Evening star., 1955-09-13
Torture Troinino

torture ScnoOl USED Dy the
Air Force to tougher flyers for
possible capture by the Com
munists seems to me to be very
plain. It can never be q sue
cess because we can never
outdo the Reds in devising
means Of torture. We train
for one method Of torture:
they devise a worse one. We
might string a pilot up by his
thumbs, deny him food and
water. and cut away the liv-
ing flesh by inches. Then. per-
haps. the skeleton would be
"toughened" for possible Com
munist torture. But, obviously,
he wouldn't be much good as
q pilot.
Why don't the anti-Commu-
mist nations of the world 60
to bat in the United Nations
for an all-out reprisal against
the nations which practice
such barbaric methods against
prisoners Of war? To tough
en-" $4,000 men or $4,000 men
to Withstand Communist tor
ture Is not enough. The
American people must be
''toughened" to Withstand the
clever. devious inroads Of
Communism. The saddest
thing about this torture
training" which $4,000 Air
Force men have completed, is
that while they went through
this drastic struggle, Commu-
mist sympathizers sat before
legal committees and hid be-
hind the Fifth Amendment.
And the liberal" press shed
tears over the torture" of
such poor creatures!
No school Of the Air Force
or Of any branch Of service
can tougher" enough men to
offset the barbaric forces Of
communism. The American
people must tougher" them
selves against the devious
forces here as we'll as in Ko-
rea and the other far parts Of
the world. A young flyer. shot
down on a training mission
in Korea, cannot hide behind
a Fifth Amendment. or any
other amendment. He must
bare his back and his soul to
torture.
Mother of a Young AF Pilot.
~
Col. Burton E. Mckenzie of
Stead Air Force Base in Ne
vada is to be congratulated
for his efforts to teach Ameri-
can airmen that military life
may be the worst days of their
lives If caught by hideous
Chinese Reds or their Soviet
hackers. Col. McKenzie's
methods of toughening UP his
airmen show both a deep in
terest in their personal well
fare and a great foresight for
the future of America.
An article in The Star Of
September 8 noted that q
Pentagon spokesman declared
that some kind of charges
might be brought against Col.
Mckenzie as a result of the
training program. For what?
For teaching Americas young
men to be brave and for pre-
pairing them to suffer If suffer
they must In the hands of the
enemy?
Col. Mckenzie, as well as all
those who have assisted him In
his toughen- 'em-up program,
should be given medals Of COM
mendation. If more COS were
practical like Col. Mckenzie,
this would be more like the
country It was in Gen, WASH
ington's day and not a Nation
Of SO many sissies, delinquent
zoot-suiters who cry Mamma"
every time a top sergeant tells
them to roll their sleeves down
or to cut those pretty curls of.
For nearly 10 years, many
Of them overseas, I wore a mill
tary uniform-as an enlisted
man-and believe me. any serv-
iceman who isn't getting train
ing comparable to that given
at Stead is getting hooked. And
he'll realize 1t when he faces
the enemy - especially the
Communist-type enemy.
Tom Coll.
\
Concerning your editorial on
Training for Survival" it is
relevant to recall those spe-
cialists whose technical train
ing fitted them to become iden-
titled with mass killings and
experimentally induced suffer-
ings in the concentration
camps of National Socialist
Germany.
I do not believe that your
editorial writer understands
the significance of what he Is
approving. He states for ex-
ample. that "for the $4,000
men who have gone through
the course, 1t is noteworthy
that n0f1A IN an rAA0rd A hav.