THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE SEVEN JAG Graduate Was Former Aerial Gunner Lt. Gruber Served on Submarine Duty Before Attending Staff School By CAPT. HAROLD W. SULLIVAN Judge Advocate Generals School From aerial gunner to Judge Advo- cate is the story of 2nd Lt. Harold Norman " Gruber, member of the Claims Course, Judge Advocate Gen- eral's School, graduated this week. Enlisting as a private in 1941, Lt. Gruber came up the hard way, quali- fied as a gunner and did many a lonely tour of duty on the North At- lantic and Pacific Coast on anti- submarine patrol duty. His story' is typical of many of his classmates, sent here from all over the nation and from remote, often- times unmentionable parts of the world to attend the Staff School of the Judge Advocate General's De- partment. One year flying the Atlantic and four months flying the Pacific, in the crucial days following Pearl Har- bor was his fortunate experience of adventure. At the time the Japs attacked Dutch Harbor, his patrol was sweeping the northwestern coasts on vigilant guard. He also served with the Fighter Command and the Fighter Control Squadron. One of his humorous experiences was reporting at a new statio'n, where the table of organizations called for a Lt. Colonel. The Adjutant was ex- pecting one, and in walked 2nd Lt. Gruber, reporting. With a smile the Adjutant dryly remarked: "Sir, you are slightly underrated, aren't you." To ;which the Lieutenant replied with equal poise: "Sir, is that an order?" Another merry experience, with a touch of hazard was the time his plane was practicing dropping bombs on an island in the Potomac. The crew later rowed out in a boat to ex- amine the accuracy of their fire. The private who rowed them out, was to pick them up before six p.m. and failed .to show up. Meanwhile the tide did show up, and they were ma- rooned there with the island melting away with the rising tide. The Lieutenant was then a private. Though it was winter, he swam the stkam to a fishing dock to get help, bUt due to the presence of three love- lis on the pier, he was stymied again. Ie could not come out of the water and' still appear as a well dressed private first class should. Finally snp.oe was summoned with a boat and ls party gt ashore. >Lt. Gruber returns to the Anti- Submarine Command. He was grad- uated from N.Y. University, M.A. 1941, and makes his home at T074 Bronx Park, East, New York. AR MY AIrS By Pvt. Harold Wasserman 3651st Service Unit A friend of mine just got a let- ter from his draft board contain- ing the following: "This is to acknowledge receipt of your questionnaire recently re- turned to this office. We are re- turning a $10.00 bill which was inadvertently attached to the questionnaire. We are also ex- tremely sorry to hear about your lumbago, high blood pressure, arthritis and St. Vitius Dance. Please be prepared to dance for our doctor next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the board offices. Very truly yours," I knew a Japanese midget who disgraced his family by not be- lieving all the Japanese news re- ports that he read. He committed "hari" instead of harl kiri . . . he was .a midget, you know. New Inductees Clim b for Uncle Sam NO CHANCE FOR SABOTEURS: Captain L. L. Mitchell, JAG, Relates 3 Years'Experiences as an FBIAgent ..,-....- ..-.... ... ... A group of Army men go through one of the obstacles that Uncle Sam has designed to toughen up its new inductees. This is one of the many such obstacles built in military camps, colleges and high schools all over the country. So This Is The Army...t By Pvt. Jason Horn and Jerome Londinsky 3651st Service Unit The C. O. of the student engi- neering battalion is a very accom- odating man. In the course of an interview with him a short while ago, he mentioned that he had just bought a "cute little bunga- low on the outskirts* of Ann Ar- bor". "Tell the men", he said, "that they are welcome to come out any time to play baseball. We have plenty of room." "What, sir?", we asked. "Did you buy an estate also?" "No", he answered, "but we bought a place right next to an estate." The Nazi. theory of propaganda assumes that the bigger the lie is, the more apt it is to be believed. We are proud to report that first- hand experience in the 1694th proves that this hypothesis does not apply to the American soldier. Several weeks ago, when word was received that unexpectedly large contingents of men were to move into the East Quad, the unit was assembled in the evening for a special formation. An officer a- rose. "As a