March 24, 1944

Yesterday a lady receptionist, an Australian who goes with General Sutherlin and is a friend of General MacArthur was commissioned from nothing to a captain in the United State's WAC's. Everybody is fighting mad because she is nothing but a gal to answer a phone and sort of act like an information girl at the Red Cross. She has a desk in the small lobby of the AMP. The AMP and the Courier are the two buildings on the main intersection in Brisbane - Queen and Edward Street. Everyone is mad about the Aussie being made a captain to answer a phone, but then the Generals get away with murder. The high ranking officials all have excellent homes and government cars at their disposal. Also all the best food that can be obtained. The reason the headquarters hasn't moved north is that the officers and there are thousands of them - would have to use government billets and they like it down here. An officers club was just completed in Brisbane that cost a half a million bucks with everything in it. These men live like kings no less. Most of them do nothing - or very little work. Go to Southport twice a week in a staff car, go out every night to parties, go to Sydney every month on TD for a week's vacation, to collect 50% flying pay. And they are supposed to be fighting a war. The graft and politics in the army is terrible. The average officer from Major on up cares not whether this war ever ends. They all have girls that they live with and yet they generally write their wives once or twice a week and tell them of the rugged battle conditions they are living under. There are some good officers here but the majority are money grabbing loafers who love to be parasites and live on the fat of the land while the civilians back home are "blowed up" with patriotism and such malarky and don't realize what goes on. Why men should be given such power is beyond me. Some of them were nothing before the war but on the basis of a years R.O.T.C. or something were commissioned at the start of this war. Still, now they get all the money, do practically no work, and after the war will go home heroes, and honestly most of them will never again live under such excellent conditions. Some Mormon majors admitted the other night that not one of them had anything to do. About an hour's work a day does all their work. And we are supposed to respect the officers of the U.S. Army - it is hard to do, believe me.