Word: zandt
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...years of service, to go back to civilian life. He asked to be retired. The Navy approved, then yanked a 58-year-old reserve commander out of civilian life to fill his job. Boiling mad, the reservist went to see his Congressman, Pennsylvania's James E. Van Zandt, a naval reserve captain himself. He found a ready audience. Van Zandt and many other Congressmen had decided that too many able, relatively young officers were retiring...
When the 1952 appropriations bill came up, Van Zandt tacked on a rider: No money was to be used for retirement pay for officers who left before they reached the compulsory retirement age (60 for officers up to brigadier general, 62 for major generals, 64 for above major general). An officer could retire on three-quarters pay before his time only if he had a physical disability or if the Secretary of Defense considered it for the good of the service or a case of personal hardship...
...Zandt supported the bill "not for political reasons but for the purpose of supporting the veterans of the country who carried the Stars & Stripes on the many frontiers of battle, not only in the Spanish-American War but in World War I and World War II." Said Rankin piously: "I want to say that this is the first time I ever heard politics mentioned...
...Scintilla. When he had stated his repentance for every item of the statement, Carl Vinson thought it was about time for the committee to take a formal stand on the evidence to date. By unanimous agreement (including the vote of Pennsylvania's discomfited James Van Zandt, who had reported the anonymous charges on the House floor), the committee agreed that there was not "one iota, not one scintilla, of evidence . . . that would support charges or insinuations [of] collusion, fraud, corruption, influence or favoritism...
This week the House Armed Services Committee would meet to consider Van Zandt's demand for an investigation. The Air Force let it be known that it welcomed a full airing of the charges, and said it would rather be asked about the B-36 than any plane it owns. If the charges proved without foundation, then an investigation into who had spread the charges, and why, was due. Either way, the nation and its military establishment were in for some nasty days...