European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Combo engineers apply the int techniques  use later in Battle to the Job of of zoning up the blitzed capital of i by Francis Burke yank staff correspondent superintendents Are a uni Versal the gis who Are helping rebuild some of the blitzed out sections of London have some american sol about half of them combat Are razing the wrecked Homes and replacing them with one Story so Many londoners gather at these projects to ask questions and offer advice that a guard has been posted to handle rebuilding the blitzed areas is a Job that has needed doing for some but it  be done without the help of the americans because of the War depleted British labor the gis Are providing decent Homes for the thousands of women and children who have been in adequately housed in overcrowded rest centers or sleeping in the and at the same time they Are helping themselves the project is part of their the engineers Are working in areas and under conditions similar to those they will run into in combat on the and they Are using and becoming accustomed to the tools they will use they Are learning How to handle Demoli Tion jobs by employing crowbars and explosives on blitzed buildings that Are not unlike the enemy Strong Points  have to Deal with above they Are learning How to improvise with the equipment at major requirement for Good combat the people of London Are grateful for the work being done by the we got it said the woman owner of a Tea shop in the Lambeth Section of speaking of the we used to go Down into the shelters at 6 Oclock every evening and come out the next Only to find that the Jerries were coming Back for it got so we almost forgot what our Homes looked wed been underground so that was Back in january and these houses have been lying in ruins Ever since that you yanks came everybody who comes into this shop asks if Ive been Over to see what you boys Are doing at the bombed where you Are building now there once were tidy Little rows of after the go engineers begin knocking a blitzed building when the rubble is hauled away and the site cleared they will Lay foundations for a new London Boom nobody dared to walk around that it was so miserable and but thanks to All that being changed Over its a bigger change than you said a woman customer in the Tea to us in the bombed up neighbourhoods it almost seems like the beginning of a new it Means to us that England is coming Back at and the fact that soldiers Are putting up the new houses Means that we Arent afraid of the German planes any we Arent afraid that the places will be knocked Down the a built houses Are by no Means luxurious but they Are infinitely better than accommodations in the shelters and they Are designed to last Only two or until the War ends or lets up enough to allow for the construction of permanent there Are two types of Bun one is a Square built Job made of sections of prefabricated and its 19 feet 7 inches 23 feet Long and about 10 feet the other is a Nisse Type curved Structure with Brick sides and a roof of an Asbestos 19 feet wide at the Bottom and 27 feet the floors of both types Are made of Concrete with an Asphalt the foundations consist mainly of rubble taken from bombed plans Call for a combination latrine and fuel storehouse Between every two tools and material Are furnished by the British ministry of which keeps representatives on the scene to consult with the Beverly Brockdorff of Olio did construction work for the government in the National capital for 16 has charge of nine building he says that the most part his men Are pretty enthusiastic about the heres what some of the gis had to say about their work i saw bombed out including Little sleeping in those draft said John Buckett of if our country were id like to know that somebody was doing something to take care of my i was just a Quarter of a mile away from Hickam Field when the japs bombed Pearl har said George who comes from West the destruction there was pretty but from what Ive these places in London got it worse than Pearl were pretty Well satisfied to do the the British minister of Duncan spoke to the gis detailed to work on the construction you have seen a Good Deal of London knocked he you Are lending us a hand to build it up this act of Friendship will Long be remembered by the people of these soldiers an fitting Asbestos roof sheets to a Concrete such Homes can be finished in nine Days and Are expected to serve about two