Evening star., 1943-05-03

to learn that I was with the
Military Police in a voluntary ca
pacity and that not one Of them
had to wave truncheon over nv
head or threaten me with the Gala
boose. was with the Military
Police because I wanted to find out
how the American soldier behaves
in London. went to MP head
quarters and asked to be allowed to
walk beat with the men whose
duty it Is to keep our soldiers in
line.
The Military Police cover the en-
tire city of London. Patrol One
takes Leicester Square, Patrol Two
takes Marble Arch and the vicin-
ity, Patrol Three works up and down
Soho, Patrol Four handles Shafts
bury avenue and so on. Working
with the patrolmen are three radio
cars which cruise everywhere.
Americans Behave.
The MPs have control over every
American citizen, be he in uniform
or not. 1t Is their duty to see to it
that Americans in London behave.
I can tell you this: Americans do
behave. I know this, not 50 much
from what saw with the MPs and
have seen before. but from talking
to the boys whose duty it is to
enforce law and order. They have
been here from the start. The first
Americans to land in London were
military policemen. They have been
here long time and know the city
when there wasn't total of 300
Yanks in the city.
No one knows the behavior of
our troops and civilians over here
better than do such men as Alton
Young Of Amarillo, Tex; Bernard
Reitz Of Kingston. Mich; Michael
Malacek Of Cedar Rapids, Iowa;
Clement Htcavich of Archibald,
Pa; Roman Wicka of Dodge,
Wis, and Francis Ward of Newark.
They and their fellow MPs patrol
London in daylight and blackout.
They handle the average large num-
Der OF soldiers on leave each day.
plus an untold lumber who live
and work here.
New York Tougher.
Listen to sergt. Young, ITS not
as tough as New York, honestly.
The biggest part Of our work is stop
ping enlisted men for violations Of
uniform such as unbuttoned coats,
unshined shoes and walking with
their hands in their pockets. Sure,
there's a little drinking and singing
but most Of 1t is good-natured and
all you have to do to handle a soldier
Is to put him in . cab and send him
to the Red Cross Club where he is
staying"
This must be the best behaved
Army In the world" said MP Ward
OF Newark. Il was too young to
know about the First World War but
have heard from my uncles, cou-
sins and friends that the American
soldier really went to town then.
You don't get much of that now
and the combat troops give us no
trouble at ALL"
When the rangers come into
London, even though they have been
three months away from the city
and living the hardest kind of life,
they never get out of line. The
same goes for the paratroopers.
The. little trouble we have comes
from noncombat troops who have
too much time on their hands"
asked about the reports that
soldiers Of the various Allied Ma
tions, particularly the American and
British, didn't get along too well
and were always fighting. The
MPs all said mo" to this. They
said they didn't remember ever
having to handle fight between a
Britisher and Yank
They admitted the civilians got
out OF line once in a while and
usually over political difference.
Quite few arguments, both on the
street and in bars and restaurants,
were caused by COL McCormick's
recent outburst on how and why the
British Empire should become part
OF the United States.
lDistributed BY McNaught Syndicate, Inc,
Ss5m1.,,-,,-,,.,,n,,,E,