THE NEW BRASS

Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

ADMIRAL ARTHUR WILLIAM RADFORD, 57, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet.

Family & Early Years: Born in Chicago, the son of a civil engineer, grew up in Grinnell, Iowa. He got into the Navy by accident when he wrote his Congressman asking for a West Point appointment. The Congressman had no West Point vacancies at the time, gave Radford a chance to go to Annapolis instead. As a midshipman, "Raddie" was a better-than-average student, graduated at 20 (class of '16), and was described in the Academy yearbook, Lucky Bag, as a "pink-cheeked Apollo."

Career: After four years at sea in both the Atlantic and Pacific, Lieut. Radford went to Pensacola, Fla., took up flying, did a turn later as an instructor, and in time became one of the most outspoken partisans of the Navy's air arm against the battleship admirals then in power.

During World War II, still fighting for more Navy recognition of air power, he served in Washington, planning the Navy's air operations, later won two Distinguished Service Medals as commander of fast carrier task groups in the Pacific under Admirals "Bull" Halsey and Raymond Spruance. In 1949, on duty as commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, he led the famed "revolt of the admirals." At the congressional hearings, Radford blasted the Defense Department for sapping the Navy's offensive strength, called the 6-36 a "billion-dollar blunder." At one point, the Army chief of staff, General Dwight Eisenhower, became so angry at Radford that he refused to attend a J.C.S. meeting because Radford was present. But on his trip to Korea last December, Ike got a different impression of the Pacific Fleet Commander. At a dinner in Iwo Jima. Radford held Ike and his party spellbound with a brilliant review of Asian problems and their relation to world strategy. When Secretary Wilson recommended Radford to head the Joint Chiefs, the President approved.

Personality: A rugged (6 ft., 180 Ibs.), fit-looking man with close-cropped, sandy-grey hair and an airman's horizon-seeking eyes, Radford is both a hard, ruthless fighter and a military scholar. He shuns formal society, when possible, prefers a quiet evening at home, reading or tinkering with his cameras.

Chief of Naval Operations

ADMIRAL ROBERT BOSTWICK CARNEY, 58, Commander in Chief, Allied Forces, Southern Europe.

Family & Early Years: The son of a Navy commander, "Mick" Carney was born in Vallejo, Calif. A classmate of Radford at the Naval Academy, Carney was a boxer and swimmer and a superior student. During World War I, as a destroyer officer, he was cited for his part in the capture of a German submarine off the French coast.

Career: Between wars, Carney salted away years of experience both at desks and on decks. As the skipper of a cruiser in the Solomons during World War II, he was twice decorated. In 1943, he became chief of staff to Admiral Halsey. The two men made a spectacular team, were noted for their unorthodox tactics, and the staff was finally designated by Bull Halsey "The Dirty Trick Department." After the war, Admiral Carney became commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. He got to know General Eisenhower, then supreme allied commander, and in 1951 Ike named Carney as commander of the Southern European forces. As a result of his recent European experience, Carney probably knows more about air and ground operations than any other U.S. Navyman.

Personality: Short, slim and quick-moving (5 ft. 8 in., 155 Ibs.), Mick Carney looks more like a schoolteacher than an old sea dog. He wears rimless glasses, plays a guitar, and is a first-rate storyteller.

Army Chief of Staff

GENERAL MATTHEW BUNKER RIDGWAY, 58, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.

Family & Early Years: Born the son of a regular Army officer, at Fort Monroe, Va. Reared at Army posts all over the U.S., entered the U.S. Military Academy in 1913. A solemn, hard-working cadet, he managed the football team, was known as "the busiest man in the place." Graduated in 1917, he fretted through World War I as an infantry officer at an Army post in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Career: For 22 years, Matt Ridgway lived the life of a garrison officer, climbed slowly and unspectacularly up the brass ladder. During World War II, a major general, he led the famed 82nd Airborne Division in Italy, parachuted into Normandy, later commanded the XVIII Airborne Corps in Belgium and Germany. After the war, he rocketed upward to international fame; first as commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, then as successor to General Mac-Arthur in Tokyo, and finally as Eisenhower's successor in Paris. He is a better commander than diplomat, disappointed many European politicians by the rather rigid and unimaginative way he handled his NATO job.

Personality: A lean, leathery soldier, and a model of physical fitness, Matt Ridgway is proud of his own combat-ready ruggedness (5 ft. 10^ in., 175 Ibs.). A stern, uncompromising officer, he works himself hard, runs a headquarters that is both efficient and high-strung. His favorite author: Rudyard Kipling. He has been married three times, has three children.

Supreme Allied Commander, Europe

ALFRED MAXIMILIAN GRUENTHER, 54, SHAPE Chief of Staff.

Family & Early Years: Born in Platte Center, Neb., the son of a newspaper editor. As a teenager, Al Gruenther frequently got the family paper out when his father was away, once wrote a pacifist editorial. At St. Thomas Military Academy in St. Paul, Minn., he developed an interest in the military life, decided to go to West Point. He graduated fourth in the class of 1918, just ten days before the Armistice ended World War I.

Career: In the Army, Gruenther did not attract widespread public attention Associated press

until World War II, when he served as

General Mark Clark's deputy in Italy and Austria. In 1951, widely acknowledged to be the finest chief of staff in the Army, he went to Paris as chief of staff to Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower. That same year he stayed on at SHAPE under Ridgway.

Personality: Gruenther is the lightest general in the Army (5 ft. 8 in., 152 Ibs.). He has a high, almost shrill voice, a quick and engaging smile. He is a demanding but a considerate administrator, plays a good game of tennis, a superlative game of bridge. Military men in all services and throughout NATO respect Gruenther as one of the shrewdest staff men alive, with a penetrating, mathematical mind that is on a par with Radford's.

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