The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-05-24
BY ERNIE PYLE

A BPS BASE IN ENGLAND,
May 23-0by wireless)-Sergt. Ker-
NIT Pruitt, whom I spoke of the
other day, is the tail gunner in
my crew. He's an old cowboy
from Arizona-looks like one, acts
like one, talks like one. But he's
no hillbilly in the head.
Pruitt is the talking kind. He
talks and sings on the slightest
provocation. He likes old cowboy
songs. They say that every once
in a while he will start singing
some cowboy song over the inter-
phone while they're actaully on a
bomb run, and the pilot will have
to yell at him to shut up.
He likes to tell stories about cow
pokes in Arizona. He was telling
the other day about one old cow
boy who went to the city and reg
istered at hotel for the first time
in his life. The clerk asked if he
wanted a room with running water,
and the cowboy yelled:
Hell no! What do you think
am, a trout"
Pruitt drives the rest of the crew
crazy by shooting his tail gun at
the most unexpected times. In
more than so missions he has never
yet seen an enemy plane to shoot
at, so he breaks the monotony by
shooting at gun requirements and
flax ships two miles below. These
sudden blasts scare the wits out
of the rest of the crew, and Pruitt
then catches a little birthstone over
the interphone from the pilot.
But this doesn't faze him, or i'm
pair his affection for his pilot.
Pruitt says he just shopped around
in this Army till he found a pilot
that suited him. Back in Americ a
he "missed'' a couple of trains to
avoid coming overseas with an out
fit he didn't like. He says his bunch
proved right, for his entire old
crew in that outfit were killed on
their first mission.
GOT HIS CHANCE
Finally he got chance to come
with the B-26's. Pilot Chief Col
Inns was a wild man then, and
most everybody was afraid to ride
with him. But when Pruitt saw him
handle a plane he said to himself,
There's my man." So he got on
Chiefs crew, and he's still On it,
He wouldn't think of flying with
anybody else.
Pruitt is thin, not much bigger
than me, and he usually wears
coveralls which make him look
even thinner, He goes around pok-
ing his head out from hunched-up
shoulders with a quizzical half grin
on his face. He sure does enjoy
living.
Pleasant Valley, Ariz., ic Pruitt' S
home diggins. He is 30. He is mar
ried to a beautiful girl who is part
French and 1872 Indian, and last
Christmas Day they were blessed
with an heir. Pruitt has a pocket
book full of pictures of his wife
and offspring, and he shows them
to you every few minutes. If you
go out of the room and come back
five minutes later, he shows you
the pictures again.
L was sleeping near Pruitt one
night when the crews were awak-
ened at 2 am. for an early mis-
sion. 1t was funny to see them
come out of bed. Not soul moved
muscle for about five minutes
and then they all suddenly came
out as though shot from gun.
Pruitt alwacy starts talking as
soon as he is awake. On this partic-
ular morning he said
When the wars over I'm gonna
get me an Apache Indian to work
Tor me. IN gonna tell him to get
me up at 2 o'clock in the morning,
and when ne ZONES in I'm gonna
take my AS and kill the sob"
The three sergeants in my crew
sort of took me under their wing
and we ran around together for