Green Light - Air Force Historical Studies Office

How to Run u Squadron 217
fall campaigns of 1944 VD became less of a problem, but in the spring of 1945
it rose again.? At one time the Group Flight Surgeon reported to Brack that-to
judge from the medical reports-the 8 1 st Troop Carrier Squadron had the high-
est percentage of men with some form of VD in the entire Ninth Air Force! Brack
was furious, and he swore that the next man who came down with VD would
immediately be shipped out to some infantry outfit. This threat, of course, led
some men to try even more desperately to hide their problem, or to rely on
Romo's pills.
In addition to the famous sulfa pills, Romo seemed to have an endless sup-
ply of condoms, which he freely distributed to his buddies going to town. An-
other individual who enjoyed Romo's condoms was our Squadron mascot, the
blsck Labrador retriever named Trixie, who belonged to Jesse Coleman. Like
most Labs, Trixie got along well with everybody, but Romo was her special
favorite. He would blow up condoms like balloons and throw them up in the air
for her. It was her special treat to chase them as the wind took them and to grab
them in her teeth. Those of us watching would laugh until our sides ached. The
fun ended when Trixie chewed up and swallowed one of the condoms she caught.
Some very strong medicine was needed to ream out her insides.
Trixie was surely a dog that loved to fly. She would look around for a plane
that was getting ready, with its door open and steps set in, and if she could
she would just jump right in!
While we were in Membury we bred Trixie to a golden Lab. She had
her puppies just as we were unloading the plane she flew on when we came
over to our new French base. She just jumped out of the plane, went over
to an old dog house that some German had built there before us, and had
her pups. (Jesse Coleman, Squadron Flight Surgeon)
Chow!
Everybody who has ever been a soldier knows that one of the important ways of
rating one base against another is the quality of its PX (Post Exchange). Today a
BX (Base Exchange) on a large base can be spectacular: a department store, drug
store, and supermarket all in one. Our World War I1 PXs were tiny and poorly
stocked, but to the people they served they were very important. We had few
alternatives to buying at a PX. It was there we got many necessities (soap, tooth-
paste, shaving equipment, handkerchiefs) and semi-luxuries (candy, cookies, to-
bacco) at low prices. We were rationed, but the rations were so generous few of
us could complain. Cigarettes were untaxed. They cost one dollar a carton and
we could usually get one carton a week. This was much more than many of us