W E B Griffin - BoW 03 - The Majors Read online

  W E B Griffin - BoW 03 - The Majors

  The Brotherhood of War: The Majors

  Washington, D.C.

  10 March 1954

  The black, four-door Buick Roadmaster carried Virginia license plates. Attached to the plates was a strip of metal on which was stamped ALEXANDRIA 1954, as proof the owner had paid his 1954 Alexandria city automobile tax. The car showed none of the other decalomania, however, that many of the cars in the Washington, D.C., area showed, thus identifying them as military personnel attached to the Military District of Washington, or as employees of the federal government authorized to park in Section B, Parking Lot III, of the Department of Labor, or so on.

  There was nothing about the car, in other words, that made it appear to be anything but the car of someone who lived in

  Alexandria, Virginia. But when it turned off Pennsylvania Avenue, the normally closed gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue were open, and the two guards on duty touched their caps in salute and waved it through without stopping it either to examine the driver's identification or to telephone to see if he was expected, though it was late at night.

  The driver proceeded to the entrance nearest the Executive

  Office Building, the ornate old Army-Navy-State Department

  Building. Two marines, in dress blues, came out to the car before it had stopped.

  "I'll park it for you, sir," one of them said to the driver.

  "If you'll come with me, sir," the other one said.

  The man who emerged from the car was a small, prematurely bald, rather skinny man wearing a baggy suit, white shirt, nondescript necktie, and black shoes. He was the antithesis of memorable.

  When the marine headed away from the elevator that went to the Command Operations Room, the small man asked him where they were going.

  "To the quarters, sir."

  The small man did not reply.

  When he got off the elevator which opened on the wide entrance corridor of the living quarters, the Secret Service agent on duty nodded to him.

  "You're to go right in," he said.

  "Thank you," the small man said politely, as he passed through the double door the agent held open forhim.

  There were two men in the room. One of them, a brigadier general whose tunic was adorned with the heavy golden cord, the fourrag?re, identifying the military aide-decamp to the

  President of the United States, was bending over the back of a fragile, gilt chair. In the chair sat a balding, bespectacled man wearing a tattered sweater. On the sweater was sewn a large "A."

  "That was quick," the President of the United States said.

  "There's not much traffic this time of night, sir."

  "We're drinking," the President said, indicating a silver tray on which whiskey bottles sat. "Will you have something? Or coffee?"

  "Coffee, please, sir, black," the small man said.

  The military aide walked out of the room.

  "I spoke with John an hour or so ago," the President said.

  "He sends his regards."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "I only recently learned that you were classmates and friends," the President said.

  "Acquaintances, sir," the small man said. "And he is "44.

  I would have been 46."

  The President nodded, and then smiled. "He leads me to believe it can get a little chilly in Korea."

  "The troops call it Frozen Chosen,' sir," the small man said.

  A black man, a U.S. Navy chief steward, wearing a starched white jacket, came into the room with a silver pot of coffee and two cups and saucers. He left, closing the door behind him. The aide did not return.

  The President poured coffee into one of the two white china cups, and then said, "I think I'll have a little of that myself," and poured the second cup full. "Reinforced, of course," he said, splashing bourbon into the cup. He held the bottle over the second cup and looked at the small man.

  "Please," the small man said.

  "Help yourself, Major," the President said, and went to a table and opened a folder. He took from it a stapled document, the cover sheet of which was stamped, top and bottom, with

  TOP SECRET in inch-high red letters. Red stripes ran diagonally across the cover sheet.

  He waited until the small man had seated himself, rather awkwardly, on a low, red leather couch and then he handed it to him. The small man put his cup and saucer down, held the cover sheet out of the way, and carefully read what the President had given him.

  TOP SECRET

  (QUINCY)

  The JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

  THE PENTAGON

  WASHINGTON 25, D.C.

  COPY 1 of 3

  DUPLICATION

  FORBIDDEN

  EYES ONLY

  VIA HELD-GRADE OFFICER COURIER

  TO: Commander in Chief

  U.S. Forces, Far East

  The Dai Ichi Building, Tokyo, Japan

  INFO: The President

  The White House

  Washington, D.C.

  8 March 1954

  By direction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of

  Staff, the President concurring, you are authorized and directed to appoint Lieutenant General E. Z. Black, USA, as your representative to meet with the Commander in

  Chief, French forces in French Indo-China at Hanoi, as soon as possible. The purpose of the meeting is to determine if augmentation of French forces by American forces no longer required for operations in Korea would permit the French, in the immediate future, to sustain their operations at Dien Bien Phu, and ultimately to suppress

  Viet MinhlCommunist insurgent forces currently threatening French control of Indo-China.

