European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                 pad Dayto Strasbourg continued from Page 25 Many ended up in the hotel Haussmann a residential hotel the staff called be Flea bag. It boasted its own collection of misfits including a latvian accordian teacher who claimed to be a countess and who regularly threatened suicide. A she was forever climbing out the window and threatening to jump on the count of 10,�?� remembers Joe Fleming a London staffer who joined the Paris operation shortly after the City was liberated. A of course she never jumped but she was always out there threatening  the hotel was also Home to a russian woman who had been the mistress of new York mobster Lucky Luciano and a French prostitute who purportedly had helped the War Effort by spreading gonorrhoea among German officers in the City. A just about everybody on the staff lived there at one time or another a said Fleming now retired and living in Bonn Germany. A if somebody was out on a Story somebody else would take Over their room until they got Back then they a find somebody else who was going out for a few Days. It was sort of Community  but life in the City of Light did no to always offer such communal Good will. Goodfriend who a replaced Llewellyn As officer in charge seriously damaged the papers credibility in late september with an editorial titled a so you Wanna go Home he a the piece written when there was growing dissatisfaction in the ranks with the slow rate of troop rotations derided american soldiers for wanting to give up the fight. The most offending sentence read a it looks like our great big american supermen Are ready to leave this legalized murder to the nurses was and club Mobile  the editorial enraged stripes readers whose angry letters flooded the paper. The piece also did no to sit Well with Eisenhower who called in the editors for a Little Chat. While assuring them that lie did not want to interfere with stripes Ike said he could not tolerate the paper undermining the command with editorials that differed so widely from what soldiers in the Field were thinking. The scolding Hurt All the More coming from Eisenhower the papers Best Friend. Brig. Gen. . Solbert Goodfriend a Boss in the information and education Structure caused a minor stir of his own in late 1944. Solbert had occasionally suggested headline ideas to the paper but head been successfully ignored. This time he had the idea of filling the Little holes Between stories with the words a have you killed your German today a Quot it s a Good Catchy slogan a Solbert told the editors a something that la help win the War and show the fighting men we re behind  the editors stunned by the suggestion did no to say a word. The general stood smiling and still no one spoke. Finally trying hard to keep his smile Solbert inched his Way out of the room. Quot have you killed your German today a never appeared in the stars and stripes. The papers most popular feature without question was the b bag which carried the slogan Quot blow it out  the column had started Back in England when an infantryman pfc. Dewey e. Livingston asked the stars and stripes for help in finding a pair of Sie 13 eee shoes Quot i am wearing overshoes right now a Dewey wrote Quot which Are too big for me anyway even jubilant parisians Greet the arrival of Allied units to their City in late August 1944 Rolls of newsprint at Paris Headquarters. With two pairs of socks. I have had this problem with shoes Ever since Back in the states and thought maybe stars and stripes would be Able to help me a the paper printed his plea and the staffer Andy Watts edits b bag letters quartermaster came through so quickly that other soldiers started writing in with requests for everything from 5aas to 15ees. The letters were printed As a help wanted column that in time expanded to include gripes and other comments. Sgt. Lou Rakin a former police court judge from Linden n.j., assumed the chore of answering the letters and the column was eventually Given the name b bag. By late 1944, Rakin was receiving thousands of letters a Day and commanders were forced to take the column seriously. So Many soldiers wrote in to complain about the staff of one replacement depot for example that Eisenhower sent in his own inspector general to investigate and a half dozen officers and enlisted men at the depot were brought to trial. Gen. Courtney h. Hodges the 1st army commander had a standing order that any b bag letter charging abuse in his command would be checked immediately and a report sent to him. At one Point Eisenhower himself considered writing to the column but decided against it for fear that it would appear that he was trying to exert influence on the paper. Ike never did say what his Gripe was. Another example of customer service occurred in late 1944, just after Roosevelt had been elected to his fourth term As president a letter came in from a 1st it. Melville e. Watson and said in part a will you As soon As possible publish the Complete election returns by state with particular reference to Hancock county Indiana a the request was passed on to new York where Ben Price on a temporary duty stint in the United states went right to work. Prices Story ran nov. 11 on Page 1 Hancock county briefs Ira Fisk elected sheriff Hancock county Indiana a sheriff Ira Fisk Republican Coroner Charles Pasco Republican Surveyor Chris Ostermier Democrat Bertha Kirkpatrick Democrat won something a we think county clerk. Now that we be shown we can do it we rest on our laurels. No More please. Transportation was a constant problem for the staff and one that was tackled from several avenues. Some were even Legal. In the initial Days of Paris Llewellyn had managed to get a Fleet of vehicles from a transportation officer in Cherbourg a couple of Hundred Miles West of Paris. If Llewellyn could show up in Cherbourg the next Day with Drivers a age 26 a 50th anniversary special edition saturday april 18, 1992