The Wilmington morning star., 1944-02-12
With
The AEF
nv KENNETH l.. DIXON

nv KENNETH L. DIXON
ANZIO beachhead, Italy, Jan. %.
-Delayed)- Up Dear Censor:
I know you can't pass this story
now, and I don't want you to, but
lust hold it until you hear that
there are fighter planes operating
off Anzio beachhead, until you're
sure that Jerry knows it too, and
then send it on out, because its
about a bunch of guys who don't
capture beachheads but who make
it possible for them to be held and
extended.
They're always in there pitching
on each invasion, but they never
get their names in the paper until
the story of the landing is no long
er news, because knowledge of
their presence would be a dead
giveaway to the Germans.
They're the aviation engineers.
In couple of days they're going
to have an air base here ready
for fighter planes to operate right
with the troops. Having those
planes up close is vital, because
the kind of cover the air corps has
been giving us this week can't be
kept up indefinitely. It's too long a
haul for the fighters.
The job of this company of avia-
ton engineers started when Capt:
John P. Mason of Houston, opera
tons officer, led three men ashore
one day. They were Tech. Sgt.
Steve Shuhay of Allentown, Pa,
the assistant operations. officer;
Sgt. Eddie c. Heilker of Cincinnati,
and Corp. Leroy E. Altman Of Man.
haitian, Kansas.
While the, Doughboys still prowl-
ed forward with their bayonets at
ready this reconnaissance quartet
located site for. an airfield. Still
soaking wet, from their landing,
they started inspecting it. By night
fall they had pretty good idea
what would be needed.
There was a 1900 foot sire n
which would make a pretty god
natural runway" said Mason la
ter. "But we knew we'd have to
extend it and do it pronto. Then
on D plus five Give days afte-
the landing) the rest Of the COM
pany came in, commanded by
Capt. Arthur Benson of Morgan
town, W. Va. The battalion Co.,
1t Col. George Kumpe OF Fort
Omaha, Neb., came with them. The
irony of it was that their voyage
and landing was much hotter than
that of the advance D day unit.
They went through an air raid as
they rolled their equipment on
board the LIST which was to car
ry them up the coast. They had
three or four others coming in to
the beachhead and finally their
ship was bracketed by four bombs
just before they landed. That was
night before last. Mason met
them at the dock and they hauled
their machinery through the streets
and roads right out to the air base
site and got to work. The various
platoon leaders, guys like 1t. Har-
ry Richards of Long Beach, Calf,
and 1t. Reuben R. Day of La
Porte City, Ia, got the work divid-
ed up according to their special
ties. Master Sgt. Leslie E. Daley
of Des Moines, 47-year-old veteran
Of "a years in the Army and World
War I was one Of the busiest. He's
constructions supervisor.
At daybreak the advance COM
pany was hard at it's work. Sgt.
Clyde Freshour of Marion, Ohio,
Corp. Edward Chrusciel of Jessup,
Pa, and others of the demolition
squad were blowing up everything
obstructing the area where they
wanted to extend the runway. They
didn't have to worry about mines
this time. The ferries left so quick
ly they forget to remove their
achtung mie sings. So the engi-
neers just roped off the mined
areas and went ahead
There was work for the weapons
men, Sgt Louis A Castellano of
Queens Village, L. l., and Pvt.
Jack R. Buchanan of San Antonio,
Texas, a machine gunner, for there
were Jerry planes still slipping in
for sneak raids. The boys like 10
have Jack on a gun. He got credit
for damaging five planes at Kas-
serine Pass and they say he really
chalked up a bigger score than
that.
The carpenters, including Sgt.
Troyce Casey Jones of Gravelly,
Ark, who was stock farmer in
civilian life. and Corp. Frank v.
AMBROSE, Philadelphia. were busy.
Everybody was on the ball
The field bulzzed with equipment
in action. Runway graders, trac-
tors and scrapers, huge shovels.
rollers, dirt packers, trucks and
surveying instruments The boys
know their job They did it in North
Africa, Sicily and at Salerno.
They've been shelled and bombed
again and again since landing here,
Tho1 ifororv