P A R

-r T\NO

A("loQ
,lWell, we disembarked from the Santa Elena at Bizerte; it .was almost
dark when the first of our bunch came off, and fully dark when the last
nran threw his barracks bags on the pile and fell into line. Right then we
started our,DS system, for while most of the outfit went out'to'thebivouac
area,'i group stayed with the boat. Thus our memories of Bizerte start di-
verging, right there. Gues.sour biggest memory of that town was Labor
D^y night - we all were quickly converted to the idea that a foxhole that
night was better than two or three next rnorning. We were very lucky,
aqd whether. wg had sweated it out in a fox hole, ar a shelter in .town (that
Ih" Arabs usecl 4s a latrine by day) it sure was good to see that sun the next
d?y., None,,gf us were sorqr to say goodbye t'o that town; both because of
our rather noisy welcome and the f.act',that contrar;r to "the ,song,- there
wasn't a Gertie in sight. The ride down to Tunis wasn't too bad; the heat
and dust werent good by any means, but the trip was made interesting by
sights along the road - a German tank still lying in its half - wrecked con-
dition on the crest,of a hill one of their planes almostcompletelyburned,
standing in a field, and other signs that showed what Hell had been raised
in that district, a short time before. We came through Tunis pretty fast,
but not so fast, that we didn' t spot the local 'oCopper City " , and a few
" Mademoiselles" that might or might not duplicate their predecessorsat
Armentiers. Time would tell how about it brother what did it tell in
vour case?

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 That first"night"at El Aouina, the base that was'to bg"our :Jthofn@8w4f ,,,
home " for three months, was pretty confused -, w€ were ptetty' wetrt"i,i
"to cold C rations by that tirne and '.the' nrost ,a11of us wanted,r,in/asi;,,'.
:anyway. Italy had $urrenderedthat d^y aaj,,that news,wasrrr.-ost ,,
;vrelco'me.;
rom the next morning on till the d^y we pulled out, we' were pretty'
'
; so 'events written here 'may not follow ifr chronological orrder),-.

We put up ,thosetwo -,ma11tents next, d^y and , sweated (and that is

nt literdlyl a, few days before starting our ,iobs. Mfe'd ,come: quite a
way to do those jobs, and each fellow' s individual,, memory , of i thetn
serve as testimony to their being worth while. Along about this time
began to wonder if we' d ever get an answer to those first letters we
written. George Laidley was so harrassedby questions on that score that
rbegan'to seriously consi'derhaving a sign. made saying, ',!No --ylotryet!"
Wasalsci about this time that those ,thrice-,blessed.evening, 'sw,ims;
: came .l

o being. Renrember how cool and green ,,the' llediterranea:il"iwas;:,after

B',,in'that sun all day?

Things went along tl-rat way for a couple of weeks, then one duy Turner
something that was to shake the base to its very foundations, and
all its resourcesto the test. He made a platform for his tent and added
fuw improvements here and there. Frorn that dafu on ,we all. beca,mesca-.
ers of the first order and by hook or crook ,moved a greater:,,parrt,,,of ,
base into our ,lot to construct what was to be known as t' Shantytown ".,,
rniraclesbegan to appear edifices like " Copper City " - that :streetcaf,.,-
to top it all, four sixman tents appeared (apparendl, unaided) right .,in
rniddle of our area. Slight of hand tricks that would have amazed Hou-
ni made that area look nlore, each day, like a scene out of " Skippy "
e days were. filled with a lot of new experiences,some pleasant- some
We visited the surrouRding towns - were amazedt.,at the- miraclc of
cream and ,lemonade served by Dot, and Gwen at fhe Red,Cross,-,wsre . ,-
i.+,
er amazed,by',the potency. of " vino " . There $rere. other . visits toq;i:
ied and undignified ones to that. little tent outsi.Je,the'area'rlt all ,krours.;;
*the ,l"y and night., Remember those flies ,-- those adhesiveli:strictly,,good.,..
nothing.,:-' damn flies ? And, remember l' Atabrine ", and salt - pills;;,those

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were really " surprise packages" . The ball team started its campaign which
was,to end only when they were presentedtrophies attesting to its cham-
pionship in that area. Those evenings were pretty nice along about that
time - the general trend being either a movie at the base " open - air "
theatre or just stretching out on one of those beach- chairs on the Red
Cross balcony and enjoying the cool evening breeze.We were pretty lucky
in the way of entertainmentat El A ouina. BesidesGt shows, we had visits
by Jack fi.troy, Frederic March, ancl Adolph Menjou, Remember the Sultans'
favorite Dancer oh brother, hor,v could you forget her ? She played the
base twice and is probably still wonderiug what " oh my back " means.
According to her MC she knew what " Take it off " meant but she " played
dumb r' ! Or did she?

