D-Day Memory

To the Editors:

As an infantryman who fought in Normandy, I was struck by the beautiful truth in your retelling of D-day [DDAY, May 28]. You gave credit where credit was due, to General Dwight Eisenhower and the other officers, but you also told of the heroics and failures of the ordinary soldiers. They are the men who win or lose wars.

Tom Ward Chicago

I was in Italy at the time of the Normandy landings and cheered the invasion news. Years after, a good friend of mine who was with the first wave on Omaha Beach told me, "I was seasick, cold and scared, to the point that I wanted to lie there and die. Then I got mad, not at the Germans but at my superiors for creating such a hopeless situation." This attitude prevailed in the enlisted ranks and was a key to moving the troops forward.

Jim Bell Fremont, Calif.

I was with an airborne unit that jumped early on that unforgettable morning in June. I hope all the hawks and warmongers read your fine story. Maybe it will deter another encounter.

Alfred K. McHaney Kingston, Okla.

Without doubt, D-day was "the beginning of the end," not just of Hitler and World War II but of a naive way of life we once enjoyed. From that day on we were part of an uncertain and unstable future dominated by two new superpowers and were witnesses to the blossoming, often violent, of the Third World.

Paul F. Emery Brownsburg, Ind.

Before we lose ourselves in an orgy of self-congratulation over the Normandy invasion, we should recall that in 1944 we were allied with the Soviet Union. It is sobering to reflect on what might have happened on the beaches of France had the cream of Germany's armed forces not been destroyed by the Soviets at Stalingrad in 1942 and at Kursk in 1943. The beginning of the end for Hitler started much earlier than Dday, and it started in the Soviet Union, not France.

David McKibbin Lincoln, Neb.

Would we ally ourselves today with the Soviet Union to fight a right-wing dictator? We now support oppressors like Augusto Pinochet in Chile as long as they are anti-Soviet. If this were prewar 1938, we would be looking for a similar deal with Hitler.

Alan MacRobert Watertown, Mass.

It is the loss of mutual resolve among nations that is such a tragedy. Perhaps this sense of purpose is still present under all the rhetoric and vicious attacks that go on among those countries that once stood together against Nazism.

Beatrice Wilding Chicago

You have presented another snide, patronizing reference to the minimal part played by Britain and the other Allies in the Normandy landings. I was beginning to think that the U.S. had grown up and was no longer a braggart. How sad to find that you still need to hog the glory.

Peter Bishop Harrow, England

I am not convinced that, as you would have us believe, 40 years have erased distorted perceptions of the enemy. You present the killing of nearly 40 Allied prisoners by an SS panzer division as an atrocity, while the exploits of an American staff sergeant who killed 91 Germans, 15 of whom were eating breakfast, are portrayed as a heroic adventure.

Vernon R. Padgett Huntington, W. Va.

I was born 14 years after Dday. My father told me stories about his Army stint, which included only the barest facts about the landing on Omaha Beach. He never mentioned the horrors. Now, two years after his death, I am proud to know, thanks to your story, that my father and his buddies were all heroes that day.

Kathryn Orndorff-Tauber Harrison City, Pa.

I am 17 years old and German. When I read of the two 17-year-old Germans who had bicycled for three weeks to get to the front line and were then taken prisoner, a deep sadness came over me. I realized that if I had lived 40 years ago, it could have been me. How can my generation be assured that the horrors of World War II will never happen again, when half the world lives under a totalitarian ideology and the U.S. is drawn closer and closer to a conflict with the supporters of these doctrines in Central America?

Ulf Morys Kent, Wash.

I was a child of seven living in the south of England in 1944. Your article brought back memories of truckloads of smiling G.I.s who gave us precious bars of chocolate as well as our first taste of chewing gum. America's sacrifice will be remembered and its G.I.s never forgotten.

Clare Howard Worthing, England

You say, "The morals of sacrifice, so clear then, are more confusing now." This statement reminds me how we have advanced in the technology of annihilation. Engaging in battles, once thought glorious, is now considered an obscenity. I am reminded of the words of an old hymn, "Time makes ancient good uncouth."

(The Rev.) Vernon A. Victor son Our Saviour Lutheran Church Utica, N. Y.

Who will be left to remember the next Dday?

Ernest L. Hughes Seattle

Philippines Ballot

The results of the Philippines election [WORLD, May 28] were a reflection of the sentiments of our people: a triumph for the democratic process and ideals. By dying for his country, Ninoy Aquino accomplished what he might not have been able to do while alive.

Teresito P. Ocampo Manila

Somebody should remind President Ferdinand Marcos of this quote from Cato the Elder: "I would rather have men ask, after I am dead, why I have no monument than ask why I have one."

Anthony Rosales Cebu City, Philippines

It has taken the U.S. 18 years to discover what most Filipinos know: the Marcos dictatorship is filled with cruelties. Without American assistance, the government would have fallen long ago. America's belated awakening to Marcos' tyranny is a poignant testimony to the insensitivity that underlies American policy in this region.

Bernard Fong Hong Kong

Peripatetic Conductors

Your article "Round and Round They Go" [MUSIC, May 28] notes that conductors are doubling up their positions because there are not enough maestros to go around. At the same time, the executive directors of symphony companies say they want their conductors to be "magicians capable of performing mysterious acts with an orchestra." If that is what they desire, then these directors ought to find a talented younger conductor who has the will and integrity to risk being unpopular with the musicians. Give this leader the authority over all artistic decisions. The Cleveland Orchestra did this with George Szell, and the result was one of the grand epochs in musical history. The prescription is excellence rather than expediency.

David J. Stiller Costa Mesa, Calif.

There are plenty of U.S. conductors who can direct a major orchestra. To think that Beethoven and BartOk sound better because the maestro is European harks back to 1900, when this country had a cultural inferiority complex. Those who know judge by what they hear, not by the big name who leads the musicians.

Paul B. Schmid Mansfield, Ohio

Victory of Sorts

Your article on Bose Corp. vs. Consumers Union [PRESS, May 14] omitted the fact that although Bose lost the case, it won a moral victory. The Supreme Court said the engineer who disparaged the Bose 901 loudspeaker "had made a mistake and when confronted with it, he refused to admit it and steadfastly attempted to maintain that no mistake had been made--that the inaccurate was accurate."

Charles Hieken Counsel for Bose Corp. Boston

Shiny Pate

Your report on treating baldness [MEDICINE, May 28] reminded me of an old saying: "God only made a few perfect heads. The rest he put hair on." My husband has a perfect head, and I would not want him to change for the world.

Elizabeth F. Ginovsky Rochester

As a dermatologist, I have found that much more than vanity motivates individuals to undergo hair transplants. I commissioned an independent survey of my patients, which showed that those having transplants believe that appearance has an effect on their careers. As a result of hair restoration, people feel more self-confident, more comfortable in social situations and better able to compete with younger business colleagues.

Manuel O. Jaffe, M.D. Minneapolis