Imperial Valley press., 1943-03-07
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

IllS IL Il NNlAAA l1iCNN, NAAN NaSAN NA
which should be How As Para
troops Had a Million Dollars
Worth of Fun for $1,000 or,
Through Washington Society on
Double Time in Three Days and
Two Nights" or. The Collection OF
Famous Autographs on the Plaster
Cast Around Sergeant Chapman's
Sprained AlHle."
It's a tOssup whether the As
ParatroOps took Washington or
whether Washington took the As
Paratroopers, but anyway, no
body who had anything to do
with the affair will ever be the
same again, except maybe the
troopers, and Berlin had better
look out if these boys start
dropping in with their tommy
guns. For without weapons of
any kind, bare handed and with
only their $1,000 capital, this de-
tail of As took Washington from
Capitol Hill 10 the social heights
of Georgetown in the short space
between Sunday morning after
breakfast to Tuesday evening be-
fore supper. storming the White
House and Eleanor just for luck
and by the way Of last stop.
Bert Brandt, the Acme photog-
rapher who tried to keep up with
these IS Paratroopers for some go
rours of their 72-hour leave. is now
total wreck. But SO are the
doWagers, debutantes, diplomats
and statesmen who entertained
them and-well. maybe it's just as
good the Paratroopers have gone
back to Fort Bragg, NC.
1t all began when somebody in
the headquarters company of the
504th Rirborne Infantry decided it
would be nice for some of the boys
to take a little vacation in Wash
ington. They had no money in
particular, though Paratroop SOL
diers get $50 and their officers $lO0
month extra pay. But it takes
more than lack of funds TO stop a
Paratrooper.
HELD UP" A BANK
No kidding when these lads dis
covered they were short of money,
they simply went to bank in Fay
etteville, NC, and borrowed 1t.
There was no fraud or deceit about
the deal. Openly they declared they
wanted the money to finance a
binge in Washington, and in Fay
etteville, NC, there is a banker
who lends thousands of dollars to
Paratroopers who want to go on
busts, with no more security than
the signature of their captain. The
captain, by the way, came along.
Paratroopers are like that.
FOrty-five soldiers signed up
for the junket. They sent along
as advance man Sergt. Technician
w. E. Chapman, who arrived in
Washington Saturday night and
started to arrange things. From
there on the rest of Washing
tons social whirl went into COM
parative slow motion, stopped
older than a strobOscOpic freeze.
Everywhere the troopers went
they went dOubetime. Going
from one party to another in
Georgetown Sunday night, they
made a wrong turn and went two
miles out of their way, but they
arrived less than Is minutes late,
and with wonderful appetites for
food and dancing that lasted till
nearly midnight. Then they
broke up into smaller private par
ties i'm various apartments around
town.
1t was like that all the time. The
$1,000 went farther than they
thought it would, for everyone
wanted to entertain them. Matrons
recruited the best dates in town
from the JANGLES, the Junior
Army-Navy Guild League, made up
of daughters of Army and Navy Of
ficerS.
On Capitol Hill the Paratroopers
dined in the Senate restaurant. If
they wanted to see some particular
senator from a home state, they
said, Send for him!" He came.
The senators made flowery speeches
which the boys applauded politely,
but they weren't much impressed by
the way Congress did business and
they said So
They saw all the sights-supreme
Court, Lincoln Memorial, and so on,
ending up at the White House
Tuesday morning. Only 18 of the
IS turned out on first call for the
White House visit, but they ran
there. about four blocks from where
they stayed tWo-in-a-$10 room.
Stragglers swelled the number to
over 40 but the last man missed
the formation. That was Private
Easton. He got TO the White House
front door but a footman there