To Wed or Not to Wed

From San Antonio's station WOAI last week a pleasant little brunette voice broadcast to the world how she had met a "dashing, handsome second lieutenant" in the Philippines, had lived happily with him ever after. The informative lady was Mrs. Walter Krueger, wife of the commander of the Third Army. Her observations were part of a program called Army Wives.

For the past month wives of officers in the Eighth Corps Area have been thus telling the world what a good husband a soldier makes. Some of the more realistic have added such warnings as: "Look out for those bars on [your] husband's shoulders. They sure can scratch when you put your arms around him." Army Wives, the bright idea of an energetic lieutenant in public relations and an astute WOAI program director, is meant to be "a sort of marriage bureau for soldiers, glorifying Army wives, to encourage girls to go ahead and marry soldiers--war or no war."

While agreeing that these tributes do the Army proud, officers of the Eighth Corps are inclined to think that enlisted men should not be encouraged to marry. Said Major General Richard Donovan (whose wife has done her bit for the program):

"I am strongly of the opinion that if legal means can be found to prevent the marriage of enlisted men below the grade of duty sergeant [lowest variety], it should be prohibited."

The General's views echoed those of the Most Rev. John Francis O'Hara, Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of the Army & Navy Diocese. Said he: "One sacrifice that many a woman is making today is the postponement of marriage, when she sends her soldier sweetheart away with a smile and a promise to wait, in the thought that she will not add to his burdens the worry of a wife back home."

But despite the war, the General and the Bishop, marriages in the Army were going strong.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.