The Apache sentinel., 1944-02-25
4o6th Ordnance on Moneuvers

The morning our special troop
train rolled into a small southern
town, our last stop before leaving
. the train, it was early dawn and the
darkest of the night was still wait
ing around for the light of the
morning sun to replace it.
The ground was still wet from a
recent rainfall and little puddles of
water were standing all around.
After getting our vehicles and
other equipment ready, we started
on convoy to the point selected on
the map where we were to set up
: our company.
A Fine. Driver. I have been ap-
pointed assistant driver to Pvt.
Henry Murphy, Jr, of ST. Louis. Mo.
He is, in my opinion, fine driver,
but each, time ride with him, for
: some reason, always keep the
trucks door halfway open. 1 do
this not because of my being afraid
Pvt. Murphy's driving but be-
cause have been told that a good
soldier is always on the alert 1 am
just trying to be good soldier
even if have to jump!
Pvt. Murphy must be afraid of my
driving because he will not let me
= sit under the steering wheel even
when the truck is standing still and
the motor is not running.
Mellow, Mushy, Mud: We reached
our area, which was located in a
scattered groove of tall pine trees
and received big surprise. This
surprise was the soft mellow mushy
mud of the maneuver area. We ex-
pected to be bothered with lots of
mud but did not expect it to be the
first trouble to greet us.
AS the trucks moved across the
area, that seemed to be firm ground,
the vehicles just sank in the mud
up to their tenders. There was
nothing to do but get busy and get
them out. Now we have a small
idea of what trouble our army is
having with the mud in italy.
Camp Location; With ethe tall
pines waving overhead, the dark.
gray earth under our feet covered
by the tall brown grass and fallen
pine needles, this provides a perfect
area for can1ouflage purposes as
well as beauty.
From the work that came in for
us to do in the first 48 hours after
arriving, it seemed that other units
had their vehicles hid in the woods
near our location waiting for us.
The vehicles came in so fast
thought perhaps a review parade
was being staged to welcome us.
Come to think of it, maybe it was
welcome" parade of work. Maybe
these vehicles were waiting for a
good organization to do some first
class work. We may not be the best
organization in the army; but
don't think you will find member
OF this company saying that this or
ganization is not the best in the
worldl
Snakes So Soon! We came here
with the idea that there would be
no snakes for at least the month
of February.
Our first two happy nights of
peace had a short ending when Sgt.
johnnie L. Stanly of BROOKLYN. NY.
and Pvt. Earnest Fifer of New Or
leans, La, were strolling across a
nearby meadow just looking around
and ran into snake about three
1eet long. just looking around also.
Sgt. Stanly thought that there were
too many just looking around and
somebody had to go. So Sgt. Stanlv
Is the first soldier in this cornnanv
reported to have killed snake.
This snake did not create much
excitement but the next day Pvt
Robert Williams of Vicksburg. Miss.
came to the area bringing the snake
that he had killed. It was about
three feet long also. Now we are
looking twice before we step once.
Received Apache Sentinel: Pvt.
M. H. Avery of WAC Section, sent
me the first Apache Sentinel since
l have been on maneuvers. The
paper went from hand to hand
When soldier would find out that
1 had Huachuca paper, they would
make their way to my tent. Each
soldier would read the paper. smile
and walk away. My fellow soldiers
join me in thanking Pvt. Avery for
her generous thoughtfulness.
Promotions
To be Master Sergeant: T/Sgt.
Thomas L. Ralph of New Bruns-