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PAGE TWO
MEET THE UNKNOWN CUSTODIANS
OF MORALE—-PERSONNEL SECTION
"Behind
Each Record
Is A Man!"
Most soldiers, when asked
to name the big morale fac
tors in their lives, would po
litely mention the special ser
vices division and then, more
enthusiastically, the mess
hall, the mail room, and the
pass box. Even if pressed to
mention everything contribu
ting to their well-being in the
Army, they would probably com
pletely forget those unpublicized
custodians of GI morale, the spe
cialists who staff the Personnel
Section at regimental headquar
ters UNLESS
There was something short in
the pay envelope on the last day
of the month
Or a furlough was made out
wrong
Or the folks at home didn't
get their allotment on time.
Or somebody’s special abilities
and skills weren’t properly listed
on his classification card before
he was transferred
"You see,” says Sgt. Daniel
Wolpin, personnel clerk for B
Company, ‘‘Any man who has
had any connections with per
sonnel for even a few days has
a real insight into the Army—
personnel pumps the heart blood
into the service. .Just consider
the morale factors of a document
like a furlough or a payroll and
you’ll get the idea.’’
"The payroll is the climax of
our work,” explains Sgt Arthur
E Jassman. D Company Person
nel clerk “Practically every
thing a man does is reflected in
his pay."
“Behind each record is a man"
is the slogan for Personnel work
in the Anny, and the reverse is
just as important, particularly
in these days when troops rota
tion is sending Academic men
out to the field
Combat Assignment
"A man’s safety in his combat
assignment, and the welfare of
his entire unit, might depend up
on his correct classification be
fore he leaves this outfit," is the
way S Sgt. Frank Marcoux,
classification specialist, sums up
the importance of the work his
section does.
SGT. JASSMAN, OLD
v' timer at Personnel, shows
Pvt Thompson Hell) how
to make out I' orm <> 5 l Of
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WITH MIXED EMOTIONS THE MEMBERS OF PERSONNEL SECTION. REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS,
watch the arrival of another group of casuals during their lunch hour. Well (as the sergeant on the exteme right is about
to say) that means back to work. Left to right, standing: Sgt. John P. Kelly; Sgt. Madrid Albarelli; S. Sgt. William J.
Kelly; Cpl. Harriet Rogovy; Sgt. Harry Schomer; Cpl. Orin L. Hunter; Sgt. Daniel Wolpin. Sitting: S. Sgt. Frank W.
Marcoux; Sgt. Julius Mintzer; M. Sgt. Hubert Burson; Sgt. Joseph F. Connolly; Sgt. K. C. Williams. Center: Pfc. Rich
ard Watson. (Official U. S Army Signal Corps Photo.)
Regimental Personnel is head
ed by M Sgt Hubert J. Burson,
the personnel sergeant-major,
who was an accountant in civil
ian life in LaGrange. Ga., be
fore he joined the service al
most six years ago.
His company clerks work un
der the supervision of S. Sgt.
William J. Kelly, a graduate of
St. John’s University in Brook
lyn and a business man in Can-
REGIMENTAL MIRROR
astota before selective service
Highly Trained
In the Academic Regiment the
personnel clerks are a highly
trained outfit both from the point
of view of Jheir jobs and their
general background Eight of
the clerks, for example, have
been to college, and one, Sgt.
Julius Mintzer, holds two de
grees from New York University
and one from Columbia All of
the clerks are at least high
school graduates. Their civilian
jobs ranged from Mintzer’s so
cial work in community organi
zations to Sgt. Madrid (F Co.)
Albarelli’s ownership of a large
button-manufacturing concern in
New York Cpl Orin L. Hunter
(A) was a power lineman in
Leipsic, 0.; Sgt. Joseph Connol
ly (C) was an accountant and au
ditor in New York City; Cpl.
Harriet Rogovy, (WAC I) was a
bookkeeper in Akron, O.; Pfc.
Geneva Thompson (WAC IT)
worked in the main supply depot
of the Fourth Corps Area, where
she headed her own staff of of
fice assistants; Wolpin was man
ager of a camera shop and Jass
man was a postal clerk; Pfc. R.
C Watson, «of Nashville, Tenn.,
was a merchant seaman, while
Sgt. K. C. Williams was an as
sistant hotel manager in Deca
tur, 111., and Sgt. Harry R. Scho
mer was a special delivery mail
clerk.
Put together, the company per
sonnel clerks form a corps of
experts on a good cross-section
of civilian and military life,
which is exactly what a good
Personnel Section is supposed to
be
With the current preparation
of overseas replacements now in
progress under the policy of ro
tation of troops Personnel is
kept working at a speedy pace,
frequently far into the night, in
order to make sure that every
Academic who leaves for field
duty has complete records to
speak for him wherever he goes.
How Casuals
Depend On MOS
"Soldiers in a line outfit," ex
plains Sgt. Marcoux, “usually go
overseas as a unit, and there are
always officers and non-coms
who know what they can do and
what missions they can be sent
out on. But when a casual from
an outfit likes ours goes to a re
placement depot, he and his rec
ord are more or less all the rec
ommendation he has—an inaccu
rate record would be dangerous
at a time like that.
“Many of our old Army men
have been specialists here for a
good time and have had little
recent field training. Many of
them will be reclassified if their
present skills cannot be utilized
in line outfits—that is inevitable
when an Army goes from the
defensive to the offensive Many
installation specializations have
no place in combat and some
ON LIMITS
Busy Bee Case located on
Summerville Road in Phenix
City, Ala., has been declared
“ON LIMITS” to all members of
the Army according to General
Order Number 35 recently re
leased by Post Headquarters
Thursday, April 27, 1944
mon will find themselves doing
new jobs.”
When a man goes to a combat
replacement depot, Marcoux
says, he is known not by name
but by his “MOS”—Military Oc
cupational Specialty. If he was
a truck driver or a cook in civi
lian life, his MOS is the same
as his SSN or his civilian classi
fication, which can be put to
good use in the Army with little
adaptation. But if his civilian
work has no place in the Army
He gets an SSN of "010"—which
means that his MOS will be
something entirely different from
his civilian work.
At the depot a call might come
in from a regiment that suffer
ed casualties of, say. 40 machine
gunners and 50 riflemen. The
first sergeant consults his list of
available men. looking down
their MOS. picking out all 605’s
(machine gunners) and 745’s
(riflemen) available, and then
sends them out Since a man is
known here only by MOS, Mar
coux points out, it’s classifica
tion’s job to make sure that a
man who is listed 605 is really
605 and can fit right into a ma
chine-gun crew when he gets to
the front.
Sgt. Marcoux is assisted by Sgt
John P. Kelly, formerly an esti
mater in Chicago, who is also
listed as a personnel technician
Marcoux and Mintzer are both
graduates of the Army Adminis
tration Course, given at the Ad
jutant General’s School at Ft
Washington, Md. Two other per
sonnel clerks—Sgt. Florence Alt
shuler and Pvt. Margaret Hunt
er, WACs—are now attending
school.
