SATURDAY.
Story of Willis Rice,
Tank Man
(Continued Prom 1 age 0 >e)
things like tliut and want* to j>. In
and roll up liis sleet ea, too.
"1 CHU shoot/' Willis Rice suid to
the classification man. When a -vnr
comes along a uian's got to do v. hat
be can do real giinl. Willis Rice used
to take out his rifle and shoot around
Missouri, little things?rabbits and
such?but the littler a thing Is the
harder it is to hit.
"There's more to the uruiy than
shoot In"." the classification roan said.
"(luesa you're right," Willie Rice
admitted.
"We send a man where he'll do the
most good."
"Makes sense to me," said Willis
Rice.
The classification man thought a
minute. Here was a nice, smart boy,
standing Just right-about five seven,
a private chauffeur. The kid knows
what makes a wheel go round and
how to make It turn.
"Going to send you to Fort Knox,"
he said. "Going to make a tank man
out of you, Willis Rice,'.' . ,
"Anything I got, the Army's welcome
to," Willis Rice grinned. The
classification man grinned right
back. " '
"You're going to be in the only
Negro tank group In the world," be
said. * - *
1* Fort Knox, Keotucky, waa hot
Fort Knox has a monkey cage and
rviLj-ii?c iuiuuics ivi vi viiuiuiu^i.
Forty five minutes a day be walked
like a cat along those thin ladders.
A Be hung by his bands and by his feet;
be pulled himself up ropes. He snaked
dowq the Bide of tbe monkey
x cage and threaded his way-through
bars like-a needle. At the end of tbe
day he was dizzy. * ' /
"This monkey cage sure rocks 'me
i r to sleep these nights," be said.
There wasn't much close order drill
at Fort Knox. A man doesn't need It
for tank stuff. But be has to carry
a pack. He wears It when he's tak'
log a motor apart, and when he's
' shooting on'theVange and when toe's
walking through. mnd on a bivouac.
A man has to get used to that pack.
Has to get so It's almost a part of bis
body. . -r
For three weeks Willis Rice and
that pack went around together almost
everywhere. ? J
Tbe day Is mlgbty abort when
there's bo much to cram in your bead.
, when there are things to learn about
radial motors and dleael engines and
mechanics and weapons and signal or'
ders and map readings. ,A day ^Hos
-flke a scared duck whep-'you're out
on the range and you'/e learning bow
to shoot pistols and rifles and machine
guns and 75's. A man In a tank
ham to do a lot of ahootlng.
Willis Rice was nervous when he
, drove a tank for the first time. "I
felt like a woman getting a driving
test," he said. He waa bewildered
when be crawled through the turret
and sat at the Controls, but when th?
?. motor began to roar and the tank
burked forward be felt exhilarated
and full of power. Then be knew h<
r%^55M?S3WH^^
i" *jr ' ZtTvn, JkashftgiJW ihrhank asrsrely at;
|W I ** ^roo>
* havvth^ldntaUksn oat; dtpi>* hank
tot ajjTW V?k
: ?wr
Rescued the Co
Decorating Sergt. Dean Bredeacat
bravery in the Panama Canal Za
Recently tha two men awaa for nu
iaf?ted water* off Panama to roar
Lt. CoL 1L P. Gaines. ThedbOdwu
was In the right business, was doing i
the right thing. - **1 didn't know' till
then what I really wanted to do," he
said, "but after that I didn't want to
do anything else."
At Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, on
June 1, Willis Bice sewed the red,
yellow and blue patch of the 761st on
the shoulder of his uniform. He had
never been really deep Sooth before,
and the hot sun and the bayous were
foreign to him. He had friends,
though, and the easy camaraderie of
his outfit was right up his alley. He
liked Pvt. Thomas Washington, a
tall boy from Birmingham, and Sergt.
Louis Monks, who was In charge of
the hutment where Will Ice Rice lives.
The three are buddies.
Willis Rice gets a kick out of the
Impromptu conferences In the company
street whenever there Is a new
truck oi tank or jeep to be named.
Tank men personalise their vehicles.
It used to be that the 701st could
name a vehicle any way it wanted.
Now, though, the first letter of the
name must- be the same as that of
the company. For Instance' "Sleepy"
Is a Service Company truck?"because
It's so slow." "Samson" Is a wrecker
? "because Samson was a strong
man." "Bronco" la a B Company
truck?"because It bucks so much."
Willis and his fellow tankers are
quick' to sense Injustice. In the battalion
PX, staffed by Negro belp, a
portly old man with a peg leg was a
steady fixture behind the cigarette
counter. Selling cigarettes,- ie didn't
have to walk much, and the work
was light befitting his age.
One day the men found their cigarette
vendor hauling aDd stacking
heavy cases of bottled beer In the
center of the floor. Immediately, the
plac? wu abuzz.
"Poor ol' man with a "peg leg
(shouldn't be workln' like dat," was
the general comment. "Ain't right"/
It made no difference that the old
man. bad gone home the night before
without weeping up, one of hla regular
duties. Three out of four customers
that day complained audlblj
' about tbe man with the peg let
l Juggling cases of beer. Next day
; the old fellow was back behind th<
>" cigarette counter.