  It is emphasized that General Black's mission is solely to evaluate the present military situation. He is NOT authorized to commit U.S. forces, of any type, for any purpose.

  For planning purposes only, it is contemplated that the following U.S. forces might be made available for service in French Indo-China, should United States intervention be determined to be feasible and desirable:

  Elements, Eighth U.S. Army, as follows:

  1st U.S. Cavalry Division (Dismounted)

  40th U.S. Infantry Division

  187th Infantry Regimental Combat Team (Airborne)

  8058th Mobile Anny Surgical Hospital

  555th Artillery Group

  Command and Support units to be determined

  Elements, 20th U.S. Air Force, as follows:

  433rd Air Transport Group

  2055th Air Control Squadron

  2057th Meteorological Squadron

  271st Fighter Wing

  107th Fighter Bomber Squadron

  707th Bomber Squadron (Augmented)

  Command and Support units to be determined

  Elements, Pacific Fleet, as follows:

  Four attack transports

  Fleet oiler

  Task force, elements to be determined, but including:

  Aircraft carrier with three fighter squadrons anti one fighter-bomber squadron aboard

  Escort vessels

  Ships of the line to be determined

  Inasmuch as it is anticipated that should American augmentation of French forces occur, General Black would be placed in command, you are authorized and directed to designate such general or flag officers as

  General Black may desire, representing the forces named above, to accompany him to Hanoi, or such other place as he may deem necessary.

  In view of the politically sensitive nature of General

  Black's mission, it is directed that his party travel in civilian clothing by chartered civilian aircraft. This letter constitutes authority for the expenditure of
whatever disaetionary funds are necessary. Waiver of normal pass and visa requirements has been received from the

  Colonial Administration.

  General Black will make a daily report, to be ened in French Indo-China, and transmitted via officer

  to Tokyo for radio teletype transmittal to the lzasnnan of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 20th Air Force am been directed to make courier aircraft available.

  On completion of his discussions with the French authorities, General Black will prepare a report, to be encrypted in French Indo-China, and transmitted in like manner. NO, repeat NO, copies of this report are to be retained in the Far East, and all notes and other material used in its preparation are to be destroyed.

  General Black may select whatever staff he desires

  to accompany him.

  FOR THE CHAIRMAN, THE JOINT CHIEFS:

  Edmund C. Williams

  Major General, USMC

  Secretary of The Joint Chiefs of Staff

  "Yes, sir?" the small man asked, when he had finished reading.

  "You read that pretty carefully," the President said.

  "Yes, sir."

  "I was led to believe you wrote it."

  "I drafted it, sir, for the Joint Chiefs. They might have changed it."

  "Did they?"

  "Not significantly, sir."

  "How's your health, Felter?" the President asked.

  "Fine, sir."

  "I mean, really. Not officially. Are you fully recovered?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "I understand the only way you can get into Dien Bien Phi is by parachute. You feel up to that?"

  "Yes, sir,"

  "1 want you to go to Indo-China with General Black," the

  President said, "and then detach yourself, quietly, from official party, go to Dien Bien Phu, see what shape they're in, positions, supplies, morale, the whole business, and then come back here and tell me what you find."

  "Yes, sir."

  "I want you to take someone with you, sort of a backup. A soldier, preferably. Do you know someone like that?"

  Major Felter thought a moment.

  "Yes, sir, I know just the man. He's at Fort Knox."

  "Tell me about him."

  "Major, Armor," Felter said. "He had five combat jumps in World War II as a pathfinder. And was given the Medal.

  He wasn't wounded in World War II."

  "MacMillan?" the President asked. "He was with you when you had your misfortune in Korea, wasn't he?"

  "Yes, sir."

  The military aide to the President of the United States returned to the room. Major Felter realized that there must be a hidden button somewhere that the President had pressed to summon him.

  "Major Felter's volunteered to go, Charley," the President said. "Get the show on the road."

  "Yes, Mr. President."

  The President sat down at a table and took a sheet of notepaper and quickly scrawled something on it.

  "This may come in handy, Major," he said, handing it to him. Major Felter read it.

  "Yes, sir, I'm sure it will."

  "Every soldier's ultimate ambition, Felter," the President chuckled. "Commander in Chief." He put out his hand. "Go with God, Major," he said.

