The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-11-09
. BEHIND THE SCENES
IN WASHINGTON .

assignments to carry out, and
mostly discuss the fate of their
former comrades who are gone
and now referred to as missing
in action"
ARMED GUARD
RESTRlC- ONS ARE OFF
Military restrictions in the
Pentagon have been relaxed con-
siderably since fighting has been
confined to few scattered
fronts. 1t is no longer necessary
for a visitor to be accompanied
by an armed guard. Battle scav-
engers and ordinary sightseers
still aren't permitted inside, but
wives and children Of many OF
the veterans of the campaign are
getting unofficial tours OF in
spection. Proud vets of the strife
can be seen showing their wives
the ground where they killed a
whole regiment of reports; sing
lie handedly fought off the ad-
vances of a company of stenog-
raphers for four days; wiped out
an enemy stronghold of red tape
or blasted a path through heav-
lily defended lines in the cafe
terra to snatch a trapped fillet OF
sole.
Visitors are being cautioned to
carry at least a two-day ration
supply lest they lose their way
in the no-man's land, now that
they're allowed to wander un-
escorted. Military personnel no
longer are required to show
Identification before they are
admitted into the zone. II they
aren't on official business they
enter at their own risk.
Some enemy sniper fire still
exists in the form of congress
men and politicians who have
their sights trained on several
of the generals in the Pentagon
Theater of Operations.
Latest big wig to be assigned
to the PTO is Maj. Gen. Jacob l..
Devers. commander Of Army
Ground Forces. He moved his
headquarters into the Pentagon
from the Army War College sew
eral miles away on the Potomac.
His arrival caused great confu-
sion in the sector because sew
eral companies Of chairborne
commandos had to have their
billets changed.
THERE WAS HUMOR
IN THE STRIFE
Proving that the U. S. dough
boy didn't lose his sense of hum
or even during this battle, are
several signs left on the walls.
One says:
"Why be difficult when its
only a little more trouble to be
impossible"
And in Gen. Brehon Somer-
ville's private office these words
are Written beneath a mounted
fish with a mouth wide open
The fish and sign are in plain
view to anybody sitting on the
couch opposite his desk:
IF I had kept my mouth shut
l wouldn't be here"
Key figure in the Pentagon
fray since its start is Capt. K. H
Ripnen from New York City,
He's one of the country's best-ex-
perts on the proper use of office
space. His work in Rockefeller
Center qualified him for the
Pentagon assignment. It's been
his Job to see that everybody
had the proper space and that II
was used most efficiently, and
to supervise rescue parties for
lost visitors. He says the Pen
tagon is ideally suited for its
purpose and could most effec-
ti''ely be turned into a store
house for documents or made
into a convalescent hospital.
Here are the actual casualty
figures for the Battle of the Pen
tagon. More than twenty-five
perS0pS died in the hui1dinp dur.
ing the war. Wounded-includ-
ing pride and dignity-were too
numerous to count. There were
unofficial reports of at least a
dozen getting lost and becoming
just missing in action" There
are still some 10000 left as pris-
oners of war. And the most un-
usual figure-four babies were
born In the edifice.