Twelve Sabres

ARMY & NAVY

An officer & gentleman of the U. S. Army may proceed by rote from West Point to the grave. His future is assured by the God and Manual of Arms. For him: field duty, a tour in Washington, assignment to the Philippines, Hawaii, China, or some domestic doghouse, and always the crawl up the promotion lists from lieutenant to captain to major, perhaps to a colonelcy or even to the final glory of a general's stars. For his wife: the same, plus a lifetime with other army wives. How some of them live was told last week in a whitewashed room at Fort Jay, Governors Island, N. Y.

Lieut.-Colonel Stewart S. Giffin (West Point, '13), Coast Artillery Corps, U. S. A., stood trial before a general courtmartial. On and behind a pine table were twelve sabres, twelve senior officers. The court had to consider charges that Colonel Giffin: 1) did "maliciously knock the hat off the head of one Joseph Currao [a trucker], thereby precipitating a drunken brawl ... to the scandal and disgrace of the military service"; 2) did visit a residence at Goshen, N. Y., and, being refused admittance, "did then and there willfully create a shameful disturbance ... by trespassing ... in his stocking feet . . . to the scandal and disgrace of the military service"; 3, 4, 5, 6) was otherwise guilty in his cups of conduct unbecoming an officer & gentleman. Author of these charges was a reserve lieutenant named James O. Smith Jr., who was Colonel Giffin's adjutant in 1936 and 1937, when they were assigned to CCC duty in upstate New York. Maximum penalty was dismissal, disgrace, loss of a $3,000 annual pension for Colonel Giffin, who will have 30 years of service and the right to retire next March.

Gaunt, bumptious Colonel Giffin and his wife took a fancy to sycophantic Lieut. Smith and his wife, took them into the Giffin home at Goshen early last year. Deprived though they were of the conveniences of an army post, the Giffins, Smiths, et al. worked, drank, played in traditional fashion. Known throughout the army for his capacity, his peculiar humor and his misadventures, Colonel Giffin was the card of a clique who thought the hot foot was good fun and snatched hats from fellow barflies. Lieut, and Mrs. Smith lived with and on the Giffins for three months, incurred the dislike of other officers and wives, finally departed. The manner of their going turned out to be an issue at the trial.

Nearly all prosecution witnesses insisted upon testifying for the defendant. Gist of their stories was that the colonel was a drinker, not a drunkard. At the close of the trial the court itself put Lieut. Smith on the stand and questioned him. His tale was that Colonel Giffin got him to resign, then reneged on a promise to back him in an automobile agency, left him to starve, refused to give him "more" money. Said Lieut. Smith: "If he had handed me a couple of bucks when I went to him for help and said, 'Here, you poor bum, buy yourself a cup of coffee,' I'd not have filed the charges." On the stand, Colonel Giffin sweated, admitted that he drank, called Lieut. Smith a blackmailer, failed to explain how hot foot was funny.

The twelve judges (whose superiors could have quashed the charges before the trial began) evidently concluded that Colonel Giffin was a drinker but not a drunkard, set him back from No. 611 to 711 in the current list of 962 lieutenant colonels, left him in the army, eligible for his pension next year. Said Colonel Giffin: "It is a distinct moral victory. . . . I do not feel any animosity toward Lieut. Smith. He just followed his natural instincts." Shortly afterward, another reservist in Manhattan exercised the privileges of any citizen, filed a report asking whether Lieut. Smith should be dismissed.

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