Evening star., 1941-12-01
Army Copies German
Reporter Troops
In Dutch Guiana Coup
Sending Of Own Man
To Cover Arrival May
Become Settled Policy
Bv NELSON w. SHEPARD.

become Settieo foliCy
By NELSON w. SHEPARD.
By sending the chief of the Army
press section to cover" the arrival
of the special United States task
force in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana.
the War Department took a leaf
from German military experience to
initiate what was believed here to-
day will eventually become a perma-
nent policy in future operations on
foreign soil
1t. Col Stanley J. Grogan. the
War Department flying reporter"
in this instance drew from his own
broad newspaper experience to give
the American public its first news
OF the lnternment OF Nazi agents in
Paramaribo. resulting from the
failure of a German coup to seize
control of the Surinam government
and strategically important bauxite
mines. His official dispatch yester-
day to the War Department was a
spot news story of a situation that
made good copy for American news
papers.
Grogan Anticipated Press.
Public relations officials said today
that Col Grogan had been sent by
airplane to Dutch Guiana because
of the novel situation existing there
and also because no regular news
paper correspondents are stationed
in Paramaribo. The seriousness of
the situation made it impossible for
the Government to tip off the Amer
ican press before Army forces ac-
tually arrived on the scene.
1T is a good move to make and
should have been made at the time
Iceland was occupied" the official
said mo doubt in the future
trained Army reporters will be avail
able to give news to the public under
similar conditions.
German military personnel,
trained in newspaper work and pho
Biography, cover all the operations of
the Nazi armies at the front, from
which news correspondents are
barred. Their news accounts and
pictures taken during the actual
fighting are furnished to the Ger
man and foreign press and in the
earlier stages of the war played an
important part in keeping the public
informed of operations.
The policy which the War Depart
ment has pursued in covering events
in Dutch Guiana, it was explained,
does not contemplate barring of
neWsmen but was suggested as
means of convenience and co-opera-
ton.
News From Bases Censored.
American correspondents are now
in Iceland and some of the other
Atlantic bases where press facilities
had existed before the occupation.
Very little news is allowed to leak
out from most of the Atlantic bases
and none of military nature that is
not censored.
The presence of trained Army
public relations officers and photog-
raphers at the Atlantic bases officials
said today would have made it pos
sible for the War Department to
have obtained a complete factual
and pictorial record of American
military activities from the be-
ginning.
Col. Grogan, well known in Wash
ington, has been chief of the press
section of the War Departments
bureau of public relations during
the crucial period of Army mobiliza-
ton and training. He is the news
editor, so far as men covering the
War Department are concerned,
while Brig. Gen. Alexander D.
Surles, director of the public rela-
tions bureau, is the editor n-chief.
GrOgan Served in France.
A native of Scranton, Pa, Col.
Grogan went into the Army from
the first officers training camp in
1917 and served in France during
the World War. He was first with
the field artillery and later trans
ferred to the infantry.
He gained his first newspaper eX-
perience as reporter on Scranton
paper and also worked on Boston
newspapers before the war. He is
one of the best informed men in
Washington on war department
policies.
Before being assigned to take the
course at the War College, Col. Gro
gan served four years as public in
formation officer in New York City,
furnishing metropolitan press with
Army news He was graduated from
the War College into the press sec
ton here a little more than year
ago when the rearmament program
began.
Col. Grogan is expected to return
to Washington in the next few days.
His mission is to give the first news
concerning the arrival OF American
forces in Paramaribo.
Col. Grogan informed the War
Department also that the former
Nazi headquarters had become the
headquarters of the United States
Army force guarding the bauxite
mines.
Col. Grogan said the local Ger
man Naz leaders had been held IN
internment camps since the failure
of a coup in Dutch Guiana when
! the Netherlands was invaded.