U.S. At War: Tightening Up

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The U.S. Army announced that it was taking the step because of civilian shortages. Whatever the reasons, its summary snatch of luxuries from the camps of its 300,000-odd German war prisoners seemed to satisfy everybody but the Germans.

Highpoint meat, butter, canned fruit and other hard-to-get items were scratched from P.O.W. menus. Substitutes: beef hearts, liver, low-grade cuts for stew (twice a week), margarine (once a day), stewed fruit, more spaghetti, more bread to maintain a calorie count equal to the standard U.S. Army garrison ration.

P.O.W.s also lost their ready-made cigarets; from now on they must roll their own. Then they were ordered to substitute the American for the Nazi straight-arm salute, get rid of all Nazi flags, pictures and emblems in their barracks.

As a final mark of sterner days to come, Major General Thomas A. Terry, of the Second Service Command, announced that G.I.s and officers liberated from prison camps in Germany would be assigned to operate prison camps in New York, New Jersey and Delaware.

Said General Terry: ". . . [They] are considered to be eminently qualified for these duties."