Bath & Suvorov

General Dwight D. Eisenhower is an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Military Division of the Order of the Bath, which ranks him between a baronet and a knight and entitles him to wear a crimson satin mantle lined with white taffeta.* He is also an honorary member of London's famed and hoary Athenaeum Club. These honors have now been augmented by one from another great ally of the U.S.--Russia's Order of Suvorov, First Degree, one of the highest military awards the Soviet Union can bestow.

While they were about it, the Russians made awards representing various lesser degrees of glory to 51 other U.S. warriors, including 16 Navy men and ten of the Merchant Marine.

In Washington's swank Mayflower Hotel last week, the ceremonious bestowal was made by Soviet Ambassador Andrei A. Gromyko to Secretary Hull, since all the heroes were still away on war business. Ambassador Gromyko, beaming and affable, could not forbear pointing out once more that "my country still carries the main burden of military efforts and sacrifices." He sugared this pill by prophesying that Russia's allies would have a large share in the final victory.

All the awards made last week carry a pension. General Eisenhower's honorary pension would amount to 20 rubles a month, officially worth $3.85, actually worth nobody knows what. The General will receive something else more substantial: a little red passbook entitling him to ride, gratis, any time, on Moscow's spick-&-span, 25-mile subway system. Also on trolleys and busses.

Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov (1729-1800) joined the Russian Army as a boy, served against the Swedes and Prussians. He rose to be a major general, a field marshal, a count of the Holy Roman Empire, a prince, a friend of Catherine II. He won signal victories against the Turks, the Poles and the French Revolutionists. Like many another great captain, Suvorov ended his days in defeat and temporary disgrace. But he is a natural hero of the Soviet Union--a rough-spoken soldier's soldier, who disdained foppery and diplomatic delicacy.

General Douglas MacArthur is also a Knight of the Bath (TIME, March 27), but has not yet been decorated by Soviet Russia, presumably because he is not deemed to be fighting in the same war.

* The Order of the Bath was established by Henry IV at his coronation in 1399, was later forgotten, was revived by George I in 1725. It is doubtful whether the ceremony had any connection with the actual ablutions of the monarch.

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