The Key West citizen., 1952-10-14
HAL
BOYLE
SAYS
By Hal BOYLE

NEW 1Ohh five were pack
ing for three-week trip to Europe,
and the bed was Uttered with cloth
ing the suitcases wouldn't swallow.
looked out at the swift-flowing
East River mirroring the dull
image of a gray October sky.
Think of it--tomorrow night
we'H be in Rome!" said Frances.
Promise you'll show me all the
places WI saw in the WARP"
Sure" / said. "But there won't
be much of it left to show you. y
What could be left after all these
years of what Gen. Mark Clark's
Fifth Army troops in Italy bitterly
called ''The Forgotten War?
Mark Clark himself was off at the
other side of the world now direct
ing his second forgotten war-this
one in Korea.
The scars must be pretty well
covered in Italy. The earth heals
itself quickly. For that matter, a
mans mind does a pretty good job
of healing itself, too, although there
is always a tender spot left in the
scar tissue. What was left in me
of all those distant battles - the
heat and cold, the mud, the spent
blood, the growing guns, the peo-
pie begging for bread in ruined
towns?
Oddly, the first thing l remem-
bered was a boys white face, cry
ing silently. He was a ragged
Italian child, and an American
medic was sprinkling sulfa powder
on a gaping shell wound in his
head and the wound was so in
fected the smell from it sickened
the soldier.
IF the boy could get some real
care" said the medic. ''But after
we move on-I'm afraid -"
We did move on. Where is that
little boy now?
("They have wonderful gloves in
Italy," said Frances. I'VE must get
some for Christmas presents.
/ remembered the flashes of the
artillery guns, standing almost
wheel to wheel, stabbing the night
at Salerno Beach. and unrolling
accordians of barbed wire. and a
British soldier who broke under the
tension and lay in the dirt, writh-
ing, frothing, moaning in his own
mental darkness. Poor lad"
said one Of his comrades. "He was
at Dunkirk--and / guess he can't
take a second one...''
II do hope we get to see the
Pope" said Frances. do you
think he can just look and me and
tell I'm a Presbyterian? They say
he's one of the smarteSt men in
the world"
The memories unrolled more
swiftly. a dead doughboy in
brook, his features luminous under
the water, one pale hand touching
the bank with a curious languor...
Ernie Pyle peering from a sleeping
bag like a surprised elf...
Standing at twilight on the peace
ful Isle of Capri and watching
Naples burn. the sight Of fam
ing Nazi plane, twining down like
a lazy falling star in the black
ness. nurses pulling wounded
men from under a hospital tent
blown down in a sudden storm.
losing a helmet and picking up
another one bearing the initials Of
a man who would no longer need
it. -.
t'.Now where have you lost your
toothbrush" said Frances. Who
took care Of you during the war?
I'll bet YOU didn't brush your teeth
once in the whole four years" ;"
In my mind swan q picture OF
the stricken valley crossed BY THE
Rapido River beneath a terrible
hill called Casinos II they put
up a cross for every man killed or
| wounded there. II would be white
| forest. There was day We tried
10 make il al the way, and there
were Just too many Germans. ..
and we hid in an old stone farm
/ house. An elderly Italian couple
sat BY a dying fire. preferring 70
face death in their own home. Il
/ face it they must
/ As the shells beat nearer outside
I the wife reached out and took her
husbands wrinkied hand in her
own. They were stsll sitting
silently together when We left.
ard waere are they nov -.
] c.Come on. you day dreamer
were all packed" said Frances
The way yea look a body'd SCI
in the idea you Didn't want 70 81
back. :"