Griffin W.E.B. - The Corps 08 - In Dangers Path

DON'T PUT GENERAL PICKERING ON THE SPOT BY TELLING HIM THIS BEFORE HE MAKES UP HIS MIND WHAT TO DO, BUT I'M GOING TO SEND PICK AND LIEUTENANT STEVENSON OUT WITH THE FIRST CARAVAN, IF THERE IS A FIRST CARAVAN, BECAUSE THEY'RE OF NO USE TO ME HERE. WESTON HAS VOLUNTEERED TO STAY, AND ONE PART OF ME WANTS TO LET HIM, BECAUSE HE UNDERSTANDS WORKING BEHIND THE LINES, BUT THE OTHER PART OF ME SAYS THAT YEAR HE SPENT IN THE PHILIPPINES SHOULD GET HIM EXCUSED FROM A SHIT DETAIL LIKE THIS ONE. PARDON THE FRENCH. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO WITH HIM.

SO FAR AS THE OTHERS ARE CONCERNED. ZIMMERMAN IS BRINGING OUT WITH HIM A ROSTER OF THE GYPSIES, PLUS THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THEIR NEXT OF KIN. I REALIZE THAT IT'S A DIRTY TRICK TO PLAY ON THEM, BUT I AM GOING TO SEND OUT THE MOST USEFUL PEOPLE LAST, MEANING THE MARINES FROM PEKING WILL BE THE LAST TO COME OUT, AND THE RETIRED PEOPLE FIRST, RIGHT AFTER THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN. DO YOU THINK WE COULD GET THE MARINES PROMOTED? IT WOULD MAKE THEM FEEL BETTER, AND AS YOU KNOW, THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF PEOPLE WE KNOW PROMOTED LATELY WHO PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN.

WHEN WE ARE DOWN TO THIRTY MARINES AND THE WEATHER PEOPLE, I'M GOING TO SEND CAPTAIN SAMPSON OUT. HE'S TURNED OUT TO BE NOT SO MUCH OF A CANDY ASS AS I FIRST THOUGHT, AND I WANT HTM TO TRAIN WHOEVER IS GOING TO COME IN HERE TO COMMAND THE DETAIL. I GUESS WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT, IF POSSIBLE, I'D RATHER NOT SPEND THE REST OF THE WAR HERE.

FINALLY, I NEED A FAVOR. PLEASE TELL ERNIE BOTH THAT I'M ALL RIGHT AND LOOKING FORWARD TO COMING HOME SOMEDAY, AND ALSO ASK HER TO MAKE SURE, WHEN THIS OPERATION IS RUNNING SMOOTHLY AND ZIMMERMAN AND HIS WIPE CAN LEAVE YUMEN, THAT HE HAS WHATEVER MONEY HE NEEDS TO GET HIS WIFE AND KIDS INTO THE STATES AND SET UP THERE.

BEST REGARDS AND RESPECTFULLY,

KEN

K. R. MCCOY, CAPT, USMCR

END ATTACHMENT

T O P S E C R E T

Congressman Westminister finished reading the Special Channel and looked at President Roosevelt.

«That's a lot to put on your plate at one time, Congressman,» the President said.

«Yes, sir, it is,» Westminister said. «But so far as my private bill is concerned, it is the law of the land. But I'm going to have to think a minute about how that applies to the child.»

«My understanding of the law, Congressman,» Senator Fowler said, «and I just got off the phone with the Attorney General before you came in, is that any child born outside the country to an American officer serving abroad is considered to be a native-born citizen. That clearly applies to Colonel Banning's child, and the Consul General will be directed, today, to issue him a passport.»

«The Attorney General wanted to split a hair,» the President said, «about whether that applied to Sergeant Zimmerman, who is a noncommissioned officer, not a commissioned officer. I told him that so far as I was concerned, an officer was an officer, noncommissioned or not, and that he was to immediately direct our Consul General in Chungking to issue passports to Sergeant Zimmerman's children, and further to issue Mrs. Zimmerman a nonquota immigration visa, to which she is entitled as the next of kin to an American citizen.»

