Evening star., 1945-03-25
Royal Egyptions Impress WAC,
But She's Glad She's American
Washington Corporal
Tells Overseas Life
In Letter to Sister

Corpl Cleta De Mar went over
seas with a WAC contingent last
June. She toured italy by foot
and visited American soldiers in the
hospital. She Travelled on Polish
boat to Egypt with troops from
eight countries. Some members of
Egypt's royal family visited her
unit In the desert. Now working
In the fiscal Office In Cairo, Corpl.
De Mar wrote her sister, Mrs. j. w.
Burns, lis Thirty third street NE,
about some of her WAC experiences.
Here are excerpts from her letter:
my stay In italy was one of the
high points OF my Army career.
Everywhere there are mountains,
but they aren't like our mountains;
they are tall, dome-shaped hills.
Gardens climb way up in the air.
The bulk Of the people are poor,
filthy and seem to be starving. Lit
tie kids run around in a pair of
mems pants, cut down, and nothing
else on. Some wore only parts from
a burlap sack. Even the old peo-
pie are barefooted. They think all
Americans are rich, and think half
of them believe they're coming to
America some day.
II found one old woman living
In building with q 30-foot pile
OF debris in the middle of her house.
A piano was on top. She wa5 cook
ing on an open fire; children we're
lying on piles of dirty rags. There
was no roof on the house. She told
me, "The Americana went boom.
boom, boom!"
Our boys there were wonderful,
They were so glad to talk to Amer
ican girls they made us feel like
celebrities. There were more dances
given for us than we could possibly
attend. Any girl who didn't dance
with about so men in one evening
was wallfower
Il spent whole days in hospitals
just offering my services. I wrote
letters for our boys, fed them, sat
with them when they were coming
out Of ether, shaved them and helped
take pulses and temperatures. =
Arrives in Egypt.
I've reached my destination and
1t is Egypt, sizzling hell. I doubt
If the true picture Is in National
Geographic. The Nile Valley is al
most green except where it's burnt.
It's almost pretty except for the
people in it and the places they live.
The cities are not bad, but the dis
advantage Of being stationed in a
town is the constant fight against
disease. -
II went out to see the Pyramids
and the Sphinx. I rode a camel.
Have seen the Suez and the Nile,
but didn't bathe in it, it's too dirty.
The Prince and Princess were out
to visit us (not sure of the name, but
think 1t was the Kings brother and
wife). The Princess was very beau-
tiful. She asked me what thought
of the Sphinx and how I liked
Egypt. I didn't dare tell her. I
just told her the Sphinx was most
impressive and Egypt differed from
any place I'd ever lived before. She
was really quite nice and suggested
that she'd like to take some of us
on the royal yacht. She was wear
ing lovely linen suit that was un-
wrinkled Her skin and hair looked
as though the sun had never touched
it. The Prince, also nice looking,
was in uniform and wore a red fez.
Am still glad that I'm just a plain
American democrat.
GIs Get Slap Happy.
''The people who have been sta
toned here a while appear a little
abnormal. It really has me con-
cerned. They seem slap-happy, only
they call it sand-happy. The SOL
diers don't act like ordinary CTS.
They are quiet, dull and uncolorful.
Several fine-looking officers have
made little speeches and left us with
the impression they were dopes. One
of our bright girls just came out
with the suggestion that this is our
orientation course to life in Hades.
1--WE had wonderful trip from
italy here. We were on a Polish
ship flying the English flag. We
had troops aboard from eight diff
ferent nations. Whatever attitude
I may have had about America