Theom

Major Calfritery's War Theom

He wasn't made for war yet, through what he considered a monumental snafu by the Government, meek and passive E. T. Calfritery, minor bank employee in Topeka, Kansas, had been drafted, sent to Officer's Training School, made a Major (a continuation of the snafu), and immediately shipped to Africa, only recently invaded by Allied forces, where he was assigned by his commanding General the task of providing mules for the imminent invasion of Sicily. All he needed to do was cross the African continent in an unarmed C47 through skies controlled by Axis aircraft, find a ship in Alexandria where there were no ships available, especially one suitable for transporting mules, then assemble a crew when there were no soldiers or sailors available, and sail it westward through Mediterranean waters controlled by Axis aircraft. All this to happen before the invasion itself commenced. When he protested, quite ineffectually, that he was completely unfit for such a daunting task, his commanding General snapped, ``Quit sniveling, and get on with it! So despite abject fear giving way to panic and then to downright terror, he did.