(2 of 3)
New York City
¶ Is Cerberus neuter as well as neutral?—ED.
Basket Case Rumors
Sirs:
. . . You made a statement that there have been no ''basket cases" (loss of four limbs) in World War II (TIME, Feb. 26).
On March 7th, a wounded war veteran spoke in our plant for the Red Cross. He stated that there are four wards of basket cases in the Tilton General Hospital alone.
IRENE G. HOFFMEYER
West Orange, NJ.
Sirs:
. . . There is a whole ward of the . . . hospital . . . devoted to these pitiful cases. They are brought in at night so the squeamish public will not have to know they exist. I think it's a shame that the public gets all its news so sugarcoated. . . .
ALVIN SINGERMAN
Los Angeles
¶ Shame, rather, on Reader Singerman for believing false rumors. Says Surgeon General Norman T. Kirk: there have been no basket cases in World War II; no man losing all four limbs could live.—ED.
Hazing Homicide
Sirs:
The story "Boys Will Be Boys" (TIME, March 5) about the boy who was killed while being initiated into a college fraternity is one that should rouse to action every citizen of the U.S. . . .
JOHN L. BATES
Meadville, Pa.
Sirs:
. . . I think it is about time the fraternities got together and agreed upon some ceremony which will not shock the public; if this goes on parents will be justified in boycotting such educational institutions where cruel treatments are practiced. . . . I hope the parents of Robert Perry will bring a civil suit against the University for the death of their son; and the fraternity and its members should be indicted for such kind of homicide as the laws of the State of Missouri allow.
JAMES R. WALTERS
Little Rock, Ark.
Ungnarled Nimitz
Sirs:
TIME (Feb. 26), which gives the cover to Admiral Nimitz, contains a grand story on him. We are all delighted with it. But there is the statement that "Nimitz reached for his pen, gripped it in a hand gnarled by rheumatism. . . ."
He has no gnarled hands, nor has he rheumatism. Actually, he retains all of his physical wellbeing, with perhaps the exception of the loss of the tip of one finger.
OFFICER'S NAME WITHHELD
Headquarters of Commander in Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas
Sirs:
. . . Newspapermen habitually refer to midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy as "cadets"—a term which specifically applies to boys at West Point and other military schools. . . . Naval Academy men for obvious reasons do not like the inference.
Furthermore, "Cadet" Nimitz is wearing the uniform of an ensign, in peacetime full dres. . . .
E. W. SWEETLAND
Lieut. Commander, U.S.N.R.
Naval Training School
Harvard University
¶ TIME'S apologies to ungnarled, ablebodied, ex-Midshipman Nimitz (see cut).—ED.
Dictaphones & Dictographs
Sirs: