Evening star., 1953-02-11
Voorhees, Letters
Refusing Censorship
Read datCourt-Martia|
sy the Assoeiossd Press


FORT MEADE, Md, Feb. IL
Letters In which 1t. Col. Melvin
B.. voorhees, announced his in
tention to override Army censor
ship and ignore a 9Th Army COM
mand were read into the evi-
dence at his court martial today.
Col. Voorhees,, so, a former
editor Of the Tacoma (Wash.)
Times, is accused Of evading
Army censorship on a book,
Korean Tales" which he wrote
after serving as chief censor for
the 9th Army in Korea. He also
is charged with disobeying a
9th Army command to withdraw
the manuscript from a publisher.
In a letter last July to Peter
Schwed, an editor of Simon &
Shuster, Col. Voorhees, said: MY
battle with the Army is joined"
He reported headquarters of the
9Th Army at San Francisco had
ordered him to recover his manu-
script.
Refused to Comply.
This. of course, I refused
to do" Col. VOORHEES, wrote.
Charges were filed against me.
I told the Army I intended to
fight all the way"
In another letter, written from
Seattle June 20, Col. voorhees,
asked Mr.. Schwed to inform him
at once of any Washington re-
action to his decision to submit
the manuscript for publication
after it failed to receive Army
clearance.
''At best, for a long while,
I'm going to be lonesome" Col.
Voorhees, wrote.
IT now retire to my authorial
bomb shelter"
Also introduced was a copy Of
a letter from Col. Voorhees, to
the Army Chief Of Information
informing the Army Col. Voor-
hees was submitting the manu-
script to a publisher despite its
lack Of Army clearance.
No Security Matter.
Col. Voorhees, said he was do
ing so because the document
contained nothing of a security
nature and the Army's determi-
nation of propriety was based
on individual opinion.
Maj. Gen. Floyd L. Parks, the
Army's chief of information. told
reporters yesterday after testify
ing that the trial might result
in a revision of Army censor
ship regulations to make security
rules clearer.
He had testified the existing
regulations require personnel on
active duty to submit all manu-
scripts and public statements to
Army review even though they
might concern only "the love life
Of a rattlensake in Texas"
Had Some Clearance. =
Schwed testified that the Air
Force had given some chapters
of the book, referring to that
service, it's clearance.
Howard j., Lewis, managing
editor of Argosy Magazine, tes-
titled that his publication used
a chapter from the book under
the title, THE Generals Private
War;"
Guy Richards, staff writer for
the New York Journal Ameri-
can, said his newspaper used
material from the book for two
weeks as a serial called Korea
Uncensored."
Mr.. Richards said he asked
Col. Voorhees, last December to
write a couple of additional ar
ticles to bring the serial up to
date, and urged him to send it
directly to the Defense Depart
ment for a quick clearance since
the articles had to be finished by
December 18 if they were to be
used.
Not Through Channels"
The charges against Col.
Voorhees, include an allegation
that he submitted these articles
to the Journal American without
prior Army clearance, and sent
them to the Defense Department
without going through Army
channels:
'1t took some persuasion to
induce Col. Voorhees, to deal
directly with the Defense De-
partment, and believe it was
my responsibility far more than
the colonel's for having him
make what appeared to be an
error" Mr.. Richards said.
He added that the. articles
were never used because they
failed to get Defense Depart
ment clearance.