Hide Article Text (OCR)
v- Sgt. McCollum Home After 3 Years OverseasWith Air Force Service Com m am I in Africa and Italy; surmount inconveniences.Staff Sergeant Harvey L. McCollum has returned to the United States *r twenty-nine months service in the African and Italian theaters, with the 12th Air Force Service Command. He left the St. tes.'threeyears ago this Memorial Day, '-again ; '‘landing at Brookfield on a date one day over the: three years. Needless to say. Brookfield and home se'emyd like a paradise.Set. McCollum! as a crew director in the maintenance fields has directed salvage and rf pair of. aircraft - of all descriptions and. nations.Shortly after ..the attack on JPearl Harbor, McCollum landed in* Africa, in that mysterious nd historic country, Algiers. When oux, boys landed \ there, they- created a little, nation of their own and With whn?’-they qoulci salvage from .the natives began to live. in typical army style.Their bath tubs were their hplpict.s* and the daily wash, duty attended to.‘ . Weis the preliminary to a nuniber oi j ' socks. Shorts, shirts, trousers and”wrhat j not, swinging from a % clothes. line. fn-j the hot breeze of the desert, much to* the amusement of the white robed Arabs.A square army_tent was* McCollum s home for the twenty-nine month period and the home was sharpy by oth GI’s, who cooperated to install “parlor. bedroom and baili*.The shower 4 baths ; were ingenious affairs, made -of large oil drums mounted on a platform. Filled with water in the morning, the, hot desert sun boiled it by night. JFrom Algiers, McCollum Was sent to Tunisia on detached service and later was moved to the island of Sardinia, then Corsica. His las^ base before coming home was in Italy.Wherever the boys stayed any length of time, they created ,all the home atmosphere they, could and laughed and joked in the midst of suffering and death. For example, at Caea Blanca, they built-a sign-which was a reminder of sorts: Kans.is Citv.6 700 miles; London, 1.900 mile,; New York. 4.600 miles, and Tokio lO.kOO miles.The bovs took hundreds of pictures of which McCollum has a large nurn-lier showing the people. thefi*- homes; the destruction, the rqfns^of ancient works of art and ahcieht architecture.In his field of oi^erations, he described the. conditions from the first landing until the return home. This air forcelanded when there were no planes except those of the enemy. The enemy had dr supremacy and the mechanical crews were taxed to the utmost to keep what few planes they had in the air. Any time an American flyer was shot down or made a forced, landing, he made ..every effort to* land* behind his own lines. . News stories are replete with the bravery ?\id . uporhtimah efforts of these . boys as they brought in the. cripples *, w hen they were physical wrecks themselves.Little is said of the ground crew, but they werfe the boys wftq* kept The war moving along. Hard work and ingenuity such as only free-born American boys possess, kept those planes flying and re-made fighters and bombers out of :wrecks.The C-47 was th(f “work horse’’ in the battle zone, ?nd_thc Kaasas City built fightcr-bomber, the Mustang, was the favorite. . ' • -Pictures in McCollum’s- possession show' wrecked German , Messer-schmidts, Italian . planes, English planes, and our. own, „When he was based in Italy, he had a chance to see, first hand, the ravages of war on the Italia^ front; The food situation was at all times serious. In the south, olive oil,; which is the “lard” of Italy, could be had in abundance, but there, was no transportation. In the Po Valley there was more abundance..Shortly before V-ET Day there ’were rumblings of the end, of hostilities. This was reflected in the attitude of the Italian people. .McCQllfim says, and it seems to be a proven fact, that the Italians were “all jaut’’ for those who were on top. Thus When the Allies took over, the Italians became enthusiastically for the Allies and their joy on V-E Day sdcmed to be overwhelming. .Policing the country-and feeding the people became a task of great magnitude, coupled with the fact that in some sections, the* so-called aristocrats of the large Italian cities seemed to think that they-- should have all the luxuries of a peaceful, prosperous nation. It was fhe “little'’ people who made the sacrifices.Many of the boys had an opportunity to look over- the Italian girls, and they were naturidly quite friendly. But McCollum, being a newlywed, having marriori Miss Betty Erwin, of this city, prior to his enlistment, says the Italian girls couldn’t compare with the bride who was waiting for his return.Like others in his group, he will report to Miami, Florida, for reassignment in about thirty days, The policy hf.s been to base these veterans
Newspaper Details
Brookfield Argus
Brookfield, Missouri, US
Fri, Jun 01, 1945
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Richard M.
NA, 06 Jun 2025
Other Publications Near Brookfield, Missouri
Brookfield Blade And Messenger
Brookfield Daily News Bulletin
Brookfield Linn County Budget
Brookfield Linn County Budget Gazette
Brookfield Linn County News And Daily News
