As They Like It

A thin young major from New York asked if Al Smith was still a political power on the sidewalks of New York. A Texas sergeant asked what "G.I." meant. A lad from Brooklyn wanted to know all about "Dem Bums." U.S. soldiers freed from Jap prison camps had a lot to catch up on.

But they definitely did not want to do their catching up in the classroom: the Army's Division of Information and Education soon found that out. The Army's first halting attempts to lecture the home-bound G.I.s on the back news, while they waited for ships to take them to the U.S., were met by razzberry-flavored questions: "What are we doing here? Why aren't we on our way home?" Last week the Army tried a new way--elaborately casual teaching.

In replacement depots in the Philippines, the Army set up come-&-get-it centers, full of up-to-date maps and recent magazines, and staffed with instructors told not to dismiss any question as too trivial.

On each homebound transport an information crew (one officer, six enlisted men) mingled with passengers, encouraging conversations and questions. They were well primed on the workings of the G.I. Bill of Rights. And they toted information kits which included copies of TIME, the World Almanac, and Army orientation pamphlets.

Many prisoners, who had heard nothing but Jap propaganda for one to four years, most wanted updating on sports and movies. Some wanted to talk about ways to stop war. One group sighed with relief on learning that, contrary to a report in the Nippon Times, Deanna Durbin is still alive.

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