PUMPING GAS

“We didn’t like to call it a gas dump,” explained Pfc. Mel Rapp, of Wernersville, PA. “We called it a POL. Just like the British did. Stands for petrol, oil and lubricants. Very fancy.” During the battle for France in WWII, at St. Lo, the QM Gas Supply Company, had 32 nozzles pouring out 285,000 gallons a day fresh from the pipe. Who says our civilization could have survived without without gas? Pfc. Rapp said: “Lots of guys passed out. The gas fumes get you after a while. Sometimes you just keel over and sometimes you really get sick. You get lead poisoning. Looks something like poison ivy. On a real hot day, you could actually see the gas fumes. It looks like heat coming off a railroad track. I remember we were in this apple orchard with the little apples just coming out and goddam if the whole orchard didn’t die in a week from the gas fumes.” But WAR is WAR, of course, and we had to win in Europe against Hitler and the Germans. Today is today, of course, and we still cannot live without coal, oil and natural gas. Nuclear might be safe and alternatives might be cute, but God’s gifts of fossil fuels must be utilized and appreciated.