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Niitc; The view* of tliove who writ* letters to The Btari and Htrlp+n dn net newiiarllj coincide with thowof tlite ncvrnpnitrr, X^tterd to the editor are NOT oar editorial r*|»rw-nioti*. It le Impossible to print all letter» owing: to tJie l«rg« number received* but The Stars and Stripes endeavors to print a fair croni-wr-th»nlt; All letters mast be ilgnrd, but names will bo withheld on request* I*lease be brief-Imperialism In JavaNo doubt there are still some men who believe that the war we have just finished fighting was worth the loss of men, time, and materials, but that which is going on in Java is proof enough to me that it was just so much waste.I wonder if what the British and Dutch, aided by the U. S., are doinghas been humiliating enough In numerous instances foremen who do not know better have assigned our men chores side byside with POW’s. There was even one case in 'which an Italian POW was assigned to teach a gang of soldiers how to do the job.We want to go home . . . Spare us the bitter conviction that “the dignity of man” is nothing but a good talking point enough to fight a war over every 25 years. We are already better than half sold on that grim apprehension.FIRST LIEUTENANT, NAME WITHHELDArmyfHey9 HargrovetfYour issue of Dec. 8 carried excerpts of an address to the Na- a in Java is any worse than the ex-jtional Association of Mamifac-ploitation by the German-Japanese turers, given by one Marion Har-group? It is no less criminal for the Dutch to prevent the freedom of the Indonesians than it was for the Germans to take Poland, or for the Japanese to take Manchuria.Imperialism is just as foul as Naziism. The GIs . . . who are working around the clock to send supplies to the British and Dutch are an example of the intentions of the United States. The fact that those GIs are loading ships that they might well have expected would take them back home . . for instance, makes the situationthat much worse.Let's, “wise up.” We are dupes again.CPL. RICHARD S. ELLIOTTArmygrove. In his address he stated, v “shipping clerks and such like . . Jc were drafted into the Army and t are coming back now as lieutenant s colonels and brigadier generals.| Has Hargrove conclusive proof, f of his above statement, or is it v intended as a play upon the emotions of a listening and reading public ... 7PFC. JAMES G. ANDERSON IIIArmyOn LST TravelPuerto Rican ProtestGen. Eichelberger’s recent sate-jnent that “the big boys usually handle personnel matters” has put me to thinking whether the gripes of over 3,000 personnel in my outfit wouldn’t most effectively reach the ears of the right big boys” through your paper.Our regimental combat team— Puerto Rican infantry troops— has been away from home two years. We trained and then we traveled 6,000 miles to come here, slated for combat — which we missed. Now, since last June, all we have done is labor and fatigue.It is on account of the labor shortage that (they say) we are being held up . . . Yet the sight of a bunch of first-three-graders picking up leaves around the company area is not uncommon. Every day our men waste hundreds of man-hours in warehouses and yards—and I do not mean gold-bricking. Mismanagement is making our stay longer . . .An infantry outfit gelling thrown fa to a “labor pool*’ together with POWs ... in general, handled as the counterpart of prisoner labor,After reading your article on returning servicemen on LSTs. weknow that you have been highly misinformed.We are a bunch of Navy men that arrived here over a week ago and made the same trip on an LST from Guam. If interviews were slt;sht:gtiila:da;oJtitigiuigiven to some of us, I am sure you would have an entirely different.^ slant on the subject.To begin with, there were 600 men on our ship of which over 200 slept on the weatherdeck ex-., posed to all the elements. We did!* have temporary shelters, but they were very inadequate for a trip of that sort.The trip took 18 days due to the break-down of another ship in our convoy. Fresh water was on twice a day and then shut off entirely during the last few days of the trip. We had two meats a day and were cut to K-rations on the last two days.Now, if you honestly think that traveling on an LST is pleasant, in try it sometime, under the same conditions as we did and I guarantee you would feel as bad as we did after reading your little article.D. H. H1EDMAN AM 3/cNavyPerhaps your trip «n more rugged than that of (he men polled m the ISTs mentioned in our story, hut we do know they voted conditions satisfactory.ItNthwat33Hiaotmfrri«lt;k
Newspaper Details
Middle Pacific Stars and Stripes
Honolulu, Hawaii, US
Sat, Dec 15, 1945
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Noemi F.
FL, USA 22 Aug 2021
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