Face of the Tiger

Sirs: "It is Claire Chennault's face that stops a man . ." (TIME, Dec. 6).

No less a man than the Prime Minister of Great Britain was stopped by this face upon meeting him for the first time at the White House in May 1943.

Answering a direct question by President Roosevelt . . . Churchill said in substance, "My, what a face, what a face; I'm glad he's on our side."

My authority: Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.

ALFRED R. ROCHESTER Seattle

Lugubrious Cow

Sirs: About the time of the change from Standard to War Time, you printed a picture of a cow--"And what about the dew?" (TIME,

July 28, 1941). In other words, would the poor old cows be able to readjust their day ? ...

I pasted it up in a kitchen cupboard to help take my mind off the dishwashing. Now we have a friend who covets that picture. He laughs over it every time he comes into my kitchen, and says "What'll you take for it?" I won't let him have it.

But I'd like a blown-up print of that picture to give him for Christmas. I'm counting on TIME. How about it?

(MRS.) KENNETH S. HOUGHTON

Canoza Park, Calif.

> Cow airmailed.--ED. -

Landing in Tarawa

Sirs: I believe that Robert Sherrod's story of Tarawa Island capture in your Dec. 6 issue is some of the finest on-the-spot reporting I have ever read. . . Sherrod portrayed very graphically the unquenchable spirit of our Marines. We can't be beat with a spirit like that.

DONALD ROBBINS Lubbock, Tex.

Not the Chaplain

Sirs: It is with great regret that I have heard of the misinterpretation by some persons of the description of Tel Aviv given me by Colonel Jack P. Morison, post chaplain at the AAF Training Center in Miami Beach, in an interview for TIME (Dec. 6).

It must have resulted from my failure to be more explicit that the chaplain was merely describing Tel Aviv in terms of its attractions for the servicemen on tour, and that he was not describing his own impressions. Particularly so in the case of the beer.

... I am deeply upset to find that what I wrote . . . has hurt him.

HENNING HELDT

Miami > Said Chaplain Morison: "A bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon coming out of the desert is quite a treat." Obviously Southern Baptist Morison meant a treat to tourists, not himself.--ED.

"One Thing I Beg"

Sirs: As a U.S. Marine, I am not in the habit of begging anyone for anything, but there is one thing I will beg for. I beg my fellow citizens to give the loyal Japanese-Americans their God-given right to the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that, I sincerely hope, is guaranteed by our Constitution.

I landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942, and have as much dislike for Japanese militarism as anyone, but please, let's give these fellows a chance. How about it, Americans?

(SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD) San Diego

Leaks and Beats

Sirs: With what glee certain egocentric commentators and papers unfriendly to our Allies seize upon the Lisbon leak to castigate Reuters and attribute, by inference, that it was Britain's perfidy again.

I do not remember that these same commentators and newspapers paid such attention to a really dangerous leak printed in the Chicago Tribune on Dec. 4, 1941. . . .

In this instance, highly confidential military information concerning a possible A.E.F. for Europe and the total force of the U.S. Army was revealed. . . .

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson denounced this as an act of persons "so wanting in loyalty and patriotism" as to reveal military secrets to the enemy. I suppose there must be some sort of camaraderie between newspaper publishers which prevents them from exposing such weaknesses. . . .

WYNDHAM MARTYN Santa Monica, Calif.

>Reader Martyn, novelist (The Ghost City Crimes, Capture, etc., etc.) and editor (The New Yorker, 1906; Pearson's Magazine, 1915) wants his memory jogged. The Tribune's irresponsible break the week before Pearl Harbor was well publicized in U.S. newspapers, drew a column in TIME (Dec. 15, 1941).--ED.

Horns, Tails, Wings

Sirs: A friend of mine who is a spy has just returned from Europe. ... He states that throughout the continent an amazing phenomenon has been observed. . . .

The Germans are growing horns. The condition was originally noticed last July among some of the older people in Silesia. . . Recently children have been born with horns well over an inch long, located immediately above the ears. Every attempt has been made to correct the abnormality by surgical operation and medical treatment, but such activities have only served to stimulate the growths.

My friend stated that ... he heard an unverified rumor that several babies had been born in Mannheim with short tails. ... He would not vouch for the complete accuracy of such statements, though he did comment . . . that Germans had taken to wearing their pants overlarge and baggy (known as zooten suiten)....

This is the most important scientific event since the development of the theory of the Aryan race. The news is not entirely unexpected to those of us who, like Clifton Fadiman and Noel Coward, were already acquainted with the nature of German character.

My friend states that he intends to remain in the U.S. for several months and then go to England, for he has heard that a set of twins were born in Sussex with wings. He is awaiting news of a similar event, in the U.S.

RICHARD M. WEISS St. Louis

Maps and the War

Sirs: The dizzy pace of geographical events in this war has left me, and probably most TIME readers, in a whirl of strange names and unheard-of places. If it were not for the excellent maps of R. M. Chapin Jr., I am sure most of us would still be peering at our world maps in puzzled anxiety trying to locate such mad names as Krivoi Rog and Kolombangara. . . .

Therefore my suggestion--immediately following the war, why doesn't TIME publish a concise book of Chapin maps covering the period from Hitler's march through Europe through our march on Berlin and Tokyo, with editorial explanation? . . .

ELEANOR S. SCHULTZ

Arcadia, Calif.

-- Reader Schultz's suggestion is filed for postwar consideration.--ED.

To the Legion

Sirs: Thanks for American Legion National Commander Warren Atherton's statement: "We'll start a bonfire that will burn that Washington squirrel cage down unless the men returning from war get their just deserts (TIME, Dec. 6).

Now step aside.

Who in the hell is Warren Atherton to say that he'll start a bonfire if we don't return home to our "just deserts"?

Aren't our "just deserts" dead Nazis and Japs, blood-stained victory standards, boat and plane and train trips home, our families, friends? For what are fighting men dying? Bonuses? . . .

I take it the Commander speaks of future Legion policy. By what right should the Legion fashion a bloc to perpetuate itself?

I say "No!" to him. What say other American servicemen?

(S/SGT) MELVIN SCHIFTER

New Orleans

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