The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-01-29
With
The AEF
BY DON WHITEHEAD
for Kern..L

WITH THE FIFTH ARMY IN
ITALY, Up Capt. Tommy D..
Of Texarkana, Tex, doesn't -.
anything funny in the old ;;, ss.
about battle being lost al Yl'' Sc
want OF a horseshoe nail. In f.O. W.
Tommy is positive that The toa,
who wrote it once had a ioo frv WI
to keep pack train animals ssg
in mountainous country wbsr o40a
war was being fought,
The Texan needs horseshoe nail,
and finds them about az rlenta ..s
as diamonds. S'e'''llul
Our division" he explained
''has one hell Of lot Of ra,,,
and horses for carrying sunn1e es
to- the doughboys fighting rp t
the mountains. They often tbro ln
shoes on rough trails and, as ~"
of us Texans know, they 90 l. a,,y
if you don't get another shoe baae
on the hoof. lux
well, it's my job to find ,,n
So I began looking. We had ss0
600 available for purchasing s s"s
plies and that sort of dough I win
buy several tons of horseshoe mil.
"But could I find any n,;l.,"
Rose took another sip Of cogn,.
and shook his head.
II came back with 80 nails
II bought them by twos tbro,
and fours and even found ees
farmer who had IL. Brother, hor uss
shoe nails in this country ars .,
rare as hens teeth in Texas
"And believe me, | know iust
how a battle could be lost 's fo.
want Of horseshoe nail. The onI,
difference is we did not lose tho
battle.'' '
The job Of furnishing one Fifth
Army division with supplies and
keeping transport moving is the
responsibility of 1t. Col Carl A
Phinney of Dallas, Tex.
And there are such incidental.
also as motor maintenance, evar.
uation of the wounded, water sun.
ply, traffic control and forage for
animals as well as food for the
men. The night before Thanksgiv.
ing, Phinney found his division wa,
short 1,500 turkeys and for time
it looked as if a lot of doughboys
would have to 90 without the ira.
ditional dinner.
But Tommy Rose was on the
telephone all night calling various
sources Of supply and when Phin.
ney checked the units the next dsy
each one had its allowance of tur
key. On another occasion it wa,
found that troops fighting on tn.
cold mountain heights were suffer.
ing because they did not have dry
socks. A hurry call went out
and 10000 pairs of socks were
flown from North Africa.
/ Each day a dozen 2 1-2-ton
trucks roll into the division car.
rying rations only. 1t takes that
much to keep an American fight.
ing division well fed. 4 division
also consumes about 997,000 gal.
Ions of water each week and must
be furnished, along with five tons
Of medical supplies, and there's
also three truckloads day just Of
requirements for lost personal
equipment, such as shoes, canteens
etc.
1t. John Goode Of New Rochelle,
N. Y, has found that sharing a
fox hole with brigadier general
can be right chummy at times.
Goode was leading group car.
rying supplies up a steep, slippery
trail on Mount Magginore when
German artillery located them.
They dropped their loads and took
cover.
II saw a nice foxhole and dived
into it, "Goode said. II landed
right on top of brigadier general.
expected him to bawl me out
and tell me to find another hole,
but he just smiled and said;
That's all right, son, just make
yourself at home"
Pvt. Roy Brand of New Yols
City, figures that since Americas
are fighting alongside Italian and
French troops maybe he had BEL
ter learn a little more about Their
languages. Brand recently went out
at night to check telephone wire
to his company and ran into an
Italian patrol. The Italians though
Brand was German and were
about to open fire when he re-
covered his voice and urgently eau
ed: Americana, Americana
For a moment, I thought Ia
better try to rum" the youth salo,
"But then I heard them COOKING
their rifles and thought again,
when I showed them my dos'
4.- LarJc y