"The Old Men Came Out Again"
Sirs:
I should like to offer the opinion that basis of the maladjustment of the returning "G.I." is his sense of frustration--a frustration expressed by T. E. Lawrence after the last World War in the following bitter words:
"We lived many lives in those whirling campaigns, never sparing ourselves any good or evil: yet when we had achieved, and the new world dawned, the old men came out again, and took from us our victory and remade it in the likeness of the former world they knew. Youth could win, but had not learned to keep, and was pitiably weak against age. We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly, and made their peace. When we are their age, no doubt we shall serve our children so."
The form of the world, at home and abroad, is even now being shaped, and the outline of this new world, even as reported in TIME, looks terrifyingly like the old.
What we want and need is 1) a sense of direction, 2) enthusiasm for our future, 3) promise of a society where the watchword will be "work and livelihood for willing hands." This as opposed to 1) confusion as to our aims, 2) fear of the future, 3) promise of unemployment benefits and old-age security.
We are not naturally pessimists or reformers or radicals, neither are we intentionally superpatriots or heroes. We are simply sober American youths who wonder where the hell we are headed. . . .
[NAVY OFFICER'S NAME WITHHELD] c/o Fleet P.O. New York City
Flag for Formosa
Sirs:
If and when the Island of Formosa falls, the flag of what nation will fly over it? ...
A. B. CONANT Hanover, Mass.
P:The flag of its conqueror. Before the conquering Japs came in 1895, Formosa flew the triangular Imperial flag of China's Ching Dynasty -- a blue dragon on a yellow background.--ED.
Division Tributes
Sirs:
Your tribute to General Hodges (TiME, Oct. 16) was excellent. Would it be possible to give due tribute to some of the divisions that make up the armies in Europe--Pacific too, for that matter? Many names of divisions have been released for publication, yet they receive little credit in current periodicals. . . .
MRS. DAVID M. BATEY
Miami
P:TIME has printed news of many a division, but field censorship often delays it to the point of staleness.--ED.
Journalistic Skulduggery?
Sirs:
The late Dr. Andrew E. Breen, noted Roman Catholic Biblical authority, claimed that one of the chief proofs of the divinity of the Church was the fact that it had existed 1,900 years in the hands of men who were frequently incompetent.
That Dr. Breen was probably right became evident recently (TIME, Oct. 23) when San Francisco's Archbishop John Mitty and Monsignor Harold Collins accused the San Francisco News of antagonism to the Church and instituted a boycott against that paper because it had dared to print that one of Archbishop Mitty's priests had been arrested for drunken driving. . . .
By what new norms of logic does Archbishop Mitty conclude that the News is bigoted because it reveals that a Catholic clergyman is capable of sin? If the Church in the archdiocese of San Francisco is so decrepit that it will totter if it becomes known that one of its priests woos John Barleycorn, Pope Pius would do well to appoint a capable successor to Archbishop Mitty.
VERNON McNuLTY Columbus, Wis.
Sirs:
"Catholic Campaign" is a shoddy piece of smear. That issue treats the Church with TIME'S typical journalistic skulduggery regarding things Catholic. It would throw a sop to the gullible in the form of a picture of Pope Pius XII and Sister Mary Elaine. Do not palm the smear off on the pretense of freedom of the press. That item makes news only because it throws dung at the magnificent structure of the Church.
I feel the same toward that flat-bottomed mud-splatterer of TIME as for the man who kicks my mother in the teeth. I would treat him the same. TIME has been getting by too long with stalking the Church, always ready to deliver a stab in the back. It has not the guts to come out in open opposition. The Church is aroused slowly, but when she does act, look out. The Catholics of San Francisco will take care of the News; the Catholics of the U.S. will take care of TIME.
JOHN F. GALLAGHER Chaplain
Portland Army Air Base Portland, Ore.
Sirs:
I am a Catholic. I think my religion the most beautiful in the world. But congratulations to the San Francisco News and to TIME for their "account" regarding the priest ar rested for drunken driving with a woman companion. Archbishop Mitty's use ot the terms "antagonistic" and "bigoted," because the News printed the story, makes me both laugh, and feel a bit nauseated, too! ...
I've known priests that I revered and loved and thought saintly. The vast majority are of the finest caliber. But, in this case, so far as I can see, Archbishop Mitty and his "sheep" following him in his "Catholic Campaign" are definitely the "bigoted" ones. . . .
C. W. GORMAN Boston
Sirs:
... I do not think that it is a matter of great moment whether the chance indiscretion of a clergyman be reported or not, but it is highly important that attempts to intimidate the press be given the fullest possible publicity.
