Imperial Valley press., 1944-07-23

IN NORMANDY by Wireless
When the now famous General Carl
Wilhelm Won Schlieben was cap
tured I happened to be at the Ninth
Division command post to which he
was first brought.
Major General Manton S, Eddy,
division commander, had a long IN
terview with him in his trailer.
When he was about finished and
ready to send the captured general
on to higher headquarters, General
Eddy sent word that the photcg-
raphers could come and take pic
lures.
So they stood in group in an
orchard while the photographers
snapped away. Won Schlieben was
obviously sourpurs about being cap
tured. and even more Scurpuss at
having his picture taken. He made
no effort to look other than sui
lenly displeaSed.
JUST SNORTED
General Eddy was trying to be
decent about it. He had an inter
prefer tell the prisoner that this
was the price of being general.
Won Schlieben just snorted, AND
then General Eddy said to the IN
terpreter:
Tell the general that cur coun-
try is a democracy and therefore l
don't have authority to forbid these
photographers to take pictures.
Won Schlieben snorted again. And
We chuckled behind our boards at
one of the slickest examples OF
working democracy we had ever
seen and General Eddy had the ap-
pearance CT the traditional cat tldC
swallowed something wonderful,
Normandy is a land of rabbits.
You see them in the fields ana
around the farmyards. Most OF
them are semi-tame. Apparently
the people eat great deal OF ran
bit.
When we first moved in and re-
gan capturing permanent German
hivouac areas we found that nearly
every little group of German SOL
diers had its cwn rabbit warren
They raised them for food.
One day my friend Private VIII
liam Bates Wescott, of Culver CITY.
California. found a mother RABBIT
that had been killed in the shell
ing. and nearby, IN nest under q
hedge, he found six baby rabbit.
only few days old.
Wescott took them TO his pup
tent, got a ration box to put them
in. and spent the afternoon teedlne
them condensed cream through an
eve dropper. They went for 1t IKE
little babies Next morning live ol
them were dead.
ONE LIVED AWHILE
The soldiers said the conclusion
of bombs falling nearby during tn
night had killed them. l faid undl-
hIted condensed milk had Killed
them At any rate the sixth one
thrived and became cute and gay
He followed Weecctt around ev-
ervwhere. and if the distance got
too far he would 90 hopping back 70
the pup tent and snuggle up III
Wescott's blankets. He was quite 2
little rabbit. Everybody was crazy
about him. Then after about week
we found him dead out on the grass
/ one morning.
Which is lousy way to end the
story. but that's all there was to II
The town of Montebourg on the
Cherbourg peninsula Is one OF the
worst wrecked Of the towns that
we're fought ever and shelled by
both sides.
We stopped at Montebourg one
day after it was all over. On one
tide of the city square there was a
/ large collection of rusting farm
implements-all kinds of plowS
planters, mowers and things.
On one wrecked moving machine
was the familiar name 'McCCr-
mick" And near the machine was
stretched out in pathetic death a
big white rabbit.
One night crawled down into an
ack-ack battery command post, in
a dugout. It was about 2 a. m
Only two people were there a
lieutenant, giving orders TO the
guns by telephone, and a sergeant,