Radio Normandy

On D-plus-one, an unusual radio audience listened to an unusual program. The audience consisted of lightly wounded Allied soldiers gathered at collecting stations on the Normandy beaches. The program: Allied Expeditionary Forces Program.

A joint British-American venture, the program is still on the air, 17 hours a day. One great service of A.E.F. Program was recently described by Major Arthur Goodfriend, chief of ETO's Orientation Branch. Wrote he:

"Probably the low point of the Normandy campaign in its initial stages occurred during four days of storm, which seriously interfered with unloading operations on the beach. . . .

"I was there on the second day of the storm. . . . The rain was coming down in sheets. The men were marching from their muddy and water-filled slit trenches, mess kits in hand and leaning into the wind, in their quest for some hot food. The wind was reaching a velocity of 40 to 45 miles an hour in its worst puffs, and its whistle was audible above the dreadful sounds of clashing steel and pounding surf. It was about as dismal a scene as I ever recall, and I have seen such things as the Quetta earthquake in India and monsoons in the Indian Ocean."

Something Precious. "The cook shack was nothing but a piece of canvas meant to keep the rain off the stove on which hot rations were being prepared. . . . There was just one other piece of canvas in the picture. . . . It had a regular outline and apparently was something exceptionally precious, something which even in the circumstances had to be kept dry. We had just picked up our chow and were sitting around miserably starting to eat, when from this piece of canvas came the sound of music. It was strange music. It was jive--American jive. I never did find out whose jive it was, but it was gay, rhythmic, and in no time at all it had us feeling 100% better.

"We forgot the rain; we forgot our rations. We forgot our soaked clothes. We were able to take a more philosophical view of the destruction and dislocation on the beach. We felt revived and confident. It was clear to us that if Americans could listen to music in a situation like that, the situation could not be so bad.

"The program went on all through the afternoon. As men came within range of it, you could see their shoulders straighten and their faces relax. It made the whole job easier."

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