European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Dave Richardson yank staff correspondent a dutch naval air Vlieger Piet Janssen might be considered an Odd sort of Guy in this Day of glamorous flying he Doest Wear a Crestful of ribbons with he Doest sport a brushed in a brightly painted leather jacket or even shiny flying he Doest get to go Home after 300 hours of flying or 18 months and Al though his Logbook shows hours of Over water much of it through some of the roughest weather in the he Hast had a promotion in More than three Piet Janssen is a lieutenant and navigator Pilot in the Royal Netherlands naval air which in dutch is the Marine Luch Vaart his real name int Piet if the japs knew his name or that of other old officers and things could become mighty uncomfortable for their next of most left children or other relatives in the Netherlands East when Piet and his mates went overseas eight years present Day american flying Crews were Only in High the dutchmen left hol land to go to the Netherlands East indies As Navy or merchant Navy but sooner or later they All caught the flying Bug and wound up in the where the pay was better and life More Thev began by flying German dornier flying b it after the nazis blitzed Europe they switched to our Catalina then the japs struck out Early in swarm ing Over the islands of the Southwest Jap bombers roared Over Java and Sumatra to soften them up with bombings As troops splashed ashore at several Points in the dutch Piet Janssen and his squadrons pays flew Day and night in the futile Effort to Stop the Jap they droned out to spot and bomb Jap they evacuated terrified women and and they lugged men and supplies to the but the japs had too much air sea Power and land they swept the Squadron fell Back from base to base be fore the whirlwind one Day in March part of the outfit was forced to evacuate its last remaining base of six officers and 29 men managed to nurse four damaged Catalina across the Indian Ocean to off the Southern tip of what was left of the Squadron had been evacuating hundreds of people to three of its planes flew 308 people out of Batavia in three hectic dodging Jap planes most of the then at the end of one trip the flyers were told the japs had completed their and All Hope of evacuating More was five pays were then in up to that time no plane in history had Ever made the hop from Australia to Ceylon non but the cats were badly needed in Ceylon to assist the rest of the Squadron in patrolling the sea approaches against an expected Jap task they decided to risk the Long they stripped the planes of every nonessential ounce of weight and installed extra Gas then they took off on a flight which in peacetime would have made every front Page in navigation happens to be a specially of the sea minded and pinpoint navigation brought every one of the five planes through to where they landed with nearly empty Gas a few weeks later the Catalina spotted the Jap task evidently bound for the task unable to shake off the shadowing turned Piet and his buddies asked for bombers so they could really fight the but bombers were scarce those Days the need for them was greater so the dutch were assigned to patrol the Indian stalking submarines when sinking were re spotting and helping Rescue that was 2 is years they Are still doing that Job along with Raf and Craf their record of submarines spotted and sunk and of survivors located of a military but its no secret Here in the Indian Ocean that the severe electrical storms of the Monsoon season make this one of the trickiest flying areas in the Between their Long some of which last 20 Piet and his pals stick close to Treyve organized a Little Jam band to fill the evening they see american movies at a nearby Raf preferring comedies and musicals to heavy drama or War they hold concerts of record like Beethoven and they love to often break ing into Lusty song in their club late at night Over their famous Bols scattered around their club and Barracks Are copies of most of the leading american although the Knickerbocker a dutch american Maga Zine published in new York is their Over some of their Beds Are pinup including Varga when it comes to the dutchmen share an american preference for Steak and their mess is one of the Best on a Sam ple meal includes onion Steak Fried in but Fried Green fresh vegetables and their mess officer has to make special trips to buy enough because they draw rations through the which sends mostly Tea As a they drink Coffee at every at teatime and they never eat some of the Squadron received special training in America and can talk for hours about people and places they knew in the these men regularly get swing books and letters from one of them opened a tourist map of Hollywood for describing in detail How he visited the Brown Derby and Earl Carrolls night and How he met and talked with Greer Garson and Mickey Piet and his men always try to find out about any american air Force or Navy men who Hap pen to be passing always inviting them to Chow and a few dutch hospitality and friendliness have become legendary throughout Ceylon and parts of nine out of 10 of the Squadron members have wives or families in the Jap occupied East they Are Lucky if they have heard from their loved ones once in two for the japs have no regular arrangement for exchanging mail with the dutch in occupied Piet and the others rarely talk about their families that Are in enemy or outwardly show any theres no use feeling for our they others Are suffering far More in this whenever Piet Janssen and the others get a they visit an Airfield where american bombers sometimes drop they go All through the examining everything and asking All kinds of technical they have even talked the yanks into letting them Fly a couple of b24s that were passing you they Tell the Well be flying these liberators in combat pretty bombing Java and no one has Ever told them they but no one has Piet Janssen and his buddies have followed closely the Allied drive into for they know there will be plenty of bombers available when the nazis Are their re quest of 30 months ago for bombers is still and when it is filled these stolid dutchmen expect to add a new Slang phrase to their language meaningful bit of i eager this weeks cover b Onifacio o Benedictine Monk of the Abbey of walks toward the abbeys Entrance at the Northwest Fra with several other monks of the lives in rooms of former Abbey collegium and is working to As much As thousands of manuscripts that once belonged to the abbeys four celebrated More Cassino pictures will be found on pages photo gee Rae Dave Ham Wear Macau ice 12 fort san Center Beca Raton Cany Lewer new user Harli Tea user Bainbridge picture Imp infantry fert Page 6