The Wilmington morning star., 1944-07-04
With Ernie Pyle

IN NORMANDY - (by wireless)
This ack-ack crew of mine is
having it's first taste of war. And
after three weeks or so of it they
feel that they are the best gun
crew in the best battery of the
best ack-ack battalion on tn e
beachhead.
1t would be close to impossible
for a German bomber to pick out
their position at night, yet this
crew feels that the Germans have
singled them out because they're
so good. AS far as I can learn
practically all the other gun crews
feel the same way. That's what is
known in military terms as good
morale.
My crew consists of 10 men.
Some of them operate the dials on
the gun, others load and fire it,
others lug the big shells from a
storage pit few feet away.
These big 9O-millimeter guns
usually operate in batteries, and
a battery consists of four guns and
the family of technicians necessary
to operate the many scientific de-
vices that control the guns.
The four guns of this particular
battery are dug into the ground in
a small open field, about so yards
apart. The gunners sleep in pup
tents or under half tracks hidden
under trees and camouflage nets.
The boys work all night and sleep
in the daytime. They haven't dug
foxholes, for the only danger is at
night and they are up firing all
night.
The guns require a great deal of
daytime work to keep them in
shape, so half of the boys sleep in
the forenoon and half in the after
noon while the other half work.
Their life is rugged, but they
don't see the seamiest side of the
war. They stay quite a while in
one place, which makes for COM
fort, and they are beyond enemy
artillery range Their only danger
is from bombing or strafing, and
that is not too great. They are so
new at war that they still try to
keep Themselves clean. They shave
and wash their clothes regularly.
Their service section has not
come over yet from England, so
they cook their own meals. They're
pretty sick of this and will be glad
when the service boys and the field
kitchens catch up with them. They
eat ten-in-one rations, heating them
over a fire of wooden sticks sunk
into shallow hole in the ground.
The sergeant who is commander
Of my gun is a farm boy from
Iowa, and none of the crew are
past their middle EOS. Only two
of the 10 are married.
They have been overseas more
than six months, and like every
body else they are terribly anxious
to go home. They like to think in
terms of anniversaries, and much
Of their conversation is given to
remembering what they were doing
a year ago today when they were
in camp back in America. They
al, hope they won't have to go to
the Pacific when the European war
is over.
My crew are a swell bunch of
boys. They all work hard and they
work well together. There are no
gold-brickers in the crew. As in
any group of a dozen men, some
are laxative and some are quiet.
There are no smart-alecks among
them.
! Only one man in the crew speaks
French. That one has already made
friends with the farmers nearby,
and they get such stuff as eggs
and butter occasionally. They have
been promised some chicken, but
il hasn't showed up yet.
Although the noise and con-
cussion of their guns are terrific
they have got used to it and none
OF them wears cotton in his ears.
They say the two best morale
boosters are The Stars and Stripes
and letters from home.
My boys are very proud of their
first night on the soil of France.
They began firing Immediately
from field not far from the beach
The snipers were still thick in the
surrounding hedges, and bullets
were singing around them all night.
The boys like to tell over and over
how the infantry all around them