Appointment in Salonika

After two years as chief correspondent for CBS in the Middle East, George W. Polk, 34, was ready to go home. But first, he told friends, he wanted a feather for his cap: an interview with Communist Guerrilla Chief Markos Vafiades. It was a dangerous trip, but he was used to danger. Only a fortnight ago Polk had reportedly brushed off threats to kill him for his criticism of the Greek government.

A Navy fighter and dive-bomber pilot in the war, he had been shot down in the Solomons, hospitalized for a year. As a newsman, he had been around: to Alaska, Shanghai and New York Herald Tribune posts in Washington and Paris.

Last week Polk left his Salonika hotel. He never came back. Three days after he left, his wife arrived from Athens, expecting to join him for a short trip into Macedonia. She found his typewriter and other equipment in his room; that ruled out the theory that he had already gone on his mission to Markos. The same day, police got his identity card in the mail.

This week they found George Polk. His body, bound hand & foot, was found floating in the bay at Salonika. He had been shot in the back of the head.

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