«1 believe that is the law, Mr. President,» Congressman Westminister said.

«The question then was Mrs. Banning's status, whether she could come here as Mrs. Zimmerman will, or whether your private bill had become law,» the President said. «You have answered that question.»

«I'll have a copy of my private bill on the Attorney General's desk within the hour, Mr. President,» Westminister said. «May I inform Colonel Banning's parents, Mr. President? This—this message, whatever it is, is classified Top Secret.»

«I'm glad you mentioned that,» the President said. «I don't think the security of the nation would be seriously imperiled if you informed the Colonel's parents that their daughter-in-law will shortly be at their door. But do not get into the circumstances.»

«And their grandchild,» Congressman Westminister said emotionally. «They don't know about him. Mr. President, Colonel Banning's daddy and I were classmates at The Citadel. I was best man at their wedding. This news will be very welcome in South Carolina.»

«Well, then, Congressman,» the President said, «why don't you get on the telephone and deliver it? Together with an expression of my gratitude for the splendid service their son is rendering to the country?»

«Yes, sir, Mr. President, that's just what I'll do,» Congressman Westminister said. «Thank you, sir.»

He handed the Special Channel message to the President and left the Oval Office.

The President waited until the door had closed after him.

«You know what I've always wanted to do?» he asked. «Put someone with a South Carolina accent like that one together with somebody from say, Ogonquit, Maine, and see if either of them could understand a word of what the other was saying.»

There was dutiful laughter.

The President turned to Colonel Jack (NMI) Stecker. «Colonel, it should go without saying, but perhaps it would make things easier if you told the Commandant of my great interest in seeing that Captain McCoy gets whatever he wants from the Marine Corps.»

«Aye, aye, sir,» Colonel Stecker said.

«Sir,» Major Roosevelt asked. «Where are you going to get the Marines to send to the Killer?» He paused. «I was thinking about Raiders.»

«So was I,» Stecker said. «I saw a personnel report a couple of days ago. There's at least that many Raiders in the States, really serious malaria cases sent here torecover. they're all right now, but the medics say it would be best if they weren't sent back to the Tropics. Whatever it is, the Gobi Desert is not the Tropics.»

«Wouldn't they have to be volunteers?» the President asked.

«Dad, they're Raiders,» Major Roosevelt replied, smiling. «They'll volunteer, especially if they hear the Killer's involved.»

«And the promotions Captain McCoy asked for?» the President asked.

«That will be no problem, sir,» Stecker said. «I think a two-stripe promotion for all the Marines would be justified.»

«I'd like to decorate them,» the President said, and then went off at a tangent. «What was behind that crack McCoy made about he and Banning knowing people who shouldn't have been promoted?»

Colonel Stecker looked uncomfortable.

«Let's have it, Colonel,» the President said.

«Sir, Captain McCoy questions whether he has the education and experience to be a captain,» Stecker said.

«He obviously has the intelligence and experience to carry off an operation that a large number of far senior officers thought couldn't be done,» Roosevelt said, looking at Colonel Donovan as he spoke. «So he's wrong. Please tell the Commandant, Colonel, that the Commander in Chief feels that both Captain McCoy and Sergeant Zimmerman are deserving of promotion.»

«Aye, aye, sir.»

«And as far as the Killer's—excuse me,

Captain McCoy's

—lack of education is concerned, is there any reason he could not be sent to the Command and General Staff College when he returns?»

«No, sir,» Colonel Stecker said.

«See that it happens, Colonel,» the President said.

«Aye, aye, sir.»

«Finally, will someone translate…« The President paused and picked up the Special Channel message and found what he was looking for before going on. «Captain McCoy's reference to Captain Weston's having earned an excuse from this—what a lovely, succinct phrase— 'shit detail' because he served a year in the Philippines?»

«Sir,» Colonel Stecker replied, «Captain Weston refused to surrender when the Philippines fell. He was serving as General Fertig's intelligence officer on Mindanao until he was ordered out.»