Bored Yank guards’ eyes pop: ‘It’s FDR!’
Soldiers lined up for ‘just another brass hat’ find he’s their Commander-in-Chief
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 21, delayed)
U.S. troops in French Morocco lined up today expecting to be inspected by “just another bunch of brass hats” when to their amazement they were reviewed by the President of the United States.
Mr. Roosevelt rode past the soldiers in a jeep, ate a field lunch and drove 108 miles north to visit Port Lyautey, scene of the hardest fighting in the North African campaign, and to lay a wreath at an American cemetery near the 400-year-old fortress of Kasbah Mehdia.
The Presidential convoy formed at 9:30 a.m. It skirted the city of Casablanca and drove directly to the review area, several miles to the north. Mr. Roosevelt rode in the official limousine of Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and was escorted by other limousines, armored scout cars carrying 50-callber machine guns and weapon carriers.
Umbrella of planes
It drove past the airport, where scores of planes took off, forming a vast umbrella that protected the President all day.
The convoy speeded through the winding hill roads, on which soldiers, not knowing who they were guarding, were stationed at regular intervals, guarding every inch of the road with pistols and Tommy guns.
Reaching the review area, where the troops were lined up for at least a mile in front of their tanks, half-tracks, scout cars and cannon of all sizes, Mr. Roosevelt left the limousine and entered a jeep driven by Staff Sgt. Oran Lass of Kansas City, Missouri.
Riding with Mr. Roosevelt were Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, commander of the U.S. 5th Army; Charles Fredericks, the President’s personal bodyguard, and the general officer commanding during the inspection of troops. Immediately behind the Presidential jeep was another with bodyguards. The next jeep carried Maj. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., commander of troops in this area; Adm. Ross McIntire, Mr. Roosevelt’s physician, and Harry L. Hopkins. Robert S. Murphy, U.S. envoy in North Africa, and Lend-Lease Administrator W. Averell Harriman were in another car.
The soldiers were unaware of Mr. Roosevelt’s presence at first. Staring straight ahead at attention, they could not see him until his jeep passed less than six feet away. Few were able to resist smiling.
Eats at field kitchen
The convoy turned into an open field where a field kitchen had been set up. The President ate a typical field lunch of ham, green beans, sweet potatoes, coffee, bread liberally spread with butter, strawberry preserves and canned mixed fruit.
Mr. Roosevelt returned to Casablanca along roads lined by troops, whom he greeted. They saluted him with waves and yells.