result of certain devel- opments, the number of rooms a- vailable for our unit have been halved. The number of occupants per room will be doubled. Rooms will house three to five men each, depending upon size." Shocked si- lence prevailed. Then a cheery voice pierced the gloom. "That's very funny, sir. Now tell us what you really got us down here for." The unit had just returned from a fatiguing session of close order drill and the men were all heading for the showers. We were inter- viewing Major Kolb, our new bat- tallion commander, at the time. He 'had just finished telling us that he hoped to get to know the men in our company and that he planned to conduct frequent in- spections as one means of doing so. "Is there anything in particu- lar that you expect to look for?", we asked. Before the major could reply, a voice boomed forth from a conversation at the other end of the hall, "Who the h--- hasn't taken his shower yet?" We did not press the major for his answer. PHILADELPHIA, May 1.- (P)- Anyone can get a second cup of coffee in Philadelphia hotels to- morrow. All one has to do is buy a war bond. ALEUTIANS BATTLE: War Correspondent Analyses Situation in Kiska and Attu By LT. G. P. FORBES Judge Advocate General's School "Yes, I investigated Edward John Kerling, and Hermann Otto Neu- bauer, two of the eight Nazis con- victed last summer as saboteurs. It was while I was special agent for the F.B.I. at Wilmington, N.C. in 1939. that the crew of a yawl was brought in on suspicion of possible violation of the neutrality act. "As we were not at war we could only detain the crew under suspicion and confiscate their photographic films. During that time I discovered that Kerling, who had a mamnificent I build and the appearance of a top notch college football player, was as smart as a whip-one of the most intelligent men I have ever met." In thus describing this encounter with two of the men who were later to become notorious, Captain L. L. Mitchell, a member of the 10th Class at the Judge Advocate General's School was referring to only one of his interesting cases in three and one-half years as a "G-man." Appointed a special agent in Jan- uary, 1938, he spent 14 weeks of "the toughest training" he ever had at the F.B.I. Academy. He specialized in counter-espionage, anti-sabotage,'in- telligence, and knowledge of tech- nical crime detecting equipment. "We had classes from nine in the morning until nine at night, and then we studied. There was no cur- few for us." The student G-men qualified as experts in the use of all types of fire- arms, from side arms to the tommy gun, and also were put through an exhaustive course on criminal law and procedure in the Federal Courts. "We were trained to investigate a case and prepare it for trial so well that all the U.S. District Attorney had to do was to walk into court with the file,' he said. His assignments took him through- out the Middlewest, New England, the South and Southwest, and his investigations included murders on shipboard, and on Indian reserva- tions, the theft of soldiers' money at Fort Ethan Allen, Vt., tracing a thiev- ing sergeant to the Philippines, but he likesto recall the time he arrested the principal law enforcement offi- cers in Hot Springs. Ark. "That was my first big raid as well as being a unique experience," he stated. "We raided the city and ar- rested the chief of police, the chief of detectives and a lieutenant, plus a manager of a local airport, and a woman, all of whom were charged with harboring Alvin Karpis when that desperado was a fugitive. The gangster was using the town as his GHQ and travelling by air to Mexico and other places to play golf with the aviator." "One thing that became clear to me while with the G-men is that J. Edgar Hoover is truly one of the world's outstanding leaders in the law enforcement field as well as be- ing perhaps the most famous." Captain Mitchell's investigating work took him to the Ozark Moun- tains too many times. he declares. "When I ran out of gas in that God- forsaken spot among people who used a rifle and shotgun like nobody's business, it almost made a Yankee out of a good rebel like me," he chuckled. Holder .of a reserve officer's com- mission, Captain Mitchell was called to duty last year in the office of the Under Secretary of War and put in charge of formulating and setting up the Army fingerprinting program in all defense plants in furtherance of internal security, and had the satis- faction of seeing the Navy also ap- prove and adopt his plan. "You might say that my biggest