The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-24
By ERNIE PYLE

IN ITALY, -tby WlreleSs)-A1t-
err the marching order came it
took our company about Is min
utes to get itself together, with
the head of the line assembled at
the appointed place in front OF
the kitchen tent at the edge of
the olive grove.
It was midnight The nigh: was
utterly black. 1t was the dark of
the moon, and thick, low clouds
further darkened the sky. In two
years overseas, this is the black.
est night we've ever moved" one
soldier said.
With a couple of others, I felt
my way from our pig shed down
to where we thought the kitchen
tent was We knew we were near
it, but we couldn't see it.
TITS up aehead about so feet"
one soldier said.
l butted in and said, mo, it's
over to the right about 30 feet"
Just at that moment a flash of
fire from one Of our: nearby can
non frightened the countryside for
split second, and we saw the
tent. 1t was six feet in front of
us. That's how dark it was.
One by one the platoon leaders
felt their way up to the head of
the column, reported their pla-
toons ready in line, and felt their
way back. Finally the lieutenant
said, Lets CO."
There's no military formality
about a night movement of infan.
try. You don't try to keep step.
Nobody says Forward march, "
or any of that parade-ground stuff.
After rest the lieutenant says,
"All right, let's get along" And
everybody gets up and starts.
In trying to get out of the or.
chard we lost our various places.
Finally everybody stopped and
called each others name in order
to get reassembled. The lieutenant
and the sergeant would call fo-
me occasionally to make sure I
was still along
When We fell in again, I was
marching behind Sergt. Vincent
Corners of Imogene, la. His nick.
name is Pete" We hadn't gone
far before l realized that the place
behind Pete was the best spot in
the column for me, for I had
found a little secret.
He had a rolled-up map about
two feet long stuck horizontally
through the pack harness on his
back. By keeping close to it.
could just barely make out the
vague white shape of this map
And that was my beacon through.
out the night.
1t was amazing how. you could
read the terrain ahead of you by
the movement of that thin white
; line. If it went down couple OIL
j inches, I knew Pete had stepped
into hole. If il went down fast
I knew he had struck a slope. I.
it went down sideways, I knew his
feet were sliding on a slippery
slope.
In that split second before my
own step followed his, I could cor
rect for whatever had happened
to him. As a result 1 was dowr
only once the whole night.
We were startled to hear some
ma nificent cussing down at one
side, and recognized the company
commander voice. He hac
stepped fright off into a narrow
ditch about two feet deep and gone
down on his back. Bundled as he
was with pack-sacks, he couldn''
get out Of the ditch. He finally
made it on about the third Try
The thing that always amaze.
me about these inhuman nigh
movements Of troops in war area.
is how good-natured the men are
about it. A certain Fundamental
appreciation for the ridiculous car
rles them through. AS we slogget
along, slipping and crawling ane
getting muddier and muddier, the
soldier behind me said:
I'm going to write my Con
gresham about this