"See, Joe?"

Sergeant Louis ("Soup") Silva finally got his Distinguished Flying Cross last week, and everybody in the U.S. Army Air Force in Australia was pleased. Soup is a 47-year-old gunner from California, who has been in the Air Force since 1928. Many are the tales of his shooting, his handling of the green young gunners in his care, the respect in which mere officers hold him.

In a recent combat, an untried youngster missed one Jap Zero after another. "Look, Joe," said Sergeant Silva, "you're not leading them enough, and your shots are going behind them." Silva grabbed the gun and squinted from the Flying Fortress turret. Four Zeros flashed by. Three of them, perhaps the fourth fell apart under Silva's fire. "See, Joe?" Silva yelled. During the same fracas, the pilot inquired over the Fortress interphone: "Are you firing at the enemy?" Sergeant Silva replied: "Sir, I've already shot down two, goddamit!"

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.