Evening star., 1941-03-21
Lurking Tenors Urged
To Burst Into Song
AT Fort Meade
New Army Song Books
Issued With Old Ditties
A BIT Diluted
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.

udICn can IlgnG ike WndJ nave you
as military men long have known
and the Goth Division is being en-
couraged to develop its vocal proves
along with its stamina, marksman
ship and tactical wisdom.
So, likewise, the Tilt of MARTA
music always has lifted morale, anc
the regimental bands have the greer
light from division headquarters.
But there are difficulties-and art
there ever.
Warrant Officer Meyer Goldman
of Washington, leader of the 121st
Engineers Band, is conducting q
division music school.
But the War Department has de-
clined so far to break down and give
him any music to instruct with.
Mr.. Goldman has been reduced
to the expedient of writing on a
blackboard passages illustrating the
tricky ways of clarinets and the
stubbornness of trombones. He
hasn't a printed base cleft to his
name. He must compose and i'm
provise.
Old Ballad Censored.
Today shipment of the Army's
new song books, compiled by the
Adjutant Generals Office in collab-
Grafton with the Library of Congress
and published by order of the Sec
retary of War" had arrived.
The shipment totaled exactly go
copies for division now numbering
more than 5000 and soon, when its
selective service recruits arrive, to
total nearly $1,000.
What to do with this precious sup
ply of the War Departments special
pep compilation stumped the quar-
termaster section for while. Finally,
1t was decided to turn them over to
the chaplains and hope the good old
Army would come through with
enough copies to do some good
eventually.
Meanwhile, the chaplains and the
regimental athletic officers are en-
couraging the men to sing away idle
moments and are trying to ferret out
all the latent baritones and Turing
tenors in barracks.
The Army song book contains
many old favorites and few novel
ties and variations on ancient re-
trains. 1t begins with THE Star
Spangled Banner" 1t ends with a
filtered version of You're in the
Army Now"
"K-K-Katy" Parody.
Some of the songs we used to sing
In my old outfit in IT and '18 linger
on, such as Katy" There is a
parody verse which goes:
K-K-K-K-P., dirty old K. P,
That's the only Army job that
abhor.
When the m-m-m- moon shines over
the guardhouse,
I'll be mopping up the xxx
kitchen floor"
There's an aseptic edition of Co
lonbo" and a well-diluted version of
"The Minstrels Sing of an English
King"
Pack Up Your Troubles in Your
Old Kit Bag" is there. So are sew
eral old time Army songs, including
1.-THE Caissons Go Rolling Along"
with the popular parody of the mo-
ment that begins:
"Over hill, over dale, motorized from
head to tail,
With the caissons and hosses all
gone.
Stop to fix up a fiat or to get the
captains hat,
Motor trucks with the pieces
hooked on"
You won't find "Mademoiselle
From Armentieres," even in innoc-
uous expurgation. or "Tipperary,"
or some of the other songs we used
to chant, to the amazement of the
natives. as we swung through French
villages.
Just So Long as They Sing.
But the new book contains Long,
Long Trail" one of the most popular
songs in the A. E. F.
And. oh, yes, there's God Bless
America" A soldier who ventured
to sing it the other night was
thrust summarily into 16-degree
cold and allowed back in his bar
racks only on his solemn promise
to abstain.
What does the soldier of 1941
sing? Well, judging from this typi-
cal camp Of Federalized National
Guardsmen, he has no prime IA
vorite but is liable, If he is lyrically
inclined, to burst into 1--WE Been
Working on the Railroad" or I'll
Never Smile Again" or most any
thing.
The Army's pepper-uppers, some
times called the morale division, do
not care what he sings, so long as
he lifts his voice in something ap-
proximating song. And the book
merely is a sort of guide-to get him
started.
Nine boards of officers within the
End Army Corps have been appoint
ed to pass on promotions of 29th
Division officers recommended by
unit commanders to Maj. Gen. Mil
ton A. Reckord, division commander,
and forwarded by him to the corps
commander, Mai. Gen. Henry c..
Pratt. Many of the officers on the
boards hold commands or staff posi-
tions within the division. Others
are attachtd elsewhere in the corps.
Promotions Board.
Washington officers passing on
promotions include 1t. Col. Peyton
c. hewitt, adjutant general of the
division; Col John w. Oehmann,
commanding the 121st Engineers;
and these officers of the engineer
regiment: Maj, Ralph S. Childs,
Capt. Samuel M. Turner, Capt. Pear
son c. Conlyn and Maj. Frederick
D. Suttenfield, Medical Corps. Serv-
ing on the Quartermaster Board is
Maj. John T. ONeill of the District.
Several Washington physicians
holding reserve commissions in the
Medical Corps have been ordered to