Soldiers' Return

PERSONNEL

What happens to the Army when Germany does collapse?

Just before taking off for Europe last week, Lieut. General Brehon Somervell fired the question at 300 top-ranking officers of his Army Service Forces, gathered at Fort Leonard Wood. For them the question was rhetorical: the A.S.F. already knows most of the answers. But for U.S. soldiers and their kin what Somervell had to say next was a cold draft on many warm hopes:

"We will have to put the car into reverse without even coming to a halt. Simultaneously we will have to start the final stages of our plans for the laborious process of demobilization. In this we will find ourselves in the middle of a storm that will make everything else that we have gone through seem like a summer zephyr.

"Every family in America will want its sons and daughters turned loose first... we will have to steel ourselves against the distraction of the whooping and hollering of many souls who think the war is over."

Readjustment. If Germany ends in anarchy, many U.S. soldiers will be pinned down in Europe for police work, perhaps for months. Many more will be needed for the Pacific. In the A.S.F. the word "demobilization" is not even used in connection with the end of the European phase of the war. The word is merely "readjustment."

Only a lucky few will be immediately turned loose. It will be War Department policy not to hold a man a moment longer than military necessity demands. But officials in a position to estimate say that it will take almost a year to muster out all of the men not needed after Germany's collapse.

For most G.I.s the war will not be over by a long shot.

Formula of Sorts. The question G.I.s were asking was: Who gets out first?

Army brass hats held two views: the sentimental one--priority should be given to those who have been the longest away from home; the hard-boiled one--the well-seasoned men should be retained because the Army would need them.

The sentimental view has more or less won in A.S.F. plans. The Army will give most consideration to the length of a man's service, will also consider his age and the number of his dependents. But the Army is going to keep enough well-seasoned troops to form a good-sized nucleus for every outfit.

This unspecific formula amounts to one certainty: soldiers who have not yet been in combat will be on the tag end of the parade home.

Peace Is Hell. Probably the only other certainty is that Somervell's A.S.F., which will have the main job of ushering soldiers back into civilian life, will, in the words of a brigadier general, "catch hell any way we move."

The man in charge of demobilization plans is 51-year-old Brigadier General William F. Tompkins, a soft-voiced, lantern-jawed Virginian who in 29 years has had a crack at just about every job there is in a military career, including flood control. He has been what the Army calls a "farmed-out" officer all his life. He has three sons in the services: one a major in the engineers, one a pursuit pilot in England, the third a marine in training.

West Pointer Tompkins was picked in May 1943 to head the planning unit. Under him is a staff of 22. In his office in the Pentagon Building, bound between pasteboard covers, filed away in desk drawers are the blueprints for the machinery needed to demobilize the greatest Army in the nation's history. Within the past month, conferences have followed one another so rapidly that Tompkins' work basket and the baskets of his staff now are chockablock with nothing but demobilization reports.

The Separation. In 1919 the doughboy got the money due him and a railroad ticket home. What happened after that was his lookout. What happens after this war will also be his lookout but the Army is going to give him a better start. Last time, the jobless were back, demanding help. This time the Government hopes that it will not have to call out the cops to disperse "betrayed" veterans.

Soldiers will be sent first to "separation centers." Five have already been set up (Fort Dix, N.J., Fort McPherson, Ga., Fort Sheridan, Ill., Fort Sam Houston, Tex., Presidio of Monterey, Calif.) There G.I. Joe will get a physical examination, and medical treatment if he needs it. Finally discharged, he will get the money owed him plus travel pay, with the advice to lose no time in buying his ticket.

Men will be on hand to give him other advice: on jobs, vocational training, transportation, life insurance, lost effects. Government agencies such as Selective Service, Veterans' Administration and the War Manpower Commission will be notified that he is on his way.

The Army is probably as well prepared now as it ever will be with plans. The payoff will come when the storm starts and the whooping and hollering begin.

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