service for the F.B.I. was in present- ing them with the 35 million prints that resulted from the program," Captain Mitchell said. A graduate of Louisiana State Uni- versity in the heyday of Huey P. Long, he remembershow the "King- fish" used to pull a huge roll of bills from his pockets and distribute $7 apiece to 220 members of the famous band and 3,000 cadets. Editor's note: The following story comparing the future conquest of Kiska and Attu with the American capture of the Solomons, was written by Eugene Burns, veteran correspon- dent of the Pacific war who was with the United States forces in the south Pacific before being transferred to the Aleutian front. AN ADVANCE BASE IN THE AN- DREANOF ISLANDS, Alaska, April 14 (Delayed).--(P)-Don't kid your- self; the Aleutians are no sideshow. Kiska and Attu are tough nuts to crack. When and if American forces ex- pel the Japanese from this Ameri- can soil, the price will be Ameri- can blood. At Guadalcanal the Japanese were taken by surprise and fled. The beach landings were made with little opposition. Marines were not shot in the water. At Kiska and Attu the enemy is set. At present Attu is weaker than Kiska--much' weaker. But Attu is becoming increasingly strong and its gunfire, pilots report, much heavier. Reasons why the Japanese will be hard to move: First, our national policy which apparently is that we must deal with Germany and then Japan. This had made the Pacific essen- tially a holding front. Second, to dislodge the Japa- nese at Kiska and Attu means that beach landings must be made. Attu and Kiska beaches are few and they are heavily covered with light and heavy guns. The rest of the islands' beaches are cruel, rocky, man-killers. And opposed beach landings always cost blood-lots of it. Third, the Army has had little experience in opposed beach land- ings-which require a perfect co- WASHINGTON, May 1.- (/P)- In case you've run out of points and can buy no butter, it may be some com- fort to know, that the United States Senate was in the same fix today. To Solons moodily munching dry! biscuits, the Senate restaurant man- ager explained: "No ration points; no butter." 1> ordination of land, sea and air forces.a Fourth, the weather, if it follows the Aleutian pattern, will not favor us. It may well prevent accurate surface and air softening. April to date is an example. We are set to dump at least 50 tons of bombs daily. So far this month we have had one such day. Fifth, the Japanese are ready. It would be difficult to take them by surprise. It is doubtful if we can catch them away from their guns as they were at Guadalcanal Au- gust 7. (At Tulagi, Guvuto and Tanamboga where the enemy had a little advance warning the ma- rines suffered their heaviest land- ing losses.) COMI NG! 'THE WISHFUL TAW' Something New - Something Different? Watch papers for announcements == -- So far our pilots have dropped mil- lions of pounds of bombs-and drawn perhaps a nosebleed. Bomber pilots reported today that the air was black with ack ack as they flew over Kiska. It -isnotinconceivable that the cagey Japanese are holding back on their gunfire. It is not good strategy to show the enemy all of your gun em- placements. And surely the Japanese are not shooting with their heavy coastal batteries. Delegate Anthony Dimond of Alas- ka asserted last Aug. 31 that 25,000 Japanese were in the Aleutians. That may have been high. A Navy spokes- man in reply said there were not more than 10,000. But that was eight and a half months ago. Some men who know Attu and Kiska by photo and by AA fire are taking bets that if and when Ameri- can forces make a beachhead on these islands there will be land fight- ing six months later-the same time it took on Guadalcanal. ST. LOUIS, May 1.- (P)- Font- bonne College will award a unique degree-A.B. in Faily-to Miss Mar- jorie Boeving. She will be the first graduate of a course originated by Dr. Alphonse H. Clemens, director of the Depart- ment of Economics and Sociology, who said he felt marriage was the primary career of the majority of women. Mother's Day Suggestions ,,, ,. >' . , r t p \ *, 1. .. 1' } '"" , . p ,. = ,. . j. Fqll ,~ !N-o I I'M s 218 SOUTH STATE STREET i1 U lI I qr . I1 Dine Where Food's 4$ 1.'. 4' 4-,Y Prescriptions and Drug Sundries Magazines and Newspapers Pipes, Pouches and Tobacco CIi 1. U.3. RMY COMM 14. -4~44 s4 f ietd... Sewing Kits DELICIOU Si, THE MICHIGAN UNION INVITES YOU TO MAKE USE OF UNION FACILITIES Light Lunches served at our fountain I ii II Ii I I A I 'LTTr AI ZI-LTiC AAT T TXT Tf-% T. A .t_.