The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-05
COLONEL HEADS BIGGEST REPAIR
 JOB IN WORLD
BY MARJORIE COLLIER

United Press Staff Correspondent
 Washington, oct, s. (UP)-The operator of the biggest repair busi- ness in the world reached over his desk and gave me Q hearty hand- shake exposing Q long unended rip ia his officers blouse,
 Although he's chief U. s, Army repairman, It. Col. J. M. Render dine did not have time to sit down at quarterlnaster sewing machine and mend his shirt. He was too busy keeping his oustomers-7, ,70O,s 900, CTS and officers-satlstled,
 Kenderdlne, Q Texan who can handle government red tape as easily as ornery horses, has made things hum since he recently be- came chief of the ouartermaster Corps repair department.
 Watches Army DlscardS
 Biggest problem Kenderdlne has confronted so far is keeping the Army from throwing away usable Stuff-llke good CT shoes with Q small hole inside of the upper, Re- gently, he rescued b0000 pairs from the salvage heap. At i7 cents Q pair, the cost of packing and shipping, they'll be shipped to Greece by the U. s. government,
 The shipment of discarded CT shoes to Greece, negotiated through the Embassy in Washington, is only the beginning of the program to send clothing to the liberated countries of Europe, In the next few months, 300, 600 pairs of shoes that do not meet any Army requirements will be sent to Europe,
 Kenderdine had on Q pair Of officers low shoes but he Swears by army report Jobs, insists that the rebuilt CT high shoes iS tho most comfortable piece of footgeNr in the world, To date, the Army hos rebuilt 3,000,0o0 pairs of shoes, say. Ing 70 cents on every pair and much critical leather. These "rebuiltS" are issued first to new soldiers-the uppers already have been broken In and make marching easier Tor the recruit,
 Underwear to Stoves
 The biggest repair business in the world handles everything from cotton underwear to gas stoves, Kinderdine Showed me rusty field stove that the Army had saved from the scrap pile and would cost only SS to repair. He said the quarter. master corps has mobile units over. seas that 60 up to the front with repair equipment. And In this coun" try $50 regional repair shops are busy keeping CT Joe and his equip- ment in trim.
 Before the soldier goes overseas, he weeds out all his gear that isn't combat Servieeable" and turns it in at A regional repair shop, Torn shirts, broken cartridge belts, Nll ore put back in shape again, packed and shipped to depot stock Every piece of repaired Army continent that goes back Into stock will Do used by the Army again,
 Knderdine said the Army almost was caught short in February, ie4S, when they received Q single order from North Africa for 1000 900 shirts. It looked aS if there wouldn't be enough Shits for both soldiers and civilians, and the War Produce ton Board was getting ready to ration clothing, The Quarterm0steF Corps launched c clothing repair plan and averted ratiining by Sav- Ing millions of items of clothing that industry would have to produce for the Army.
 Millions Of Items Restored
 The figures are staggering: S2,s 900, 900 items of clothing, i4,000, 900 pairs of shoes and l2,500000, items of equipage and general supplies were returned to Army issue by the 450 regional repair shops during ie4S.
 About 90 per cent of the clothing and equipment turned in can be repaired for reissue. ReiSsued cloth ing isn't expected to stand up as well under rough treatment. Glass "CS' tcombat Serviceable) guar antees 75 per cent wear, class B is Issued only to troops in this country and class x Is given gratis to CTS in addition to their authorized issue as work clothing.
 What the Quartermaster corps can't reissue to soldiers because 1t Is obsolete or not easily mended is turned over to the Treasury De- partment. The Treasury makes 1t available to the Federal Economic Administration or UNNRA for dis tribution in the liberated countries of Europe. First, 1t is stripped of military insignia and dyed. Soon the people of northwest Europe will be sporting green CT drawers, thanks to the QuartermaSter Corps.