Evening star., 1944-08-15
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Continued From First Page.)
of the runway before hurtling in
the darkness, one pink-faced boy.
grotesque in his bulky parapher-
MALTA, threw back his head and
shouted above the roar of the
motors:
Look out. Jerry. here We come"
With that battle cry he caught the
spirit of this whole fourth-fron
invasion
The most amazing single thing
about what is going on here today
is that from the beginning and else
where there seems to have been
feeling of complete and absolute
confidence. Nowhere in the ranks
does there appear to be the shadow
of a doubt as to the outcome, nor
have I been able to observe any
impressive evidence of real excite
ment.
Unquestionablv the success of the
Normandy beachhead has a lot to
| do with this. That operation. await
ed in terrific tension and greeted by
great holding of the worlds
breath. was to everybody the wars
great question mark. These men
show that they know the question
has been answered To them. it
seems, an invasion is no longer
thing you try-it is thing that
you do.
Nobody in Plane Worried.
This is the thing you feel as you
watch the men who are going in
on this attack, although they talk
little about it.
I told Fusilier Bill Branham of
Leeds, England, who sat next to me
in the carrier. that I couldn't un-
derstand why nobody in the plane
seemed worried.
THE only thing we are worried
about he said, lis the fact that
two or three blokes are new to this
They've made practice jumps and
all, but this jumping with full equip
ment is something else"
Not to mention I said, the
presence of the enemy
Bill blew the ash off his cigarette.
"Jerry?" he said. Il should very
much dislike being Jerry this morn
ing
ParachulistS Sing.
The other members of Bill Bran
hams platoon were Just as wonder
full and just as British as he was.
AS our ship took off from a field
teeming with the green, red and
blue lights of scores of other ships,
they sang song to the tune of Red
River Valley" which ended with the
words, But remember the poor
parachutist and the job he is trying
to do
AS the ships climbed and turned |
moving cautiously into position
heading out over the Mediterranean.
they sang the songs of another war:
"Tipperary," Pack Up Your Trou-
bles" and "Hinky Dinky Parlez
Vous.' They sang For Me and MY
CAL and were just starting on
"Amapola when the American radio |
operator, who may have been having
trouble hearing above the din, stuck
his head out of the forward cabin
and shouted:
Hey, you guys are going to wear
yourselves out if you keep that up
all the way to France
Good bloke," said Bill Branham
That's one reason why we are not
worried. We know these Yanks
and we know they will get us where
we are supposed to be- That's the
big thing in parachuting It's a
bad show if you do not know where
you are when you come down.
I'VE know exactly what we are
going to do and how"
1t may have been a coincidence.
but the boys stopped singing shortly
after the radio operator told them
they would wear themselves out.
Then remarkable thing hap
pened, About half of them seemed
to go to sleep.
I cannot swear that any one ac-
tually slept in our plane as it droned
across the sea in the middle of that
vast formation on it's way to a
rendezvous with the unknown. But
| do know that they half lay down
on the lateral benches-no mean
feat when you have about 100
pounds of equipment tied to your
body. They put their heads in each
others laps and closed their eyes,
andF in the light of a match I lit.
their faces looked peaceful.
These men, with few exceptions.
had been together in war for almost
two years, but there was something
special in their attitude toward one
another this morning. I remember
that when we were waiting for the
takeoff, these-the toughest SOL
dlers of the war-vere gentle, al
most tender, as they helped each
other on with their equipment. Of
fered each other what remained of
a cup of tea and passed around
precious cigarettes.
Leader Thinks of Wife.
1t was hard to tell whether they
were trying to make up for lost
time or whether they were taking
advantage of the time that re-
mained when they could still be de-
Gently human young men. Some
thing that Bill Branham said while
the others slept makes me think
1t was the second.
1T will be wonderful when we
can all go back to the old peaceful
life again." he said. Il believe it
will be soon. When we jumped be-
fore, I used to think firstly of my
wife and secondly of what we would