1939

The pictures of the month present an interesting contrast. Dick participated in three battles as a dive bomber pilot on his last tour of duty in the Pacific. More pictures showing similar contrasts will be very welcome.

The writer of the month is Capt. Bob Alpert, who has been doing an excellent job with what sometimes is a thankless assign- ment. Even though his letter includes some shop talk, substantial portions of it are being included, with the hope that other '39ers will come forth with similar information on their activities overseas:

For the last few months I've been busier than a sacred cow with a twitching tick. After two years I can now boast of the most comprehensive special service program in ASSAM. I've been feeling fairly well of late, but over here, if amoebic dysentery doesn't get you, malaria will, and if you prove uncooperative in regard to both of them, then you are in for a case of simulated pellagra brought about by "C" rations and lend-lease coffee which is reverse in more ways than one.

Our motion picture set-up over here is quite good. We have three features a week and one GI Movie preceding the regular feature each week. The latest GI product was the splendid "Invasion of Normandy" with comments by now deceased, Lt. Gen. McNair. Everyone enjoyed it in a sober, intelligent fashion, and the effect on morale was terrific.

After two years I can consciously say that I've been an exceedingly fortunate fellow in a military way. Outside of being blown by a bomb concussion ten yards in Bari, Italy, and scaring the day- lights out of me, I've fared quite well.

Suddenly I found a new enthusiasm and new interest in my work. After two years overseas, my program has grown to completion and importance. Morale is, as you know, a dynamic and organic system of attitudes that change like the wind and demand on-the-spot attention. When the history of this war is written, I am sure that it will be found that morale is a far greater problem the farther behind the lines you are. However, our organization has weathered the storm, we take great pride in our small achievements and our state of morale is better than average.

My program embraces the following activities: a. Regular movies on Monday, Wednesdays arid Fridays. b. American Red Cross supervised "Quiz Contest Night" and "Bingo Night" on Thursdays and Saturdays, respectively. c. I now have a first-class swing band known as the "Swing Sahibs." They play for shows and unit parties which this office arranges in coordination with the ARC and the area PX officer. We are swamped with anniversary parties at present. d. This section publishes a weekly news sheet, dependent on the niggardly supply of stencils, ink and paper, and always the temperament of a veteran mimeograph machine. We call our baby, "Mud and Mildew." It consists of unit gossip columns, a news review of the week, caricatures and cartoons of officer and enlisted personnel, weekly program schedules, home made pin-ups, etc. We make use of materials furnished by CNS, ANS, OWI, and reprints from popular magazines. e. We supervise the operation of the finest PX sales store this side of Gimbels and gross about 75,000 Rs monthly. f. We are publishing a two-year anniversary book-let complete with the names and addresses of all personnel in this group, together with pictures of all units and sections and a brief group history overseas. g. We have a staff artist who caricatures the men gratis and it is a swell morale builder. h. We have completed plans for the laying out of a complete athletic area that will be ready to coincide with the expected cool weather in October. i. Our orientation program is merrily clicking along and gathers momentum each month. We now have the following orientation activities: Weekly paper; news flashes; reading of the news before each movie; weekly open forum discus- sion on Current events; distribution of newsmaps and various information materials which I have chiseled all the way from Casablanca, Londori, Naples, Algiers, Cairo and Calcutta; a lecture hall for orientation discussions; an orientation library; a complete map room, complete with all theatre battlefronts. The news is dramatically presented against the battleline background. j. Signal built me a radio-victrola combination that plays through an area-wide public address system and features recordings, radio programs, and direct news broadcasts. It was made out of salvage parts, and augurs to be the biggest morale factor next to the movies. k. We operate and supply a service club staffed by the ARC, complete with library, lounge, canteen, etc. 1. We supervise ten unit day rooms and supply them as best we can. m. We stress soldier theatricals and we are about to break loose a baby that I've toiled over for two years overseas, called "Yanks Abroad." It is distinctive because it is not a variety show, but rather a musical comedy with a definite plot. There are ten original soldier-written songs and lyrics and I am damned enthused about it.

My office and radio station, lecture room, orientation map and lecture room, orchestra rehearsal room, supply room, "Mud and Mildew" and clerical work are all located in a new cement type building with cement floor, thatched roof and screened windows. Yep, I can proudly boast of a fine set-up and a grand bunch of boys working under me.

This afternoon I have to take a trip by plane in search of supplies, and next week I leave for the big town to do some work. I've not had a leave or furlough since I've been in the Army, our CO doesn't believe in it. Consequently, I feel fagged out, keeping the backbone of the Army happy in the tail hole of creation. But, all in all, life is not too bad, and when I do get to the big town, I usually wallow in the luxury of fans, bearers, good food and cold drinks. And on my next trip, I expect to be like a Maharajah in a four-wheel drine.

As far as we know, John Mecklin has captured the class record for headlines. On Wednesday, September 20, the Chicago Sun carried one of the largest banner headlines this writer has ever seen: "SUN WRITER'S STORY: 3 DAYS WITH NAZI ARMY AS A PRISONER OF WAR. Mecklin Freed After Capture. Newsman Tells of Nightmare of Fear and Lurking Death."

The first few paragraphs of Johnny's storyfollows:

Thanks to a tough young Nazi with a soft spot in his heart, to the willing aid of French people and to a series of story-book freaks of fortune, I am able to sit down as a free man tonight to write what it was like for three days last week to be a prisoner of war with the German Army retreating from France.

It was a nightmare of fear and sudden surprises, of despair and surging moments of hope, of life in a looking glass, where the impossible became the commonplace.

We learned during those three days what it means to live or die on the turn of some cosmic playing card. We learned what it means to be totally hopeless under circumstances of great danger. We had a -sort of slogan. "We do or we don't,'' we would say, and that was exactly how it was. We became fatalistic. We were scared, but, more than that, we were curious. Death seemed so imminent, and at times such a certainty, that we became objective about it, like scientists watching guinea pigs in a gas chamber.

We lived on soggy dark bread and lard and cold, tasteless coffee. We slept on pallets of straw under the muzzles of rifles and machine pistols in the hands of men who spoke a language that we could not understand. We were forced to march fifteen miles under a blistering hot sun.

We learned to dread the sound of American planes and the possibility that around every turn in the road we might come under the guns of tanks manned by American boys.

Then with a suddenness which left us dumb- founded, a square-jawed Nazi-non-com who was our guard told us we were free.

"SGT.EIGHTBALL" goes aboard somewhere in the Southwest Pacific. Assisting the AAF Service Command headquarters' mascot into the plane is Lt. Donald Lieber '39 (center)

Secretary, Visual Aids Department U. S. Armed Forces Institute 205 East 42nd St., New York 17, N. Y. Treasurer, c/o J. M. Mathes, Inc. 122 East 42nd St., New York, N. Y.