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PAWTUCKET, R.I., PAWTUCKET TIMES, APRIL 26, 1967 Drew Pearson Says Caine Mutiny All Over Again? WASHINGTON -- The Navy is trying to suppress the fantastic story of a real-life Caine Mutiny, closely following the plot of the celebrated herman Wouk novel. This one happened not in World War II but aboard a radar picket destroyer on combat duty off Vietnam. The junior officers even kept a "Captain′s Madness Log," as in the "Caine Mutiny." to use as evidence against their commanding officer. He is Lt Cmdr. Marcus Aurelius Arnheiter and the "mutiny" took place aboard the U.S.S. Vance. The investigative report shows clearly, however, that Arnheiter was no Captain Queeg. Here is the story the Navy is trying to keep quiet: A group of young officers had been operating the U.S.S. Vance more like a yacht that a warship until Arnheiter took command a few days before Christmas, 1965. At sea, they enjoyed a leisurely life, including movies every afternoon. At anchor, they went joy riding and water skiing in an outboard motorboat they had acquired ashore. Discipline aboard the Vance was so relaxed that an enlisted crewman complained to his Congressman: "No one knows or cares what you are doing. You get no recognition for keeping your gear up. In fact, no one knows whether it is working or not. The officers don′t check us; they don′t Look at our logs. They don′t inspect our gear or our spaces." This letter got back to Rear Adm. Walter H. Baumberger, then commander of the Cruiser Destroyer Force in the Pacific, who cited it in a notice to all his ships. Without mentioning names, he wrote: "The attached letter was recently received via Congressman... (it) points up the misuse of a specific individual and states quite eloquently the frustrations experienced by a number of our young bluejacketts. It is my fervent hope that such a situation does not now exist in any of our ships." To restore combat efficieney aboard the Vance, Arnheiter began cracking down. This spoiled the fun of his junior officers, who chafed under the new discipline. Shortly after Arnheiter became skipper, the ship was ordered to the war zone. Her mission was to patrol the coast, intercept the smuggling of Communist contraband and bombard enemy targets on shore. He mounted a .30-caliber machinegun on the outboard runabout, trained the ship′s crew in the use of the big three-inch guns and taught them how to use rifles in case they should have to repel boarders. Then he began patrolling close to the shore, searching the coves and inlets for suspicious junks. He also requested spotter planes to point out shore targets for the ship′s big guns. The junior officers complained that he was taking unnecessary risks and that they could patrol by radar beyond the barrier reef 20 miles out. Soon they began to plot against Arnheiter. Once he saw in the ward room an open copy of Herman Wouk′s "Caine Mutiny Court Martial," the stage version of the original novel. Meanwhile, three subordinates -- Lt. Ray Hardy, the executive officer′ lt. (djg) William Generous, the operations officer; and Ensign Louis Belmonte -- were compiling a long list of petty grievances against Arnheiter, entered by Bellmonte in the "Captain′s Madness Log." The trouble really began when Generous, a Catholic, complained in a letter to a priest, Lt. Richard Osterman, that Arnheiter was compelling all hands to attend Protestant services on the ship′s fantail. "Three times now," the lieutenant wrote, "the crew has been ordered aft...for these euphemistie church calls... I cannot accept illegality and infringement of my Constitutional rights. I seek relief from this burden, but I do so anonymously, once again for the sake of my family. Is there something that you can do?" Unknown to Arnheiter, Chaplain Osterman registered a complaint with higher authorities. Ensign Belmonte, the lay Catholic leader on board, pressed the charges in complaints to other chaplains. Investigation developed that the skipper, and Episcopalian, had not been holding Protestant services. Invocations and benedictions were offered, but were taken from the Navy′s own booklet of "Prayers at Sea." He had held these services in order to instill patriotism and prepare his men spiritually for combat. One of Generous′s specific complaints was that the crew had been called on to sing all four verses of "America," and that the reference in the fourth verse to "Our fathers′ God to Thee, author of liberty,′ had Protestant connotations. When the charges eventually were investigated, it was found "that although the nature of the initial lectures did have religious overtones, the tenor of the program subsequently changed to conform with the spirit of General Order 21 to which objection could not reasonably be raised." The other charges were even more petty, including the complaint that Arnheiter had declared candy "unfit for consumption" in order to give it to hungry Vietnamese children. Prior to these findings, however, Arnheiter was abruptly removed from his command. He was neither informed of the charges against him nor given an opportunity to reply. The admirals acted precipitously out of concern for the ship′s morale in a war zone. But having made their decision, they refused to back down -- even after investigation proved the charges to be frivolous. Thus Arnheiter was cashiered, in effect, for bringing discipline to his ship and pressing the war too vigorously. This article from Joseph Betters, found in his filing cabinet. Are there articles hiding at your house? |
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