The Press: Rights or Duties

As onetime chief censor and public-information officer of the Eighth Army in Korea, Lieut. Colonel Melvin Voorhees, 50, was determined to carry out a very unmilitary project. Despite the objections of his superiors, and while still on active duty, Reservist Voorhees insisted on publishing a book called Korean Tales, in which he rapped both the military brass and the press for what he thought were their shortcomings in Korea. As a result of ignoring the Army's orders, Colonel Voorhees, an ex-reporter and editor on the defunct Tacoma Times, was ordered to stand trial on charges of: 1) failing to clear the book with the Army, 2) "willfully disobeying" a superior who had ordered him to withdraw the manuscript (TIME, Nov. 10). Last week, after two weeks of testimony, Reservist Voorhees was found guilty on both major counts by a seven-officer court martial. The sentence, subject to automatic review: dismissal from the Army.