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142 8 Movies, Doughnuts, and M1 Rifles From D-Day, June 6, 1944, and well into the late fall of the year, the Special Services had to react to a fluid situation. Special Services companies could not operate in France until Allied troops had cleared the German army to the Seine River. What the troops did have was the Special Services radio, and often it was the only touch of home they had. Technical Sergeant Charles Linzy of the 459th Mobile Anti-Aircraft Battalion had crossed Omaha Beach on the second day of the invasion and spent two weeks under fire. His battalion stopped for a rest, a hot meal, and a little time to write home. Linzy told his wife that he had not had time to pen a letter because he had been under“very adverse circumstances,”even though he was serving on battalion headquarters staff. The battalion had a radio, and Linzy and his comrades heard the Bob Hope Show. Corporal Kenneth K. Gowen’s field artillery battalion had landed in southern France in June 1944 and enjoyed the reaction of the French population to seeing the Germans driven out of their towns. Despite those enjoyable moments, Gowen and his buddies eagerly listened to the American Armed Forces Radio. Later Gowen recalled that the Special Services that provided the morale-lifting popular radio programs deserved the highest praise, and “their contribution [to the war effort] was tremendous .” Private Eugene Mazza of the 338th Infantry Regiment wrote to his sister back in Brooklyn, New York, that he had been to the rest area in Rome “and have seen all the historic sights that my Italian teacher told us about back in school.”1 In India Master Sergeant Elmer Franzman of the 329th Service Group had adjusted to his new surroundings. Franzman had acclimated so well to life Movies, Doughnuts, and M1 Rifles 143 near Assam that he was known as a “Red Cross Commando” because of his frequent visits to a local Red Cross Club where there were a number of cute American girl volunteers. The Special Services and USO camp shows toured India, and Franzman enjoyed one featuring the famous movie actor Pat O’Brien and the singer Jinx Falkenburg, plus other singers and a band. “After the show they visited our [service] club and signed autographs, shot the bull and Jinx played and won several ping pong games.” Franzman and his comrades were fortunate in being served by the 18th Special Services Company, the one company assigned to the China-Burma-India theater of operations in 1944. Considered one of the best-organized and most aggressive of all the forty companies, the 18th’s commander and the theater Special Services officer coordinated the USO camp shows that entertained troops in the theater. The 18th also put together a popular GI show called Monsoon Madness that toured bases in the theater. The show was well received because the Red Cross allowed two talented American women to be part of the cast. The production brought in a deluge of letters of commendation from every base. Typical of the letters, the commander of the 823rd Engineer Aviation Battalion wrote,“Special appreciation is expressed to the American Red Cross for having allowed the two talented young ladies to participate. They were a welcome feature, a refreshing departure from the usually all-male Army production.”2 American girls were always appreciated by GIs serving in any overseas theater. Mid-1944 was a good year for Corporal Thomas R. St. George, who had been serving in New Guinea fighting insects, heat and humidity, and occasional Japanese air raids. His work had attracted those who wrote for Yank, and, after much string-pulling, he was ordered to Australia, assigned to the Southwest Pacific Area Services Publications. After New Guinea, St. George was more than willing to become what was known as a “Service of Supply Commando,” a soldier who had a room with a real bed, hot running water , and hot chow every day. The Services Publications’ headquarters was in Townsville, or Tville, a small city close to Brisbane, where relations between Australians and Americans were strained. One American soldier told St. George, “It’s that there’s been so damned many Yanks here for so damn long the town has plain give up.”3 Army Exchange System and Special Services had expanded in the Brisbane-Townsville area, but due to lengthy supply lines and the sinking of ships, the PX offerings and...

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