Evening star., 1945-08-05


Where I came In" tells of how the
Germans rolled out of France, stim-
ulated in their movement by some
United Nations prodding. 1t was
from a hill outside Longwy that he
had watched their terrible armor"
advance in 1910. In 1914 he came
in with the invasion fleet, first wave,
and followed the rescuing armies
step by step back to the identical
point. From the same hill four
years later he watched the broken
German columns Fastening away.
The cycle was complete. This is
where I came in," observed Mr..
Casey.
Of all the many accounts of the
invasion which have read there is
only one that I would put beside
this Casey story. That is Ernie
Pyle's. Like Casey, Ernie saw the
war in its entirety, as nearly as one
human being could. He saw its mil
itary significance, its pageantry, its
humor and tragedy. But its tragedy
WAS WIldI IlClu al OH ll1o W. ~
ing one hears the sound of the
broken heart. In his private war
with this war, Ernie could not COM
promise. Dead men never became
statistics to him; they were always
his fellows, men who had right to
be alive. He remembered his repor-
torial duty, he never emotlonallzed,
he gave due note to comedy, too.
But there was great and telling
eloquence in his very refusal to
comment. He put wars sights and
sounds before us with the awful sad
simplicity which is wars truth.
Robert Casey has, one feels, the
same profound revulsion toward war
but, as writer, he does compromise
somewhat. He compromises to the
extent of arranging his material
Where Ernie just picked up his
episodes and laid them down be-
fore us, bare and terrible in his un-
accusing prose, Mr.. Casey will art
fully build a chapter around each OF
his, make it the climax OF a small
series of other episodes, bringing
out generally not wars tragedy so
much as it's insanity.
What has impressed him is not
so much the awfulness Of the things
which men are doing in wars name,
as the incredible fact that such
things are being done. Where Ernie
rejected the war with his heart, he
rejects it with his head. Maybe
the difference lies in this being his
second war-it was Ernie's first.
But, like Ernie, he had an appre-
citation of wars scene which is al
ways fresh, always genuine, never
routine or professionalism. Well,
This Is Where I Came In" Is
grand story and ought to be es-
teemed such when classics are doled
out to students AID. 2045.
American Submarines.
BATTLE Below" Is the story of
American submarines and in it you
get a further testimony of the in
tellectual quality of the Caseyian
headpiece. For the work is not just
a series of heroic yarns, such as
might be collected out of the rec
ords of the fleet with ease by any
one authorized to investigate. 1t
is broad survey of the whole part
of the submarines in the war, both
east and west, with history of
underseas craft thrown in from
Alexander's time on. 1t was written
with the Navy's cooperation after
Mr. Casev decided that the sub
crews were becoming wars for
gotten men and took up the matter
with the department. AS he says,
officials were obliging-they "un-
dogged the hatch"
He not only got into the records
but got lot of submarine rides
and spent lot of time in the ports
where the undersea boats come
home" There Is about everything
concerned with submarines in the
book that can be written at this
stage of the war. Even the bath
room arrangements get a chapter.
But, of course, you-like me-will
find the heart of the book in those
same yarns of heroism. So be ad-
vised that Mr.. Casey does not treat
these as things apart On the con-
trary, he considers them so much
o part of submarine life that he
puts them in, as illustrative mat
ter, with whatever aspect Of that
life he is describing. You cannot
separate heroistn and normal sub