L ; ThJg-aeuSe of Justice colors Itice'i
' tktfiklng about tbe Jap." Tbe Ja]
haa been stealing and enalavlng Chlni
. bit by bit for five years. Now he ha
sneaked Into the outposts of tb
United States?our home. Willis Rlc
doesn't, like what that portends ^1
-t la itching to send the Jap aprawlln)
- Willie Rice haa an Honor.Card I
hla pocket, and whenever hla feet g(
.. that/ nrge he cantake^-them oft 1
* Alexandria 20 miles[ frpm Camp^Cla
Z Rat on ^tui^ay.nlght;-vrifth a pal ]
lonel's Daughter
Rift, j >? M^^EHpBBSBBr
'"{gjjS
y 1
Dp (loft) ud Pvt. John Biiinsld for
m ia M*j. Gen. Davenport Johnson,
ire than thirty minutes in tha sharktic
Katherine Gaines, 11, daughter of
(being swspt to aea la a flimsy kayak.
(C-tinl Pram)
lot of things happen In Alexandria
on Saturday night.
There's a USO on Cawon street
that's mighty pretty, and'often you
can find Willis Rice there. "Gut
a brand new juke box at that USO"
they'll tell you around Alexandria.
Rice doesn't always feel like the
USO, but there's Lee Street saying
"Come on In, aoldler, come on in."
Lee Street Is full of 5 and 10c night
clubs. A man who sells tamales
walks along the curb, and the street
la full of mighty tall talk. I
Everv nieht l?n'? ' SofuMoo ?> ? I
there is always plenty to do around
camp. There is, for Instance, that
The I
G1
V "* *
Negi
We want \ou to fe<
NEWSPAPER. We *
of you. We expect to
?School and of the a
Wherever they may I
Phone us your i
church circle aetiviti
trips to other cities.
We also expect
x chants of Greensborc
j . So you'll want ti
?just so you won't l
tirwi in nacrei i
Do y
: ; w?
THE FUTURE (
? year?75c
i<
, J Thooe who wlKh to a
t oddmn It to THE I
r * ; loooe your uiberriptli
, < :! !
; Send the FLTl'RE (
J cheek length of your
5 * U
I
v I " Payment h
^ o 10 rrC|r
chance to go to O.C.S. Willi* Ilk* w
can't make up hi* mind whether tic 11
wants to be an officer. Many of tin* 81
uieu Id his company are bucking for
it, nud there la never any trouble
filling a quota for the Armored
Fori* school. Generally there Is it *
surplus of candidate*. &
Illght now there is only one Negro ^
officer In the 701st, Captain Robert _
K. Brown, a medical man from Ml.
Vernon, N. Y. In a abort time, though
a group of Negro officers Is exr?ecte?l
to join the battalion.
The gun Is hot down at Camp Claiborne,
Louisiana, and it's hot in East
St. Louis, Missouri. Willis Hire is a
long way from home, and he's doing
a powerful lot of thinking. Back
home his mother writes him that the
family is spending, ten per cent of
their pay on war bonds. "That sounds
good to me," says Willis Rice.
Willis Rice has come a long way
from East SL Louis. He's getting in _
a tank right now, burning up dusty
roads. One of these days he'll be
golnjj somewhere to do something big.
He'* five foot seven and he can drive
a tank and he's got a brother Quentin
out In Hawaii who's an anti-aircraft
gunner. Queotin wrote a letter,.
ending it: "You keep 'em roiling
jand~ril kep 'em falling." W
1111a DImi Irnnu-a n-Kimt hi. hrnlh.
er meant, all right. He Is one of
two blue stars on~a door In East StLoula,
a blue star that's going some'uture
Oi
REENSBORO'S OW1
"o Newspc
il that THE FUTURE OUTLOC
rant to take a personal interest In
>~keep yoa posted on News?Chui
ctivities of YOfUR boys in the ser
>e.
lews items?Teh us about YOUR
ies ? your socials ? your out-of-t
to give you outstanding values <
i?values that wifl save you mone
d read from page one right throu]
mioa anv imnnrfanf h*nnMiin?a F
rill be right up to the minute.
on Like The Future Oatl
uld You Like To Subscri
)UTLOOK, issued every S^ti
for six months?40c for thri
ubMiibe may tear off thin coupon, drop
FUTURE OUTLOOK, P. O. Box 107?,
m at the office, 5t5 Fjud Mirkrt Street
OUTLOOK for (On? Year Q Six Month
subetriptton) to .. ? tSittM
* currwey^O check Q money, order QV1
fls&fcSJsk?.;-:':
(Check One of the Above)
|||l|y|!|
here an<l^ that's pmne to go and
nat'a polos to raise hell for our
de.
NO SURKKNDKK.
The eipn-sslon "A murine never
urrenders," is credited in Ollert
D. Hut field, who refused a Nlcangunn
general's request to give up /
p'llh those words.
SAUYSS^LliES
( wm.&ua;. *#* V"
fftiv ?>< Ma* MYIMURU)
\ is y. u of_**<
mMMgwaaHflBMHi Oiang*'
I Crush Bottling Co.
itlook ft
'v ^
v:^ 1
lpCr I ,
>K IS YOUR OWN 'ij$
i each and every one 5. %r
rch?ISocial?College v\. ^
viee of Uncle Sam? v - 2^^
- * m
boy in camp?your "a
own visitors ? your
' v * < v '/ ?lf
offered by the mer- ^
ffn i? me oac-K cover * < :JJUT?
-Very bit of informs- ^
ook? &V
be? M.
irday, is $1.50 per .
' 1 ? *?z*'
ee months. ' .,?
it in an envelope and \ + ? flgjn
Crreeraboco, V. C, or 5 . ;'ht
Phone 2-3425. . J SK
n O Three Months Q J
;V.