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Sir: Re the destruction of the abbey at Monte Cassino [Oct. 30], the monastery, although part of the famous "Gustav Line," was not, as you reported, "being used as a German stronghold." The German commander, Kesselring, forbade, on pain of death, any of his troops' being anywhere near the monastery. It was only after the Allies bombed and destroyed Monte Cassino, on the erroneous assumption that it was being used as an observation post, that the German troops occupied the position. Then, using the rubble as a defensive position, the Germans had a very sizable tactical advantage.
G. ROLF SVENDSEN
Colgate University
Hamilton, N. Y.
> The Allied commanders responsible for military action in the area split over the decision to bomb the monastery, and later differed about responsibility for the orders to do so. U.S. General Mark Clark wrote after the war that he had been opposed to the bombing. The Germans denied having occupied the monastery buildings, and the Abbot-Bishop of Monte Cassino testified that "only three military police occupied the monastery."—ED.
Active Bishop
Sir : As an indignant son, may I say that you do our retiring Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Arthur C. Lichtenberger, a great injustice when describing him as being "wasted by Parkinson's disease" [Oct. 23]. True, the bishop's voice is affected. He has, however, lost little mobility, and this past summer could have been found trout fishing in Vermont streams, no easy undertaking for any 64-year-old bishop. Now that he has retired as Presiding Bishop, he will become professor of pastoral theology at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass., as an active teacher.
ARTHUR T. LICHTENBERGER
Westfield, Mass.
Those Successful Olympians
Sir: Every man, woman and child in the U.S. owes a vote of thanks to the American athletes who participated in the Tokyo Olympic Games [Oct. 30]. Oerter's and Roth's performances were made of the stuff that wins Congressional Medals of Honor. Lieut. Mills's run will not only make the descendants of Sitting Bull proud; it makes us all feel better about losing at Little Big Horn. But I seriously suggest that the U.S. withdraw from the 20,000-kilometer walk. Halfway around the world is obviously too much. You meant to say 20,000 meters.
DITMAR H. BOCK
Buffalo
Poetic Steroid
Sir: Perhaps TIME readers will enjoy the scientific name for "the steroid nucleus" [Oct. 23]: Cyclppentanoperhydrophenanthrene. Its dactylic meter is worthy of Virgil.
RALPH S. WOLFSTEIN, M. D.
Cedars of Lebanon Hospital
Los Angeles
Thomistic Debate
Sir: Thanks to Dr. Kreyche [Oct. 23] and thinkers like him, Catholic universities may now evolve as more than mere purveyors of Thomism. Too long have these philosophy factories produced students who resemble simian creatures able to quote the hylomorphic theory in their sleep. The problem, however, has been not so much with the abused "angelic doctor" as with the cataleptic Thomists themselves. They merely recite Thomas and fail to think him.
VINCENT J. GARZILLI
Glen Rock, N.J.
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