MERGER OF U.S. FORCES

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25086, 18 January 1947, Page 9

MERGER OF U.S. FORCES

TRUMAN ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT (Rec. 8.30_p.m.) WASHINGTON. January 16. Mr Truman announced that the Secretary of War (Mr Robert A. Patterson) and the Secretary of the Navy (Mr James V. Forrestal) had reached an agreement on the merger of the armed forces, which in future will be under the direction of a Secretary for National Defence. • Mr Truman endorsed the plan, describing it as an admirable compromise, providing thoroughly practical unification. Mr Patterson and Mr Forrestal hitherto have differed on the Army’s Sroposal for a merger of top Army and Avy officers. The plan for the unification of the American armed forces as announced by Mr Truman envisages the creation of a separate Air Force on equal footing with the Army and Navy. Each arm will be headed by a secretary who will be responsible to an over-all Secretary of National Defence similar to the newly-established British Ministry of Defence. • The Army will retain “such aviation and water transport as may be organic to its land services and combat forces.” The Navy will retain basically the same aviation forces which it at present possesses, notably carrier aircraft and long-range shore based reconnaissance aircraft. The Navy will also remain in control of the Marine Corps. The plan is the climax to a controversy that has raged actively since autumn, 1945, and goes back even farther in Army and Navy relationships. The Army Air Forces battled zealously for unification while the Navy relinquished its deep-rooted opposition slowly end stubbornly.