Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-11

protection Of the Fifth Amendment.
but had it forced on him. AS q re-
suit. he declared, he automatically
qualified for an undesirable dis
charge" with its accompanying
substantial prejudice in civilian
life"
One Mons Grief
Here is a digest Of Pvt. Ross
story. He identified himself as o
lifelong member Of the Church Of
Christ. a student who had worked
his way through college and had
studied for a master Of arts de-
gree. His troubles began, Pvt. Ross
said. when he got to the induction
center:
II had no inclination to plead
the Fifth Amendment or anything
of that sort, because didn't belong
to any Of these organizations. But
I thought it was invasion Of pri-
vacy, invasion Of the First Amend
ment to the Constitution. And I
feel very strongly along these lines:
I was so predisposed." page 803.)
He described how he was COM
PEELED either to sign DD-98 or write
down the alternative voluntary"
formula. Federal Constitutional
privilege is claimed" although he
had neither intention nor desire TO
do So
They insisted that I put down
the constitutional privilege claim.
At first, I wasn't even going to put
anything on 1t. He "a corporaD
said, If you don't sign, you have
to put this down
And I said, I prefer not even to
talk about it.
And he said, Come with me-
And he took me to this WAC.
And she insisted that you had TO
write this down. And then he took
me to warrant officer. who in
sisted that I had to write it down.
And I said. I will write 1t down.
then .. I wrote that down. but
it was under their inslstence."
page 804.)
Rest Was Automatic
Once that was done, the rest ap-
parently was automatic.
Subcommittee Counsel Hooker
asked Assistant Secretary Of the
Army Hugh NJ. Milton. 1T is the
policy of the Army in all cases
where the man avails himself of
constitutional privilege to put him
on controlled duties and give him
less-than-honorable discharge, is
it not?"
Mr. Milton replied. That is
right, yes, sir" page 1872
Pvt. Ross troubles continued, ac-
cording to his testimony. The
Army subsequently slapped . "let-
ter Of allegation" on the soldier
concerning four points In his per-
sonal history:
l. That he had claimed consti-
tutional privilege. tPvt. Ross &C
knowledged this was correct-be-
cause the Army had forced him to
make the claim)
2. That he had close and con-
tinuing association with Commu-
mist. Gross answer is that the
Communist in question was his
roomate in Oman room in bar
racks to which he had been as
signed by his superiors. Pvt. Ross
swore he had never seen the man
before he met him in barracks
nor since)
3. That he had a 1854 issue of
Science and Society" in his pos
session, and that this publication
was cited in 1914 as Marxist. CThe
soldier admitted possessing the
magazine, and explained that 1t
was one Of many sources he was
using for his masters thesis.)
4. That one Of the five or six
character references he gave turned
out to be member Of the Com
munist Party. pvt. Ross said this
was news to him. The person con-
cerned had. he explained, been kind
to him; the person was listed in
Who's Who; he had no idea Of
the persons politics. pages 81l-
49,
The Army later told Pvt. Ross
that his decision on its four charges
would be secret. He was kept on
controlled duty"
Pvt. Ross description of Con-
trolled duty" affords a slight grace
note:
And If they needed KPs from
our companies we would be KPs
for that day. If they couldn't find
anything around the barracks like
watering the lawn or washing the
floors or wiping marks off the walls,
they would send us to battalion
or regimental headquarters, there
either to sweep out the place or
load trucks or unload trucks, Just
general labor or details for the
AnwH fDnAA NAA