The Daily Alaska empire., 1947-01-17
High Officers Give Approval, Proposed Plan
Cooperation, Greater Ef- fieienty Promised Under
 One Cabinet Head

Army and Navy High Command. agreed on plan for unification, '' today promised cooperation and greater efficiency under single cabinet officer.
 One by one, Secretary of War Patterson, Secretary fo the Navy Forrestal, Adm. Chester w. Nimitz and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gave their wholehearted endorsemnt to the new plan
 They spoke to a crowded news conference in the White House movie theatre.
 Then they turned the meeting over to experts to go into de- tails. But. for the most part, the plan, announced by President Tru- man last night. remained only general proposition, with the chinks to be filled in later.
 Congress will have big hand in that
 Plan Forward Step
 Admiral Nimitz said he considers the plan a definite and substan- tial forward step and I shall sup port it to the best of my ability" He said 1t will enable the services to get together on many essential matters and make progress
 General Eisenhower, wearing Florida tan, said he always has deplored the differences between Army and Navy officers over merger and now that they have been resolved he personally will support 1t with all have" as distinctive step forward" The United States, he said, will be the greater gainer by step of this na- ture.
 Truman Meets Cabinet
 During the seminar, President Truman met with his cabinet at their regular Friday session in an- other part of the White House
 The meeting was largely devoted to discussion of the Army-Navy "unification' agreement.
 Secretary of Agriculture Anderson told reporters the President seem ed pleased about the agreement, and that's about as far as we got"
 When 1t came to details, ques- tions at the news seminar brought out tkese points:
 Details
 The plans make no specific pro- vision in themselves for single purchasing department for all branches of the armed services. But the nature of the setup indicates that this is contemplated.
 The famous Marine Corps will unchanged as the tradi- tional amphibious fighting group. But there probably will be greater cooperation. training and develop ment for use of the Army Navy and Marines together in such op- 
 There is no intention in this plan to decide which service will use which weapons for the purpose of doing it's job.
 Research probably will continue along present lines, but with a strengthening and coordination un- der joint research agency di- rected by Dr. Vannevar Bush.
 Guided Missiles
 Whether guided missiles will be the special concern of one branch rather than another is not determ- ined in the merger arrangement The experts say that if such weap- ons are needed for land operations they will be available, and if re- quired for sea operations, they will be on hand for that, too.
 These were points brought out by Vice Adm. Forrest P. sherman, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, and Maj. Gen. Laris Norstad, di- rector of plans and operations for the War Department General Staff.
 There has heen no discussion yet of such things as uniforms, Sher- man said, adding:
 My purely unilateral view is that l am opposed to any change"
 The two planning officers like wise made it apparent that on other lesser matters time will he required to work out any formal agreements. if such are necessary.