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Show j'HE RICH COUNTY REAPER Starved Allied Soldiers Freed RANDOLPH. UTAH Kachin Hero Home Veterans Administration Has Capable Leader ( General Bradley Has Fatherly Interest in Veterans ; Actions Show His Ability to Administer This Big Job By BAUKHAGE Commentator and News Analyst WNU Service, 1616 Eye St., N. W Washington, D. C. I have just come back from a visit with the father of 15 million. That isnt such a figure to use in describing the tall, rangy Missourian, who is in charge of the biggest business in the world, which is how they describe the Veterans Administration in far-fetch- ed Capt. Charles Coussoule, leader of the famed Kachin rangers, which snaked through swampy Burma jungles to beat the Japs at their own game, is shown upon his arrival in New York City. The physical condition of these two members of the British Royal artillery, is representative of thousands of Allied soldiers freed from Japanese prwon camps by American troops. They are shown relaxing on the hanger deck of the USS Black Island, one of the liberation ships that has been set aside to see that former prisoners are rushed home. Musician Hath Farm . - v v V i . Dickie Gives Toots a Pedicure Washington. To call Omar Nelson Bradley father of the service men and women isnt stretching it. Ernie Pyle once said: If I could pick any two men in the wOrld for my father except my own Dad, I would pick General Omar Bradley or General Ike Eisenhower. If I had a son, I would like him to go to Bradley or Ike for advice. Ernie was a pretty keen judge of human nature on the hoof. I thought of that when one of Bradin the Veterans leys who is almost a Administration, 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 met the General. I found a weather-beatewiry, soldier,' whose eyes twinkled brighter than the four stars on his collar. Fatherly, yes and Ill have a word about that a little later. But I found out something else. I found out why he ought to be able to run one of the hardest jobs in the government. And Ill admit, right off, it sounds almost too good to be n, long-legg- Paul Whiteman, insert, and entrance to the farm of the erstwhile Dickie, eight-months-o- ld pet parakeet, perches atop her canine King of Jazz. Whiteman a paying proposition out of which he has stocked with cattle, horses and poultry. much of his own work. play- mate, Toots, puppy, as they frolic on the rug in the home of their owner in Detroit. Dickie seems to be giving Toots a pedicure by the simple expedient of pecking at Toots claw. This is a daily job which the parakeet has taken over for his paL has made his farm, purebred He does Enroute To Husbands Went Into Business for Himself Nicholas Kocheck, was given a gun and went into business for himself. credit for knocking out more tanks and killing more Germans than many divisions, while he was AWOL and serving with the French underground. He is shown wearing the French beret. He said he deserted army as he did not like to peel potatoes. Court martial cleared him of charge. He was given . Some of the hundred and twenty of brides and twenty brides-to-b- e members of Royal Australian Air Forces are shown as they arrived in Seattle enroute to San Francisco. The delegation will embark for Australia to join their husbands and fiances whom they met in Canada. . ed true. We had been talking about the details of the reorganization of the agency which is now going on and with which General Bradley is minutely familiar. Then I asked him what it was, if anything, in his military training and experience that he could use in his present position. He said that he thought it was the same with all jobs such ' as this. And here is the theory on which, he works: First, build your organization on functional lines. Second, get the right man to head up each function. Third, give him full responsibility to act on his own authority. How, I inquired, does this fit in with your military experience, having had some of that branch of adventure myself although running a platoon isnt running an army. Its a good deal like the army, You have your he answered. staff. You have say 20 sections, each with a special function, working under your chief of staff. Sometimes, of course, you group some of the functions, but the organization is along functional lines. And how, I asked, do you choose the men to head up these various activities? His answer came back without the slightest hesitation. I choose a man, first for his ability, second for his loyalty and I count heavily on the loyalty. Get loyal men of ability and youve gone a long way toward solving your problems in any organiza- tion. That sounded pretty good to me, but what about the present situation where, after all, there is always a Congress on Capitol Hill, a Congress with constituents who have votes and some of whom want jobs. I asked the General, He didnt what about politics? seem worried. He said that he hadnt had any trouble. "Im not a politician, he said. I never intend to run for office. That was all he would say, but here is a story I picked up later at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. - Ascertain Congressman got a hot letter from a constituent who had been fired from the Veterans No doubt with Administration. it up to due cause. He the General and spoke, aa legist lators often do to officials, with considerable vigor. at want the man once, the Congressman demanded. The General was polite but sorry. hot-foot- 1 Canoes are now Wing mad of aluminum. Photo shows the buoyancy of the new water craft. ed re-hir- ed He stood by his decision. i If you dont, Ill attack you on the floor. Go ahead, said Bradley, faintly recalling, I imagine, some of the1 attacks in Normandy. Ill block your bills, said the irate Congressman. That was a horse of a different color. . You will? said the General. All right, and if you do that, Ill go to the President with my resignation. Hell get that or find a means to stop you. (Period.) We all knew about the Generals war record in Tunisia, on the Normandy beachhead, among the hedgerows, where he smashed a gateway at St. Lo which made Pattons lightning drive possible. But we didnt know much about the man. Most of us didnt know ' he was from Missouri and later some of us might have suspected that that was the reason why he was picked, although the President said it was because he wanted a World War II soldier to take care of the wants of World War II Now we have some veterans. other reasons for believing that the choice was predicated on wise advice and is going to prove itself a fortunate one. On the horse-sens- e side, it is because Bradley has established a He record as an administrator. proved that in the army and had the acumen to see the chief fault in the veterans organization and , has set out to remedy it. On the emotional side well, Ernie Pyle was right. The trouble with the Veterans Administration was that it grew so rapidly that it didnt have time to delegate authority. 'And there was another reason for this. It was built on what seemed a very sound theory. Lets take its services to the veteran. For instance, small hospitals were scattered all over the country, many in little communities where the veteran could get to them easily. But that didnt work out. It was hard to get ex- - . pert medical men, good service and the latest equipment in the smaller communities and because the regional organization was spread so thin, it was necessary to have a strong hand in Washington. The result was that the grip of that hand was so tight that the whole system was cramped. Bradley put his finger on the situation (with the help of counsel) and reversed the former policy. Now its bring the yetaran to the hospital. Bring him by rail or plane in an emergency, but bring him to a well-chos- en well-manne- well-equipp- d, center whose size and importance will attract the best there is in medical skill, when he needs specialized care. Hand in hand with this regional centralization of the medical facilities, the new organization has decentralized the authority. As soon as Bradley looked over the set-u- p he said: This i3 like having a 150 regi-- ' ments under one man. In the army that would be unthinkable. Wed break it down into corps and divisions at least. And so that is what was done. But first he made a sharp cleavage between the medical organization and the rest of the activities. He created a new office, Acting Surgeon General of the Veterans And he ap- Administration. pointed the best man he knew,. Major General Paul Ramsey Hawley, who had been chief surgeon for the European theater and did an outstanding job. And here I wonder if there wasnt one of those important un- -, conscious childhood impressions which helped. Bradleys middle name, Nelson, is for a family physician. And Bradleys! fatherliness is attested to in his interest in the physical welfare of , his men. Again and again war. correspondents mentioned the fact, that he planned engagements so that his troops would suffer the fewest casualties possible. He has an instinctive understanding of the afflicted. , well-lov- ed ! |