The Coolidge examiner., 1945-07-13
800 Thousand
War Heroes
Returning by Air
Air Transport Command at
Casablanca Conducts Big
Business.
BY Pauline Frederick
Especial Western Newspaper Union
War Correspondent

War Correspondent
CASABLANCA-I have just seer
Casablanca beginning to unfold the
biggest story since We Day. This
ancient Moroccan city where Amer
lean boys came ashore in November
1912. TO start the liberation of the
Western world, where Roosevelt
and Churchill met in January, 1943,
in the Anfa hotel where l am stay
ing for two days before continuing
on to the Far East in a four
mOtored C-54, has just become the
gateway home for 600, 900 American
boys who fought the war in Europe
Converted bOmbers with loads of
American soldiers flying in from
Europe. Every six minutes a C-54
starts home with a load of Amer
ican veterans. When they get back
home, whether they stay there or
go on to the Pacific is a matter
with which this base is not con-
ce,ned. The Air Transport Com
mand's sole concern at Casablanca
is to get the boys back as quickly
as possible.
l talked with Brigadier General
Stowell, commanding general of
the Air Transport Commands
North African Division-who has
charge of this task-it's called the
Green Project. He's done lot of
important jObs-such as getting the
VIPs - very important people -
through to the Yalta conference
But he's never had bigger mission
than this one. He told me that by
August the ATC would be carrying
home 10000 boys a month out of
Casablanca.
Here is how the project works as
/ saw it at first hand. | went out
to the airfield this afternoon. 1t is
a single strip more than a mile
long. with unused French and
American fighters stacked up along
the sides. As l saw the great
amount of traffic with the planes
going and coming l marveled the
more at our skillful crew which
brought our big ship with the 1f0-
foot wing span in which we had
flown the Atlantic from Bermuda
TO the Azores in hours and Is
minutes down here in all the traf-
fic. The car in which l was riding
lodged in and out to avoid going
and coming planes like an ant try
ing to keep out of the way of a
flock of eagles.
A BIZ rolled up in a cloud of
sand that must have been some
thing like a minor storm in the
Sahara. For Morocco is having its
worst trouth in years. And the
famine that threatens holds, in
the opinion of seasoned observers
in Casablanca. At the Anfa hotel
the water and electricity are
turned off until six o'clock at night.
As the motors of the big BIZ
came to a halt, sunburned and
weary veterans from Italy piled
out. They had been sitting on seats
where turret guns had once been.
Their baggage was slowed in the
bomb bays. Over the door of their
silver ship was painted Home
Bound Airlines." Around the door
were names of the eight cities this
now peaceful ship had bombed
Berlin l, Vienna III, Verona II,
Salzburg II, Belgrade II, and so
on. The ships without the turret
guns can carry 15-the others 10.
talked with several of the boys
as they got off. One was husk.-
Ely Youngkin, T/5, of Monroe,
Iowa. He'd been up around Pisa.
And when he gets back home he
said he'd probably marry his best
girl. Bernadine Smith. Then there
was Sgt. Blevin White of Char
lottesville, Va, who had been in
the 34th Division and had been up
around Milan. He's been overseas
80 months, and when he gets home
he just wants to do nothing for a
while. Most of the boys had just
had their first flight as many of
them are foot soldiers.
The pilots of these converted tao
tical ships do not even report to op-
erations. They stay aboard and
are handed their instructions. As
soon as the last boy and his lug
gage are off, they wheel back into