Evening star., 1945-02-11

with stop at Newark, N. j., in
formed operations at LaGuardia
that he had room for any service
men waiting for ride to Wash
ington. The marine pilot was in
formed that there were two service
men who were waiting for trans
portation to Washington and was
asked if he had adequate room also
to take along the two dogs. He
stated that he had plenty of room
and would be glad to take the dogs
along. He was informed that the
dogs belonged to Col. Elliott Roose-
welt and were to be delivered to the
White House, which sent a station
wagon to the airport and picked up
the dogs.
1T should be pointed out that
there is no provision in Army Air
Forces regulations or those Of the
9Th Air Force which prohibit the
carrying of pets in an operational-
type aircraft, such as the Bit
bomber which transported these
dogs from Europe to the United
States.
Changed by "B" Cargo.
"On January S, 1945, Col. Ray w.
Ireland, assistant chief of staff for
priorities and traffic, headquarters
Air Transport Command, received a
telephone request from Mrs. John
Boettiger at the White House that
Col. Roosevelt's dog Blaze be
transported from Washington to
Mrs. Elliott Roosevelt in Hollywood,
Calf. No mention of priority was
made in the conversation. Col
Ireland, however, established an "A
priority for the dog and on January
8, 1945, the dog was shipped on a
military cargo aircraft which left
Washington about noon.
The flight on which the dog was
carried was scheduled cargo fight
and terminated at Dayton, Ohio.
The flight west from Dayton, to
which the dog was transferred,
originated at Newark, N. j., and
carried, in addition to cargo, three
passengers-two Navy enlisted men
and one Army technical sergeant, all
of whom were on emergency leaves,
travelling on C. priorities. At
Memphis, Tenn, approximately
3,700 pounds of cargo and the three
passengers were off, loaded to take
on b priority cargo.
"A backlog Of b priority freight
existed at Memphis and this would
have displaced the three passengers
even II the dog had not been on
board. but the dog did unquestion-
ably displace an equivalent amount
in weight O. b priority freight.
The Dayton flight terminated at
Dallas, Tex, where the dog was
transferred to another routine sched-
uled military cargo fight which
proceeded to Mines Field, Los An
geles. Calf, and from there the
dog was delivered to Mrs. Elliott
Mistake "Unjustified."
The fundamental basis for the
of any priority,
whether for passengers or cargo, is
hat the mission of the passenger
,r the need for the cargo Is OF such
that transportation by air
S necessary and also necessary to
,he prosecution Of the war. There
fore, establishing an "A priority
'or the dog was unauthorized under
regulations relating to air priorities.
A serious mistake was made and
t cannot be justified
In answer to question from
Stewart regarding refer
snces in the press to three Army
Air Forces officers at Patterson
Field Dayton, bound for Pyote,
Tex, on ID" priorities, who stated
hat they might have been carried
On the flight out of Dayton except
Tor the Roosevelt dog, Gen. George
stated: Investigation discloses that
he officers concerned would not
nave travelled even if the dog had
not been carried, as there were both
C. and d priority passengers ahead
IF them -