The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-10-14

A9 W1l&t bAIcy dAC BVOA aU' ~ younger men, in my experience, all want to go."
 No Pleasant Duty
 Stimson, told the House group that tits no more pleasant for me to consign the sons of my friends, the grandsons of my friends, to the hideous character of modern war than 1t is for anyone else"
 But, he said, if i've are to save civilization" that "is the only road which we can follow
 Stimson said the Army intended to build up 8 strong striking force that will be powerful enough to play a decisive role in this war. He es- timated that the air forces would be built up to 2,200,000 men next year; the ground forces to 3,300,000; the services of supply to 100000; with an additional 100000 in training. The present strength of the Army, k 4,250000, is close to the goal which Marshall set in the spring for the end of this year. Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, Selective Service dlrec- tor, has said that figure will be ex- ceeded.
 Stimson expressed opposition to a provesion of the house bill that g wuold prohibit sending 18-year-old recruits to foreign battlef1elds until they have received at least a years training. He said he sympathized with that objective and that such a rule would be followed in most 1r- stances. But emergencies might arise that would make it necessary to send men abroad with less train ing.
 "Our purpose" Marshall said, "is to keep the war out of the western hemisphere. Our determined pur- pose is to take the offensive and keep it.''
 In illustrating the need for young ' CT men, Marshall said that a week ago last Sunday he visited 3500- bed Army hospital and was shocked at what saw"
 Old Man There
 'There were old men," he said, "some of them in the Army only a few days. Taking men like that is not increasing the Army, it is re- ducing the Army"
 He said he found one 43-year- old man, suffering from four complaints including agina pectoris-a heart ailment-and hernia, who had been mechanic.
 "That man," he said, lis bur- hen to us"
 Under such conditions, Marshall added, the Army will have to en- large its hospital facilities even be- fore it gets troops into action.
 Marshall, who set the stage for the Meuse-Argonne and St. Mihlel offensives of World War I, said that In that conflict. everything was on Q stabilized basis" and that it was possible to move troops into the trenches without as much train Ing as is now required.
 Now, he said, troops must be or ganized into a highly geared highly complicated machine"
 'sThat requires youth,' he said "They don't have to be trained. Thvy have to be hardened. Gentle N men, don't see any other solution '
 Declining the comfort of witness chair and standing erect, Marshall specifically testified in support of a bill by Sen. Chan Gurney, R., S D., to reduce the present 20-year draft limit to Is. <, He went to the senate committee after listening to Stimson testify ~ before the house committee.
 Marshall said he could be much more convincing" about the care with which the Army has made its plars if he could talk with com plete frankness."
 "But I would also endager the ss lives of thousands of men," he ex- plained.
 At several points in his testimony Marshall spoke off the record. asking \ reporters not to publish what he said.
 Stimson was asked by Rep. Dewey Short, R., Mo, whether he believes "that an Army of 7,500,000 is the largest well-equipped and efficient Army that we can build at the pres ent time"
 "Those are our computations" he replied.
 Stimson said the War depart ment, in the light of production plans for 1943, envisages creation of the largest air force and support ing troops that are possible.' lg Air Force 2,20O,O0O
 Our estimate is based upon the most careful study" he said and ''the number will be approximately 2,20o,0OO.
 He added: "That is thought to be a conservative estimate - any changes will be upward"
 President Roosevelt set produc- ton goal of 185,OO0 planes for 1922 and 1943. The bulk of these are destined for the Army, although the exact division between the Army Navy, Marine Corps and Lend-Lease never has been revealed.
 Stimson said the Army was plan ming to train to "high degree ot perfection" as many ground units as can be built up for overseas duty
 "Our estimates are that these units, including what now are over- seas and what will be in training will total 3.300,000 in organized ground units.
 'In addition to the foregoing two estimates, we estimate that approx 1mately 100000 will be involved in training."
 He said that an additional 1,000,- 900 would be in the services of SUD- ply.
 sThere now is in the Army 4,250, 900 men approximately" StimSon said. Adding together the four estimates, the total will be approxi- mately 7,500,O0o men in 1943."
 Stimson said he was making the figures public because other estim- ates have been circulated that were not made by the War Department.
 l8 to 19 Youths Needed
 He explained to the committee 5 - -