The 512th Fighter Squadron

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C HEMICAL WARFARE: Another day has gone by and CWS has had a rough time of it. Boy, these G.I. costs are terrible! Okay, we will be frank with you. We did get plenty of rest—after we did a fair share of the squadron work.  Shreve and Farnolo kept you supplied with improvised showers while better facilities were lacking and did plenty of vehicle washing with the Decontamination truck. Remember the gas chamber at A-80 where we made sure that your gas mask would save you during a gas attack? Shreve and Farnolo stood in that chamber all day long with that awful tear gas and Adamsite attacking their skin. That's why CWS couldn't shave for a whole week. Yes, we even put up a few hundred gas alarms and detector boards.

Now may the good Lord reward the chemical section for its wonderful work—the two section men would make excellent civilians.

COMMUNICATIONS: The radio "queers" under the excellent supervision of Lt. Paul Ohls kept the lines of communications rolling while Kay headed the "queers" through their daily gripes and groans. Flt. Chiefs Widener, Mixson, Schroeder, and Towler kept their flights in order while Inspector Hodges chased around checking to see if the boys had completed their modifications. If you strolled into the "shack" you would find Deiterich working at his bench, chasing ohms and gremlins through the radios. Not to forget Rusch keeping his homing pigeons in tow.

Whether it be fair weather or foul, communications had to go on as one of those rarely mentioned services that played an important part in our great combat team. "Basher from 457 for a check, Over!" "Roger, loud and clear" was a very familiar sound from the radio shack as the boys checked their ships. Then if you were turned in on our frequency, you would probably hear, "steer 360" coming from our very efficient homing boys as they shouldered the heavy responsibility of bringing our pilots home safely.

If you happened to be around Group in the wee hours of the morning, you would undoubtedly have found our boys hard at work banging out on the teletype or on the "key", letting the officials know that the Basher men scored again. Or "stardust here, are you finished? I'll ring them again." Wishing they could tell them to make up their damn mind. This is just a part of the unsung heroes that never got enough credit, but worked all hours as they did their part in the big effort.