The Pittsburgh Press (August 5, 1942)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
SOMEWHERE IN NORTHERN IRELAND (By Wireless) – In this column I will try to give you a general idea of the mental attitude of the American soldiers who are the vanguard of the new AEF.
Some of them have been here going on six months now, others only a short while, but their feelings are all about the same. I have now traveled enough and lived enough with the troops that I think I have a pretty good idea of their general outlook. Basically it is this:
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They are impatient to get into action – not because of any thirst for war but because they want to get it over with and get home. Getting home is the real point. But they know they may not see home again till the fighting is done, and they are tired of waiting.
I saw the other day that a poll showed 48 per cent of the American people in favor of opening a second front this summer. I am sure a similar poll among the American troops in northern Ireland would go 99 per cent for an immediate descent on the continent.
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The soldiers say they have reached the peak of their Army schooling. In America they learned about all there was to learn short of actual combat. And now that they are just busily marking time, it seems anti-climactic to them.
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They don’t dislike Ireland, but they miss America’s weather. No matter how well they may fall in with the local community, they miss above all things their home companionships.
They miss American things. They feel that things at home are not only different from things over here, but that they are better. Time after time I have heard a soldier say that he now appreciates his home town – which he had never thought much of before.
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In general there is no kick at all against the Army. Without exception the men praise the Army food. And it seems to me that they like their officers better than our soldiers did in the last war.
As for money, they are getting more now than they know what to do with.
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Oddly enough, they don’t mind the rather primitive way most of them are living. They have adjusted themselves to it quickly. It isn’t the physical inconvenience they dislike, it’s the waiting for action.
Time doesn’t hang heavy, for they are kept pretty busy. It’s just that they want to get the fight finished and get home.
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They miss the small news from home. Over here they get the headline news, but none of what we might call the second-stratum American news – such things as an explosion in Iowa, a train wreck in Pennsylvania, a heat wave in Kansas, Ralph Ingersoll joining the Army, or the latest effects of gas rationing.
They devour the Stars and Stripes, so when I get to London I’m going to suggest that it carry one page a week of just this type of news from home. And I’ll bet a shilling to tuppence that nothing comes of it.
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The soldiers’ time is too occupied for much philosophizing or introspection.
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When the boys left their home towns to go into the Army some of them may have done so in a spirit of adventure. But life right now is neither adventurous nor romantic to them. It is just everyday soldiering.
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Despite their wish to be home, practically all the boys are proud and glad to be over here instead of stymied in some camp back in America.
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Taken all in all, the American troops as individuals and units are pretty well satisfied, pretty cocky, and they think they’re the best fighters in the world.
I guess that’s what it takes to win a war.