Evening star., 1955-03-15

COIlSlu o6ldIOE 3 lIlNcSIlBdIlOl1 Va
the Peress case and his subse-
quent alleged abuse of Brig. Gen.
Ralph w. Zwicker. PereSs' COM
mander at Camp Kilmer. N. j.,
that touched of the Army-Mc-
Carthy row a year ago.
Senator Mccarthy demanded
that those who took part in the
Justice Department meeting be
called to testify in the pres
ent investigation. Subcommittee
Chairman Mcclellan of Arkan-
sas said the matter would be
discussed by the group in exec
utive session.
Freedom to Talk Questioned
Senator Mccarthy also wanted
to know whether the Army Off
GERS who will testify in the in
vestigation will be allowed to
talk freely about all phases of
the PereSs case or whether "the
curtain will be dropped again."
Mr.. Brucker said that all the
officers under subpoena had been
instructed to tell everything they
knew about the case.
The questioning of Maj. Van
Sickle brought out the fact that
five other Army officers, who
like PeresS had refused to an
sWer questions on loyalty forms,
had been discharged before they
were called to active duty as
officers.
| Maj. VanSickle said that he
tagged" the five individuals,
| who were not named, after they
had been commissioned, but be-
fore they were called to duty.
He said he got "derogatory infor-
nation" on the five verbally
from a fellow officer from First
/ Army Headquarters.
| 1000 Papers a Month
But Maj. VanSickle said he
recalled hearing no unfavorable
information on DR.. Peress, al
/ though he admitted his files
showed his office had received
word of the February, 1858, in
veStigation of the dentist by
Army Intelligence. He said that
his Office processed 1000 appli-
cations a month for commissions
under the DOCTOR dentist draft
act and that he simply "over-
looked" details of the Peress
papers.
1t was brought out that Maj.
Peress, in filing his first papers
for commission in May. 1852, had
claimed that he was not and had
never been a member of a SUBJ
versive organization or of any
group advocating overthrow of
the Government.
But in loyalty forms filled out
in October, 1852, at the time he
was commissioned a captain, DR..
Peress had written fifth amend.
ment" on several questions re-
garding loyalty. This, however,
was unnoticed and Maj. Peress
was called to active duty January
/, 1858.
Denies Knowing Peress
In answer to questions Mai.
VanSickle said that he had never
known Dr.. Peress and denied
emphatically that he had been
asked to cover up for any one
III the Army in connection with
I the case.
The five unnamed individuals
whose commissions were taken
away after it was discovered
they had failed to answer loyalty
questions satisfactorily were sub
sequently drafted into the Army
and later given discharges de-
scribed as "leSs than honorable"
Maj. Peress was given an hon.
orabie discharge February 2 last
year, two days after he had in
voked the Fifth Amendment on
questions involving Communist
connections asked him by Sena-
tor Mccarthy.
! Secretary Stevens and John
G. Adams. former Army counsel.
principals in the Mccarthy row,
will testify later. Other high
Army brass will be called.
The report the Army refused
to furnish Senator Mcclellan
and his staff investigators was
one made on the Peress case by
the Army Inspector General last
| year.
In his opening statement to-
day, Senator Mcclellan said the
withholding of the report had
made his Peress investigation
much more difficult.
He said if the report had been
made available to the subcom-
mittee staff it "in all probability
would have expedited the pre-
liminary investigation Short
ened the public hearings .. and
obviated the necessity and ex-
pense of requiring the attend
ance of Army personnel wit
nesses now stationed overseas. !"
And Senator Mcclellan added
he still felt the reasons for
denying the report to his group
| were not valid.
In heated exchange of cor