Baer’s Odyssey

The charge was serious: draft evasion. But the defendant was neither worried nor penitent: he was just plain mad. Explained Hollywood Studio Worker John Robinson Baer to a U.S. Commissioner last week:

He was called up by his draft board, inducted, sent to Fort MacArthur. He burned his civilian clothes, tore up his draft card, drilled for 35 days with other Army rookies. Then Army officers discovered his name was not on their rolls. Despite all his protestations that he was no stowaway, he was dismissed.

With borrowed clothes, he started back to civilian life. Police picked him up, found he had no draft card, tossed him in jail, called the FBI.

The case against John Baer was promptly dismissed. Planning to go to his draft board to start all over again, Baer still had one complaint: because legally he was the draftee who wasn’t there, the Army would not pay him for his 35 days’ service.