  (Two)

  Hq Xix U.S. Corps (Group)

  Kwandae-Ri, North Korea

  12 March 1954

  The air force C-47 gooney bird which touched down daily at the XIX Corps (Group) airstrip had six passenger seats. They were up front in the cabin just behind the bulkhead separating the cabin from the cockpit. The rest of the cabin was given to cargo transportation, and sometimes the sick, on litters. Not the wounded; they passed their way through a Mobile Army

  Hospital (MASH) on their way to more complete med- via a separate aerial evacuation system. gooney bird carried mail bags, and priority air freight, ui4 milk. Fresh milk, from a herd of dairy cattle in Japan whose output had been contracted for by the U.S. Army Vet- erinary Corps, and was dispensed by the U.S. Army Quarter master Corps at the direction of the U.S. Army Medical Corps to pregnant dependent women, dependent children under the age of five, and those soldiers whose gastrointestinal difficulties indicated a daily ingestion of fresh milk.

  There were two means of aerial travel from XIX Corps

  (Group) in North Korea to Eighth U'. S. Army Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. One was by light army aircraft; Cessna

  L-19s, observation and liaison aircraft which would carry one passenger, and DeHavilland L-20s, "Beavers," of Teeny-Weeny

  Airlines, which carried six passengers. In addition, there were two North American "Navions" at XIX Corps (Group), but these were generally reserved for the corps commander, Lieutenant

  General E. Z. Black, or one of the other five general officers assigned to the corps.

  The second means of aerial transportation was the milk-run gooney bird, which stopped at XIX Corps (Group) as its last stop on a round-robin flight from K16 (Kimpo) in Seoul to the three corps (I, IX, and X) and one corps (group) (XIX) on the front lines.

  The C-47 gooney bird was faster and more comfortable than the light army aircraft and thus popular with senior officers.

  Officers at I, IX, and X Corps, however, which were closer to Seoul, sometimes found that if they tried to get to Seoul on the milk-run gooney bird, they got no further than XIX Corps

  (Group) where they were bumped (Rank Hath Its Priviliges) by senior XIX Corps (Group) officers and left to get to Seoul the best way they could. This was because XIX Corps (Group) was, in everything but name, an army, with an army-sized complement of senior officers. Consequently, the low man in a milk-run passenger seat was seldom any more junior than a lieutenant colonel.

  There were three full bull colonels and three light birds in the seats of the milk-run gooney bird when it touched down at the XIX Corps (Group) airstrip. A young lieutenant, who looked as if he was torn between pleasure and worry about brass-hat wrath, climbed up the folding step to make his announcement.

  "Gentlemen," he said. "I'm sorry. You've been bumped."

  There was some grumbling, and after a moment, a full bull colonel in his late fifties asked incredulously, "Certainly, Lieutenant, not all of us?"

  "Yes, sir," the lieutenant said. "All of you."

  When they had collected their gear and climbed back out of the gooney bird, the three full colonels stood by the wing.

  They had each separately concluded that it was highly unlikely that there were six full colonels, each of them senior in grade to themselves.

  A jeep, top down, drove up to where the gooney bird sat at the extreme end of the narrow dirt runway. The jeep held four passengers, all enlisted men, one more passenger than regulations prescribed. In addition, there was a motley collection of luggage, some GI barracks bags, some canvas Valv

  Paks, and three civilian suitcases. While authorities generally looked the other way at Valv-Paks, regulations proscribed civilian suitcases in Korea. They were supposed to be entrusted

  to the Quartermaster Corps in Japan for safekeeping.

  The enlisted menŽa middle-aged master sergeant, a sorreful faced technical sergeant, a baby-faced staff sergeant, and a buck sergeantŽgot out of the jeep, and with the driver. fanned a human chain to load the luggage onto the aircraft.

  Buried under the personal luggage were several GI equipment cases. When all the luggage was on board, the enlisted men climbed onto the airplane.

  When they did not emerge after sufficient time for them to have stowed and tied down the luggage and equipment cases, one of the colonels, curiosity aroused, went to the aircraft door and looked inside. The enlisted men were seated in the seats the brass had just been ordered to vacate.

  The colonel climbed aboard the C-47 and went to the middle aged master sergeant.

  "What the hell is going on here, Sergeant?" he demanded.

  "Sergeant Greer is in charge, sir," the middle aged master sergeant said, nodding his head at the baby faced staff sergeant, who, having taken off h
is stiff crowned "Ridgeway hat" (after

  Gen. Matthew Ridgeway, who had found the issue fatigue cap umnilitary and stiffened his with cardboard), looked even younger.