Evening star., 1941-09-21

man Of his type in successful COM
mand of such a rough-and-ready
outfit. In civilian life he is super
intendent Of schools at Norman,
Okla, and he bears the marks of
his profession. He is studious in
appearance and rather retiring in
manner. Only on rare occasions
does he speak sharply to an enlisted
man for he believes that. in civilian
Army, at least, best results are OBJ
tained by treating the men as men.
He served as an enlisted man him.
self during the World War and,
being able to look at things from
the soldiers point of view, he has
succeeded in winning both the re-
spect and affection of his command
I saw an entertaining instance of
this during my first afternoon with
the outfit. One of the men. a raw
boned, ganglng chap whose interests
in life were few and primitive. had
obtained somewhere a couple of
photographs Of the sort that only a
soldier would carry.
This man, who had been nick
named the Colonel" exhibited his
prizes to the others and their ex-
Carnations left no room for doubt
either as to the character of the
photographs or the favorable nature
Of their reception.
Then there was whispered con-
versation, interspersed with gestures
in the direction of Col. Garrison.
who was waiting with the air of a
man resigned to the inevitable.
Finally, one of the younger men,
evidently chosen as emissary, ap-
preached us.
Col. Garrison. sub" the youngster
drawled, the 'colonel's' got somethin'
he'd like fer yuh to see" Col. Gar
rison registered complete disinter-
est but the grinning circle of soldiers
were not to be put off.
They're pictures. suh." the
spokesman added. Don't you want
to see emp"
1t was obvious that the colonel
didn't. but knowing that there was
no escape, he took one glance and
hastily handed them back. His re-
action was all that the men had
been hoping for and they shouted
with glee at their commanders dis
comfiture.
Food Good and Plentiful.
In addition to cultivating good
will by considerate treatment of his
men. Col Garrison is careful in see
ing to it that they are fed. On the
night that ate with them, supper
was several hours late and had to
be eaten in darkness because of the
blackout rules prevailing at the
front.
But the food, brought to the men
in mess truck, was well cooked and
consisted of steak, potatoes, slaw.
squash. crushed pineapple, bread
and coffee Incidentally. but i'm
portantly, it was plentiful.
AS a result of these efforts the
morale of the outfit is of the
highest order. When not actually
on duty the men are engaged in the
usual camp banter, scuff1ing among
themselves, writing letters, reading
threadbare magazines or chasing
the half-wild pigs that roam at will
through this country.
Perhaps the best test of morale is
the attitude of the men toward this
mock war In all probability most
of them, if given their choice, would
have preferred less strenuous as
signment. But once in it there was
no slightest doubt OF their deter
mination to win.
Capture by the Reds. of course, is
an easy way out. but these men were
not going to be captured if they
could help it. Along the front there
were numerous instances of fist
fights started by theoretical prison.
ers who refused to be taken.
Unless surrounded the men would
and frequently did race at full speed
through underbrush and briars to
avoid capture, tearing their uni
forms and their hides in the process.
That is not the conduct of men
whose morale is shot to pieces, on
the contrary it is indicative of the
stuff from which first-rate armies
are nodded.