National Affairs: Quickened Pace

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The three armed services were stepping up their cadence to meet the quickening pace of U.S. mobilization (see The Nation). Items:

¶ The Navy recommissioned four more destroyers and the carriers Princeton and Monterey from its mothball fleet, began reconditioning the 45,000-ton battleship New Jersey, requisitioned as a transport the unfinished luxury liner United States (see BUSINESS), the largest ever laid down in the U.S.

¶ The Army reactivated the 101st Airborne ("Screaming Eagles") Division, wartime heroes of Bastogne, as a training cadre for new recruits, started intensive training of the first 60,000 men in its enlisted reserve.

¶ The Air Force called up its first National Guard units: five groups with an authorized strength of 6,000 men and 354 planes.

By the end of next month, the nation's military ranks will reach an estimated 2,000,000 men (including 170,000 men drafted by the Army) and local boards expect to keep on calling at least 50,000 to 70,000 draftees a month.