Evening star., 1951-07-18
By ReImon NORM
Assoeiufed Press Special Correspondent on
Tour Of United States Military Comps.

FORT EUSTIS, Va, July 49,
Corp. Donald Tuthill, a soldier.
was standing on the sandy bot
tom of the James River the other
day repairing some planking on
the end Of the pier.
Over the inter- com" he said 1t
was nice and cool down there in
the green depths Git was 103 up
above), that he had been down
about 20 minutes, that his divers
suit was leaking a little water
around the ankles and that he
liked his work very much. Tell
you all about it when we come
up" he said.
Presently, the corporal and Pfc.
Leborio Peckararo were hauled up
on the pier. In their diving suits,
they locked like crewmen off a
space ship from Mars. After
climbing out of the suits they put
on Army uniforms bearing the in
sigma of the Transportation
Corps.
The Army has some strange
jobs for a man these days!
Developing Own Divers.
At Fort Eustis, 1t Is training
divers. Offhand, you'd say that
was q Navy job, and so 1t is,
usually. But the Transportation
Corps aow is developing its own
divers, so that, II necessary, 1t
can do underwater work itself.
1 In the last war, for example,
when the Germans pulled out OF
a port. they always did a thorough
job of wrecking the dock area to
prevent American supply ships
from unloading, Immediately.
They sank ships. concrete blocks
and everything they could lay
their hands on in the deep-water
harbors. Precious days were lost
and massive repairs below the sur
face were necessary before the
ships could begin unloading.
| Hence Transportation wants Its
own divers. q queer assignment for
a man who started with an MI
rifle on dry land.
The men are all volunteers
They get two weeks Of classroom
work before they put on a suit,
They will be paid S. an hour ex-
ira once they start hazardous
diving" a somewhat elastic term
This first unit has already done
deep diving. hunting for wreckage
after airplane accidents In the
Virginia area. Before they grad
uate. they will take the big 90
foot dive.
Each man, Of course, already
knew another Army trade before
he volunteered. Corpl. Tuthill
who comes from Bakersfield
Calf, was a machinist In Ord
nance. Pfc. Peckararo, a Sar
franciscan, was an anti-aircraft
gunner.
Worlds Greatest life Line"
/ To understand why Transpor.
tation would go to such lengths
you have to know the attitude o1
the men in the corps. The,
worked miracles In the last war
moving hundreds and thousands
of tons of supplies over the
beaches, through wrecked port.
and across unbelievably difficult
terrain. No other nation In thu
world had such "life line" fol
4 it's armies.
BY the nature of things, thu
baggage of the American Arm,
gets heavier In every war. Thou.
sands of men are necessary tt
handle it. And they are con.
stantly developing new technique.
and new machines for the job.
To train them, the Army as
signed a crack engineer, Col. Har
old r. Duff1e OF, Boston. to For
Eustis. He presides over a port
a railroad, a highway system, a Sc
of dummy airports and a schoo
with more than 56 differen
courses. ALI of it is designed for ,
single purpose-to move supple
by land, sea and air.
Soldiers run locomotives. worl
aboard some rusty old Libert.
ships in the intricacies Of steve