Strasbourg Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 29, 1945, Strasbourg, Alsace November 1945 stars and Guif Pagac our far Flung and correspondents report from abets scattered 40 gis rattle around now on debt is Island by Bert Tavender Bandar devils Island of the Pusc is no the Unce Vitus port of Bandar Shahpur is silent except for an occasional British delivering supplies to the refineries at Bandar the port rail and other nearly men were Here during he ports Peak of left the Island for forty members of company 788th military police Are the Only american soldiers left at ban liars Camp although Security guard is the main reason for keeping troops surprisingly few of the 40 men pull instead the maps have become of a composite service company assigned chiefly to maintenance jobs at the local Baluchie shoulder most of these purity details under american water boy Hie water filtration Plant at g if Ford is the largest installation at the port these fresh water is pumped 10 Miles Overland from Northwest of the to the water is purified for and British consumption at the rate of Gallons a a Reserve tank of Gallons of raw water is kept constantly Carol an now operates the he has Leen at Bandar Only two months and on was assigned to the where he understudied the 1732nd Engineer personnel then operating the they departed and Thorpe bus the entire five men Are assigned to Power Plant of two Arliese electric which Are rotated every 5ft that Supply electrical Power m hours n Day for the Camp and for the docks when British ships Are in Alfred fails is no of the an eight Man fire team is kept fit the hip equipment Doest include a fire it a iwo ton i roller on which pumping equipment and Hose Are mounted serves the same Edward of Classi fied As utilities serves As Firo Marsha in addition to his m her duties As a Oneman Snechat mfr vice unit for the t 4 cd Ward rank Accord ing to his Edward of can fix Hes a mechanical the Only two vehicles loft the the boys that who hails from lives in constant fear of Thi Day that the two n f by sludebakri1 i weapons i living in lira Nroa free of the Drivers arc Apt to forget that a second i Ruck is in the Camp when they swing around Blind Corners or shoot through a theres just one thing that bothers boys the bar has tie Christmas decorations of last Vear and they am wondering just Dhahran sweats out a Dis enchanting but gis Are told leave by january 1 continued from Page 1 logical enhanced by the official reticence that surrounded the project until the big question the men asked themselves Why Are we Here the War was Over and the Mili tary expediency for the air Jort was relatively As far As they could so the average Lack ing jumped to the conclusion that he was being exploited to build an Ai drome which would be used almost entirely by private concerns for commercial it stands to reason that Commer Cial airlines will use the Field in the same capacity which Twa is now using Payne Field and Aba the Airport is being constructed conveniently close to the arabian american Oil com pants where the crude is and Ras the Large refinery which will soon be turning out barrels per Day for world Ideal climate the state department recently that the base was planned prior to termination of hostilities As part of the pro Gram for redeploying european forces to the its location was determined by a number of including Best available climatic conditions and a Means of Short no the route to Eli Mina Abadan and it in a propose Means of Economy in Dol Lars and and compared to the Cost of one the air for which the funds and materials were already on is relatively in it should be emphasized that the original entered into while the War was still in was made Between the and the Sovereign government of saudi of the Good Faith of the required that such a contract its proximity to Aramco installations was also the answer is it was the Only logical Aramco Docking facilities and its emergency land ing both could be used by the because of shallow water and treacherous Shoals Between Arabia and Bah cargos must c unloaded at Ras Tanura and shipped by Barge Down to Al a few Miles from it was advantage Ous to built the Ai drome near the american Oil Community which was already Well for a Large three Turbine Power Plant at Ras Tanura hearing completion and will serve both the company Stabilizer at Dhahran and the air it is cheaper so buy America has exclusive rights to fabulous Oil of saudi the biggest Bonanza in the Middle a Concession extend ing Over Square Miles of Oil Rich the importance of this Oil can hardly be minimized and the Airport will serve some 2000 american citizens working for gis and even found themselves in he array Airfield at Stop Jet refineries unsatisfactory position of working alongside civilians whose salaries in Many cases exceeded their to drawing base pay of the average of italian Walior per including higher pay for Artisan or skilled seemed they remembered too that these men were former enemies who had surrendered to the allies not too Long the discrepancy Between army salaries and those of civilians in he construction division of much and to the i on the it does not do much Good to Point out that these rates Are set by civil service rules for overseas was an unalterable while the construction of the Airport is an army the use of civilians is be the men employed for the most part Are skilled construct Lioti men with years of valuable Shumate asserts that on a construction soldiers work More easily with civilians ban with who might be serving in a similar the soldiers played an Al important although the project is now moving toward a state of Nongi with the departure of men As they become eligible for and some men feel they have contributed nothing toward the airports con Shumate stresses their initial soldiers necessary when the project was launched before the War equipment and supplies were shipped Down from enlisted men were quickly transported to unload and guard without valuable would have elapsed before civilians could be procured to