Off The Shelf

General Joseph W. Stilwell, U.S. hero of the retreat from Burma and sometime chief of staff to Chiang Kaishek, got a new job last week after nearly three months of idleness. Uncle Joe was made chief of the Army Ground Forces.

Ground soldiers generally applauded the appointment of good infantryman Stilwell to a post that puts him in charge of training all U.S. Army fighting men except air crews. Uncle Joe learned about modern, fighting the hard way; next to General MacArthur, he has campaigned longer than any other top-ranking ground commander in this war.

The man he succeeds is solemn, starched, 65-year-old Lieut. General Ben Lear. Before the war Ben Lear was a good training officer, made national headlines by marching the rowdy spirits out of a battalion of trainees who went too far in yoo-hooing at girls on a Memphis golf links--where the General happened to be golfing. Lear's new assignment: Deputy Commander to General Ike Eisenhower.

As General Ike's deputy, General Ben, who has a passion for soldierly discipline, is expected to pass "the word" down through the command. Many soldiers were beginning to think it was about time: there were 18,000 AWOLs in ETO last week. Ben Lear will have no part in General Lee's second job: "Courthouse" will go on being boss of supply and service forces.

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