one year, 312th drs, 41st adg, 15th af - part 01 rome, ny

8/14/2019 One Year, 312th DRS, 41st ADG, 15th AF - Part 01 Rome, NY

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P A R T O N E

hnw'l/4,,1tIn an article of this typ., there is bound to be a contlict between thets as statedhere, and those of each squadronmember. To compensate,event,as written, should be recognized by each and e\rery orri. It isthen, that those, as set down in this story, will, in futur" y""rr, serveium to set off the spark of reminiscence picking up ,p..i, as a se-3e'or remark here and there, renrinds the readerof his particularversion,or additions to the event.

was on April 20th, 1943- hat the squadron became,officially, a partvast organization,charged with the succe'ssfulclose of the ,oofli"t.the +20 h Air Baseand Headquarters Squadron and the 420 h pro-il Squadrons'a number of key men were assignedas a cadre o served.riving orce, under the guidance of Lieutenant Venable and Lieute-Mc,Clellan.M. l returned from Detached Service only to be absorbeds p4rent organization. Four barracks were denoted to be ours for thc'of time we were to be at Rome Army Air Field and fronr tlren onjo race against ime, as to whether w, the 308 h, the Bl0 th or theould passthe efficiency standard for overseasduty. The rnen buc-wn to work, "oq their time was occupied from morning to night,ith salisthenics, rill, gunnery practise nd special ecturesand courses.$ary records;clothing, service,pay, insurance,allottment,etc. haclught up to date and this was no simple task. Finally the OEL wasr7


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packed,sent out, and we were on our iast ap. It couldn' be very long now,for furlougl-l.s ere being issued to those deserving and all the men werecleared rom Engineering.

For weeks, rumors had been flying thick and fast that the outfit wasschecluledo move out, and cluring thG time we were cautioned again andagain to keep strictly confidential the activities of our Squadron. Therefore,we becameveritable clams, speakingto each other, in gruff monosyllables,for fear of disclosing any vital information. The effect of our censorshipwasengenderedby the meageramount of inside dope we G[' s had cornposed,with the vast amount circulating fhrough town. As a matter of fact, one ofthe boys who had qone AWOL during the last ol our stay at Rome,wondered whether or noi the outfit had left yet, but the local telephoneoperator informed him emphatically, that we definitely would not leaveuntilthe following rnorning.

We were aroused,at 2: 30 A. .U. climbecl nto our harness nd marchedotf to the Rail Road station with full equipment. The next three hours werespent lounging alongsitle the road.under the strictestof black out regulations.Not even a single cigarette could be lit for f.ear of drawing attention toour departure, and as we rolled out of Rome shortly after dar,vn,we wereconfident that not a soul kncw we had sone. Oh Yeah ?? The trip toCamp Kilmer was the best we were to know for a long timen as we hadcomfortableseats,and mealswere served in an air conditioned dining car. Alittle of the glory of war was our' s too, when the girls along the waywould wave to r15,as we passed hrough town. It was easy to see who hadbeen mid - western farmers, 8s we chugged along the Hudson they werethe fellows r,vho ru-shed from side to side craning their necks for aglirnpse of West Point, and later, the spires of , N. Y. C. In due timenwe reachedKilmer and were assigned barracks. Our labors with broomsand mops, the following morning, were some what lightenend by thesight of WAC' s running about hc,w did y?ul plans pan out ??The next two days were a nightm are. It seemed. s f the show downs wouldnever end. Our equipment was fraying at the ends from too much handling,to say nothing of our nerves.

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'Sunday finally , cflrrl,r and, \,ve were : given , a pas,s. These were ' toprovideour last bit of freedom in God's Country. Every one knewit and,, w, each took off like ^ bat out of hell to cram in all the,enjoyment that we could find in su:ch a short , time. It was too $oono\,'er nd Monday brought the madcap whirl of preparing once rnore. Now. r - . t I a .we were in earnest and' there were no outs, includir,rg telephone con-vbrsationswith the : outsicle. 'Bald I heads appeared on the scene, rrrs*king sure that Whitey Horstman and Murray Shorr wouldnt be leavingcamp again. Only one thing remained ,between us and : our newaclventure that grueling physical ! ! ! Arriving at the hospital we stripped,flexedour muscles a few times and began the course. We waded right intotheexam and arrived at our first quack. With a quick glanceoX-ray eyes

sentus on our way. What they were looking for, we'Il never know." ,A11you had to do was make the course in 59 secondsand you were in, Theonly man who had any trouble was Sgt. Polk the doctors were skepticalabout hat' sweet and sour business on his chest, but. showed good taste, inpassing im. Four days later we were on our wa)r, . About 1-0 30 PM ofAugusi 19 ,we began ouq r,valk to the rail road yards. Who will ever forgetstalwartSgt. tJuttermangallantly striding forth witlr full equipment, whileLt. Swedberg,groaning under the weight of two packs of. cigarettes nd somerazorblades, cracked the whip over him?? Shortly afterwards he outfit boardedthe train, piled equipment every where, and dragged themselves into thebestpositions that squirming could tlevise. Transferring to a ferry-boat, weall flopped down in aimost utter exhaustion caring little that we were leavingtheStates.AII was dead quiet as we slipped away into the night. Onceagain,he deep secrecy of the occasionwas fully impressedupon us, whilein anticipation of our arrival, an Arnry bandwas olaying "Over There" fromthe pier at Staten Island.':_:

