U.S. At War: Touch of Paris

The grey, troubled streets of Paris began to show patches of color, and U.S. soldiers on furlough caught the first faint scents of spring. Here & there window boxes showed bright yellow daffodils, pink hyacinths, deep-toned violets. The war news was good, and shops blossomed with a gaiety of frothy spring hats and gaudy costume jewelry.

Last week the smartest shops were busier than in months. A good 90% of the customers were G.I.s who wore on their sleeves the patches of a dozen famous divisions. On leave from the front, they were buying Easter presents for home.

In narrow old Rue Cambon, in front of the Chanel perfume shop, a double queue stretched half a block long. Forty fighting men, some with the mud of Germany still on their boots, pushed into a jewelry shop in the Rue Saint Honore. A perfume shop in the Rue de la Paix was closed at noon; two days’ rations had been cleaned out.

In the big post exchange, where the Army has a gift shop for combat men only, bracelets, pins, scarves, handbags disappeared like doughnuts at a Red Cross club. “Think of it,” said Lieut. Rafael V. Munguia, in charge of the wrapping center: “Easter Sunday morning at home . . . with a touch of Paris in every town!”