
big enough for three people, and
back of the stove is a deep chair.
Both the settee and the chair were
made by mailing small tree limbs
together. The boys did it them
selves.
In the top of the hut, when the
lights go out, you can see two
holes with moonlight streaming
through. One of these is where one
of the boys shot his As one night,
just out of exuberance. One of the
other boys then bet he could put
a bullet right through that hole.
He lost his bet, which accounts for
the other hole
The latrines and wash basins are
in a separate building about so
yards from the hut. The boys and
their mechanics have built small
shower room out of packing boxes
and rugged up a tank for heating
water. Thy are proud of it, and
they take plenty of baths.