WWll poem

Discharging Toggle Annie: Mediterranean Theatre, 25 March 1945
in honor of Horace E. Harwell

by Mary Harwell Sayler

On her last flight (my 7th mission) “Toggle Annie” took off slowly
over small gardens growing and new-green fields of barley, wheat, or rye.
Oxen stood still beside a rock-lined ditch formed well to keep good earth
from washing down the hill and wasting. Along a narrow road, a donkey
pulled a two-wheel cart then disappeared into the same descending blur
that held the floorless tent where our crew slept with no heat, no stove, and
no light but the candle we’d snuffed out before rising, rising with the sun.

Five miles up with my oxygen mask on, I hoped this mission would be a
milk run for “Toggle Annie.” The old ship had seen better days with 100
missions more than me and over 90 sorties, a sort of record for a B-24
Liberator also known as a “Box Car” -- a label that annoys me some.
(Nicknamed, the “Flying Fortress,” the B-17 gets better press.) Oh, well.
It doesn’t matter. All that matters is meeting up, on time, with our fighter
escort and not bailing out. Sometimes, I’ve had my doubts when we’ve
caught flak too close and heavy. Afterwards, I’ve been glad for those two
ounces of regulation whiskey used to regulate our nerves, but now? I don’t
know. Some days I hardly feel a thing but numbness when we’ve flown so
low we see too much to dream.

The children here have such hard faces.

Even in “Toggle Annie,” an oxygen mask can freeze up real quick
if you’re not careful to keep the condensation wiped. One mission
takes two cotton handkerchiefs, and wiping makes me woozy.

I do not ever want my face to get too hard.

On every mission, I think about my girls and how I miss them.
Sure hope “Toggle Annie” doesn’t miss her mark today! Wish I
had those Esso maps from home to pinpoint targets, but thing is,
I’d just as soon my wife not know how much we need them.

The hardest part is walking through a door from one life to another.
Flying’s not so hard, but some things you don’t think about. Like,
coming over on the cargo ship, I couldn’t use my electric razor
since it sent out waves the enemy might detect. Shaving with cold
water carried in a metal helmet doesn’t cut it! I wonder if my girls
will like my new mustache.

It’s hard not knowing if my family is okay.
The $218.80 a month, including flying pay,

won’t go far for them when I’m so far away.
I send all I can but keep a five and two tens
in my escape kit, just in case.

Some do go down. Some missions fail.

Some need money to buy a stranger’s help and food.
Worry does no good. I figure if flak gets close enough
to take me down, I’ll go down then, but not before.

Some do go down. Some freeze with fear. Some faces harden.

Flying this high is hard on everyone. At five miles up and thirty below
zero, a person can work for merely minutes and be exhausted for a while --
sometimes for nothing but frostbite if we’re forced back by too much flak.
One day, I saw a close-by crew go down in silver petals and bright flames.

Some do go down.

I hope this plane outlives its name as Liberator. Meant to carry 30-
caliber guns and nothing more, 50 makes us too tail-heavy. To lift
the weight, we have to bounce then place support beneath before
our tail-gunner’s hand can catch a wrong bounce, down. Timing is
everything. Like now -- we’ll do our job and lay this ship to rest,
one way or another.

We all could use a rest -- three missions in four days, each time on
a different, nameless plane except for good ole “Toggle Annie.”
She’s seen her days of drawing escorts, catching flak, and dropping
bombs, so she’s more than caught her quota of close calls.

I want to fly until I drop -- whatever it takes to stop this dad-burn war.
But hey! We did okay on today’s run -- 650 B-24’s and 17’s striking
airfields and tanks works. Took us eight hours and fifty-five minutes --
not bad for this old barge. A thousand hours logged -- quite a record,
Annie. You did swell. Tonight you’ll rest on solid ground while I’ll
sleep well on a nice firm cot, thanking God I’ve got a sweet-faced
wife and good life back at home. Tonight I’ll dream of daughters.


© 2002, 2015, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. Poem originally appeared in the 2002 chapbook, Winning the Wars.

How to handle the heat

With heat waving a red flag across the country this 4th of July week, I thought you might welcome timely tips from an almost native Floridian who hopes to help you find your cool.

Dress for the heat. Wear loose-fitting cotton, gauze, linen, and other natural fabrics. Or, wear synthetic clothes designed to absorb moisture and let air flow.

Scan and then back up your important family documents and photos. Make backup copies of your manuscripts and other computer files too. Having backups is important any time, but if the heat brings storms, flooding, or fires, a flash drive or DVD enables you to keep all of your essential files with you.

Keep curtains closed during the day, and blinds drawn or tilted upward.

Instead of turning the air conditioner down to a super low temp, make it higher than normal, so your sunglasses don’t fog as you go out and your electric bill doesn’t punch through the roof. A few degrees might make a difference, too, in helping your community to avoid brownouts or blackouts as electrical usage soars.

When going out, apply UV protection or sunscreen to every exposed inch of bare skin, including the tops of your feet if wearing sandals and top of your head if lacking hat or hair.

Drink more water than usual, and have plenty of drinking water stored at home.

Always, always take drinking water with you in the car.

Never leave kids, pets, or people of any age closed up in a vehicle for even “just a sec.”

Keep cash in small bills on hand in case the electricity goes out, which means that stores cannot process your credit card.

Keep your car filled with gas in case electricity goes out, shutting down electrically-powered gas pumps. If things heat up too much, you might also welcome a drive to an air-conditioned church, mall, or movie theater.

To cool down without a/c, sponge icy water over pulse points in the forehead, temples, inner wrists, ankles, and back of the knees. (This helps to break a fever too.) If the water just doesn’t seem cold enough, don’t apply ice directly to the skin, but do add a cap of rubbing alcohol to the water.

If you’re outside long enough to feel drenched, you might need more salt than usual or an electrolyte-balancing drink. I also make my own energizer drink with one spoon of honey melted in a tad of warm water before adding one spoon of natural apple-cider vinegar then filling the glass with cool water, stirred and iced.

Plan light meals for hot weather – for instance, an all-veggie dinner or a fresh salad with all-natural, preservative-free dressing and cubes of canned tuna or slices of stir-fried chicken or salmon on top.

Buy bags of charcoal for outdoor grilling instead of heating up the kitchen.

Stock your kitchen with fresh, watery fruits or melons and foods that do not have to be refrigerated.

Vow not to sweat the small stuff nor stuff your mind with thoughts of anything hot.

Pray to keep your cool.

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© 2012, Mary Sayler

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