tt was 3: 30 A. M. when we made our first contact ,vith he Red Cross,.ryhich later was to be such a boost to our rnorale in so many wa;rs. Therelreshments endered us at such an hour by the smiling hostessesmaclealasting impression on al l of ,us. Our new home to be for a fortnight was,the S. S. SANTA ELENA, a Grace Liner, large, but not large enoughr 8swe were soon to learn. ,With paeks bumpir)g,we clambered hrough a cargod,oorand rvere distributed to our berths. Some wound up on the after boatdeek, others down in, thg lower ,,hgld,; D-Z partrer, bedroom and stink ! !

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AJter a .few hours of napping, w':tr-ied o straighten out our equipment inthe light; of d^y, and take stock of our surroundings. We learned that dueto:'in$ufficient bunks, below we were to sleep in shifts, taking over as soonas the fellow ahead had his eight. Many preferred sleeping in the coolnessof the deck, and we were to become familiar with the concerted rush forchoice spots as soon as the nightly blackout was announced. Everyone hadhis own nook where he could be found atall times, throughout the crossing.Foreign Service officially began on August 21st, for we pulled away fromPier 2A.at fi:ZA AM that duy. We were on our way over there.

, A deep hush fell over the ship, as it treacled ts way through the mi-nefields.Everyone was lined along the rail, lost in his own thoughts,,as-weIeft the USa. Being soldiers,our concern with chow, was extremely ntense.Feeding 3000 and more, men twice a day, was handled by issuing MessCardg to be punched at each meal. Remember those endless chow linesrunning along the port rail and doubling back past he Officer' s Mess? Andour envious looks as they sat down to linen, silver, and good food, not tomention the company of those charming nurses. Who said *ar was Hell ?

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' The: routine of ship board life now began with chow, the only set hourin twenty-four. Sorire ead or -slept,others got out the pasteboards nd moreiined th; rails to ga,zeor hours at the sea, and the ships about us. We soorrbecameaccustomed o the regular zig-zagging of the convoy and the endlessplowiqg"of thetlin"r, destroyerand battlewagon,so the hours on the rail 'w"r" spent discussingevery subjeit under the sun (namely women) the'usual group of fello.wsheaded for the rail for another season, but luckilythe sea was calm ancl hence the number small. Excepting' a coupleof light showers at night the weather was ideal, warm, sunny andthoroughly enjoyable. Thc PA system was macle part of our life givingforth .ne\Ms bulletins, music and orders. Rernember - " Garbage detail;garbage detail, cornmence dumping garbage" and " Blackout, Blac kout-"close all doors and ports leacling outboard ? And those nurses, noaccount could be complete without them. the cause of much debate andfrustration, We all had a favorite and evidently the offiicers did too, for{luring one of our ship drills it,was necessary or the ships commander tofeminh; them that their place was with the men and not on the boat deck

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with the women. A group woulcl often in the evening, gathen, on the aftdeck which had been taken over by the 312th to sing under the ieadership0f " Sweet Wiltie Welsh " or " Jivebornber Shorr " . Those nightly moviesin the mess hall drew capacity crowds too. With the opening of the PXlittle rnerchantsappearedhawking their wares, at a profit, to those azy oneswho r,vouldn' sweat it out.

" Land Ho " was first shouted on August 3l as the African ooast andpart of Spain hove into view. We were across the pond. Gilbraltar, themighty Britistr bastion, was our first eagerly sought landmark, but few ro-cognizedt - perhaps because he neon sign advertising Frudential Life ln-surancewas missing. It was here that we picked up a pair of auxiliaryaircraftcarriers to proteot us through the Mediterranean. The coastson bothsidesof the Straits were barren and rugged, rather like deserts,but the veryroughnessof it was irnpressive.Probatrly the biggest event of the trip oc-cured on September Znd, just after dark, when the enemywent after us,withbombetrs.Those lucky enough to be on deck were treateri o a vivid displayof fireworks, while those below were kept in order by the imperturbableCorporal Gries. Escaping that attack unscathed, we had our next thrill thefollowing night when a racing destroyer depth-charged a lurking sub just offour star-board, both claiming later that it was " finis " for same sub.

L,eaving part of the convoy at Oran, we continued uneventfully to our,landing port -Bizefie, where we hacl our first glimpse of sunken ships and "shell marked buildings. The first stage of our journey \,vas over when theSantaElena tied up at the quay. Africa lay ahead.

10aU Schreier andtsill Cautor

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one year, 312th drs, 41st adg, 15th af - part 01 rome, ny

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