Well we finally got set up in the six man tents all eight of us, and
o'
tlre construction and improvement " movement began again. This time
great ingenuity was shown in the procurement ancl set - up of stoves, as it
had begun to get chilly around ttre edges. Double deck beds were set up
not made according to TO' s, but durable. Thc area had its " face lifted "
electricity installed in the tents and at last we had arrived in the upper
status of the " Tent Dr,vellersSociety."

It was during the beginning of the cold weather that an accidentoccured

which cost the lives of two fine men. The deaths of Lt. Price and FIO
Williams made each one of us consciousof a great personal loss. It will be
hard indeed for either the Officers or Enlisted Men to ever forget two of
ihe most popular men in the squadron.

, Among the memories that should also fall into that period, were thos,e
setting - up exercieswe did in the dark mornings followed by that goshawful
rush to the mess hall more or less tunefully accompaniedby the racket of
those,mess- kits. Packages began to arrive and greedy looks appeared on
the laces of their owners when they spied one that looked as it .contained
candy, cookies or cake. We kind of felt tbe increasing coldness those
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J days, and when we got .lettersfrom the folks at 'home consoling ue about
'i terrific heat over there l? ,a few tops were blown. , ,.t.
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I Thanksgiving arrived ancl was celebratedby a really swell turkey dinner
J and even though the team had lost its touch - football game, everyone
J " drank their .rito and worriecl about nothing. " Things 6ack homs had
J " changed" according to the letters that were arriving, anniverseries,births,
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J deaths and brush offs had their effect on the local wine consumption. There
I was a rather subtle change in attitude, around that time. We felt we were
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I entitled to ask " newcomers" instead of being asked ourselves " Hows
J things in the States,these days ? " You met a fellow " just over " in the'Red
I Cross in Tunis and you bored him stiff with all sorts off fool questions.
- remernber that ricle on the " Tunisville Trolley " to La
J Speaking of Tunis
J Marsa and back ? The poor conductor was everyone's enem)r and was
I reluctantly paid his fare to the tune of depreciating shouts from Arabs and
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I French alike. All of us were pretty well acquaintedwith Tunis by then
I *" found a few spots where real " old fashioned" eggs and a slice of cow
i (we hoped) could be had for a price. We more or less got used to the
| " Hey Joe bon bon, cigarette, chew gum " routine of its citizens from five
to ftfry, and conversly ltr nzitive females, more or less, got used to the
whistles and rnangieclFrench that we used. Trre more high - brow members
made srnelly and " hysterical" pilgrirnages to the Kasbah and Carthage.

History was in the nrakirrg when escortedplar:es arrived at our base

canying President Roosevelt, PM Churchill, Foreign Secretary V. Molotov
afid others. In the days that followed, we were to learn the reasonfor the now I

fanrous Teheran Conference.The rumors sure flew thick and fast at the
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base, thougli, before we did learn the real reason

As the cold weather continued Coen finally gave up the ghost and
cqasedto run loose jn his shorts At no tirne however did Felker and Vincent
give up their fiendish howls' which were the envy of the animal kingdom,
but a bore to most of us who didn' t care much for sound effects from a
Thornton Burgessstor|, especiallyin the middle of the night.
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 Then rumor after lumor came true so r,vith a scrirrnble,a ferv grunts,
and a shove, the outfit pullecl out of El Aouina oh Decerrber gth. Running
true to form we ran into rain in Bizerte, bu.t managed those six man
tents pretty well. lt was still raining the d^y we piled onto the trucks and
rode acrosstor,vnto the clocks and thence onto lancling- barges. The sun
was shining the next morning rvhen we started for italy.

So after three months in No Africa (ahnost to the d^y) we left. During

that time there, we'd gained invarluableexperienceas a unit and hoped that
our humble efforts there had contributed in some manner to the taking of
territory for which we were sailing. Even as we left the docks at Bizerte,
not too many were thinking of, or renrembering North-Africa we were
thinking and wondering about what l^y ahead, North Africa was from then
on a memory, and it is to recall a few of its highlights that this article is
written. Each man can add a volume of his own !

']Dalte, lDaodwortb

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