“You can call me ’Jeanette,’ ” she said. “What should I call you?”
“ ‘Sir’ would be nice.”
Charley Ansley chuckled.
“Score one for sir,” Jeanette said. “The game ain’t over . . .”
“Until the fat lady sings?” Pick offered.
“And half a point for Little Sir,” Jeanette said.
Pickering chuckled. Jeanette smiled at him.
That smile she meant.
“We’re waiting, with somewhat bated breath, for your history lesson, Jeanette.”
“Okay, sir. Consider the end of World War Two.”
“Sir was on the first plane to land in Japan,” Pick said.
“How fascinating. Next time, raise your hand before you interrupt me.”
“Score one for Jeanette,” Pickering said.
“We have two five-stars, Eisenhower in Germany, specifically in Frankfurt, and El Supremo here. Each has a three-star chief of staff. Ike had Walter Bedell Smith, who had been his chief of staff throughout the European war, and MacArthur had Sutherland here.”
“Okay,” Pickering said.
“Just before he died, Roosevelt appointed another three-star, Lucius D. Clay, a heavy hitter who had been in charge of Army procurement throughout the war, to be deputy military governor of Germany under Ike. When Ike went home to be chief of staff, Clay replaced him as Commander-in-Chief, Europe. Truman gave Clay a fourth star, and sent him a succession of three-stars to command Seventh Army.”
“You’ve done your homework, obviously,” Pickering thought aloud.
“I work hard at what I do for a living, sir. Like you, sir.”
Pick chuckled.
“Walter Bedell Smith, known as ‘The Beetle’ for reasons I can’t imagine, went home with Ike. First, he was made DCSOPS . . . You know what that is, sir?”
Pickering shook his head, “no.”
“Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations,” Jeanette said. “Then Truman named him Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Now there’s talk of naming him Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to replace Admiral Hillenkoetter. ”
“This is all very fascinating, Jeanette,” Pickering said, smiling, “and I’m sure that somewhere down the road, you’ll make your point.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, smiling back. “Now, at this end of the world, we had General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, and his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Richard Sutherland. General Sutherland went home for ‘reasons of health’—and I’d love to know what was behind that. He thereupon disappeared from sight. No job in the Pentagon, nothing.”
“Maybe he was ill,” Pickering said.
“Maybe,” Jeanette went on. “Leaving one three-star here under MacArthur, Lieutenant General Walton H. ‘Johnny’ Walker, who commands the Eighth Army. I don’t suppose he was at dinner tonight?”
Pickering shook his head, “no.”
“Not surprising. He is not a member of the elite, otherwise known as the ‘Bataan Gang.’ ”
“There is a point to all this, right?” Pickering said.
“One would logically assume, wouldn’t one, that the five-star Supreme Commander in Japan would be entitled to the same sort of staff as the five-star commander-in-chief in Europe?”
“One might.”
“A four-star, like Lucius Clay, would be appropriate, no?”
“One would think so.”
“Failing a four-star, then a three-star, right?”
“That would seem logical.”
“And failing a three-star, then a hotshot two-star with lots more stars clearly on his horizon. Max Taylor comes to mind. So does I. D. White.”
“Who?” Pick asked.
“Max Taylor commanded the 10lst Airborne Division; White commanded the 2nd ‘Hell on Wheels’ Armored Division. He would have liberated Paris if he hadn’t had to let the French pass through his lines to get the glory, and he had his lead tanks across the Elbe River and was prepared to take Berlin when Ike told him to let the Russians do it. It’s a sure thing that both of them will get a third star, a good chance that they’ll both get four, and even money that one or the other will be chief of staff of the Army. And what better way to learn that trade than by being chief of staff to MacArthur?”
“That would seem to make sense,” Pickering said.
“So who does the Army—which means Eisenhower, onetime aide to MacArthur—send to the Supreme Commander? Edward M. Almond, whose claim to fame was commanding one of the two Negro divisions in Italy. Without much wild acclaim, by the way. He did his job, but he wasn’t a hotshot. I don’t think he’s even a West Pointer. I think he’s either VMI or the Citadel.”
Mention of the Citadel made him think of Colonel Ed Banning, one of the finest officers he had ever known.
“And you’ve drawn some sort of a conclusion from this?” Pickering asked.
“If I were Douglas MacArthur, I’d think I was being insulted. ”
“If Douglas MacArthur thought having General Almond assigned to him was insulting, General Almond would not be his chief