The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-05
By DrsSO Pearson

From a vosaisr In Che ioeth Dlvisisn, which bore the brunt og the Belgian Bulge attack Your clelm that the iOeth Division was led hy green officer s by this coiamnst one year ago that older ofiicefs trained in the last war replaced by green off Aususs s iot4 was working in Officers ray Section of Division Finance. During that time we must have transferred at least zoo officers out of the Division men rirht from offIcers' Candidats school at Fort Benning, Ga, and Fort St Okla. So you can see that the l0eth Division thrown into combat with in September when found out that we were going overseas after the big turnover in men during July and August"
 soldier in Manila: T ran across your column reporting on black market activities n the Philip pines The article is true-but for your information, as to 'ns tbe As Sses aTsets T name come c ns ways. Being Yellow Ball Outfit truck driver can explain some of it.
 'Ei-jacking is on large scale here. There isn't night that passes that some of our trucks not hi-jacked. We have no control whatsoever over it. We pick up the cargo on the docks, get checked out and we're on our own On certain sup plies, M. P guards are suppHeu-mostly Filipino guards. Can these guards be trusted2 Most of us drivers say no.
 "Our trucks are hi-jacked-drivers shot--or are mysteriously gone-no one knows where; Many .,.,, no drivers. when asked what's happened, they Don't know. Why should they knowp Probably they're members Of the ring our M. Els are too busy cneSng violaters on speeding.
 'The speed limit Is 20 to 25 miles per hour. If a driver is carrying valuable cargo and no guard, he has to figure how to get to his destination without getting hi-jacked and yet remain within the speed limit Going along at 20 m.ph, child of 10 years could hop Q truck and dump the cargo off with out the driver knowing it. So we lose both ways. Slow travelng-lose your cargo. Fast travelng-get a ticket summary court-martial and, if you hold 8 rank, drop a grade or two. That's the Army rule in Manila.
 whats happened to these drivers that have mysteriously disappeared or been shot? Does the Army print 1t in the State papers? Or in our daily papers here? Or the Manila papers? No, they don't
 We ask for protection, and we get Filipino guards We ask for side-arms Nothing doing. We refuse to drive-court-martial We speed at night to stop being pilfered-we get ticket and the re- suits are busted in rank and @ court-martial
 "Is this what we fought for2 Is this democracy? If 1t is-Ill vote Socialist and will 1000 other Yellow Ball Base drivers when and If we do get home"
 soldier in the Azores: "Pan American Arlines has IT mechanics here to service their ships put CHS keep the base functioning gas PAS planes house their passengers and feed them, give out weather reports manage all communications, supply medical attention It is small wonder that Pan Amer ican has cut the price of fares. Cheap GI. labor made this reduction possible. We soldiers didn't mind giving three years of our lives to our country; we damn sure don't want to give another three years to civilian airlines and Regular Army officers whose careers will suffer a rude termination once de- mobilization is effected"