Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-02

NEW YORK, June 1.-The No. 1
hot spot of what the military refer
/ to as the Continental United States
gets new boss "housekeeper"
about June Is when Brig. Gen.
Francis B. Wildly, chief OF staff of
the 1st Army, moves to Boston
from here to take command of the
LIST Corps Area.
"Housekeeper-thats the best
| way to describe the job" said the
general, who observes his 40th year
\ In the Army next month. The
corps area command, as distin-
guished from an Army corps, an
Army, harbor defenses, coast artil-
lery or the air force, which are all
field forces, is occupied with a gen.
eral policy of service to the field
forces. That means construction,
supply. administration and some
transportation-al told, the Army
equivalent of housekeeping"
The 1st Corps Area includes New
end of Maine, and its designation
as No. l hot spot is justified by
the general in this cautious way
"In the event of an attack from
the other side of the Atlantic on
the Continental United States the
LIST Corps Area in conjunction with
Quebec and the maritime provinces
will become a probable theater of
operations"
Denies He's a Hero.
Having said that, the general
looked little surprised at himself.
so now I suppose you're going to
try to make a hero out of me-" he
continued. IT warn you that's
going to be a breaking job
I'm no hero; never was.
There's a story told of me in
France. and I assure you it's true,
of young officer going up to the
front for the first time with me.
That was in the st. Mihiel sector
and we were making a reconnais-
sance forward. The Germans were
throwing shells at us and we
walked along quietly, showing a
good example to the men.
AT least, that was the idea
maintaining aplomb in the face of
peril. But along came a shell and it
dumped our aplomb-cart We heard
the shell. and everybody knew the
same thing at the same time-that
1t was coming at us. We all of us
flattened in the mud fast-well, as
matter of fact, this young officer,
going under fire for the first time,
said he went down so fast he felt
ashamed of himself. He said he
would have felt disgraced for the
rest of his life if he hadn't landed
right on top of me, proving that I
had f1attened faster than he.
Has to Have Your Name on 1t.
"The shell landed a little way
away, throwing some mud on us,
and that's all, proving the old Army
rule about how you never hear the
one that hits you. It's a good rule
to know and good rule to believe
In, as I found out in the Meuse-
Argonne sector, where the air was
full of trouble. But trouble has to
have your name on it before 1t
happens to you. I think that's a
pretty general philosophy in the
Army and must be pretty general in
England now, else the people
wouldn't be going on in the magnifi-
cent way they have.
But I'll tell you a fact I was in
the Army Is years and months
before heard gun go off mean
a gun aimed in my general direction
! saw service during the second
occupation OF Cuba in 1907, but all
did was surveying on the eastern
end Of the island. I was in the
Philippines during the Mexican
trouble. I got over to France with
the 1st Division in August. 1917,
and went sight seeing that month on
the French front north of Chalons
There were group of us Americans
in the front-line trenches, all young
and eager, and it was misty day,
so we crawled out into NoMan's
Land to see what it was like, and to
be able to write home about it.
Some machine guns were popping
off. We crawled around a little
while and then crawled back"
Has Won the d. S. M.
The official records are somewhat
less reticent about Gen. Wilby's
martial proves than he is. They
reveal Distinguished Service Medal
from the United States, Croix de
Guerre with palm and the Four
ragere, citation in division orders,
CT Efror
and knowledge, keen adaptability to
all conditions" the Army of Cuban
Pacification Medal and the Victory
Medal with five battle clasps.
The general had earned reputa-
ton as one of the most distinguished
engineers in the Army. He was
born in Detroit, April "a, 1888, and
grew up in Deerfield, Mass. 81 went
to Deerfield Academy there" he said,
"a school that has since become
quite distinguished Maybe it's not
q coincidence that it gained its
reputation after left.
Then I went to Harvard for a
year as a member of the class of
1904. I studied architecture, but
when my chance came to get in the
Army I grabbed it. My chance
came in funny way. My older
brother had been trying to get into
West Point for years, but by the
time he got an opportunity he was
too old to take advantage of it, so
he passed it on to me. 1t was a
competitive examination. I won it
and have been in the Army ever
since as an engineer-until Octo-
Der, 1899, when Gen. Drum asked
me to become chief of staff of the
LIST Army"
Son an Army Captain.
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