Show F 0 veterans Yet erans administration aps capable leader general beailley Bradley Br ailley lias has Fa fatherly dierly interest in veterans actions slimy show his Alff ability lity to administer this big jol job B by commentator Comme and nowa analyst service 1616 eye st N W 1 U C I 1 have just come back from a visit with the father of 15 million 0 that such a farfetched far fetched figure figura to use in describing the tall rangy who is ia in charge of 1 he biggest business in the i world which is in how th they ey describe the Vet veterans eraAs administration in washington to call omar nelson bradley v father of the service gervice men and women stretching it ernle ernie pyle once said if I 1 could pick any two men in the world for my 4 j father axce except p t my own dad I 1 would pick general omar bradley or general ike eisenhower Elsen hower if I 1 had a son would like him to go to bradley or iko ike for advice ernle ernie was A pretty keen judge of human h nature on the hoof I 1 thought of that when one of brad leys co in the tee veterans AtI administration ministrAtion who la is almost a decade older than the general said fatherly was the way to describe the manner in which he was treated the first time they had a problem to straighten out with the boss and then I 1 met the general f 1 I 1 found a weather beaten wiry long legged 18 whose eyes twinkled brighter than tho the four stars on hla his collar fatherly yes i and ill bavota have word about that a little later but bat I 1 found out something else I 1 found out why he ha ought to be able to ruh run one of the hardest jobs jobo in the govern i meat and ill admit right off I 1 A if it bounds sounds almost too good to bo be N true we had been talking about tho the details of the reorganization of the agency which esnow is now going on and general bradley is minutely familiar then I 1 asked hm him what it was it if anything in hla military training and expert ence that li ho could use in his pros ft 1 ent position lie ile sd SAM that ho he thought it was 01 tho the same name with all jobs such as this and here is tho the theory on which he works first build your organization on functional lines second got get the right man to liend head up each function third give him f ull full re to act on his own authority thorl tho rity ty 11 how I 1 inquired does this tit fit in with your military experience having baying had some of that branch i of adventure myself although acu icu nning a 4 platoon running an army its a good deal alko the amy f ho 0 answered you haye have your stuff staff you have say 20 sections each eth a special especial function work ing under your chief of staff sometimes of course you ou group i bame of the functions but the organization is along functional lines n ea and how I 1 asked do you ou choose the men to head up these thesa various activities ills his answer came cama back without the slightest hesitation 1 I choose a man first for his ability ity second for his loyalty and I 1 count heavily on the loyalty got get loyal men of ability and youve gone a long way toward solving your problems in any organization 11 that sounded pretty good to ito me but what about the present situation where after all there Is ia always a congress on capitol hill a congress with constituents who have votes and some soma of whom want jobs I 1 asked the general what about politics political t ile ha seem worried ile he said that ho he had any trouble im not a politician lelau he said 1 I never intend to dunfor run for office that was all he ha would soy say but bui here is a story I 1 picked up later fit at the other end of pennsylvania avenue A certain congressman got a hot bot letter from a u constituent who i had been fired from the veterans administration no douht doubt with dus due cause lie ile hot footed it up to the general and spoke as legis gators often do to officials with considerable vigor i 1 I want the man re hired nt at once the congressman demanded the general was wa polite but sorry borry lie ile stood by his decision if you dont ill attack you yoa on tho the floor go ahead said bradley faintly recalling I 1 imagine some of tho the attacks in normandy ill block your bills bald the irate Cone congressman ressman that was a horse of a different diffene nt color you will said the general all right and if you do that ill go to tho president with my resignation hell got get that or ind find a means to stop atop you period we all know about tho the generals war record in tunisia on the normandy beachhead among the hedgerows hedge rows where he smashed a gateway at st lo 10 0 o which made mada Pat pattona tons lightning drive possible gut but we know much about the man most moat of us know ho he was from missouri and later some gome of us might have suspected that that was tho the reason why he was picked although the president said it was because lie ha wanted a world war II 11 soldier to talce take care of tho the wants of word war II 11 veterans now we hive have some other reasons for or believing that the choice was predicated on wise advice and sa is going to prove prova itse itself it A fortunate one on the borno horno bonso side it to Is because bradley has established a record as an administrator he proved that in the army and had bad the acumen to see the chief fault ault in the veterans vet erana organization antl and has sot set out to remedy it on the emotional side well ernle ernie pyle was right the trouble with the veterans administration was that it grow s so 0 rapt rapidly ily that it have timo time to delegate authority and there was wan another reason for this it wa was s built on what seemed avory a very sound bound theory lots lets take its services serviced to the tha veteran for instance ina tanco small hos hospitals were scattered till all over the country many in little commit gities where the veteran could got get to them easily but that work out it hii hard to get expert medical dpn good service and tho the latest equipment in tho the smaller communities and because the regional organization was waa spread so BO thin it was necessary to havo have a strong strona g hand in washington tho the result was that the grip of that hand was so tight that the tha whole system was crampe cramped d bradley put his finger on the situation with the help of well chosen coi counsel insel and reversed tho the former policy now its ita bring the veteran vo to tho the hospital bring him by rail or plans plane in an emor gency but bring him to a well manned veit w en equipped center in whose hose size gize aud importance will ivill attract tho the best there thare is in medical skill when ho he needs specialized care hand tn in hand with this regional centralization af pf of the medical fic basill ties the new organization has do de centralized the tha authority As soon as aa bradley looked over the tha sot up he said this to Is like having a regi ments under one man in the army that would be unthinkable wed break it down into corps and divisions at least 11 and so BO that is what ivas was done but first firs tho he mado made a sharp cleavage bot between wien tho the medical organization and the rest of the activities lie ho created a new office acting surgeon general of the veterans veteran administration and lie ho appointed the best beat man he ha knew major general Genora paul lPaul ramsey 11 hawley w who had been chief surgeon for tho european theater and did an outstanding job and hero here I 1 wonder if theta one of those important unconscious childhood impressions which helped Br Brad adleys laya middle name nelson is for a well loved family physician and Br adleys fatherliness is attested to in his interest in tho the physical welfare of 0 hla his men again and again war correspondents mentioned the met fact that ho he planned engagements so ao that his troops would suffer the tha lowest fewest casualties possible ile ho has haa an instinctive understanding of the tha afflicted |