European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1947, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May who plays the other does a sem strip duet with new York theater censors prevented a realistic dancing Hole requited Jean to take Bert no mean Hoofer helped her to polish her another time Washington slipped Here the few times that i have had occasion to be in Washington i have made 9 Point of steering my Way around the Pentagon there is something grim and Awe some about a place in which the Mere stroke of a typewriter key or the shifting of a card from one Index file to another could have had such a drastic influence on ones private i have often wished secretly that i could have spent least a few hours there during the week of May although i must confess that i am a Little vague on the i am con Vinced that events in the army Arm chair Arena must have reached a High pitch of dramatic tension at that i am sure of the Date because i my although at the moment i was insecurely settled at an overseas Stag ing area in was undoubtedly involved in the crucial decisions of that i first became aware of the crisis at about nine Oclock in the evening of that Spring when my company commander came looking for me rather frantically in the in hell have you been All Day he the commanding general has a patrol out trying to locate youd better get your car Cass right up to Camp inasmuch As no commanding Gen eral had Ever taken such a personal interest in i was rather since i  recall hav ing performed any recent act of hero i was also a Little i expected to find the Gen eral waiting up for but when i gave my name to his wac Secretary she of and asked me to take a chair while she informed him that i had she went into an adjoining office and through the open door i could hear a deep but surprisingly mild voice thank god there was a moment of silence while the general apparently decided what he was going to do with me and then i heard him in a confidential i guess wed better him right Over to in the office of the who also seemed to be working astonishingly late my name was passed along theline until finally a colonel called into a Small room and shut the door firmly behind you Are Privat Sharnik he began i he thought this what do you think about the War he asked i was caught off i said the colonel walked around a Large desk and sat Tell he said have you Ever done any research any what he you know laboratories i Welly asked the have you i the colonel looked me Over a Little More know anything about i thought this was a hell of a ques Tion to ask a private but i didst say not very i answered the colonel possibly he had expected to learn that i was the secret brains behind the North african he the War department wants thank i said for no particular they have instructed me to ask you a few first of would you be willing to accept an assign ment in the Pentagon what would i be doing in the Pentagon i i dont i just dont they wont Tell us is it secret i asked said the colonel Ive asked Over head quarters and nobody knows All we have is our 111 take i said said the sign he handed me a typewritten Sheet with an impressive War depart ment Letterhead on it i read it with some bewilderment and considerable it was pretty serious you it said approx that once you accept this assignment it was no More revealing the colonel about just what my assignment was to be you May never be Able to go to with one foot practically on the this was something Al a Jolt but i mustered up my courage and went you understand also that once you undertake this Mission you will never be permitted to discuss your work with your closest members of your family or even your associates in this during or after the a picture of isolated at my mysterious work in a hermetically sealed cell in some unknown Corner of the flashed before my and i had a moment of mis i blotted out the image and signed the paper said the he Shook my hand i put on hat and started out the then a thought occurred to i theres something id like to ask yes he i i that when my outfit sails in a couple of i just take a train Down to Washington he considered this for a moment we have no orders to keep you Here or to Send you to he they didst say anything about when they wanted what do i then he said  probably Send us a Telegram before your outfit what if they Dent in that he youd better leave with  probably Send orders out for you to come Back probably be wait ing for you when you land i spent the next few Days waiting for a phone or at least a collect from but nothing by the end of the week i was aboard a converted banana boat with my innocent headed for England austere i made a few inquiries when we but no one had Ever heard of me or of my connections in the my com manding was reassure dont he patting me on the one of these Days that Telegram will come through and Well get you Back if we have to dig you out of foxhole to do it several during the next couple of years and across the next six or seven i sent word through channels up to my reminding them that they better not count on my services too much longer because i was Apt to be called Back to Washington at a moments i also asked them to be on the look out for a c47 which would probably be dropping around to pick me if spotted they never said anything to me about it my command ing who had a sympathetic fatherly interest i my made a few personal trips to the Headquarters of our Fie i army to ask them what to do about but they Only advised him to see Tibet i my Rifle oiled and never mind packing my Duffel bag for a Long ago i stopped trying to de Termine what glorious task i was to have performed for my per haps they wished to consult before undertaking the Normandy possibly they wanted me to invent an atomic i suppose i shall never but i have never stopped wondering about the scene of tremendous excitement must have occurred in the Pentagon when they decided that they didst need me alter Sharnik 21