"So Long"

ARMY & NAVY

There had never been anyone like her. Tall and lissome, she was an authentic pinup, talked crisp service slang, acted the way G.I.s wished all girls did. And she preferred enlisted men, called all her eager admirers "general" or "admiral."

She was Miss Lace, heroine of artist Milton (Terry and the Pirates') Caniff's lusty, busty cartoon strip Male Call, feature of some 3,000 service newspapers.

The men of World War II wondered how they had ever gotten along without her. She listened to their troubles, cheered them out of their loneliness. Most of the time she was heavily engaged in defeating the elaborate stratagems of overambitious wolves. But it never upset her brisk good humor. Sample brush-off: "No bridgehead, enjine-eer! You can't make a runway outa these soft shoulders."

But with the end of the war her men began to go home and pick up their old lives. One day, while three discharged G.I.s were engrossed in talk of reconversion problems, Miss Lace slipped out unnoticed, left behind a note of farewell: "I've gone back where I came from--I'll be there if you ever need me again. So long! Love, Lace."

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