The Pittsburgh Press (May 1, 1944)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
In Italy – (by wireless)
Funny how nicknames change from one war to the next, and even during wars.
Last war, if I remember correctly, the Germans were almost always referred to as “Huns,” but you don’t hear the word used in this war, at least not in the rear. For the first year or so it was always “Jerry.” Now in the last few months the term “Kraut” has shown up, and it is used at the front more than any other, I guess.
The latest term is Tedeschi, the Italian word for German. The “ch” is hard, like the “k” in Kansas. About a third of the time our soldiers speak of the Germans as “the Tedeschi.”
One of the most practical pieces of equipment our Army has got around to is the little Coleman stove for cooking. It’s about eight inches high and burns gasoline. It comes in a round metal can which you can use to heat water in after you take the stove out of it.
The stove has folding legs and folding griddles which you open up to set a can or a canteen cup on. It’s easy to carry and burns without a lot of tinkering.
Almost every group of frontline soldiers has one now. They heat their C-rations on it, make coffee several times a day, heat water for shaving, and if they’re in an enclosed place such as a dugout they even use it for warmth.
You have no idea what a big thing some practical little device like a successful stove is in the life of a man at the front.
Candles now plentiful
Our Army canteen cup is pretty good, but it has one big drawback. The rolled-over rim collects so much heat you can’t put it to your lips without burning them. Hence you have to wait till your coffee is lukewarm before you can drink it.
A few soldiers I’ve noticed have partly solved the problem by cutting the rim off and filing the top smooth.
Another much-needed item that at last has shown up in good quantity is candles.
It seems to take any nation a year or two to find out through experience all the little things needed at the front, and to produce them and get them there. Last winter we needed candles, but they were as scarce as though made of gold. Now at last they have become plentiful.
They are white and about nine inches long. We either drip some tallow on a table and anchor them in it, or set them in empty cognac bottles. Of course, if you had a full cognac, you wouldn’t need a candle.
Soldiers like kids
I’ve told you time and again about the dogs our soldiers have taken as pets and mascots. Running second to dogs, I believe, are Italian kids. There’s no way of estimating how many Italian boys have been adopted by our troops, but there must be hundreds.
An outfit will pick up some kid, usually one who has been orphaned by bombing and has no home and no place to go. The children come along of their free will, of course. And they begin having the time of their lives.
The soldiers cut down extra uniforms and clothe them in straight G.I. The youngsters pick up English so fast it makes your head swim. They eat better than they have eaten in years. The whole thing is exciting and adventuresome to them. The units keep them in areas as safe as can be found when they go into action.
What will become of these kids when the war ends, I don’t know. Probably many will be carried clear back to America and their collective godfathers will try to sneak them in.
I do know of Sicilian adoptees who were brought along on the invasion of Italy, just like the animal pets. And I’ve heard of two other adoptees, already written up by some of the other correspondents, who stowed away and went on the Anzio beachhead landings on D-Day.