The Pittsburgh Press (February 12, 1946)
Millett: Suckers
Mrs. G.I. Joe is bit angry
By Ruth Millett
A couple of things Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey told a Senate military affairs subcommittee investigating demobilization didn’t strike Mrs. G. I. Joe so well.
Herself a veteran of living alone and not liking it – though not complaining, she didn’t like Hershey’s opposition to increasing the present draft age limits to include men 26 through 29 “because it would irritate millions of persons.”
During the war nobody worried about a draft age irritating anybody. Why get bothered now – as long as an emergency still exists?
And the Selective Service director’s reason for opposing the drafting of fathers because it “would not meet with popular approval” only brought a cynical laugh from Mrs. G. I. Joe. Her husband, the father of her children, was taken from her when the war was on and neither she nor they knew if he would ever come back.
Children didn’t count for anything then. And neither did popular approval or disapproval.
Maybe it isn’t necessary to draft men 26 through 29, Maybe it isn’t necessary to draft fathers. If not – fine.
But if they are needed and should be drafted, then why start talking now about the danger of irritating millions of persons? Why start hedging because of popular approval?
Such talk makes Mrs. G.I. Joe and Mrs. Discharged Veteran feel that they and their husbands were suckers. They served their time when the country came before family and duty was stronger than public opinion.