If I Can Just See The European

For Me War Has Become A Flat, Black Depression Without Highlights, A Revulsion Of The Mind And An Exhaustion Of The Spirit.

But To The Fighting Soldier That Phase Of The War Is Behind. It Was Left Behind After His First Battle. His Blood Is Up. He Is Fighting For His Life, And Killing Now For Him Is As Much A Profession As Writing Is For Me.

The American Soldier Is Quick In Adapting Himself To A New Mode Of Living. Outfits Which Have Been Here Only Three Days Have Dug Vast Networks Of Ditches Three Feet Deep In The Bare Brown Earth. They Have Rigged Up A Light Here And There With A Storage Battery.

Marines Have A Cynical Approach To War. They Believe In Three Things; Liberty, Payday And That When Two Marines Are Together In A Fight, One Is Being Wasted. Being A Minority Group Militarily, They Are Proud And Sensitive In Their Dealings With Other Military Organizations. A Marine's Concept Of A Perfect Battle Is To Have Other Marines On The Right And Left Flanks, Marine Aircraft Overhead And Marine Artillery And Naval Gunfire Backing Them Up.

The Front-line Soldier Wants It To Be Got Over By The Physical Process Of His Destroying Enough Germans To End It. He Is Truly At War. The Rest Of Us, No Matter How Hard We Work, Are Not.