Paying for Prowess

ARMED FORCES

U.S. Navy Captain Archie Kuntze, 46, is a bemedaled battler and an able administrator. As U.S. supply chief in South Viet Nam last year, he handled the suffocating inundation of U.S. men and materiel with such pervasive authority that he was dubbed -- and happilly proclaimed himself -- "the American mayor of Saigon." Last week, like many an American mayor before him, Kuntze (pronounced Koont-zee) found himself on public trial for all the semiprivate sins that high office invites.

Soon after his arrival in the capital, Kuntze demonstrated his logistical prow ess by requisitioning Jannie Suen, a sinuous Chinese miss who was 19 years his junior. The Saigon siren and the Wisconsin salt, who was divorced be fore going to Viet Nam, merrily made the rounds of the diplomatic circuit, threw their own swinging rumpuses in Kuntze's quasi embassy at No. 74 Hong Thap Tu, Vietnamese for Red Cross Street.

Long Arm. Suddenly last summer, Kuntze was shipped home. This month the Navy was ready to outline why. In a World War II barracks at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, Kuntze went before a court martial to face charges of importing bolt upon bolt of Thai silk and other fabrics into Viet Nam "in excess of his demonstrable personal need," illegally converting $12,000 worth of Vietnamese piastres and U.S. military scrip into dollars, and--possibly the most offensive of all sins to his shore-based seniors--installing Jannie as his mistress.

The Navy left little doubt as to its view of the motive, and implicitly the beneficiary, of Kuntze's dealings. The prosecution quoted the defendant as saying: "I did it all for Jannie." Kuntze volunteered that he had "contemplated matrimony" with Miss Suen, but maintained that the pleasure of her company was justified by her role as interpreter and "unofficial hostess." The defense intimated that Kuntze was being made a scapegoat by a "long arm in a civilian sleeve"--presumably the State Department--for the massive diversion of U.S. supplies into Saigon's black market.

The court, composed of three admirals and six captains, found Kuntze guilty of three acts unbecoming an officer: 1) allowing Jannie to reside "openly and notoriously" in his official quarters; 2) letting her use a U.S. Government vehicle; and 3) illegally importing 250 yards of black cloth. Kuntze was. handed a reprimand and reduced in seniority by 100 numbers--thus ending his naval career; he in turn announced his intention to retire by year's end.

Apart from Kuntze's blatant indiscretion the prosecution was plainly a reflection of the Administration's growing concern over the serious leakage of stores in Viet Nam, an obvious target for Republican criticism in the next Congress. Just as clearly, the Navy's delicate handling of the case showed its reluctance to implicate any highly placed Vietnamese officials who might have a more lucrative interest in logistics. As for Jannie Suen, Captain Kuntze's original sin, naval intelligence solemnly reported that she had disappeared without trace.

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