USS Cambria (LPA 36) - Naval Cruise Book

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HHMHHHMHM Western ways . . . eastern churches . . . and warm beer, - '

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PA ORAN I A September — two days past the Rock. Oran, Algeria on the Dark Continent our first port-of-call. No giraffes. No sultans. No harems. A French Admiral. And kids with dirty knees and a built-in love for the American Tobacco Company. Kids who smiled fast, talked fast, cleaned pockets fast and ran fast. Kids with the marks of war and malnutrition on them. We went alongside at Mers-el-kebir near the white cliffs. Chartered buses took us into town. Once there we wandered amongst date palms, coconut palms and palm palms. We found leather- faced men with wire-brush beards strolling in double-breasted sheets. We saw tattooed women ' heading ' home the family supper. We ate camel steaks and drank warm beer . . . and paralyzed our digestive systems. But there was far more new than old in the Africa we saw. Modern cars, modern appliances modern dress dominated the main streets. It was a mixed-up town of ' Quarters ' that would never add up to halves. It was nice to have visited. It was nice to leave.

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i Where S. P. Means Sahara Patrol ' ' P he French Foreign Legion makes its administrative home at Sidi-Bel-Abbes. Orders to the desert units come from here X— and this is the spot where the original records of the famed Blue Hats are kept. For an insight into the Legion ' s past daring- do, note the panels on either side of the gate. Above — The main streets in Oran reflect little of the expected Arab influence, chiefly because the Arab groups prefer to keep to their own backways and allevs. There is nothing foreign about this Legionnaire ' s gesture. Below — An attractive vocalist intrigued many, until they found the trumpeter (standing) was her husband.