| Summary: | "'They were swell.' That's what a bronze-star wearer from Northington General Hospital, Tuscaloosa, Ala., said about a couple of USO shows he got to see at the front lines in Italy. With those three words he also praised the motion pictures, games and dances financed by the War Chest. M/Sgt. Samuel Whitehead, Rogersville, Ala., is a Pre-Pearl Harbor man who served with the 10th 'Mountain' Division seven months in Italy. In April he was wounded in the jaw by rock fragments when a blocked tunnel at Lake Garda, near the Brenner Pass, was blasted by the engineers. He arrived at NGH August 12. During offensive operations in extremely difficult and mountainous terrain of the Appenines, Whitehead worked tirelessly in laying wire from rear positions to the advance command posts of the most forward organizations. At times he continued his work for more than 24 hours, laboring to keep up with the rapidly advancing front. It was this work for which he, as Chief Lineman of a construction platoon, was awarded the Bronze Star. 'I guess I sorta lost my school-girl beauty overseas,' he said. 'In civilian life I hope to use this signal corps experience in getting a telephone linesman job.'"
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