VETERANS: Old Soldiers' Soldier

(5 of 5)

He knew even better than the American Legion's pompous John Stelle, who trumpeted a blast of criticism at him, that there were delays in filing claims, that medical records were not on hand, that much of his personnel was incompetent. He shut Stelle up with a curt report outlining shortcomings of which even Stelle was not aware. He doggedly applied himself to his business, building an organization which he hopes can do the job. In his flat Missouri twang, he said briefly: "I'm not worried."

There is a quality of greatness about 53-year-old Omar Bradley—in his plain face and his sense of humanity. Once, musing on a soldier's life, he observed that he had spent 30 years training himself to make decisions which would cost human lives. "You don't sleep any too well from it," he said quietly. Now the General's job is patching up shattered lives and straightening out war's endless disorders. The hazards and responsibilities of this peacetime assignment, in some respects, are greater than any he ever had in wartime. But the General sleeps better—and millions of U.S. veterans could sleep better because he is on the job.