Evening star., 1941-12-24
By CARTER BROOKE JONES.

BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Col. Lemuel Bolles, director OF
civilian defense for Washington,
looked up a shade wearily from .
desk cluttered with the tangible
debris of the last "a hours.
Lets see. colonel" said the visi-
tor, your duties include"
A secretary speaking: "Commis-
sioner Young wishes to see you at
once"
IF you'll excuse me-" said the
colonel. For Commissioner John
Russell Young is the United States
co-ordinator of defense for the Dis
trict.
Back at his desk, Col Bolles took
up the thread of conversation. Now
as 1 was saying" he began. I'VE are
trying"
Mr.. Murphy on the phone. col
onel." This referred to Chief Air
Raid Warden Clement Murphy,
otherwise a Fire Department bat
talon commander.
Lets see," Col Bolles resumed.
Where were We? Oh, yes. Well,
we still need
Another Call.
I'm sorry, colonel, but he insists
on speaking to you. It's an out-of-
town call and he says it's terribly
important"
Col. Bolles picked up the phone.
He listened, then shook his head.
But there's nothing I can do" he
told the caller. Your patent may
be all right. Maybe. as you say. it
will protect the water supply. But
l can't do anything about it. Take
it up with the War Department.
We're just doing civilian defense.
You see" the colonel continued,
"the air raid wardens-"
They want you to speak, colonel"
There's conference on at 4
o'clock, colonel"
Which account-typical, II not
stenographic explains why Col
Bolles has been working 10 to 20
hours a day since war came. He
thinks nothing of staying at his desk
until midnight, and he has been
down as early as 6 am.
Busy Day and Night.
The ONCE of Civilian Defense. on
the fifth floor Of the District Build
ing. would make the simile-laden
beehive look languid. Not that Col
Bolles does everything personally.
As the sample above might indicate.
he has efficient help, but a larger
staff is badly needed and the entire
office force has forgotten, since Pearl
Harbor, what regular hours are like
and nights have provided just so
much more time to try to catch up
with the work
This office has had the job Of
trying to organize metropolitan
area of 1000, 900 inhabitants, almost
overnight, for the best possible pro-
lection against air raids and for
the most efficient help In case OF a
damaging attack.
Col. Bolles now hopes-and ex-
pects-to get sufficient appropria-
ton out Of the $1,000,000 defense
fund which the commission has
congressional authorization to bor-
row to engage an adequate full
time staff. He has asked modestly
for u persons. Probably he'll need
more.
Called Back Into Service.
1t was on September that Col.
Bolles, called back into active serv-
ice by the War Department, opened
the Office of Civilian Defense. He
had been asked by Mayor La Guar
dia's National Office of Civilian De-
fense to organize the city against the
/ eventualities which then seemed to
many remote.
The Commissioners gave him a
dark little office downstairs. He
hadn't soul to help him. Then
! they lent him a stenographer from
| the auditors office. Later Capt
William L. Clemens came in to help
and has been on the job ever since.
| Gradually there was some additional
help-all borrowed from different de-
partments. Then came more COM
modious Offices on the fifth floor.
Meetings OF citizens and civic and
businessmen's associations were
called to organize civilian defense.
There was a fair response, but few
took the matter seriously-until De-
cember 7, when japanese bombers
appeared over Hawaii.
Today the city has good start
toward complete organizat ton fol-. its
own protection, but a vast amount
of detail remains to be done before
the city's defense can be considered
airtieht-no pun intended.
Capt. Clements Shares Burden.
Today Col. Bolles has as full-time
aide Capt. Clemens. who does public
relations work. relieving the director
of all the detail possible.
It was Capt. Clemens who inter-
cepted a man on the phone with a
certain scheme for defeating the
Axis-an invention that would blast
their armies to oblivion in a day
There was only one detail holding up
the invention which he was eager to
donate to the Government. They
wouldn't let him out. He was at st.
Elizabeth's.
There is Bernard Mcdonnell. who
was a liaison officer for the local
w. P. A. and is handling publicity
and press relations for Col. Bolles.
There is Police Sergt. B. F. Nc
Allister, who Is taking another load
! of detail
They are full-tim workers. Others