ALUMNI OF OFLAG 64 MEET
   Capt. William T. Kelso, left, reminisces with MSgt. Leon E. Lavender at Binghamton Army Recruiting Station. The captain lost 69 pounds and the sergeant 47 pounds while prison mates in a German prison camp in Poland.

Former Prison Mates in Reich Are Reunited in Binghamton
   An odd quirk of fate has reunited at Binghamton Army Recruiting Station two men who suffered may days of  misery together in a German prison camp.
   Both were captured during the Normandy campaign and spent almost a year together at Oflag 64 in Poland.
   Capt. William T. Kelso, 29, of Syracuse today discovered on his arrival here for recruiting duty that MSgt. Leon E. Lavender, of the Binghamton Recruiting Station, was a prison mate in the same camp. Sergeant Lavender was a first lieutenant in the 82d Airborne Division when captured soon after D-Day.
Landed on D-Day
   A platoon leader in the 26th Regiment of the 1st Division, Captain Kelso landed D-Day in Normandy and went through the bitter fighting that led up to the St. Lo breakthrough.
   He was captured Aug. 1, 1944, near Mortain.
   "We were driving down a road four jeeps in a line. We were supposed," said the captain "ruefully, "to be behind our lines." "The next thing I knew I was marching, down the road with a rifle in my back and someone yelling German at me," he said.
Lives on Scanty Diet
   Diet at his camp consisted of a loaf of bread a day and a bowl of soup every three days with some horse meat once a week according to the captain. "Doctors in our camp figured it to be 1,200 calories a day," he said.
   "Red Cross packages kept us from starving," Captain Kelso said.
   Now weighing 193 pounds, he dropped to 124 pounds while in the camp.
  The prisoners were ordered out of their camp a day before the Russians arrived. They marched an average of 15 miles a day, the captain said.
   After 28 days consecutive marching, Captain Kelso's legs and feet became so swollen that the Germans transported him the rest of the trip in a boxcar to Camp Luckenwold, near Berlin.
   "During the march I was issued only three loaves of bread," he said. He explained that the prisoners kept alive by stealing barley and potatoes from farms along the route of march.
   April 22, 1945, he was liberated by the Russians.
  "Those Russians are pretty who suffered many days of prison camp. rough boys I wouldn't like to have to fight them," he reminisced.
   Even when back in this country Captain Kelso found it hard to overcome the after effects of his confinement. "Eating was difficult," he said. "I had to take it easy because my stomach had shrunk and I would feel full after a few bites or food."
   Captain Kelso is married to the former Mrs. Barbara E. Hall of Waverly. He hopes to be assigned to a vacancy in the recruiting station at Elmira, near his wife's home.

[Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY, 11 May 1946, Sat, Main Edition, Page 3]

 HIYAH, SIR! The "Yes, Sir, right away, Sir," school of strict army discipline is exemplified, left, by MSgt. Leon E. Lavender, top kick at Binghamton Army Recruiting Station. At right he shows the "Hiyah General" approach that will be the order of the day off military posts. -Photo by The Binghamton Press
   Should an enlisted man be required to salute an officer on a crowded sidewalk? Should officers accrue unused leave time and receive terminal pay upon discharge while enlisted men forfeit all unused leave time?
   To these and several other G.I. complaints, the army, through Secretary of War Patterson, has announced a loud "NO."
   Personnel of the Binghamton Army Recruiting Station today countered with opinions ranging from a "yes" to "maybe" to "no."
   "I think it's the bunk!" said 1st Sgt. Leon E. Lavender, of the order abolishing all saluting except on military posts and in occupied areas overseas.
   Growled the first sergeant, who also served as a first lieutenant while a paratrooper in combat: "I never broke my arm saluting an officer."
Says Discipline Suffered
   Concurring with him was SSgt. Ernest W. Lee who explained that he always saluted not the individual but his uniform and what it represents.
   Capt. W. A. McAdam, station commander, recalled an experiment at Pine Camp in 1942 when saluting was minimized and general discipline immediately suffered as a result.
   On the negative side stood Maj. Howell P. McCorkle, head of the Binghamton Recruiting District. and Sgt. Lloyd F. Holtslander. They both thought there is too much unnecessary saluting now.
   Paradoxically, while the officers unanimously agreed that enlisted men should have equal rights on terminal pay leave, the enlisted men were equally unanimous in their disapproval.
End of 3-Day Passes
   Discharged veterans, principally, will gain from the change, was the general opinion. For regular army men, the enlisted personnel explained, the new rule would mean the end of three-day passes.
   Instead of occasional furloughs and frequent three-day passes over weekends, enlisted men will have to follow the officers' procedure and wait for leave time to accrue. Sergeant Lavender summed up the issue when he declared: "What would I do with 30 days leave? I can spend all the money I've got on a three-day pass."
   The whole staff agreed upon the War Department's recommendation that social facilities for enlisted men should be improved. SSgt. Thomas E. Watson added the opinion that the army should eliminate the social distinctions now observed between the families of officers and enlisted men.
Deplore '90-Day Wonders
   Opinion also was unanimous that officers should receive more training than that acquired by wartime "90-day wonders."
   "This is especially true in the infantry where officers must be leaders of men," declared Sergeant Watson. Sergeant Holtslander observed: "I have been under some pretty bum officers."
   One other phase in the new order is the elimination of an existing requirement that officers wear distinctive uniforms, live apart from their men in garrison, and confine their social contacts to other officers.
   While both officers at the recruiting station admitted that it would be no hardship to eat at the same mess, live in barracks with enlisted men, and wear similar uniforms, the enlisted men split two and two on the idea.
'Kill All Ambition'
   Once more leading the opposition, Sergeant Lavender declared that elimination of special privileges and the elements of prestige would kill all ambition in the army.
   "That's what you work for," he said. "If they put me in the same class as a private, I'd quit."
   Sergeant Lee agreed that officers should receive more than heavier pay envelopes for the work they must do to achieve their position.
   "Too many privileges, too many advantages, and some officers use their rank too much," commented Sergeant Holtslander.
   Major McCorkle expressed the belief that much of the present dissension stems from such typical rules in the Officers' Handbook which require that officers should not be seen pushing baby carriages and never should carry bundles for their wives.

[Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY, 02 Jul 1946, Tue, Main Edition, Page 3]