F. HOWARD CALLAHAN, D.D.
The Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew New York City
What Are We Fighting Against?
Sirs:
Reporter Jack Belden goes off the deep end when he states that "our men do not believe they are fighting for anything. Not one in a hundred has any deep-seated political belief" (TIME, Sept. 25). . . .
American G.I.s cannot be compared to Belden's politically impassioned acquaintances in some of the armies of our Allies. There is a difference in fighting for something you have and something you want. Americans are fighting for something we already have, not a new "order" or system. Having it to begin with makes that something more personal than political. Being personal, it is none of Belden's business.
Basically our fight is against "something." From my experience I should say 99 out of every 100 not only know what they are fighting against, but why they are fighting. . . . V. H. MITCHELL Captain
c/o Postmaster San Francisco
"Battle for the Marianas"
Sirs:
I was particularly pleased with the review which TIME (Oct. 2) gave the motion picture, Battle for the Marianas, because of the fact that your reviewer seemed to appreciate my almost exact thoughts while editing this picture at Warner Brothers. . . .
I do wish to point out for your information, however, the fact that there was no intention to be "overtactful" in the fast cutting from the hit Marine. I should like to have been able to show more of that particular scene, but unfortunately the burst from the Japanese machine-gun fire which hit the Marine in the picture caught the cameraman and stopped his camera with Death. . . .
G. McGuiRE PIERCE Lieutenant Colonel, U.S.M.C. Washington
Puppy in the Pot
Sirs:
In TIME (Oct. 2) appears a reference and a picture of George Catlin, painter, writer, and authority on the American Indian. George Catlin was a great-great-uncle of mine. One particularly delightful anecdote which has come down in the family concerns a feast given to a visitor, a friend of Catlin's. As the assemblage sat on the ground, a squaw passed behind the tenderfoot and whispered hospitably, "Dig deep, white man; puppy in bottom of pot. . . ."
FLORENCE CATLIN BROWN Coronado, Calif.
"Him Good People"
Sirs:
A party of officers accompanied me on a tour of one of the well-known battle areas a few days ago. ... As we sat and smoked, a great strapping Fuzzy happened along on a fishing expedition. He was handsome with his necklaces and arm bands and his blue lap-lap, and appeared interested in us, so we called him over to our jeep.
We loaded his arms with raisins, peanuts, cigarets, candy, sugar and the other stores left over from our lunch. . . . His eyes glistened with pleasure. He stepped back, barely able to retain a grip on his spear, knapsack, and load of rations, but still in possession of his dignity. "American, him good people!" he said, with emphasis, with which high compliment he left us. It was quite the nicest compliment we could possibly have been vouchsafed. . . .
Perhaps if we could develop such simple confidence in ourselves, we would be better fitted to receive the generous confidence of such people as our Fuzzy friend.
[SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD] Somewhere in New Guinea
Where Potatoes Are Potatoes?
Sirs:
From various stories and articles I have read, I get the impression that all men of the armed forces use an odd slang in which nothing is referred to by its right name. I can't speak for the Army, but so far as I have observed in the Marine Corps, a spade is a spade. Viz., potatoes are potatoes, bread is bread, catsup (when we have it) is catsup.
We do have some expressions and a few adjectives, adverbs and participles perhaps unfamiliar. Hash on toast is, roughly translated, slop on a shingle. Telling a tall story is snowing. But in the main, we seem to talk quite ordinarily, only somewhat more vigorously than we did as civilians. Even in the Air Corps we call an airplane a ship or a plane, and we do not "rev her up," we only run up the engines and fly around hoping we won't be "jumped by the Nips, shot down in flames and have to hit the silk."
I don't know. Maybe somewhere they talk like that. It's a long war. What does it matter? Semper fidelis, "flyboy."*
(T SGT.) JOHN B. WHITE c/o Fleet P.O. San Francisco
P:Mac,/- you're snowing.--ED.
"I Was Mobbed"
Sirs:
... Of all the Stateside products that reached us in the Pacific, TIME was by far the most popular.
The old gag repeated in the midst of battle about waiting for TIME to arrive so we could see what the -- we were doing was familiar. All I had to do with the Pony Edition was to step out on deck and I was mobbed. . . . Sometimes the copies would reach us as far afield as the Marshall Islands on the very date of issue.
With very sincere appreciation of TIME'S assiduous efforts to keep the fighting man informed. You certainly have done a grand job.
FRANCIS B. SAYRE JR. Chaplain, U.S.N.R.
Washington
*Airman.
/-Any Marine.
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