Honolulu Record, August 26, 1948, vol. 1 no. 4, p. 5
Charles Duarte
This is the story of a GI — and a mailing list. Because one of the soldier's friends had said that he was an easy touch for a contribution, the army black-balled him. Without the soldier's knowledge, secret orders were given that he could not be trusted in confidential work, could not be transferred, and could not even volunteer for frontline duty. It's a true story, typical of many that took place during the war against Germany, Italy, and Japan.
According to recent Washington stories, it's still going on as the armed forces segregate men the brass hats brand as "communists", "radicals." and "fellow travelers."
Had Liberal Ties
This GI was a repairman at a bomber base in England. Before joining the army, he had belonged to several liberal organizations. He had never belonged to a mildly liberal organization known as the "Friends of Democracy", headed by the Rev. L. M. Birkhead, but they got his name somehow after he was in the army. His name, serial number, and APO address was added to their mailing list. One day, a mimeographed letter was mailed to him in an envelope bearing the return address of the organization. The mail clerk of the outfit had never heard of the organization and the name caught his eye.
At chow, he mentioned it to the other soldiers at his table. By the end of the day, the CIC agent assigned to the bomber station heard a rumor that one of the men was receiving mail from subversive organization.
The CIC agent traced the rumor and checked with the mail clerk.
On Saturday, when he made up his weekly report to the CIC headquarters, he included the GI's name and the "report" that he received mail from suspicious organizations. Before long, every intelligence agency in England, including the British police, knew the name of the GI and knew that he was under suspicion.
Nothing was ever found out to confirm the rumors, and nobody in the CIC ever checked to see what sort of outfit the Friends of Democracy really were. Nobody even bothered to find out whether he was a member of the outfit.
Marked Man
In the name of military security, they notified the post's intelligence officer that the soldier was suspected and that he was not to be trusted in confidential work. The intelligence officer conferred with the GI's immediate superiors and the soldier's career in the army, came to a dead end. He was a marked man and couldn't be transferred or giving any break without the knowledge of the intelligence service. Anything he did of a suspicious nature was to be immediately reported to the CIC.
How It Was Done
But in Building E at Wide Wing, they had his name in a file and it changed his entire army career. The files in Building E contained hundreds of names and they only covered the air forces in the ETO. Names of thousands, of other suspected GIs could be found in the files of the ground force CIC detachments, the CID, the naval intelligence, and the British police.
Though many of these GI's persecuted for things as silly as getting mail from the Friends of Democracy, not a single case was ever found of a GI spying for the enemy or carrying on subversive activity. One of the agents involved in the Friends of Democracy case got into the CIC because he had been an investigator in civilian life. His job had been to ride on Greyhound busses and spy on the drivers to see if they turned their fares in!
The Spying Set-up
The frontline intelligence forces were a vital part of the armed forces. However, for every agent engaged in combat duty there was probably two behind lines spying on their fellow soldiers. Largest of these groups was the CIC — the Counter Intelligence Corps.
True to movie standards, they were allowed to wear civilian clothes and various disguises when on a case. In addition to their military pay, they had practically unlimited expense accounts. Agents would be assigned to various camps, but would not be answerable to anyone in the camp. Often they would be assigned to a unit without anyone in the unit knowing that they were CIC men.
Working with the CIC spying on GIs was the CID — the Criminal Investigation Division. CID was supposed to be the detective branch of the Provost Marshal's department, but often they strayed from spying on suspected criminals to checking on political beliefs.
The Blacklist
Information also came to these undercover groups from anti-labor squads of Police departments in many cities and the FBI. Often, they would be sent only as rumors to be checked and gain seriousness as they were passed along from one office to another. All army units had intelligence officers whose duties included sending information about suspicious soldiers in their command. CIC headquarters were able to correlate all this information, plus information received from civilian employees of the army, Red Cross girls, and civilian police.
Civilian police help was used in checking on applicants for civilian positions overseas with the armed forces. Since the police who remained in office after the liberation of the various European countries were usually the same men who had been there under the Nazis, their pro-Nazi sympathies often colored their work.
Patriots and Collaborators
In one case that I know of the French police gave clean bills of health to many collaborators, but refused to approve people who had been liberated from concentration camps. The reason was that the collaborators were in Paris throughout the war and it was easy to check on them.
The concentration camp inmates had been "away" and the French police reported that they couldn't pass them because they had changed addresses too often and that was suspicious! These few cases are typical of the thousands that took place during the war.
Unless something is done to expose these agencies that spy on the GIs and blackball them for showing even the mildest liberal ideas, the new army of draftees will probably be subject to witch hunts worse than any going on in civilian life.