Nomination

Sirs:

For outstanding achievement of the year in depressing morale and promoting defeat, I nominate:

1) The five Senators who just returned from their world tour with the message that we should suspect our allies more and help them less;

2) The members of the court-martial that punished an officer who shot a Negro soldier by merely changing his rank from colonel to captain.

HOWARD W. ANDERSON Grand Rapids

Dive-Bomber

Sirs:

We recently had on board the large aircraft carrier which I command your correspondent, Mr. Robert Sherrod. Although he had not been with us very long he made himself one of the most popular persons on the ship, both with officers and men.

I have had many long talks with him, and I am surprised at the wide range of knowledge that he has concerning naval and military operations in the Pacific, as well as his wide acquaintance with both Army and Naval officers . . . from Australia to Alaska.

During our recent attacks against the enemy on Wake, he insisted that he could do a better job as a correspondent if he participated in the attack. ... We allowed him to participate in a dive-bombing attack against Wake. The pilot took him down through the antiaircraft fire in an almost vertical dive of many thousands of feet with a release and final pullout at under 1,000 ft., which didn't seem to faze Bob Sherrod in the least. . . .

(CAPTAIN'S NAME WITHHELD) At Sea

Indispensable Amateurs

Sirs:

"In the postwar hot-stove debates about who really won the war, a respectful hearing will have to be given to the claims of a mildly wacky group of scientific playboys -- the amateur stargazers and telescope-makers" (TIME, Oct. 4).

You have given well-earned recognition . . . but there is an even larger group of amateurs who are also indispensable. . . . This group, the Amateur Radio Operators, has to a large degree made possible the split-second timing and coordination of the Allied armies. Radio Amateurs (some 50,000 in the U.S.) have . . . become the key men in the communication networks on the battlefronts. . . .

The Radio Amateurs should receive recognition for another reason. . . . The Amateurs are almost entirely responsible for developing the radio spectrum, especially the ten-meter band on down to one and one-half meters. These frequencies are used for Walkie-Talkies and most portable transmitter-receivers used. . . .

HOWARD H. PATTEE JR. Claremont, Calif.

Crate

Sirs:

In your Oct. 4 issue, I note you have printed the picture . . . showing a cargo ship loading war materiel through the bow or stern. ... On close examination you will see what appears to be a large red cross on the side of the boat or on some superstructure near by.

I am sure that the Germans and Japs will be interested in seeing that our hospital ships carry war materiel. . . .

Maybe TIME should watch the material they use more carefully even though it comes from large news services and "college bred" Navy public relations offices.

ROBERT L. INGOLD Yeadon, Pa.

>And maybe not. What suspicious Reader Ingold saw was the end section of a pontoon used by LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) to float the ramp when it cannot get up to a beach.--ED.

Bet

Sirs:

TIME, Oct. 18, "The suggested maximum rates for the few U.S. citizens in the very high income brackets would mean that those who live in states with income taxes like New York's would end the year owing money for the privilege of living."

... I wagered a dollar that you were right. But according to our figures, a taxpayer with a net taxable income of $1,000,000 will pay a combined income tax of $965,475 ($895,900 Federal tax, $69,575 New York State tax), leaving him the paltry, subsistence-level sum of $34,525 to live on--but still in the black.

HUGH SMITH Washington

--TIME, wrong, pays Reader Smith's bet.--ED.

Sniffles to Screamers

Sirs:

I was gratified this week to hear you speak of "whiffing . . . projectiles" (TIME, Oct. 18, p. 94). Few people realize that shells whiffle over with a sound similar to that of Jabberwocks in the tulgey woods. Sniffles to those who make their shells scream instead of whiffle.

H. W. VAUGHAN, F.A. Lieutenant Fort Sill, Okla.

Indomitable Mary

Sirs: Of Mary Churchill (TIME, Aug. 30) you say: "Most of her dates are with British and U.S. officers . . . one of them took her to see the prize fights between British and U.S. soldiers." Since I was this particular U.S. officer I can well confirm your description of Mary's gracious charm and mature intelligence. But let me add another trait: the indomitable Churchill courage against odds. . . .

Two U.S. Army softball teams were playing on a field adjacent to the ack-ack site where Mary is stationed. Our game was suddenly broken up by some 40 highly indignant British sailors. Their nearby soccer game had been broken up by the police for lack of permit to use the field. . . . Tension was critical between all of us. ... In the interests of international harmony we decided to withdraw. . . .

Just then I happened to run into Mary near by and casually informed her what had happened. Her reaction was decisive. She banged her cap on her head, her blue eyes blazed, and she strode towards the milling mob to set upon the British sailors singlehanded. But unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the sailors had disappeared. And a highly frustrated Mary seethed all over the place.

To me it was a small-scale but effective demonstration of the Churchill instinct for justice in the face of odds. Like "Papa" (as she calls him), like daughter. Incidentally, the British Admiralty apologized officially to the U.S. Army.

DAVE BREGER Lieutenant London

-- To famed Soldier Cartoonist Breger (TIME, April 5), thanks.--ED.

Why?

Sirs:

I am very much in favor of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin! I am also pleased to see a tripartite conference in progress. But why, may I ask, was a member of the Chinese diplomatic corps not invited to the Moscow conferences? Could it be that the virus of "the open door in China" is still coursing through the veins of the Western democracies? If they have that in mind they had better reshuffle their thinking. The antidote for that germ is in China, in her spirit and resolute opposition to Japan. She has had to give up much of her land, but she will never relinquish the principles she is fighting for. . . .

NORMAN C. SMITH Los Angeles

Man of the Year

Sirs:

For Man of the Year--the world's outstanding example of the realist who makes his point, not by precept but by example, J. Stalin.

EARL POORE Little Rock, Ark.

Sirs:

For obvious reasons I'm repeating my last year's nomination: Stalin.

ERNEST DUDLEY CHASE Boston

Sirs:

I nominate for Man of the Year Wendell L. Willkie, who has done so much to revive true Americanism, and who appears to be allergic to cliches.

ARTHUR H. MORSE Elmhurst, N.Y.

Sirs:

Anyone but Willkie.

WALKER L. ARNOLD Chicago

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