Evening star., 1921-05-18
ONLY -FOUR errors
: |NDESERTERL|STS
Adit. Gen. Harris Says But
One Mistake is Depart
ment's Fault.

Adjt. Gen. Harris says that the lone
lists OF men Charged with desertior
from the draft" already published. in
stead of being full of errors, actually
&, have included only four names not
rightfully appearing thereon" These
men We're Stanley Harrison French
Alfred Daniel Brazil, Howatt H. Mil
linson and William Sutherland Bacon
"One highly desirable result of the
publication of the lists, which should
not be ignored" said Gen. Harris, lis
that those whose names are included
e in the list will thereby become official
ly advised of their status as shown
by the War Department records. While
the publicity will prove most unwel-
-. come to man who actually rendered
honorable service, nevertheless it is
within the bounds of probability that
he might otherwise never have
learned of the fact that the records
show that he was a deSerter. For his
own sake, as well as for the sake of
his children and grandchildren. it be-
comes his duty to communicate with
the War Department with the view
of having his record cleared before it
is too late.
"The department receives numerous
requests from descendants for the
records of MEN who served in the
revolutionary war: and. similarity,
the descendants of men who served in
the world war will oe requesting
statements of their service during the
= coming years, either to gain the bene-
fits provided by legislation, to estab-
: lish their eligibility to membership
in patriotic organizations, or for other
purposes. Naturally, unless the records
are corrected now, while the men are
still living and are in a position to
furnish satisfactory proof of honor
'-able service, their descendants will
be deprived of rights and privileges
to which they may be justly entitled"
Referring specifically to the cases
of French. Brazil, Millinson and Ba-
in the single case of Millinson was the
department properly charged with an
error. the mistakes in the records of
the three others being unavoidable
under the circumstances. He said the
French who registered in Brooklyn at
one address was not easily identified
as the man of the same name who
enrolled in the Navy on the same day
and living at a different address.
How Errors Occurred.
Brazil registered at New York and
entered one of the allied armies, but
never reported the fact to the local
board or the War Department. AS to
Bacon, the adjutant general said he
" gave entirely different home ad-
dresses when he registered and while
in the service. and the department
was unable to identify him. 1t is
stated he was registered as living at
400 East 59th street, Chicago, and
when commissioned in the Army, gave
his address as Macomb, Ill.
Nothing whatever has been found
in his record as an officer" said Gen.
Harris, ito indicate that he had reg
istered. or had ever lived or resided
- in Chicago. There were 697 Bacons
in the military service. and the fact
that the records show a William
Sutherland Bacon from Macomb, ILL.,,
would not. of itself, justify the re-
moval of the name William Suther-
land Bacon of Chicago. ILL.,, from the
list of those charged with desertion.
Name Removed From List.
''It is evident that the Chicago ad-
dress given by this officer was not
his permanent address. Had he sup
piled an address to the draft board
upon his registration. at which mail
would have been received by him, and
had he given 1t proper attention, or
even notified the local board after his
appointment as an officer in the Army
of that fact, as he was in duty bound
to do, his name would not have ap-
peared on the list Of men charged
with desertion. His name has now
been removed from this list"