ARMY & NAVY: Legends of Lee

ARMY & NAVY

Legends have begun to gather around starched Lieut. General John C. H. (“Courthouse”) Lee, West Pointer, Army engineer, and boss of Army Service Forces in Europe. Two stories now going the rounds:

¶ In a one-man campaign to get G.I.s to wear their helmets straight, Lee began stopping men in the street and asking: “Is my helmet on straight?” Told respectfully that it was, the General would crack back: “Well, yours isn’t.” This had the desired effect until Lee ran into one officer who answered: “No sir, your helmet isn’t quite straight. Move it a little over this way—no, that way—no, that’s wrong too.” Word of the tactic got around; the General had to abandon his campaign.

¶ The General started out to have famed Cartoonist Mauldin barred from the pages of Stars & Stripes. The reason: Mauldin’s weary, unshaven G.I.s were too slovenly and unsoldierly for General Lee’s taste. Colleagues talked the General out of it, however, before his orders got started through channels.