Evening star., 1944-08-15
Troops Confidence Impresses
Star Writer Watching LANDINGS


am thinking almost all the time
of my wife. I haven't any chill.
dren."
He said this softly, perhaps be-
cause others we're trying to sleep
One of the boys was not trying to
sleep. He was a very young looking
one on my left. and he leaned back
humming some tuneless little tune
over and over to himself
Hes one of the new ones" Bill
said, Hes only 18. Rather rough
on him"
Oldest in Group Is p.
I asked Bill how old he was and
he said %. He said the oldest para
cnuter in this ship was q, and that
that was very old for a parachuter
I asked the youth on my left what
he was thinking about and he said
Il have been wondering what you
would write about this"
/ asked him how he felt about
making his first combat jump.
oh" he said, I'll come through
all right. Only I wish this bloody
waiting was over"
The boy changed his position g
little and his knee came into con.
tact with mine. 1t was trembling
violently. He moved it quickly
away. Then he leaned back agair
and took up his humming where
he had left off.
HUNS German Song.
This time I recognized his tune
It was "Lili Marlene." the grea
German song of this war.
The plane droned on. rocking
gently on the long aerial swells
From where we sat it seemed like
an easy trip, but flying in the middle
of tightly packed formation or
this moonless night was a Job taxins
to the utmost the skill of the pilot
First 1t. Thomas w. Jones, laugh.
ing 230-pounder from Bradenton
Fla.
/ I visited him for a moment ur
forward and for once he WASH,
laughing The sky all around us
was so illuminated by the tiny blue
formation lights of other ships that
it looked like city. Further out in
the darkness, too, we're scores OF
Beauflghters giving us cover. Tom
Jones hunched like an enormous
turtle over the controls. now and
then closing his eyes tightly and
then opening them wide.
Everything was quiet in the waist
when suddenly the figure of the
crew chief loomed up in the cabin
doorway
Twenty minutes" he shouted
Twenty minutes to GO
Troops Check Equipment.
The boys came to life, sitting UP.
feeling for their equipment. check
ing their static lines on their chutes
to make sure that all was in order
For few moments there was a
tense silence. Then. all at once
they began talking to each other.
calling loudly through the darkness
above the roar of the motors.
Some bloke says we'll get a fort
nights leave in Paris. That1l be
something! 1 had two nights in
Rome and was broke for a month ="
A sergeant said from somewhere
in the middle of the crowd:
Watch for the green light When
it goes, No. man goes, and all
the rest follows fast
From across the way a falsetto
voice came back:
But I don't want to-"
He'll said another voice 1T is
all right. Just a case of fear the
worst and hope for the best. I
wonder how old Jerry will feel when
he sees us all coming down"
If he feels half as horrible as
feel now, he'll feel bloody horrible
and that's a fact"
Il still say the only qualification
for parachutist is to be so stone
solid stupid that you don't know
what you're up against" The tone
was sepulchral.
Describes Troops Jumping.
When it was almost time for the
boys to jump, said good-by to Bill
Branham.
"Cheerio," he said Il hope we
meet sometime in England The
best of luck to you"
I went to the rear of the plane
and waited to watch the boys bail
out. The door was open and there
was a lot of wind back there.
Through the door I could see f1eecy
clouds below us which had not been
there when we were over the sea.
After about five minutes a red
light flashed on. Wordlessly the men
stood up in a line in the center of
the cabin. A sergeant, leader of the
platoon, was standing right in front
Of me in the doorway just back from
the blast Of the wind. He did not
look down. He stood absolutely mo-
tionless except for his left hand,
which he kept clenching and OPEN
ing. The other men waited behind
him, bulky shadows in the darkness,
The green light flashed, and in a
second the sergeant was gone. There
was a strange whistling sound like
one of those machines they use to
initiate a windstorm offstage. The
second man flung himself at the
door, got caught for a moment in
the blast of air. braced himself os a
man does when he is trying to walk
In deep water against a fast current
and then pitched forward into the
darkness.
Down the aisle they came, one
after another. running at the door
and fghting their way out. The 1s-