Evening star., 1941-09-25
Maneuvers Refute
1heoryU. 5. Youth
Has Gone Soft
Prove Stuminu in GruelIina
Marches, Combat Duties
And Hospital Records
ESy JOHN III. CLINE,
Star Staff Correspondent.

LAKE CHARLES, La, Sept. 25.-
A visit to the Army on maneuvers
should prove to be an instructive
experience for those Swivel-chair ex-
perts on physical culture who fear
that American youth has gone
soft"
There is nothing soft, physically
or otherwise, about the men who
make up the Sd Army today. These
youngsters, to put it bluntly, are
tough-very tough.
When they were brought into the
Federal service anywhere from nine
months to year ago many of them
we're below par physically. But they
are a changed outfit today-heavier,
stronger, hardier-and they can
.take it." The numerical strength
of the Sd Army since July 20
has ranged from $4,000 men up
ward. During the intervening two
months there have been but two
deaths attributable to disease and
only 5,299 of the men have been
evacuated to hospitals. The great
majority of these cases were sent
back for treatment of chigger bites
which had become infected from
scratching. Only few were obliged
to stay in hospitals for more than
one day. That. certainly, is a re-
markable record, considering the
rigorous conditions under which the
Army has been operating.
Stamina Proved.
Some of the outfits have proved
their durability by long, hard vigils
at some remote outpost in the field.
Others-the 38th Division for ex-
ample-have performed outstanding
feats of marching, covering As miles
through Louisiana swamplands in
two days with all equipment.
The 38th, composed Of National
Guardsmen from Kentucky, West
Virginia and Indiana, is known as
the Cyclone divisions It's COM
manding officer is Maj. Gen Dan I.
Sultan, formerly Engineer Commits
sioner of the District.
The two men who were drowned
last week while trying to swim the
treacherous Cane River with COM
bat packs and rifles came from the
150th Infantry, 39th Division, which
had been ordered to take the town
of Cypress. After a day of heavy
fighting, the Red" Army defend
ers were pushed back to the line of
the Cane River, where bridges had
been blown out or were heavily
guarded The attacking Blues"
were not content to stop, however,
and the drowned men, with three
others who went down but who
were revived, were members of
volunteer fording party who pre-
vailed upon their lieutenant to re-
verse his original refusal to let them
attempt the hazardous crossing.
The lieutenant, perhaps, was guilty
Of an error in judgment in finally
permitting the attempt to be made,
but that does not detract from the
obvious fact that men who insist on
risking their lives in such an under
taking during a make-believe war
are anything but soft"
Behave Like Veterans.
During the first phase OF the
maneuver, the total advance of
the 38th Division was greater than
that of any other division. The
men," Gen. Sultan said, behaved
like veterans and captured nearly
$500 Regular Army men on the
Red side, A tanks and about 300
other vehicles" In all, the division.
starting out in the backlaSh of a
hurricane, moved more than $50
miles through the swamps In five
days
A clue to the excellent morale Of
Gen. Sultans division is to be
found in the history of the 150th
Infantry. The members of this unit
are descendants of small bands of
pioneers who began to move across
the Alleghanies in 1850 to make
their homes in what was to become
West Virginia. Shortly before the
Revolutionary War, Gen. Andrew
Lewis enrolled many of these
"Western" Virginians in an army
which marched through the noun
tains to Point Pleasant, on the Ohio
River, where they fought an en-
gagement with Indians in 1774.
Three years later these pioneers
were organized into the Greenbrier
County Militia, and it was as part
of this militia that the 150th In
fantry first became an organized
group of soldiers
Needless to say, the men are
proud of their outfits traditions and
of the record it has made in five
wars-the Revolutionary, Mexican,
Civil, Spanish-American and World
War. At this time it seems peculiar
ly appropriate that the regiments
motto should be. I'VE can take it."
They can, indeed.