The White Falcon - 02.10.1943, Blaðsíða 4

4
THE WHITE FALCON
OUR FORCES — ALWAYS ALERT
Published by and for tbe American Forces, under tbe super-
vision of G-2 Section. Managing Editor, T/3 Gene Graff; Asso-
ciate Editors, T/5 Joseph T. Koren, T/4 John G. Wentworth;
Art Editor, T/4 Harrison Standley; Circulation Manager, Pfc.
Ollie V. Amick. All photographs are by the U.S. Army Signal
Corps unless otherwise credited.
THE WHITE FALCON receives' material supplied by Camp
Newspaper Service, War Department.
This paper has been passed by Censor and may be mailed
home for one cent.
Watch Them Crack!
Though Sunday was observed as “Battle of Britain
Day” in England, too few of us outside that tight little
isle realize the full import of the momentous victory
scored by the RAF three years ago over Goering’s vaunt-
ed Luftwaffe.
At a time when things looked blackest for England,
after the bubble of the French Army’s invincibility had
been burst by Hitler’s air and mechanized power, after
the humiliation of Dunkirk, a relative handful of brave
men fought and heat decisively the best that the Nazis
could throw against them.
At that crucial time England would have been a sucker
for Hitler’s Sunday punch. She had a numerically in-
ferior air force, and the battered remnants of her ex-
peditionary force had almost no equipment. It is one
of the paradoxes of history that Herr Schicklegruber
didn’t invade England after Dunkirk, but instead chose
other theaters of action. Now, as the pendulum swings
the other way, we can realize just how close the cause
of the democracies was to disaster then.
To “those few to whom so many of us owe so much,”
the RAF, we of the American Army pay tribute. Their
fight against overwhelming odds will ever stand in the
annals of military history as one. of the most glorious
and courageous victories of all time.
But there’s more to their brave struggle than a tri-
umph of arms. Its lasting significance will he its sym-
bolism of the spirit of all democratic peoples. When
a people really believes in something, a way of life,
they will never give it up, niilitary defeat or not. Hitler
could have had a storm trooper stationed in every
house in England and still not have conquered the invinc-
ible British spirit. The stirring resistance of the Czechs,
Poles, Russians and Yugoslavs emphasizes the true spi-
rit of free nations. When the first United Nations’ sol-
dier sets foot on German soil, watch the Nazis crack.
An oppressed, disillusioned people has nothing to fight
for, and they won’t fight.
'ah’m from south of
THE MA50N-D1X0N LINE
AND WUTH ANY 10 YANKEES
HE’YA."
" REMEMBER-YOU GUYS-WHEN THE SARGE
COMES BACK; I DIDN'T DO IT.'1,
NOW.WHATl WOULD DO IS MAKE A DRIVE
IN THE BALKANS, ONE THROUGH NORWAY,
AND ONE STRAIGHT ACROSS THE CHANNEL.11
' LEMME SEE.LEMME SEE —
WHOSE COAT WILL I BORROW
THIS TIME?"
Some things never change, and that goes for the Jack Benny-
Fred Allen feud......Jack swears that while entertaining sol-
diers in the Middle East he saw a picture of Allen on a bul-
letin board with the caption, “Don’t let this happen to America!”
Story of the week: Goering,
Goebbels and Hitler were dis-
cussing the chance that Germany
might come in second. “If we
lose the war,” said Goebbels,
“what do you think will happen
to you, Goering? You’ll he shot.”
“Oh, no,” said Fatso. “The
Americans know I’m a good air-
man, and they’ll offer me a job
modeling airplanes.”
“Say, for that matter,” said
Goebbels, “Jhey know what a
good liar I am. I’ll probably get
an offer to do publicity for some
big movie company.”
Then they turned to der Fueh-
rer and chorused, “But you,
Adolf, what’s going to happen to
you when Germany loses the
war?”
“Me?” screamed Hitler, “I’m
an Austrian!”
From London comes a yarn
told by no less an authority than
Gen. Ira C. Eaker of the Eighth
Air Force. Just before one Ame-
rican flier took off for a raid
on the continent, a Britisher
gave him a flask of brandy,
which the flyer stuck in his boot.
The raiding plane was shot
down, but while the pilot was
floating in his life jacket he
kept warm by sipping the bran-
dy. By the time rescuers picked
him up he was a bit unsteady.
The captain of the rescue
ship assumed the pilot was ex-
hausted, and suggested that he
go below. With offended dignity,
the flyer replied, “I’ve never yet
stayed where I wasn’t wanted!”
Whereupon he dived back into
the channel and had to be fish-
ed out again.
Says Benny Rubin: Hitler
phoned up Tojo and cracked,
“How’s the war going out your
way?” “Much bettah,” replied
Tojo. “Good,” screamed Hitler.
“Same here — much better than
next year.”
And then there was the top ser-
geant who turned down a man’s
request for a furlough to help his
wife celebrate their 25th wed-
ding anniversary .... “Jeeze,”
roared the sarge, “are we going
to have to put up with this every
25 years?”
Bob Hope, back from North
Africa, said he had a heckuva
time getting decent water in
Casablanca. Sitting at a restaur-
ant table, he asked a waiter why,
and was told the water there-
about was unsafe for drinking.
“First we filter it,” said the
waiter. “And then?” queried
Hope. “We boil it.” “And then?”
Hope asked. “We add chemic-
als!” “And then?” “And then
M’sieu,” the waiter patiently ex-
plained, “we drink wine.”
7U JnquihinQ.
OepoAteJi
(What do you think of the
scenery in Iceland? This was the
question The Inquiring Reporter
asked this week. Here are the
answers):
Marian Alcorn of the local Am-
erican Red Cross
explained, “Aft-
er much deliber-
ation, I find that
Icelandic scen-
ery appeals to
the intellect but
not to the emo-
tion.” A native
of Dallas, Texas,
Miss Alcorn, as a civilian, worked
in Washington, D.C.
“To me, most Icelandic scen-
ery is beauti-
ful,” said M/Sgt.
Thomas Salopek
of Masontown,
Pa., “especially
the huge ice gla-
cier.” Tom is a
regular Army
man and belongs
to a local unit
of the Engineers. He is 24 years
of age.
1/Sgt.- Charles Roeder replied,
“As a whole the
scenery up here
is all pretty nice,
but I think the
sno w-capped
mountains art
really tops.’’Top-
kick Roeder
hails from Sum-
mit Station, Pa.,
and is 30 years old. Before he
joined the Engineers, Roeder
worked as a boiler maker.
Ex-coal miner, T/5 Robert Lle-
wellyn answer-
ed, “The scen-
ery in Iceland is
pretty nice, but
what interests
me most are the
hot spring swim-
ming pools they
have here. You
can’t beat them
for a real swim.” Bob lived in
Shomokin, Pa., before he was
called and is 22.
CHAPLAIN’S CHALLENGE
It is hard to deny the auth-
ority of the old slogan, “Show
me the man who ‘is persistent,
•and I’ll show you cither a pre-
sent or future success.” Christ
Himself is a whole course in
the study of persistency. In
modern times let us not forget
the sublime case of H. G.
Wells, who failed in six sep-
arate starts before his eventu-
al recognition as a writer. Per-
sistency, is indeed the child of
success. The man without it
simply.finds that life, with its
many roads that wind and
wind, is a route too stern to
travel.