Evening star., 1942-02-16

O.C.D., B. A. NJ.
Henry MeI@"'rs' B. I. NJ, J. A. M.
and all the others, and establish
the o. o. K. S. @.
Perhaps Jesse Jones, who has
more letters on the alphabet under
his control than kindergarten
teacher. could spare the ones re-
quired for o. o. K. s. @.
Expanded into English, o. o. K.
s. @. means Once of Keeping
Soldiers Quiet
Some one with plenty of authority
should be placed in charge of see
ing to 1t that our privates. corporals,
sergeants, heutenants, sailors first
class, boatswains' mates, ensigns
and assorted Marines do not let slip
to strangers Tor dearest friends, for
that matter all they know about
the Army and Navy and what 1t Is
doing and hopes to DO
Spies Need No Disguises.
As it is now, just about all q spy
needs is pair Of feet strong enough
to keep him circulating about q
town, a pair Of ears that can hear
and memory good enough to re-
tain the facts he hears until he can
get back to his room and put the
information into code.
He doesn't have to resort to dis
guise or trickery. or, If the spy hap
pens to be a she" spy, she doesn't
have TO dress up like Mata Hari
and employ all sorts of feminine
wiles like s4-a-drop perfume and
evening dresses cut on the lines Of
an airmail stamp. All they have TO
do is to keep moving around where
service men are-in lobbies cock
tail bars, trolley cars, buses. cigar
stores and the streets-and they'll
hear enough information to fill six
letters home.
I know this is true because IL
has happened to me. not only in
San Francisco, but in Los Angeles,
San Diego, New Orleans and every
other city 1 have visited. Sooner
or later. wherever you sit around
with service men, one or more Of
them will thoughtlessly drop a bit
of information that should be kept
locked up in his own noggin.
Can't Realize War Is on.
We'll. it looks as if we'll be going
next week Marine said Our
buddies left three days ago. Wonder
what Australia will be like? Lots
of kangaroos they tell me-"
Troop movements across the
country. Conveys coming and con-
voys going. Information. Informa-
ton. Information.
Naturally there isn't one Of the
men who would deliberately give
out information helpful to the
enemy. The boys just don't seem
to realize land the same is true
of too, too many of our citizens)
that there is war going on, war
against powers capable of taking
advantage of the smallest bit Of
information.
Perhaps the chief reason for their
carelesSness is their enthusiasm.
They have a secret and what's the
fun of a secret if no one knows it?
They know they are headed for the
highest adventure and want to
share that knowledge with someone.
The ones have talked with-just
youngsters for the most part-sim-
ply couldn't keep to themselves the
fact that before long they would
learn how it felt to be under fire.
They wanted to talk about it.
Fun Can Cost Lives.
The business of the o. o. K. S @.
would be to impress on our fighting
men that while it's fun to share
secret, it is fun that can easily cost
lives. If it is impossible to keep
Americans from talking-silence
certainly isn't one of our national
traits-the o. o. K. S. O. could take
another approach and furnish our
fighting men with misinformation to
hand out.
Give them prepared conversation
from which the most astute foreign
agent could get nothing but the
wrong dope. A sort of military dou-
BILE talk.
If and when o. o. K S. @. is es-
tablished. the choice OF person to
head it will be very important. A fan
dancer would be the ideal choice. Of
course, but thev are getting scarce,
what with so many of them needed
for national defense. A Congress
member wouldn't do, because the
average Congress member talks so
much he wouldn't inspire silence in
others. Probably the happiest
choice would be a typical Vermont
storekeeper, provided he could be
made to leave his whiting and un-
bend to the point of saying yes" to
the appointment.
Come to think about it, what
would be wrong with Melvyn Doug
las? After Hollywood, he is going to
need another job to pad out that
$500 salary.