Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-10
JIM BISHOP:
REPORTER
The Army Captain Nobody Wanted

SAN FRANCISCO - Some
wives make their men feel big
and wise. 1t works only when it
is convincing. Dorothy makes 1t
work. She is a plain woman. in
the mid-forties, and she listens
to her husband as though his
next words would save her i'm
mortal soul. When he talks, ]
watch her and she blinks be-
hind her glasses and she
| smoothes the black satin sheen
of the Chinese dress she wore
to impress him.
He thinks she's Miss America.
They came to see me at the
Fairmont Hotel and I called
Gladys Wallace, who handles
room services andaI asked her
to send up some bourbon and ice
and soda and three menus. For
a few hours. ! knew, this was
going to be Old Home Week be-
cause / grew up with Dorothy's
husband-Capt. Alexander l.
Porter. United States Army Re-
tired.
In the universal dice game,
we all try to throw sevens. Some
of us make it. Many do not.
In the dear, dead dreadful days
of adolescence, AL Porter was
the One Most Likely. to Succeed.
He had intellect and red hair
and he was born mathematician
and he had a sense Of humor
which sometimes disgraced him
in vaudeville houses when he
laughed SO, hard that he slid
down between the seats and
once. in the long age. it re-
quired two ushers to lift him
out.
He had a head full of music
but he couldn't get it through
his f1ngertips. He played
Beethoven and Brahms and he
got stuck in the middle with
clinkers and often, what started
out as a concerto, ended UP in
the Minute Waltz" which he
knew backwards and played
that way.
Career Looked Good
Alexander Porter had a good
job with the. New York Life In
surance Co. in the 1930s. He
quit it. He had to be a super
patriot. He saw war coming
and he went to Dumont, N. j.,
and enlisted in the 165th Field
Artillery. "Are you out of your
mind?" I said. He nodded. "It's
entirely possible" he said, ''but
war is coming and I'm the first
man in it,"
What about your job?"
81 have a new career. I'm
going to stay in the Army"
He did. He served in many
places and, as always. he was
such a diligent craftsman that
his superiors kept recommend
ing him for promotion. He made
Pfc. and then corporal and he
went to Fort Sill and became
a buck sergeant and on UP to
top kick and. when Pearl
Harbor came, he was End 1t.
Porter and he was in high gear
The mark Of the good soldier,
he always said. was to grippe in
private. He griped when they
sent him to Palm Beach to
maintain an air field, and he
stopped gripping when they sent
him to the far Pacific. When
the war was over, he was Mai
Porter in the city Of Tokyo. He
learned to speak some Japa-
nese and he was permitted to
have Dorothy with him.
This was the high water mark
of the Boy Most Likely. He be-
gan to throw snake eyes and
box cars. The Army grew small
er. He lost his commission. He
could remain as a sergeant OF
he could get out. His patriotism
had cost him 10 years. There
was no place to go. AL Porter
remained in the Army.
He fought his way back UP To
captain. Peacetime fighting Is
harder than war. Only a man
unafraid Of work and abuse
could have done 1t. When he got
back up, the vision of one eye
began to fade. The Army doc
tors examined and re-examined
They flew him to San Antonio