“And they’re attracting the bright young officers, or stealing them—”
“Stealing them?” Devlin interrupted.
Bellmon didn’t reply directly.
“You remember my aide, Johnny Oliver?” he asked. “He’s up at Bragg, eating snakes with Red Hanrahan. Even my son, who should know better, put in an application for Special Forces. And my daughter married one of them.”
“I just met him,” Devlin said, and when Bellmon looked surprised, went on: “He was at the airfield when we got here. With Barbara and Marjorie.”
“You ever hear ‘the general is the last to know’?” Bellmon said. “I had no idea either of them were here.”
“They came in just ahead of us in an L-23,” Devlin said, “which I strongly suspect is the one Bob Grisham expected and didn’t get.”
“For God’s sake, don’t tell him you got this from me, but it is. The reason I know is that my son-in-law went out to Wichita to pick it up.”
“Seems like a very nice young man,” Devlin said.
“Unfortunately, he is. Otherwise, I could hate him. Marjorie took one look at him, and that was it.”
“Academy?”
“No. He got drafted and then took a direct commission. He was an airline pilot.”
“And now he’s a Green Beret?”
“Don’t ask, Eddie. For those of us who like to go by the book, it’s painful.”
The General’s intercom went off:
“General, Major Lunsford and Lieutenant Portet are here. Major Lunsford says you expect him.”
“Give them a cup of coffee and tell them I’ll be available shortly,” Bellmon replied. He looked at Devlin. “Last night, the chief called me at my quarters. He said two officers would be coming here from Bragg, from the Special Warfare Center, on a recruiting mission. Read ‘steal my brightest officers.’ ”
“Those two?” Devlin asked, pointing to the door.
Bellmon nodded.
“The chief didn’t say who was coming, but two and two are four, right? And the chief said they can have whoever they want—the priority came from the President himself.”
“Jesus Christ!”
“The chief told me I was to prepare a list of ten officers meeting certain criteria—”
“Such as?” Devlin interrupted.
Bellmon ignored the question.
“And have them available for interview at 1300 today. And like the good soldier I like to think I am, I said, ‘Yes, sir’ and called the personnel officer at his quarters and told him to make up the list.”
“What the hell is going on? Do you know?”
“I can make a couple of good guesses,” Bellmon said. “But what it boils down to is that it has the President’s approval. He’s the Commander-in-Chief. I’m not going to second-guess him about priorities.”
He leaned forward and pressed the lever on his intercom.
"Ask Major Lunsford and Lieutenant Portet to come in, please.”
Their arrival, at least, was by the book.
There was a knock at the door, Bellmon called, “Enter”; they marched in, came to attention before his desk, and saluted; Bellmon returned it; Lunsford said, “Major Lunsford, sir,” and Bellmon said, “At ease, gentlemen.”
He stood up and offered his hand, first to Lunsford and then to Jack.
“Sir, General Hanrahan’s compliments,” Lunsford said. “He said you would be expecting us.”
“My chief of staff’s office at 1300,” Bellmon said. “I came up with only eight officers meeting the criteria.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You’ve met General Devlin, I understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Lunsford said, “at the airfield.”
“Lieutenant, if you don’t mind my asking,” General Devlin said, “what are those wings? I don’t think I’ve ever seen—”
“Not to go further than this office, Eddie?” General Bellmon said.
“Of course.”
“Those are Belgian paratrooper’s wings,” Bellmon said. “Jack earned them jumping into Stanleyville with the Belgians.”
“Jesus!”
“And when he got there, he found Major Lunsford waiting for him. He’d been there, covertly, through the entire episode. The President gave him the Silver Star—his third—personally.”
“I’m very impressed,” General Devlin said.
“Whenever I become really annoyed with Special Forces, I think of people like these two, and it calms me down,” General Bellmon said.
Devlin looked at him but said nothing.
“I will buy all the officers in this room lunch,” General Bellmon said, “with the following ground rules: We will not discuss Special Forces, or who has General Grisham’s L-23. Perhaps General Devlin will regale us with tales of Captain Craig Lowell and Task Force Lowell.”
“I can talk about that all day,” General Devlin said.
[ FOUR ]
Conference Room
Office of the Chief of Staff
U.S. Army Aviation Center and Fort Rucker, Alabama
1545 23 January 1965
Before the first of the eight officers who had been ordered to report to the office of the chief of staff actually entered the conference room itself, they had a chance