Noncom Sir

As an honor guard stood at saber-stiff attention and a 19-gun artillery salute boomed across the grassy Pentagon Mall, Army Chief of Staff Harold K. Johnson last week swore in Sergeant Major William O. Wooldridge, 43, as the highest-ranking enlisted man in the 191-year history of the U.S. Army. Wooldridge, who became the first noncom to hold the new rank of Sergeant Major of the Army (the Marines have had a comparable corps-wide post since 1957) will serve in effect as the G.I.'s generalissimo. Acting as both the soldier's man-in-the-Pen-tagon and the Chief of Staff's trouble-shooter within the ranks, the burly (6 ft. 190 lbs.), heavy-jawed infantry veteran will thus represent the entire Army, much as its 4,700 lesser sergeants major* represent units ranging from battalions to field armies. Said General Johnson: "He will be my eyes and ears."

"Best in the Army." To fill the new post, Johnson screened 21 candidates recommended by his field commanders. Wooldridge was summoned from Viet Nam, where he had been sergeant major of the 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One) whose C.O., Major General Jonathan O. Seaman, says flatly that Wooldridge is "the best soldier in the Army." Articulate and tough-minded, the Texas-reared sergeant vows that he will not "pester General Johnson with the complaints of people who only think they have problems"--but intimates that he has views of his own and will press them.

Wooldridge enlisted in 1940, waded ashore with the 1st infantry at Normandy and fought his way across Europe, bringing back two Silver Stars and a prominent scar on his nose to show for sundry duels with German tanks. He was among the first batch of sergeants major appointed when the rank was created by the Army in 1958.

"They Run the Army." For his new assignment Wooldridge wears a specially designed lapel insignia. Though the rank brings no increase in his $657.30-a-month pay, it carries with it some perquisites that a mere major general might envy. Occupying Pentagon office 3E673, a capacious suite just across the corridor from General Johnson's headquarters, Wooldridge sits in a high-backed leather chair behind a large desk with a six-button phone, has a WAC receptionist and a full-time clerical assistant. At nearby Fort Myer, an air-conditioned, eight-room house has been remodeled for Wooldridge, his wife Barbara and their five children.

For all that, the Sergeant Major of the Army remains essentially the non-com's noncom, still owes a salute to even the greenest West Point graduate. "They're officers, and they run the Army," he says crisply. "I feel very strongly about that."

Not to be outdone, Lyndon Johnson inspected his own troops, grandly elevated White House Executive Clerk William J. Hopkins to the newly created position of Executive Assistant to the President ("an office that truly fits the man"). Hopkins, a self-effacing, $25,025-a-year civil servant who supervises the files, mail and other administrative functions, has served every President since F.D.R.

* The title was borrowed from the British army, whose Regimental Sergeants Major often command--and get--even more respect than do officers. When addressing a squad of newly commissioned officers, the R.S.M. has been known to counsel: "You will call me 'sir,' and 1 will call you 'sir.' But you will mean it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.