Ex-Soviet general is U.S. Army private
New York (UP) –
A former Soviet brigadier general who narrowly escaped being purged in 1937 is a private in the U.S. Army.
The induction of Alexander Barmine Dec. 4 was revealed after he had spent three weeks at the Fort Dix, New Jersey, Reception Center, during which time he concealed his Red Army background from members of his company. He is now in a training battalion in New Jersey.
Barmine fled from his post in Athens in 1937, rather than obey a recall to Moscow and possible execution in the purge of the army general staff. His friend, Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, was liquidated.