Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1950-11-03
RADIO EXPERTS HELP KEEP
UNSCOB'S EAR TO GROUND
BY a Special United Nations
Correspondent

ATHENS - A twenty-eight-
year-old Dane in Alexandroupolis
in northeastern Greece not far
from the frontiers of Bulgaria and
Turkey, radios a message to the
Athens headquarters of the United
Nations Special Committee on the
Balkans (UNSCOB). in Athens,
a Belgian radio operator, just
turned 27, monitors the message,
in this case, a report from UN-
SCOB's observation team on the
northeastern frontier, and re-
lays it to the principal secretary
of the Balkans Committee for ap-
propriate action.
The young Dane in the border
outpost and his Belgian colleague
in Athens are members of the
United Nations Field Service,
which was organized to provide
II. N. missions in the field, such as
UNSCOB, with trained eommuDi-
cations and transport experts and
guards for police duty.
In Greece, the Field Service
men make up an ii man team, Of
nine radio operators and two me-
chanics, whose job has been to
set up and maintain a communi-
cations system between UNSCOB
headquarters in Athens and Sa-
lonika and the observation teams
in the mountainous frontier areas.
They are an indispensable link in
UNSCOB's chain of watchdog
outposts in the Balkans.
If the II. N. observation teams
in the field are, as they have been
called, the "eyes and ears" of
IENSCOB, the U.N. Field Service
radio men make up the nervous
system, carrying word of what is
seen and heard in the frontier
areas direct to UNSCOB's brain
center in Athens and then carry
ing back the latter's instructions.
The members of the UNSCOB
communications team are all
young men-the oldest is 30 years
old-of five different nationali-
ties: Belgian, Danish, Norwegian,
American and British. All were
qualified radio men before they
joined U.N.
Now that the fighting is at a
minimum, the number Of U.N.
field bases, each with its own
radio unit, has been reduced to
two: One at Alexandroupolis and
the other at Yannina, in the north
west toward Albania. Mobile radio
units, however, are still function
ing and may be sent anywhere in
case of emergency.
A year ago, the twenty-eight-
year-old Dane in Alexandroupolis
was a technician in radio station
in his native Copenhagen. One day
at work he received a notice from
the Government of Denmark
informing him that U. N. was
looking for qualified technicians
in communications and transport
as we'll as young men who could
be trained to serve as guards al
U.N. Headquarters and with U.N
missions in the field. Men of all
nationalities were eligible provid-
ed they could qualify.
Like his Belgian colleague ir
Athens the Danish radio opera
tor on duty in Alexandroupolis
was attracted by the idea of g
career in U.N. service. To him il
meant good pay. an opportunity
to work in foreign countries anC
a broader area of experience
Even more, it meant an opportu
nifty to use his skill and abilitie!
in an important job in a gooC
cause.-The cause of peace.
The radio technicians in Greece
are part of force of some 20t
young men from "a different coun
tries already on duty in the U.N
Field Service, either at U.N. Head
quarters in New York, the Euro
pean Headquarters in Geneva, o.
with U.N. missions in Korea
Kashmir, Palestine, and Somali
land, as well as Greece. BY
March 1851, the Field Service ex
poets to have a staff of 300 quail
fled experts representing 42 ma
tionalities. Candidates are givel
an intensive three months, cOlIrsl
of training at Headquarters il
police and security training, firs
aid instruction, speedwriting
shorthand and typewriting AM
special radio communication
training. In addition, they g
through a course in jeep main
tenance at Toledo, Ohio.