The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-03-14
ModemoiselIe Of Armentiers
Won't Know Changed MP
Army Policemen Leorns to be DipIomat
Radio Expert, ond Tough at Some Time

Of the Marine who kept marching
cadence by Justify singing am
biguouS. often libelous and al
Ways Rabelaisian verses on how
the MP spent his time 30 miles
back and 30 feet underground
have different tale totell.
You can take il from c. I. Joe
himSelft, the Genus Military
Police of the present war Is q
combat troop of the first order,
and a decent fellow. He's in the
Mp because Intelligence listed
him as cool chap under fire,
bit of diplomat, and a soldier
who can keep law and order
with a lot of courage for when
the going is tough.
It's new army and a new
NIP, made so by special courses
conducted for every battalion of
Military Police in training. An
example is the recent turning of
Phlladelphia's scenic Fairmount
Park into a beachhead. Every
phase of landing, from an MP
standpoint, was enacted. Sim
ilarly throughout the country,
the MP's learn by doing.
No longer is the NIP labeled q
headquarters snooper with 4
penchant for cracking soldiers
on leave over the head with a
billy. The chances are, the MP
on foreign service is just out Of
the lines himself, or just off q
beachhead where much of the
success of the operation depend
ed on his ability to direct traf.
fic, duck shells and keep COM.
munication lines from snarling.
Or. maybe, he's lying reflect
lively on hospital cot. direct
| from some crosswords where
a shell banged before it whizzed.
Crossroads, the fighting men
tell you, are the bane of q SOL
dlers existence and contribute
greatly to his non-existence. Ev-
cry enemy artilleryman knows
/ their exact location. Time after
time, they chuck over a shell
! just for luck, in the hopes that
It might land on jeep, q truck.
/ in the middle of a marching
column, or just on the back Of
someone's neck.
It's the MP's job to be out
! there on the crossroad, a perm
anent clay pigeon and a living
bulls-eye, to keep supply lines
open, reinforcements and re-
! placements moving in the right
direction. and rear traffic out Of
the way of an advance.
It's long, gruelling program
that makes an NIP, q training
course that includes as many
problems as any other combat
troop. He practises judo, pre-
pairing for either the little brown
brother or the super-race. He
digs foXholes, mounts machine
! sssttst4S,efaetises with the tommy
gun, learns traffic direction and
is bit of commando with .
blue and white brassard.
He does his sltting-up and
; pushing exercises, studies
motor transport problems, digs
deeply into the science of map
reading. guards lines of COM
munications. collects and guards
prisoners of war, and learns
where to send command cars
scout cars and lines of arma-
mcnt. He studies radio to keep
in touch with headquarters. with
troops ahead and with troops in
the rear.
He learns camouflage, and he
learns how 10 take over a hostile
town. The art of quelling any
thing from a two-man fight to
a free-f or-all is just another
course on his program. He
( knows how to- tread his way
through captured village. tom.
my gun at the ready, with in
tent to polish off any snipers.
He knows how to clean city
streets in an emergency.
His reward for long, painful
months of rigorous training 10
the right TO land with the first
wave of attackers. Then he sets
up his post and keeps the sec.
ond, third and fourth waves go-
ing in the right direction.
In this war. he's done IL at
| Cuadal'. at Dram, on Sicily, st
Salerno, at Tarawa and In the
Marshalls. And he won't be sat.
isfied until he's done = on the
invasion coast Of France.
There. probably the Me1nmoi.
selle from ArmentierooY Sptu't
recognize him. He's = Skonooo