The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-05-23

You don't hear so much about 1t on the home front but, in the officers clubs in Hawaii or Aus tralia, you will see a Naval air. man come up to a bemedalled Army airman and say, "Hi, hero" Sometimes this is almost 8 fight ing salutation. Sometimes it re- suits in @ long and heated argu- ment about how little Army has done compared with the Navy to deserve decorations.
 Sometimes brawls have rec
 suited all from the fact
 that the Army has given more
 than 100000 air medals since the war started as against only
 about 700 for the Navy. While
 the Navy is smallcr--about onc-
 fifth-the ratio of medals is
 about one -fifth--the ratio of medals is about ! to 1000.
 There is no disposition here to detract from the valor of Army heroes. They deserve every rib- bon they get and then some. But somehow or other, Navy awards should be standardized with the Army's, so that e Navy man who has shot down just as many en- emy planes doesn't come home only to find that his neighbor in the Army is a hero while he, in the Navy hasn't one single deco ration ribbon on his tunic.
 CONTRAST IN AWARDS
 What particularly Tiled Navy men was the Arimy's award of the Distinguished Service Crosc, the Silver Star and the Purple Heart to dog. Meanwhile, some Naval airmen who had been flying for two years hadn't been decorated.
 For instance, when Naval flyers operated from Guadalcanal for four long months, scarcely able to hold Henderson field and living only on Jap food, they got no re- ward. But when the Army came into Guadalcanal, the men of a ground crew who remained there only one week got the Legion of Merit. The Navy flyers who had fought on Guadalcanal for 4 months were almost ignored.
 Again, while Brig. Gen. Oliver R. Germann received seven cita-
 tions in one day for participat-
 ing in n missions over Europe,
 Marine Corps Major Boyingt0n
 had to shoot down 26 Jap planes
 before being awarded 8 medal.
 Not until last month (three
 months after he had been re-
 ported missing in actiOn) was he
 finally gwen the Medal of Honor.
 General Germann certainly de- served his awards and then some, but the Marine Corps and Navy
 can't help feeling that their
 men with equal or greater rec
 Ords also deserve recognition.
 Again, Corporal Henry J. Bon- ura was awarded the Legion of Merit by General Eisenhower for establishing twenty baseball fields in North Africa. Without detract- ing from his credit, nevertheless Naval officers are irked when Ma rine officers like Capt. Roger Alderman, It. Jack Pittman. Cap tain Stanley Eynar and Major Ar thur Warner shoot down five Jap planes each-and in some cases more-without receiving citations. MORALE AFFECTED
 Naval men can't very well ex- plain to their friends that the Annapolis line officers trained on battleships, who really run the Navy, don't give much recognition to the Navy air arm, and are much stingier than the Army, anyway, when it comes to medals.
 Meanwhile. the situation Is
 getting serious for morale. It Is
 not merely Q question of per-
 sOnal vanity. Editorials on the
 subject have appeared in the
 service journals. And the situ.
 ation has reached point where
 it has sometimes actually inter-
 fered with efficiency In combat.