Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-08-14
War Critics
Ignorant Of
.Army's Job
Are Blamed
for I'd Front Cries
By HENRY McLEMORE

first hand knowledge.
Deep in our living room chairs,
with nothing more dangerous
near US than a dog with fieas,
we demand that fighting men be
sent here, there and everywhere.
and 10 hell with the odds.
1t must all seem pretty silly TO
army men. 10 the army men who
know the hazards and the prob
lens of establishing a foothold
in a country held by the enemy.
But it isn't our fault that we
go around shouting for second
front. IL isn't our fault that the
Gallup poll shows that 6o-odd
per cent OF the American citizens
are in favor of opening one now
right now.
The reason we don't know any
better is because the army pub
licity is bad. The duty of army
publicity is 10 sell civilians on
the army, 10 tell them the truth
about the army up TO the point
where any more. information
would be helpful 10 the enemy.
CAUGED by peacetime stand
ards the m y publicity is
impossible. What we mean is,
that if the army publicists were
turned loose in peacetime TO
make living, they couldn't do
il, certainly not with the sort of
stuff they are handing out right
now.
We've met army, navy and air
corps publicists all over the
United States. We have read at
least half ton of their releases.
The stuff isn't good. Certainly
il isn't good enough for a job
that is the biggest this country
has ever known, job that can
not be figured in dollars and
cents but in the lives OF men
and women.
We have often wondered
where the army trapped its pub
licists. We have often felt, as
we talked 10 the men in public
relations, that they were shared
or trapped in faraway, remote
places, and still were coming 10
when the found bars on their
shoulders and were placed in
charge OF a 50-caliber mimeo-
graph machine. or a rapid-fire
typewriter battery.
MOT many Americans, and
~ that goes for the swivel
chair experts who make living
out of second-guessing the regu-
lar officers, would criticize the
delay in opening a second front
il they knew the time, patience
and work required for the COM
plete QUILTING of one soldier.
A few days ago we talked
with a colonel of engineers. He
is in charge of a regiment. His
regiment is but a tiny part OF
the army we must have 10 make
second front sensible, not TO
mention successful.
After all, a regiment is drop
in the bucket when you think in
terms OF an army of 1000. 900.
as the United States is thinking
today.
Here are few of the things
that one little regiment must
accomplish and have before il
is worth sending across the
waters and into combat:
Hundreds OF raw recruits
must be trained. Soda jerkers,
farmers, brokers, bankers, and
what have you, must be whipped
into shape TO handle the tough
job of the engineers.
WHEN they are ready, they
w must have equipment. To
be any good when they get into
action, they must have tons of
equipment per man, right back
of them. You just can't send
them across the ocean.
The men must have their
arms, too. Rifles, pistols, ma
chine guns.
They must have their clothes.
Cottons and woolenS. tin hats
and desert helmets. Also their
field rations.
The average American citizen
just doesn't realize what a ire
mendous job it is to send one
soldier, completely equipped, 10
a foreign battlefield.
There is one hell OF a lot OF
planning. buying, assembling and
distributing to be done for Yank.
We should all remember that
this country didn't honestly start
TO build an army until after De-
cember z.
The countries we are fighting.
started a dozen years ago.
1t may take us a year, or
even two years, 10 accomplish
what il took them u TO do.
That still isn't bad doing"
What the army should do is
TO see TO il that its publicity
boys spend a few hours each
day telling the American people
just how big the job is that the
army faces, and just how well