PAGE FOUR
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN; LAWRENCE, KANSAS
MARCH 22,1946.
It's Always The Lighter Side of War A Guy Remembers
Vets Recall Fuzzy-Wuzzies, 'Eleanor,' V-J Day, Washing Clothes in Champagne
Sometimes a guy remembers the doggoneest things.
Take World War II, for instance. Take a score of K.U. veterans. Ask them what they remember about the wars, what sticks out in their memories from their service experiences.
This is what you hear:
Chester Spencer, Engineering freshman, who served with the army in Europe:
"We were in Wurzburg, Germany. Suddenly artillery fire opened on us, and we dashed into a nearby cellar.
"To our great surprise, we found champagne, cases and cases of it. Boy, I never expected to be washing clothes in real champagne, but I did. We bathed in it, scrubbed floors with it, and—incidentally—we even drank a little, too."
Edward Swain, Graduate student, who was a First Cavalry division battery commander in the south-west Pacific:
"We had just invaded Manus island in the Bismarck archipelago. I wanted to see some of the fierce fuzzy-wuzzy natives I had heard were in the most primitive and uncivilized tribe in the archipelago.
"Suddenly about 50 of these natives came into view. Their thick wiry hair was dyeed red and blue, and their bodies were tattooed blue.
"The men carried nothing, the young fellows carried spears, and the women were loaded down with all the tribe's possessions. They looked plenty fierce—a race world, under the civilized rule, I figured.
" 'Jesus loves me, this I know.' "
"My thoughts were interrupted by a young boy straggler, hurrying to catch up with the rest. As he came up to me, he stopped, showed his beetle-stained teeth in a broad grin, and as if by a cue from backstage, threw back his head and sang in English;
Robert "Scotty" Knox, Graduate student in geology, who served in the navy:
--again,' and kissed me, I decided
everyone was crazy.
"Okay."
"My duty was limited to photographing gunnery, but there were moments I wished I had been somewhere else. One of these was one night off San Diego, when the firing ship mistook us for the target plane, and started banging away. Boy, was I glad the target was missed that time."
Charles Schafer, Fine Arts freshman, who was a radio operator in the army air force:
"I went out for a little fun swimming near Casablanca, and darned if I didn't get caught in the undertow. It took me a half hour to get back to shore, and I don't think I'd have made it if I hadn't gotten mad.
"After going through the campaign in Italy, I wasn't going to die just swimming in the Atlantic."
Norman Wycoff, College junior; who piloted a navy PBY in French Morocco:
"My main job was sea rescue work, but that became secondary one day when we got an S.O.S. from the naval officers in British held Mala.
"These officers wanted something besides the grog the British served, and they asked us for some beer. We carried them 50 cases of the stuff—for just 17 officers."
Edgar L. Sherbenou, College sophomore, who served in the army air force:
"I had just jumped from my dis- disabled plane over Germany when I heard the most terrible ripping noise I ever head. I saw my parachute was torn in one panel.
"When I got down a bit lower, and gained more consciousness, I finally realized the 'chute wasn't ripping any more, and the noise was caused by the tiny pilot 'chute' scraping across the big one. Eventually I was captured by German civilians, but I was scared I wouldn't get down to them at all."
"I was at a 23-course banquet Madame and Generalissimo Chiang
David White, Engineering sophomore, who also was in the army air force:
Kai Shek were giving, and I thought one dish was particularly good. I asked the Chinese girl next to me what it was, and she said it was a rarity because of the war, but the dish contained eggs—100 years old.
"After that, I didn't ask any more questions. It seemed they buried the eggs in wood ashes to preserve them."
--again,' and kissed me, I decided
everyone was crazy.
"Okay."
William Bradford, Business junior, who was a ground crew member with the Eighth air force:
'After V-E day, we ground crew men got a 'Cook's tour' of the cities bombed by the planes we had helped maintain. We made a low-lying street, westerly into the Lowlands, and saw cities like Berlin, Cologne, and Essen.
"A few hours in the air looking down on some of these smashed Nazi fortresses made it clearer than any number of communiques the tremendous destruction we had helped to accomplish."
Reverdy Mullins, College junior fighter pilot stationed in the Aleutians:
"We lived on C rations for six months, then a buddy and I flew 1,300 miles to Anchorage, Alaska, to get a glass of milk. The first thing we did there was to order four quarts of milk and two full pies, and we didn't get up from the table until we had finished it all."
Dean Grant, Fine Arts junior, who was in the station complement for the army disciplinary barracks at Camp Hood, Texas:
"One of the prisoners had three wives, and none of them knew he was married to anyone else. One wife lived in Louisiana, one ir Texas, and the third in Arkansas.
