The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-07-27
Soldiers Are Joyful, Fearful
At News OF Armistice Signing

IT, u Always 0ln mean 90y ups
but here L means gathering up III
possessions d 4 dead OF wounded
Icomrade. A pie It those posses.
sions Is lying on tie ammunition
box beside the field telephone
There Is . fountain pen, i New
Testament. dog TAG. wateh, and
! few old letters from home.
Cpl. Walter w. Turner. 3 Negru
squad leader from Baltimore, sll0ol
his head Ii deepest skeplicism.
Wen catch Il tonight for sure.
We can look for 4 IOt Of blank
blank blank blankiIg helI tonight.
IFS al Ii the tr.is. Of the Lord.
iIt'il Be long NIGH tn daybreak
come
II. Patton, who comes from DaI.
las. shook his heao slowly
III ! ever get back to Texas
III never bitch again. Al | ever
want 10 DO u to forget I was ever
here. ] keep thinking Of the old
sergeant who rotated home and
said Ell he wanted was his doa
tags for medals and his backside
for ! souvenir. "
SGT. Colbert Mitchell Of New York
City talked about the Chinese
across the hill.
You know, I don't think they
want to fight any more than We
do. hope they stay n their holes
tonight, just Ike We win. A lot
d men here are going 10 Be jumpy
tonight
on my way back l talked 70 Cpl.
Manuel Ross Of Besxemer CITY,
n. G., the company's senior medi.
cal aid man who hands out pills
and bandages cuts and carries the
dead and the WOUNDED In battle.
ITS really wonderful III it's
only true" be said.
II feel better tonight than ~
have ever felt before. Al ! want
u % nov b 70 50 home 10 my
wife yesterday waa our fifth an
adversary.
One last box hack--at The red
Ieocoa-c0lored mud. the primitive
holes and hunkers on the reverse
slope, the rocks, the torn scrub,
the thin radio sntennas trembling
slightly On the skyline near the
observation post. At I helmet here
and there against tie sky, and at
the lush green mills beyond, rich
and green ii the rain season.
4 man always feels cheap to
walk away from IN Infantry COM
pany on the line. On the way down,
I meet an outpost patrol coming
up the hill. We ore talking ii s
Iravine when the old terrible whis.
Itls shrillS. We fling ourselves to
the ground and two Chinese shells
crash hundred yards beyond us.
The war Is not over here. Il is
deep dusk when | reach the jeep
~ TIE bottom Of the Lin. The warm
summer rain begins 70 fan III tor.
rents.
] see men approaching another
outpost patrol from King Company.
They are marching single file.
each man 50 feet apart, hugging
the sheltered side 81 the road IN
case q artiledy fire. pass them
very slowly, for Il Is al unpardon.
able crime to splash foot soldiers
with mud, Then xl0p and look
back. The rain Is driving. and Ill
ready the night and the mist are
closing ii. Already the head 81 ne
little column has disappeared IN
the gloom and the rest are hasten.
linE away nto the darkness.
] think Of the hour. Il & $50
pm And think Of the crowds
10 The cities at home, hurryinr
along IN the summer rain and the
llAmplight. and the noise 81 their
feet On the pavement.
And I watch these silent men dis.
appear down the lore muddy road,
tai helmeted hgHres, rifles slune.
riding along % the last patrol Of
the war.
These are real men. but they
look like ghosts is the mist wraps
around them and swallows them
ont hy one, until ali are zone and
the road Il alone again.
And 1 think d al the men who
have marched down aIl The sad.
sad roads 81 Korea. and al their
stories now forgotten. impossible to
tell.
And ] think Of ne words Of Cpl.
Turner ..It'll BE- ! long night
tn daybFeak comes. I