The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-22


 Nevertheless, 1t remains a tragic Iact that as of today men are still being dragged to death be- cause the Army has been unable to supply a sufficient number of new. quick-release parachutes.
 Not long ago, a group of eight
 paratroODerS jumped at Hensley
 Field, Texas, during 8 war bond
 exhibition. All of them wore
 the OId-faShiOned, triple release
 'chutes. One of the men land
 Cd in a small body of water
 and WAS drowned when he
 could not extricatc himself from his harness quickly enough.
 The War Department, upon be- Ing queried regarding this tragic incident, stated that all para chuteS for overseas operations are now equipped with the new, mod ern release; but parachuteS used in the United States for train ing purposes utilize the old, trlple-release. The latter buckles over the shoulder and around the thighs, requiring from one to five minutes to unfasten. A para trooper is instructed to begin un- buckling while he is still in the air, but the hazards of jumping are such that 1t is extremely dlf- ficult to begin pulling on a tightly fastened buckle while a man is still falling to earth at a fairly fast rate of speed.
 Failure to supply air r-bOrne infantry in the United States with the quick release harness probably iS no longer due to lack of awareneSS, aS was the case last year. At that time the War Department had ig- nOred requests from General LOngfeIIOw in London for the single release chute, but a large quantity was ordered immedi- ateIy after the revelations by this column. However, it takes time to manufacture them, and q priority on the new harness has been given to overseas troops.
 NOTE-Unfortunatcly, almost none of the paratroopers who came down behind German lines in Normandy on June 6 had the quick-releaSe chute, with the re- suit that some of those who land cd in trees were shot before they could unbucklc their harness. SECRET DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS
 Last weeks secret caucus of House Democrats staged a signln- cant debate over Congrcssmen who resign temporarily to enter the Armed Services, then come back to Congress. The debate in- V0lved Democratic ConRreSsmen Albert Gore of Tennessee, Bob Sikcs of Florida, and John Fog arty of Rhode Island.
 All thre were selected last November, bat resigned from pNMRTeS during the last few weeks of the session for a brief tour in the Army, returning to Washington for the present new session Of Congress. Thus they lost only the short lame duck session between November and Christmas, yet have a few weeks of war service chaIked up On their records.
 At the cloScd-door Democratic caucus, the House Ways and Means Committee, which makes Democratic assignments to com- mlttees, recommended that Gore Of Tennessee retain his senior ity on the Appropriations Com mittee, that Fogarty of Rhode Island retain his seniority on Naval Affairs, and that Sikes of Florida retain his seniority on Military Affairs. without genior- ity they would have dropped to the very bottom of the commit tee.
 But suddenly, quiet, dynamic Congressman Paul Kilday of Tex as rose and moved that all Con- gressmen who had resigned from Congress lose their seniority.
 This Is not a pleasant sub ject for me to bring up," said the gentleman from San An tOniO. ''I hope 1t Is perfectly understood there Is nothing personal in my bringing It up at thIs point. I feel. however. that thls recommendation of the Ways and Means Committee Is unfair tO those members of this House who elected tO stay In Congress rather than join the Armed Forces even for \ brief period. The men who stayed in Congress will not have the advantage of Service records to point to after the war. and ! think t unfair they should lose out on seniority also"
 However. Joe Hendricks of Flor Ida. Speaker Sam Rayburn, and Leader John Mccormack