Letters

...A Reply to Steinhardt From CHARLES yale HARRISON (Am an wer to a Utter from Goer go I. Steinhardt, printed hor* lemt week) To the Sdttor: READING George I, Steinhardt's angry letter In these columns last week, I was reminded of C. E. Montague's remarks that "war hsth no fury like s non-combatant" Wrapped in Old Glory and the Articles of War, Steinhardt takes me to task for dsring to speak with some sympathy of those of our fighting men who cannot And it in their hearts to carry out tbe Army's non-fraternization orders...

...Since liberals and radicala of ail shades have failed miserably in their ideological war on totalitarianism, some of these former disciples of Debs, Hillquit snd Norman Thomas, out of some political lllogic, hare now embraced the philosophy of those whom they opposed in the psst...

...Would he say that Congressmen Gore should hsve been silenced on the floor of the House when he msds thsse remarks...

...In those days no en-lightened poison was hoodwinked by the Natl snd Fsscist propaganda that Mussolini snd Hitler were in any way rep-reaentstive of the Italian and German people...

...Steinhardt, I with you to know that I applaud that unknown toldier'i act...

...Does Steinhardt feel that this material should not have been printed in tbe Con ¦ ?rettwnal Record...

...Yon reelt'z», of court*, Steinhardt, that thi* toldier'i aet of timplt l.indne** wat in violation of the Army'* ordert on fraternization and that h* wot Kahl» to a IfiS fine...

...Instead, I offer in evidence s speech made by Congressman Albert Gore in the House of Representatives on March 19...

...She wss s few minutes Iste in returning home...

...Congressman Gore continues: "Then st Herzogenrath this Incident hsppened...

...I should feel moved to quote favorably some GI opposition to this racial idiocy, would Steinhardt object on the grounds thst I was undermining Army discipline...

...An American soldier, who had been wstching tho procedure, walked over snd kicked the Belgisn gnani soundly and gsve him a thrashing, whereupon he got into his jeep snd drove off...

...Because Gore's material is firsthand and because it throws considerable light on the problem of fraternisation, I offer here rather extended quotations: "I find it very difficult to describe the attitude of an American soldier toward German civilians with whom he is thrown...

...An Americsn soldier picked the crying boy up, took his handkerchief and wiped the mud from the lad's face, carried him to his home, gsve him s piece of candy snd went on his way...

...Even the most essusl resding of my column will prove thst I merely commented on sn AP dispatch, cleared uy tbe SHAEF censorship, in which a soldier's attitude had been '.vorably reported by an anonymous war correspondent...

...Steinhardt described my column as an snrouragement of disobedience to Army orders and suggested that the columns ef The New Leader should be barred to sny such treasonable utterances...

...Perhaps I can relate two incidents which happened in towns where I was located that will serve to give a better description than narrative and words of my own devising...

...And if, in the future...

...If I had been there I would have don* the tame...

...I still hate it all in the mass, but somehow I have no hate for the individuals I meet and particularly those who try to be friendly...

...The American soldier has trsits snd characteristics typically his own, and it will be as impossible to maks the Americsn soldier uncivil snd unresponsive to human wants and acts of personal friend* linens as it to suddenly make a disciple of the golden rule out of Nasi SS trooper...

...It will svsil us nothing to inveigh agsinst these characteristics ef free-horn American men, berating them as ' weaknesses, when in fsrt they sre sources of national strength...

...This, Steinhardt felt, constituted a serious threat to American military might...

...Mr...

...But today liberals liko Steinhardt have conveniently forgotten their professed declarations of fraternity with the peoples of the totalitarian countries, the first victims of Fascism...

...Space limitations, however, forbid...

...They use very lsrge battles for wster over there...

...Only members of tbe German-American Bund fell for the bogwash about ein Volk, ein F?hrer...

...Thia of course is four-ply nonsense...

...Happily, the soldier's views and mine coincided—1 am an ltd soldier myself—and 1 was pleased to record the fact...

...He returned her papers, sccompsnied with more harsh words, snd then kicked her water over...

...Had you been there would you have tinned him over to the military polictt) Gors went on to say: "I heard ona soldier say, 1 came to Germany hating everything German in an abstract sort of way, hating Germany in the mass...

...God knows whet would happen to our armored divisions if s few American doughfoots accepted a handful of fruit from German gals in Cologne) May Ijemind Steinhardt that there is an Army regulation which calls for the segregation of Negro blood for plasms purposes...

...It would give me greet pleasure to refute Steinhardt's letter line by line...

...It seems to me thst Steinhardt's letter ii sn indication thst liberal thinking has corns a long and sad way in recent years...

...If SO, I anr afraid he has, out of a flamboyant patriotism, allowed himself to fall into some of the thought patterns of the enemy...

...And it is this chsnge of fsce, it seems to me, that demonstrates the bankruptcy of contemporary liberalism...

...His remarks are based upon sctual experience and observation while serving with various military government detachments in Germany...

...Out of great and new seal, Steinhardt not only disagrees with my point of view on non fraternization, but—and here one can almost hear the police whistle—he chargea me with inciting our troops to open disregard for Army regulations...

...An old German lady had been after s bottle of water...

...During the time thst circulation restrictions on the Germsn population wsrs very rigid, the German women in Kohl-scheid were allowed on the streets only from two to four...

...The woman sst her water bottle on the street and produced her pspers, which the Belgian guard found in good order...

...There was a timj once when liberals were able to draw a shsrp distinction, in many cases, between governments snd their peoples...

...How would you hav* aeted...

...Liberii journalists and political commentators pointed to the concentration camps, to the squadristi and the brown shirts, as proof that these totalitarian philosophies could be imposed on a nation only by terror and machine-guns...

...We had best take stock of ourselves snd formulate s program of action sufficiently in keeping with American character that can he enforced and applied to American soldiers, as well aa supported by Americsn opinion st home...

...Before I was here very long, I saw her as a nation of people, men, women and children, some shrewd and some simple...

...I do not seem to recoil thst he hss written outraged letters to the editor in protest against this Hitlerisn practice...

...A Germsn child, about three years old, was running on the sidewalk, stubbed his toe snd fell into the gutter, skinning his knee and getting mud on his face...

...I ssw her as a nation of churches, schools, factories, a nation with an enormous rapacity for good, badly misdirected...

...A Belgian guard, in conformity with his duty, stopped the woman and gave here a good bawling out and demanded to seo her registration certificate...