The Wilmington morning star., 1945-06-14
LETTER BOX
MILITARY TRAINING

10 tne EQ1lOT.
in the hearings on compulsory
military training now going on the
American Legion testified in favor
of the program and the Federal
Council of Churches opposed it.
According to the newspaper &C
count, the Southern Baptist Con-
vention is represented in the Fed
eral Church Council.
Being a member of the Ameri-
can Legion and a member of the
Baptist Church, am an infinitesi-
NAL part of the Southern Baptist
Convention, so it would seem that
I am in the anomalous position of
being for compulsory military
training by reason of my mem
bership in the American Legion
and, at the same time, being op-
posed to training because of be-
ing a part Of the Southern Bap-
fist. Convention. AS matter of
fact, spokesman for either organ
ization do not speak for their en-
tire group, but l am convinced
that the spokesman for the Amer
lean Legion spoke for a majority
of his organization, but l am not
so sure that the spokesman. for
Federal Council of Churches spoke
for majority of the Southern
Baptist Convention.
The first man from New Han
over County killed in the present
war was member of my church.
Others have died since then. and
many more of our boys and girls
are still in service and I am quite
sure if poll were taken today
Our church group would be over
whelmingly for compulsory mill
tary training. Had we been ade-
quately prepared, 1 don't believe
Japan would have attacked Pearl
Harbor, and I believe that these
men from my church would still
be alive.
Speaking not as a Legionnaire
nor as a Baptist, may I speak
as a veteran of World War l.
When war was declared April 6,
1917, I enlisted next day. However,
due to an error in preparing the
first papers, new ones had to be
prepared so my official enlistment
is dated a few days later. Our
outfit went into active service in
mid-July as a part of the 30th
Division and went overseas in late
May, 1918. In July, 1918, we went
into the lines, but lad to use Aus
tralian artillery because our own
artillery was not yet equipped. We
were in a machine gun battalion
and our Division along with the
9th was attached to the British
Army. We used English machine
guns and French rifles. and wore
British shoes-in war for year
but still not equipped. If it had
not been for our Allies, we could
have been defeated before we had
chance to prepare. When it was
necessary for us to have replace
ments we had to take green men
without any training.
One day we received some raw
recruits and went into battle that
night. Before midnight, one of
these boys were killed. He had no
training-he didn't know how to
take care Of himself Murder is
an ugly word, but, if we send un-
trained boys against trained SOL
diers, it is just plain murder. On
another occasion 1 interviewed a
group of recruits trying to find if
any of them had been trained as
signal men. I questioned every
man in the group, and some of
them did not even know what a |
signal man was. Finally, one
spoke up and said, Sergeant, six
weeks ago we were home" Send
ing those boys into the line would
have been murder. There Just isn't
any other word for it and those
who prevent us from preparing
must shoulder that guilt. We have