Seven Stars for Juin

Marshal of France is a fine old title that goes back to 1185. In recent years it was tarnished by Petain, but given new luster by Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, who got it posthumously. Last week the Republic picked two more: the late Philippe Leclerc de Hautecloque (killed in a 1947 plane crash) and Alphonse Juin.

The announcement, coming the same week that Juin assumed command of NATO's European land forces, set SHAPE'S protocol officers to biting their nails. With his marshal's baton and seven-starred, oak-and laurel-leaf-encrusted kept Juin will outrank his new boss, four-star General Ridgway (who is also outranked by another subordinate, Britain's Field Marshal Montgomery). Probable solution: a fifth star for Ridgway.

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