The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1944-03-27
Night Petrol
Gives Writer
Sc0ryThriII
~ ROBERT VERAfILLTON

Anzio Beachhead. rtaly, .MarcF
26-(UP)-ooing on q night patre
In the front lines Of this beachhea
is like walking through q powder
factory with q flaming torch.
The constant fear that at an.
moment the enemy might turn eve
cry gun on the beachhead on you
draws your nerves taut as violiD
strings.
returned from such o patrol -
minutes ago after riding through .
brief but violent artillery barrags
which filled my noStrils with the
acrid smell Of powder smoke and
sent shrapnel whining within inch
es of my head.
The patrol was conducted by four
men in a jeep to a position that for
the moment Is a military secret.
The jeep started from the rear at
dusk with Capt. Charles Ledyard,
Westfield, Mass, driving. In the
narrow back seat were: 1t. william
A. BRAINS, Cleveland, O., and Sgt.
Franklin King, Oklahoma City. ]
sat in the front with Ledyard.
The captain pointed to a map
and said there is where we are
going" then moving his finger nc
more than an inch, he added there
Is the enemy
Drive Slowly
We started for the front driving
swiftly as is the custom on thM
beachhead where quarters are *
close it Is said the Germans read
the dog tags to find out who you
are before shooting.
This was a night patrol because
1t was to an area where any move
ment in daylight Is sheer suicide.
All around us In the fading dusS.
were white lightning flashes Of big
Allied guns. AS we moved nearer
the front blasts from the German
guns began Illuminating the coun-
trySide.
We were forced to drive more
slowly as the sky darkened and we
crept along roads beside which we
could see the stark silhouettes Of
dead horses and cattle and burned
out trucks. In one quarter Of mile
stretch, I counted so shell holes be-
side the road.
They were new holes and the
smell Of powder still fingered in the
air. One group of men was throw
ing dirt on still smoldering truck.
Shells whiStled overhead in both
directions.
No one in the jeep spoke except
in low tones as If they feared nor-
NAL voices would attract fire from
the big guns.
As we turned a corner and headed
toward the enemy lines Ledyard
advised:
Head Down
This Is good time to keep your
head down."
Silhouetted against the sky ahead
was high embankment and as we
approached the embankment jeep
and trailer passed US going toward
the rear. Two living men were In
the jeep. Three dead were in the
trailer.
Near the embankment, Ledyard
poined to the left and said G'Hhat's
It,"
Along the slopes the white faces
Of doughboys were thrust from fox
holes.
AS we climbed stiff1y out Of the
jeep, a soft voice called: BE care-
full down there. Mines there" We
walked carefully in rut left by q
truck figuring curt weight would
not trip a mine If the truck hadn't.
I stopped to talk to these front
liners and found they were xeter-
ans Of the campaigns in Sicily and
Italy. Their first question was the
always-asked but never-answered
one: when are we going homer"
In the group I talked to were
STAFF Sgt. Henry Wilson, MuSkogee,
Okla, and Pvt Peter Andrews,
Lawrence, Mass.
Wilson offered to show me. the
front lines and we crept up the
muddy embankment through a mar
row trench where we coud lie fiat
and peer out into No Mans Land.
When I remarked I couldn't see
anything he answered:
Game for Two
"Of course not. II you could see
SO could the Germans but our guys
are out there in slit trenches"
Later as we drove home one Of
those little things that cost mems
lives on this trigger quick beach,
head occurred.
We saw a jeep approaching mad
Ledyard fiicked the blackout lights.
The other jeep driver pulled the
wrong switch and for a paralyzing
instant its headlights flashed its full
beam on us.
AS Ledyard damned down the ac-
celerator and the jeep leaped for
ward, two orange explosions ripped
the night apart on our right.
Shrapnels whistled past and one
piece ricocheted of the jeep's hood
and went singing into the night.
Two more shells landed In the
road beside as we roared through
choking smoke and out Of the In
terdiction area.
When We slowed down, the cap.
tured turned to me and said:
Bob. you can say In the paper
that you came very close tonight"