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Show :-'V Sees It itg Weatbrvok Pegier heleased by WNU Features. )N PAGE nine of her memoirs of her service in the war as General Dwlght Eisenhower's chauffeur and secretary, Kay Sum-mersby, Sum-mersby, then an English civilian but later, by Eisenhower's favor, a captain of the American WACS, writes of her attachment to an American colonel. This officer had a wife and child in the United States during one year of their association as-sociation and including the time of their betrothal. Soon after she met General Eisenhower, Eisen-hower, seemingly by chance but possibly by plan of ? the British foreign J office or war office, . ' m he "hurled dozens vivi i ' Quest'ons a me Vt kyr i about women am- j I hulance drivers" ''-'-N I d "women's role .iAvrf"' n the war." Miss ' V... ( Summcrsby had lance in the Lon-PEGLER Lon-PEGLER don blitz and was now. in her own words, in process of oozing into the personal and official of-ficial household of the man with the duty of behaving according to the moral code of West Point, and. Indeed, In-deed, the code of the crusaders, as an example to others. There is absolutely no discount from this code for West Point men either in tha military academy or later. At the time when Miss Sum-mersby Sum-mersby says Eisenhower burled the dozens of questions at ber she was driving his limousine and was definitely assigned to this duty by the British. She explains that in the summer of 1941, about the time the big blitz ended, she "ran into an American colonel at a cocktail party." "He mentioned," Life she continues, "That Was his little group of 17 n ,. officer 'observers' Uuli (then in civilian clothes as America wasn't in the war) needed drivers who knew London. Lon-don. I told him about our work and how life at post No. 1 had turned dull. Several days later, a few motor transport corps girls were transferred to U. S. army headquarters." head-quarters." A few pages later she is referring to this officer as "My own, my very special American." who had been her "Very special American ever since the days when I was an ambulance driver and he was a United States army 'observer' at the embassy." That time definitely was during the life of his marriage. mar-riage. This marriage was terminated by divorce in Reno one year after the meeting mentioned by Miss Sum mersby. This officer and General Elsenhower El-senhower were fellow members of the West Point alumni and obligated by traditions of honor which discountenance disloyalty in personal as well as military relations. There were only a small corps of West Pointers in the army, and this colonel was known to Eisenhower as a West Point man. On Page 34. Eisenhower asks Kay "Would you like to go along?" on the invasion of North Africa. "I was almost shouting," she says, "As I explained that Dick undoubtedly un-doubtedly would be heading the direction of the forthcoming invasion. in-vasion. I would do anything to be somewhere near him. Ike knew about Dick. No further emphasis was required. "It'll be in about Telling a month or so," he said, warning of the need for extreme se- Secret curity. Although Eisenhower had blabbed this vital or mortal secret to an - English woman who lacked even a prctpnse of military status or special spe-cial qualification for essential work. Miss Summcrsby was in a great swivet about the need for secrecy. On page 45 Miss Summcrsby, now safe ashore at Oran, gives a picture of a bossy dame bawling out American officers who had the temerity to give attention to more, serious matters than her imperious imperi-ous desires. Sha wanted to telephone tele-phone Algiers and a lieutenant, a major and finally a colonel appeared ap-peared to question her. At this point she writes, " 'Look here,' I said In exasperation, exaspera-tion, 'I've Just been rescued from a torpedoed ship. 1 want to rail General Elsenhower and tell him his staff Is safe. And I want to get orders what to do next. Do you mind?' " "Do you mind?" Is in italics, for peculiar emphasis. "Thi one magic word Elsenhower-got me the telephone." As far as the war was concerned It made no difference whether she was safe or dead or what sha did next. Out Eisenhower had nothing more urgent to do than get on the phont and even put General Mark Clark on. By some oversight ha didn't manage to talk Individually to all th American men and women who went into tht water when the same hip went down. |