The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-08-26
Fighting Anthony" Eden DOns His COuntry'S Uniform
BY MILTON BRONNER NEA Service Staff Correspondent

VAACAl " Woo oAA1AVdAAOSA the British government was going to conscript for militia service, youths ju:, past their 20th birth days, the London papers made much ado about democracy.
 They quoted Kipling's old wheeze about cooks son, Dukes son, son of belted Earl" etc.
 But if any Dukes eve lamb or any Earls son and heir has been doing any training, the press has been singularly reticent about it. And the London papers are not usually tongue-tied when there is news of the upper classes to be broadcast.
 But there have been two exam pies of devotion to duty made by men who belong to the upper crust by relation to the aristocracy, by wealth and by social and political position.
 Anthony Eden, who resigned from his great post as Foreign Secretary, and Duff Cooper, who resigned from his job as First Lord of the Ad- mirality, each because he disapprov- ed of Premier Chamberlain's foreign policies, have now returned to mili- tary duty.
 Each could have pied that he had done his full duty in the last war and that it was now up to the younger generation. Each could have pled-as so many do-that their duties as members of the House of Commons took up all their i time. Each could have pied that he did not enjoy the most robust health.
 But they did nothing of the sort. AS each had demanded that Brit ain take a firm stand in Europe, even at the cost of war, each deem- ed it was his job to get back into military harness.
 BOTH NOW BACK
 IN UNIFORM
 In the last war Duff Cooper was junior officer in the crack Grena- dier Guards. Frequently mentioned in despatches, he won the coveted D. s. O.-the Distinguished Serv- ice Order. He wound up as Captain. Master biographer of Lord Haig and of Talleyrand, he has now forsaken his beloved books and has rejoined his old regiment as a subaltern.
 AS Lieut.. Cooper of the Third Bat talion of the Grenadier Guards he was to be seen in full fighting kit on the parade grounds at Aldershot. He took part in the march of some miles to spot of country where the guards played in war game.
 Anthony Eden in the great war served in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and also wound up with the rank of captain. He has now joined the London Rangers as major and so is second in command of the 2nd battalion. /
 He is living in a bell tent at Beau lieu where his battalion is having special training in field work, gun- nery practice and certain amount of motor transport work. COMMONERS RESENT HINTS THEY'RE SOFT"
 The lads of the common people" and of the middle class, who have been conscripted, have been work ing under specially hard con- ulIiOslS. 1llc WedIIler ndS been so continuously bad with rains every day that in many camps the ground has been flooded.
 The London papers, at loss for summer stories, have been filled with yarns which might tempt the German and Italians to think the youth of England was composed of mollycoddles and mama's darlings. Long yarns have been printed about the boys suffering from the damp and about how they complain about the food.
 AS matter of fact, the lads have shown the same old stout British spirit. They have been inarticulate about the press stories, but found a welcome spokesman the other day in the Rev. A. w. Orr, chaplain of the East Surrey depot.
 Speaking at the church parade of the militiamen of the East Surrey Regiment, Rev. Orr protested against the idea that the young con- scripts wished things to be made easy. From his contact with them, he found they disliked this talk that had been going on about making things soft and easy. Such talk was an insult. He found the young men wanted their training to be as hard and as stern as that of the regulars.