Evening star., 1944-10-15
Thomas R. Henry, Stor's War Writer, Home
After Seeing Action on Major European Fronts

beginning TO pour Into the city from
many directions The flood Of copy
which resulted at nrst overwhelmed
early censorship and con1mtrnica-
tions facilities. Hundreds Of stories
were lost or delayed for days.
Meanwhile. the real striking force
|of the Allied armies had bypassed
Paris and Mr.. Henry hurried to
catch up with the action. He was
the first reporter, he belivees, to en-
tex Belgium with The Americans.
Mr.. Henry was with the troops
which opened the attack on Aachen,
one Of the most critical and dra-
matte actions Of the war up to that
time. He watched the lombard
ments from nearby points of van
tage, writing his stories from within
range of the German guns.
Although assigned to American
troops, Mr.. Henry was especially im-
pressed by the part played by Brit
ish forces. From the first they got
some Of the toughest points to hold,
he said, and they faced troops In
the North Of much higher caliber
than garrison forces on The penin-
sula.
Newsmen with both forces, he
said, were under fire In France be-
cause they worked close to the
action from press camps rarely
more than three miles behind the
lines. Their honor roll Of dead,
wounded and captured lis proof that
they weren't content to cover the
war from the rear, he added. They
could hear the shells coming, or
get some advance warning of air
attack, but in Normandy especially
the snipers were everywhere, firing
with deadly aim from hedgerows,
trees and houses.
The campaign had its comic relief,
If always bit on the grim side. For
example, there was the wild shoot
ing touched of, by series Of abb
surdities, through another false re-
port that the body Of the heavy
weight boxer, Max Schmeling, had
been identified among German dead.
The hero Of this fiasco was q jour-
nalistic Paul Revere" who galloped
through the press tents at midnight
to spread the alarm that the Ger
mans were coming.
1t all began when reporters were
told certain captain had papers,
photographs, letters and dog tag
positively identifying body as that
of Schmeling, Mr.. Henry said. A
delegation went to interview the
captain, who said certain lieu
tenant had the proof. The lieuten-
ant said his sergeant knew the whole
story, and the sergeant referred the
reporters to corpal.
The corporal had no papers, but
he knew the location of 100 Ger
man bodies at an Isigny cemetery.
They went to the cemetery and per-
suaded the grave diggers to examine
the bodies, which were sevral days
old. The grave diggers donned gas
masks.
A nearby sentry saw them and
fired three warning shots, believing
gas attack was in progress. Other
sentries took up the shooting, as did
a scattering Of soldiers who began
to fire at cows and shadows.
The barrage woke up Paul Re-
we're" who had been trying to sleep
of the effects of some green Nor
mandy apple jack which must have
been loaded, he admitted later, with
INT, Mr.. Henry added.
The hero staggered through the
tents shouting "the Germans are
coming-they're only 100 yards
away" Quiet was restored long
before the hero lived down his role
that night. Mr.. Henry said.
On another occasion q German
pilot parachuted from his burning
plane squarely into the center Of
camp for distinguished visitors
and representatives Of the press.
The camp was full Of hundreds of
soldiers. officers and correspondents.
The airman's clothing was on fire
and he had been rather badly
scorched when a commissioned Of
ficer, holding pistol which seemed
to shake a bit, took him prisoner
and marched him through the as
sembly, crying out that he probably
had a time bomb in his pocket.
The NaZi, who Mr.. Henry said ap-
peared to be the coolest man in the
crowd, despite his smoking clothing,
glanced about him with naughty
dignity and remarked in perfect
English:
Gentlemen, I seem to be out
numbered"