do the soldiers were Avail Able civilians were soldiers were necessary for administrative and clerical and a comparatively Jarge maps was and is still since sol Dier guards Are More reliable and at the present for seven Are stationed at Ras Tanura to guard and handle the unloading of army cargo and its shipment he Barge to Al the stateside charge that ame rican soldiers have been thrust into a labor battalion in saudi Arabia is untrue and refuted categorically by All work which is commonly associated with the term labor battalion has been done by Eye ties and coolies who were hired for that gis have been used in responsible however Small or unimportant they May have seemed to the individual 75 left with the departure of i Point approximately 58 and 17 officers Are left in Twenty eight of the troops Are Low Low ranking with 10 engineers of the 1927th As the next highest of the entire Only 12 have 50 or More it is in connection with an other Sale Side that 80 Point men were assigned to project but five men were relieved of duty and shipped out on september in october All 70point men were shipped Back to Camp arriving too late to make the Cris Tobal since they were held at Dhah ran pending the receipt of travel orders from to pre vent a recurrence of this unfortunate Dhah Raus go pointers were shipped to by or verbal plans arc afoot u remove All gis from saudi Arabia by the first of the Shumate has submitted to Amei Bis requirements for completing Lif ii inject without at Casa dont wait so Good by Ralph diggers Casablanca along about the third or fourth Day that a 4 priority passenger same As a bag of Beans or a Keg of Rusty nails has been sweating out a Jide to the states from u frustrated appears in his he begins to haunt the booking of Hue at the air the hell will i get out of this Hoje anyway says chief clerk Irvin Gruenwald of that is Oihi question that cant be ans there Are too Many fac tors Gruenwald and his shift Norman hoop of Portsmouth and har vey Moge of sinking and Elmer list of Clinton the clerks who work with patient y try to explain these front desk buffers the priorities and traffic Section of which they arc a part is headed by Frank of these men have lots to they arrange backlog Long of All allocate apace for different Send vip prepare manifests and Alert Lucky passengers due some rugged individuals like Nathaniel Rose of net As its not Loo much fun because teed off in items often storm the booking clerks trying to work off their booking is arranged something like this estimates Are made on How Many How much cargo and mail can be carried on scheduled c54 a proportion is then allowed to each of three theatres Chi and am those theatres funnel in passengers according to their respective backlogs do arise and their is no Way of avoiding weather mechanical May cause cancellations of the backlogs tempers of backlog yes grow All they can is try to perspire currently there Are six daily flights to the i which carry s Many As 135 passengers across the because of the size of backlogs in the various the priorities men plan Ned to Book 50 Chi 39 amet ians and a toucans on he next according to Passen Gers with i priorities Are sent out within 4 hours from to to hours from two to five and from two to the 4s arc sometimes stuck for Long he pointed or cause higher priority people naturally move up ahead of them no matter when they it cant be that Way the sys tem but almost he a 4 can count on being off in 15 one would think that anybody with sufficient Points to go Home would have already Learned to but its not gis dont wait so Good 28award Man saved drowning Captain port Lyautey heroes Are neither born nor claim Elmer who aft receiving v8 air awards recently added another soldiers meda1 to his Long list by rescuing to Lonelo who was caught helplessly in a Strong undertow while swimming at Mehdia lifeguard after a hard Battle against rough threshed to Shore with the Captain after two other men had failed in their attempts to pull him out and All Hope of Rescue seemed theres a lot of misunderstand ing about drawls the Cool Spunky the reason a of of cts dont have me dals is because when they did the things you get medals the peo ple who give the medals out were too Busy giving out medals to no Tice the Brave things some Guys heroes Are not made nor they Are products of Circum Stan most every american Soldier is a potential whether you believe this or it comes from a Man who ought to of the 1252nd aah base unit special service during the last five months has been awarded 17 air two Oak Leaf two five Bronze stare and one soldiers no Story filed by South pole reporter South pole at this far Flung Border of the Africa Middle East persian Gulf command the stars and stripes reporter who had come for the animal amet ians dinner dance at the Penguin club left immediately on his arrival when he Learned something about a sea porpoise having been thanks for the dinner amet Cooks did themselves proud yesterday with thanksgiving dinners that were a Chow hounds roast Turkey did you see the Story on Page 1 and All the Sav Orous fixings overseas stripes on Ahwaz fatigue styles by the Man from Ahwaz Hung his clothes care fully on the rack beside his bunk in the Pusc Jlas has bar Racks and then went one of the boys in a Little bunk fatigue suddenly jumped out of bed and moved across the he looked at the Man from Ahwaz clothes for a minute and then aroused the Barracks hey Mere a minute his Barrack mates gathered he pointed silently to the left sleeve of a neatly pressed pair of fatigue it had a t4s stripes neatly painted in the usual place but what took the Eye was Al Smith the lower part of the on it were painted in Bright color and done with the Loving skill of a craftsman four overseas bars and a the used to Pusc ingenuity in Rainbow hued Barracks Beer lockers and fancy pinup rubbed their everybody gaped for a then one of the boys said slowly now i have seen the Man from Ahwaz later in a Hurt that he got the Complete with overseas hash Mark and strip in a at one at his former Supply
