Evening star., 1942-03-30
{. {. {. Background
Makes Better Soldiers,
Gen. U|io Testifies
Director McEntee Says
Corps Helps Youths Pass
Army Physical Tests
BY ]. A. O'LEARY.


The training and discipline given
boys In the Civilian Conservation
Corps will make them better soldiers
when they are called, Maj. Gen.
James A. Ulio, the Army adjutant
general, and James ]. McEntee,
director of the C. C. c., told Sen
ate committee holding hearings to-
day on the McKellar bill to curtail
the c. c. c. and National Youth
Administration during the war.
Asked by Senator Ball, Repub-
lican, of Minnesota what advantage
there Is In having c. c. c. units
perform labor tasks at Army camps.
Gen. Ulio said it leaves enlisted
men free for combat training.
Hopes to Increase Units.
Gen. Ulio testified the War De-
partment hopes to increase to 176
the number of c. c. c. units work
ing at Army camps, with 200 men
to q unit.
This would account for $500.
Gen. Ulio previously testified there
are 104, 900 enrollees in the c. c. c.
Seventeen-year-o boys who are
sold" on the program should be en-
couraged to spend six months in
c. C, c. camps for physical improve
ment, Mr.. McEntee suggested to the
committee, defending the organiza-
tion's value In preparing men for
Army service.
'An of us are familiar with the
distressing figures-humiliating tig-
ures-of the selective draft, which
reveal that some 40 per cent Of the
registrants were physically unfit for
military service" Mr.. McEntee testi-
fed. Much has been said about
physical fitness, but relatively little
has been done about it, except by
the c. c. c."
The veterans of the World War
now in the c. c. c. are IS or over,
Mr.. McEntee said, while the junior
members are II, Is and 10 years old
Improve In C. C. C.
BY and large. when they joined
the corps most Of them could not
pass the physical Army standards" !"
the director continued. IF this
conflict is q long war, as it may be,
you cannot make good armies with
men who are not in good physical
condition. We find that after three
or four months in the CORDS, thou
sands of these boys could then pass
the Army physical standards, thou
sands more could be brought to the
point Of passing such an examina-
ton II that were the will of Con-
gress"
In nine years, MI. McEntee said,
5000 900 men have been physically
improved by passing through the
@. c. c.
He told Senator McKellar Demo-
crat, Of Tennessee, that while $500
C. c. C. boys have been called by
selective service in a year, 10000
corps boys have volunteered over
an 18-month period
Commenting on the bill, Mr.. Nc
Entee declared:
This legislation, if enacted, will
not help our war effort and may
hinder it in some respects, because
it will take away 10000 men who are
now working on Army reservations,
building roads, clearing fields for the
training of parachute troops, build
ing rife ranges, etc. This work
must be done either by civilian labor
or by soldiers"
Uio Says Work Is Valuable.
Gen. Uio told the committee that
nearly year before Pearl Harbor,
the c. c. c. began assigning its men
to Army camps, and their work in
relieving soldiers of non military
duties was so valuable, assignment
Of more c. C. C. companies was re-
quested
In January, 194l. he said, 18 c. C.
c. companies of 200 men each had
been put to work for the Army.
Eighty-seven companies now are at
work.
Senator McKellar questioned the
training and ability Of C. C. c. en-
rollees to perform most Of the tasks
assigned to them in and near Army
camps. He contended the Army has
large appropriations for road and
bridge building, and suggested pos
sibility Of duplication in assigning
c. c. c. units to such work.
Gen. Uio said he would not call
the work of C. c. C. units duplica-
ton.