Camp Life in North Africa
Carol Johnson spent a few weeks at a forward airbase, observing and sketching camp life. There were two main parts of this: the military component, shown in the previous section, and day-to-day life, shown in the next few pages.
From his drawings it looks like, for enlisted men anyway, that many of them made their own camps and sleeping set up. One big problem was in keeping clean. Many of these drawings show bathing and showers, and the clever contraptions that they built. These are examples of “Yankee ingenuity” in action.
They would eat, sleep, bathe and pass the time. Maybe they needed emergency dentistry. They would also get ready for the next mission and maybe grieve over a lost companion and friend. The life looks casual, but they were all engaged in a most serious business, a war to defend America and England against the aggression of Hitler and Mussolini.
Ernie Pyle wrote about this camp life. He said,
“The danger comes in spurts; discomfort is perpetual. Dirt and cold are almost constant. Outside of food and cigarettes there are none of the little things that make life normal back home. There are no lights, chairs or tables, there isn’t any place to set anything, or any store to buy things. There are no newspapers, milk, buds, radiators, beer, ice cream or hot water. A man just sort of exists ...”
Someone found, or scrounged, a record player and records, just the thing to pass an evening.
One of the best bathing area was a in a cellar, flooded with water
Field dentist, with a foot-powered drill. Must hurt pretty bad before you would go to this dentist.
Page of a sketch book, where Johnson was working on camp life images.
Good sketch of washing clothes, study for cellar bathers, and other sketches.
Probably a still in the top drawing. “We want our moonshine.”
Bottom is a tent, living quarters for a few men.
A page of bathing drawings. The shower is ingenious! This page was submitted
to NEA for publishing.
Campsite in lower left: Drawing used in Ernie Pyle’s, “Here is your war”
Artist studies of bathing tub. These are of Sgt. Les D. Purdy, San Diego
