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MAJOR VICTOR JOPPOLO, U. S. A. , WAS A GOOD man. You will see that. It is the whole reason why I want you to know his story.

He was the Amgot officer o f a small Italian town called Adano. He was more or less the American mayor after our invasion.

Amgot, as you know, stood for Allied Military Government Occupied Territory. The authorities decided, shortly after the happenings o f this story, that the word Amgot had an ugly Germanic sound, and they heard that the two syllables of the word, when taken separately, were the Turkish words for the male and female genital organs. So they decided to call it A. M. G. and forget about the Occupied Territory.

That was later, though. When I knew him, Major Jop- polo was Amgot officer o f Adano, and he was good. There were probably not any really bad men in Amgot, but there were some stupid ones (and still are, even though the Turkish embarrassment has been taken care of). You see, the theories about administering occupied territories all turned out to be just theories, and in fact the thing which determined whether we Americans would be successful in that toughest o f all jobs was nothing more or less than the quality of the men who did the administering.

That is why I think it is important for you to know about Major Joppolo.

America is the international country. Major Joppolo was an Italian-American going to work in Italy. Our Army has Yugoslavs and Frenchmen and Austrians and Czechs and Norwegians in it, and everywhere our Army goes in Europe, a man can turn to the private beside him and say: “Hey, Mac, what’s this f furriner saying? How much does he want for that bunch o f grapes?” And Mac will be able to translate.

That is where we are lucky. No other country has such a fund o f men who speak the languages o f the lands we must invade, who understand the ways and have listened to their parents sing the folk songs and have tasted the wine o f the land on the palate o f their memories. This is a lucky thing for America. We are very lucky to have our Joppolos. It is another reason why I think you should know the story o f this particular Joppolo.

America is on its way into Europe. You can be as isolationist as you want to be, but there is a fact. Our armies are on their way in. Just as truly as Europe once invaded us, with wave after wave o f immigrants, now we are invading Europe, with wave after wave o f sons o f immigrants.

Until there is a seeming stability in Europe, our armies and our after-armies will have to stay in Europe. Each American who stays may very well be extremely dependent on a Joppolo, not only for language, but for wisdom and justice and the other things we think we have to offer Europeans.