Well Earned

Last week, inspired by the award of a Bronze Star to T-3 Mickey Rooney for "entertaining troops under fire," Newsman Robert C. Ruark wrote in the New York World-Telegram:

"The Army is missing a bet in its distribution of medals. So far, Carole Landis has not been awarded a medal for having the largest chest measurement of any entertainer to visit the battle areas.

"This is rank injustice ... in light of the . . . Bronze Star which was given Mickey Rooney. . . .

"During the latter stage of the war Americans were laughed at by their allies for the fruit salad on their chests. Without hearing a shot fired, a man could, by arranging his area ribbons, marksmanship medals, cheap commendations and awards, appear in the eyes of the uninitiate as a combination Sergeant York-Commando Kelly. . . .

"A man I knew who made 20-odd trips with an ammunition-carrying LCI from Bizerte to Sicily, and who later was blown to bits at Salerno, received a posthumous commendation from the Secretary of the Navy. .. . But I rode up on the train from Washington not long ago with a WAVE who hadn't been out of the country, and on her chest was the same .. .ribbon.. . .

"There is no objection to Rooney's wearing his Bronze Star, but I do claim that every fraternizing fraulein in Germany and every geisha girl in Japan should get the same award. After all, they entertained the troops, too."

Newsman Ruark, who served as a naval officer for three dangerous years in the Battle of the Atlantic, aboard ammunition ships in the Mediterranean, and in the far Pacific, is entitled to wear only the three theater ribbons (with two combat stars) and the Victory Ribbon.

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