Army & Navy: Also Missing

In modern war there is no special safety for generals, especially air generals.

When Brigadier General Kenneth Walker’s bomber failed to return from a raid at Rabaul (TIME, Jan. 18) he was the second air general to be lost in the South west Pacific.

Last week the Army announced that Ken Walker’s successor was also missing in action. Lieut. General George Kenney had sent a hurry call to Hawaii for him when Ken Walker was lost, and Mississippi-born Brigadier General Howard K.

Ramey had been quick to report for duty.

If slim, hard-flying, 46-year-old Howard Ramey had lasted no more than a few weeks, it was as much as he must reason ably have expected when he took over the command of the Fifth Bomber Command.

When he followed two other crack men to a soldier’s fate — Brigadier General Harold H. (“Pursuit”) George had been killed last year in an accident at Darwin — air men spoke for him the air’s understated epitaph of full praise: “He was a good man to have around.”