Evening star., 1941-07-15
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Gen. George C. Marshall, Army
chief of staff. was disclosed today to
have told Congress that specially
trained Army units, instead of Ma
rines, should have occupied Iceland,
but were prevented from doing so
because of difficulties presented by
the one-year draft service rule.
Gen. Marshall made this state
ment in testimony given before the
Senate Military Affairs Committee
July in support Of legislation which
would permit the retention in active
service of selectees and National
Guardsmen for longer than one year
The testimony was made public by
the committee today.
If Selectees or Reservists had been
sent to Iceland instead of Marines,
Gen. Marshall said, an unfortunate
situation" might have arisen because
the Reserve officers would have had
to agree to be relieved of active duty
and then be recalled to active duty
by their consent.
The President has authority
under law cited by Gen. Marshall
to call the National Guard and
Reserves into active service for a
period of one year. This service
could not be extended without
additional congressional action,
except for those who voluntarily
agreed to additional Service)
Would Have Advertised Convoy.
Had we pursued that course"
Gen. Marshall testified, we might
have found ourselves in the very un-
fortunate situation in which part of
the Reserve officers had volunteered
and part had not. Such situation
would have advertised the convoy
before it sailed, and we would have
been risking the lives of every one
in it
IF you serve notice that you are
going TO send an expedition of that
nature, you are also offering an op-
portunity TO any hostile people to
take such action as they see fit"
IF, as a result of such advertise
ment, one or more ships had been
sunk" the testimony continued, I'VE
would not have heard the end of
that for the next 20 years, and very
properly So -,.ir
Says He Was Misunderstood.
Gen. Marshall said his requests
for authority to retain men for more
than year and removal of restric-
ton which limit the service of
drafted men to the Western Hemis-
phere had been misunderstood and
misinterpreted He specifically de-
MED he planned an "expeditionary
force or an army of 100000 men.
Unless the present one-year limit
is removed, the top-ranking Army
officer said, Our present trained
forces will largely melt away
He explained that selecteeS and
Reserve officers form a major part
OF forces recently sent to Hawaii
and Alaska and that attempts to
release them at the end of a year
would deplete both forces and COM
plicate shipping problems.
Il submit, on the basis of cold
logic, that the virtual disbandment
or immobilization of two-thirds of
our trained enlisted strength and
three-fourths of our trained officer
personnel at this time might we'll
involve a national tragedy" he said.
Sees New Situation.
Gen. Marshall testified that the
situation that existed at the time
the Draft Act passed "is quite diff
ferent from the situation that con-
fronts us today and reminded the
Senators that the Selective Service
Act provided for one-year training
with an extension whenever the
Congress had declared the national
interest imperiled.'
President Roosevelt already has
declared an unlimited national
emergency. the general continued,
adding, land. 1 personally now be-
heve it urgently necessary in public
interest for Congress to declare the
existence of a national emergency"
I'VE do not want to hold the pres
ent selectees any longer beyond IL
months than we can avoid" he said.
specifically, we wish to release the
older men, those % years old and
over, on the completion of their IL
months, and even earlier, and 1
think in the large majority of cases
We can do so without too serious an
effect on organizatio efficiency"
Going before the House Military
(See DRAFT page Ar