Evening star., 1954-11-04
(Continued From First Page }

requiring promotion of officer
called to active duty to ranl
commensurate" with profes
sional education, experience o
ability. He said Maj. McManu
signed the discharge papers "a
a purely ministerial act which
he was performing several hun
dred times a day"
In a statement accompanin,
the Stevens letter. the Army salt
exhaustive investigations hav'
conclusively established tina
there was no collision, conspir
acy, or preferential treatment
with respect to any of it's action
in the Peress) case. TIL,
evidence clearly shows that i
was the system that was a.
fault.
Accordingly, the inferenc,
which has been made repeated,
during the past several month.
that these actions provide tangi
BILE evidence of "coddling O.
Communists by the Army is com.
pletely false"
Senator Mccarthy has urgee
Attorney General Brownell tx
seek an indictment of Mai
Peress under the false state.
mentS statute.
The Pentagon sent informa.
tion on DR.. Peress to the Justice
Department. but officials sale
1t involved d technical mis-.
take" in papers he signed be-
fore entering the Army rather
than espionage, subversion OF
anything of the sort. Pentagor
officials describe DR.. Peress as
Q ''parlor pink"
Charges "COver-up."
Senator Mccarthy says the
Pentagon is covering up iol
some official-who it is, he
doesn't know. He has charged
further that the person or per-
sons who promoted and honor
ably discharged DR.. Peress knew
that he had Communist connec-
tions. 1t has been established
that they knew he had taken
the Fifth Amendment at the
time he was discharged. AL
though DR.. Peress was under in
vestigation by Army Intelligence
at the time he was promoted
to major, it is very doubtful that
the officials doing the promoting
knew about it. It was an in
stance, so to speak, of the
Army's left hand not knowing
what its right hand was doing.
There are several phases in the
Peress case. and at any one OF
them the exercise of a little dill
gence on the part of the Army
could have prevented the head
ache that has come to the Pen
tagon. These phases are the
commissioning of DR.. Peress as
captain in the Dental Corps re-
serve; his call to active duty;
the promotion to major and the
honorable discharge. At any
stage the Army could have been
saved from subsequent embar-
rassment. .
Drafted in 1852.
DR.. Peress, from Queens, New
York City, was called up in early
october 1852, under the doctor
draft law. A week or so later
October 15-he was given the
rank of captain in the Dental
Corps reserve, in accordance with
the doctor draft, but he re-
NAMED on inactive status.
Two weeks later, while he was
still on inactive duty, DR.. Peress
filled out, in connection with his
commission, two forms. On both
forms he wrote constitutional
Privilege" in the blanks about
membership in subversive organ
1zations. It was his right to do
that if he chose.
DR.. Peress was called to active
duty January 7, 1853. II days
after he pleaded Fifth Amend
ment on the loyalty forms. He
was sent to Fort Sam Houston,
Tex. for first training, then to
Fort Lewis. Wash. and then to
Camp Kilmer, N. j. He was about
to be sent overseas from Fort
Lewis, but the Army acceded to
his request that he be stationed
closer to home because Of illness
in his family.
According to the official Army
explanation, Capt. Peress' loyal
ty forms during the first 80 days
of his service lay unnoticed at
1st Army headquarters in New
York. In early February, 1858,
about 100 days after he filled out
the forms some one noticed that
he had taken the Fifth Amend
ment. An investigation was
started by Army Intelligence.
Promoted to Major.
In October, 1853, Capt. Peress
along with some TOO other Army
doctors and dentists was nomi-
mated for a grade adjustment"
to major, in line with the doctor
draft law. He received the pro-
motion formally in early Novem-
ber, about year after pleading
the Fifth Amendment and nine
months after the investigation
was started. The Army says this
"adjuStment" was automatic
under the law. but officials have
admitted that it was wrong and
some way would have been found
to avoid giving DR.. Peress the
promotion if the promoting
officials had known about Fifth