Evening star., 1944-11-19

him with a TO- foot pole," said 1
ciuilian fyer."
chance to find himself, but the Army
had to grow up fast, had to get every
thing done in hurry. Obviously, there
hasn't been time to fit every man into
the best place for him and give him
period Of adjustment"
Lifted out Of the narrow, swift-moving
river Of Army life and put back in the
broad, calm lake of civilian life, how
ever, Gen. Grant pointed out. these men
who didn't At into the Army can find
place for themselves again back
home-if they're given half a chance.
The "Tired Boys"
Those men were discharged because
they didn't nt. Then there is the sec
ond group-the ones Gen. Grant refers
to as the tired boys" Before the war
one Of them was working in a garage,
another had just earned his letter in
high school football, another was going
to art school, another was a cub re-
porter.
Gen. Grant explains what happened
to them by pointing out that every man
has breaking point-the point at which
q man begins to have nightmares feels
unusually restless and nervy. can't eat,
wants to get OF by himself. Put enough
strain on any man, Gen. Grant con-
tends, and the man will break, whether
he's soldier or civilian. He uses this
illustration:
Picture group of men given a So
pound load to carry. One man will
collapse as soon as he puts it on his
back. Another may be able to carry 1t
100 yards. The third may be able to
run around the block with 1t, but, sooner
or later, he'll drop from physical ten
sion. After oollapsing, one man would
Just need rest. Another would need
special Treatment. The same applies to
mental tension" .
For Gen. Grants tired boys" the
load that strained them temporarily
could be the fear Of death, the fear OF
being afraid. one horrible experience or
q long seige of combat missions
The Tail Gunner's Plight
He told the story OF a tail gunner
flying on practice mission. At 26, 600
feet the waist gunner passed out from
lack Of oxygen and the pilot put the
ship into . vertical dive to revive him.
When he tried to level OF at 10000 feet
the cables snapped, the right wing and
engines pulled of and the plane caught
fire. The bomb bay doors few open
and one of them hurtled back, slicing
of the tail section near the gunners
escape hatch.
The gunner started falling. trapped
in the tail section. He tried to smash
his way through the glass and failed
Then. still hurtling downward. he kicked
his way through the skin Of the ship
and tried to wriggle out, but his shoul-
ders were wedged. Struggling clear at
about 1000 feet. he had time to get his
parachute open before hitting the
ground, and he was unhArmed.
He landed about 100 feet from where
the plane crashed in flames with all but
one Of the other crew members. An
other gunner had parachuted down, but
was injured. The uninjured gunner
tried to drag the crew members from
the ship. but he was driven away by
flames after seeing that the others were
dead. The next day he had to visit the
scene with his commanding officer to
explain what had happened, had to see
the charred bodies Of his friends.
He couldn't eat for two days after
that and his nights were full of the
dreams Of plane crashes, but he wouldn't
quit. He went on five more missions
pure torture while he sat crouched in
the tail section listening to the creaking
OF the plane and waiting for the tail
section to break of again.
He grew more and more jumpy. Just
a whistling noise would startle him
because 1t reminded him of the wind
whistling through the tail section as 1t
was separated from the rest of the
plane. He didn't tell the flight surgeon
how he felt-afraid he'd be thought
yellow" When the flight surgeon
noticed the anxious expression on his
face and the way his hands shook as
he climbed into . plane, the youthful
gunner finally confessed that he never
wanted to get into . plane again.
After His 18th Raid
The breaking point for q young
bombardier who said he'd once worked
as a soda jerker because he liked to be
around people, came after his 10th raid
over Germany. He'd already seen more
death than most people see in 4 life
time. On the 18th mission his best
friend was flying In the plane next to
him when 1t spun into the SEA. But
that 10th raid was his worst.
In quick succession, Gen. Grant re-
counted, the bombardier's gun froze tn
the midst Of fighter attack, the plane
on one wing spun down out of control,
the tail gunner on his plane passed out
from lack OF oxygen, an engine on his
plane was hit and caught fire and the
plane on his other wing was struck
by max and sfde-slipped 50 close to his
plane that his pilot had to pull up
sharply to avoid a crash.
The crippled plane then crashed into
the BIZ on It's opposite side and the
bombardieA watched while the bail
turret Of the BIZ hurtled downward