"One weekend, two of the wives came to visit the guy at the same time, and they both had to talk to him. He said he would be taking each one about his conduct and wher he would get out without letting her know about the other woman.
"We finally helped him get the last two marriages annulled, but it was tough going there for awhile."
Homer D. Hutchison, Pharmacy freshman, who was in the navy:
"Eleanor Roosevelt visited the ward where I was in charge in the hospital at Londonerry, Ireland. She asked me a bunch of questions, and I had to explain a lot to her. A picture of her in our ward was in Life magazine later."
"It was my second day in the army-navy joint staff office in Washington. Being anxious to please, I was racing up a flight of stairs, not paying too much attention to what was ahead.
Mrs. Bernice Hutchinson, wife of the preceding veteran, a special student in the College, and who served in the WAC for 17 months:
"Suddenly, my head bumped into something, and I looked up. I had run right into an admiral. All I could do was babble my apologies and blush to the tip of my toes."
Ralph E. Coldren, College junior,
who was a B-17 waist gunner:
"We were flying our ship—the
'Venus Ramey,' named after the Miss America of 1943 -home from combat, and we went 55 hours in the air from Italy, across the Sahara desert, to Dakar, to Brazil, then north to the U.S.A.
"We looked like someone went wild with paint—we had more than 200 flak patches on the ship, and every one of them was painted red. The prop shafts were red and blue, like a barber pole, and there were green and yellow spots in other places.
"Everyone was looking for the first sight of home, and finally the clouds broke, and there was West Palm Beach—the prettiest sight of the whole war."
Lloyd Svoboda, Chemical Engineering senior, who served with the army in Europe:
"I spent several months in the 12th Evacuation hospital in Luxemburg. When the Red Cross asked me if there was anything it could do, I said 'sure, get my brother,' never thinking it was possible.
Wallace Nickelson, Law freshman, who served in the army;
"But sure enough, my twin brother was brought there to me. I couldn't get around the hospital alone, because I couldn't see—a machine gun bullet had taken care of that. But Floyd acted as my eyes, and my stay at the hospital wasn't so bad after all."
"I was an aid man, and I wasn't supposed to do any combat duty, but one time I threw all the hand grenades I could get my hands on.
"I got caught too far up, and there I was, trying to outstare a German 88, mounted on a Tiger tank. I froze behind a tree that seemed like a toothpick when that gun barrel moved slowly around until it was pointed directly at me.
"The gun didn't fire, so I broke for cover, grabbed all the hand grenades I could find, and pitched them at that gun."
Harold Benitz, College freshman, who served with the army;
"One morning I had a premonition. We were near Australia on a transport loaded with high explosives. Our commanding officer had told us to sleep in our clothes to be prepared in case of a submarine attack
"At 5 one morning, I suddenly woke right up, jumped out of my bunk, and headed for the life boat.
I hit my head on the bunk above me but I made real speed.
"There was only one trouble—it was a false alarm."
Robert Combs, College sophomore, who was in the army air force:
"Bailing out over Italy was something I won't forget. We were coming back from a bombing mission over Austria, and the plane caught on fire. Luckily I hit ground only a few miles from our air base."
Melvin Borrell, Engineering freshman, who was with the army tank corps:
"On our third day of combat, we were up front, and we spotted a German mortar.
"We shot once and missed." The Jerry did the same. We shot again and missed again, but not the mortar—it hit us squerely the second time. The shell burst inside the tank, shrapnel flew all around, and the tank caught on fire. I got out safely except for a burned hand and a face injury."
Elmo Geppelt, Engineering sophmore, one of the first radar navigators overseas with the Eighth air force:
"The general, wing commander, chose me for his navigator on an inspection trip to France. With him were three colonels, two majors, and four captains—I was the only second lieutenant in miles.
"So off we went with the circus of brass looking down my sextant. Did I hit my destinations? Man, I had to."
***
Edwin Rossillon, Engineering freshman, who was in the army air force:
"When we were forced down in Yugoslavia, some Partisans let us stay in a tin shed with a cold stone floor. We couldn't sleep, so we wandered out and saw the natives going through strange ritual and primitive dances for their men, women, and child soldiers who were going to war. The next day the Partisans took us on horseback to an American base near there."
Robert Oberhelman, College freshman, who was in the coast guard:
"I remember Times Square in New York, on V-J Night. When a beautiful blonde I'd never seen before rushed us and said 'There you are'
But I enjoyed it.
As we said, sometimes a guy remembers the doggedest things.
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