Wagner, looking very uncomfortable, popped to attention.
“PFC Wagner
, Karl-Christoph, sir.”
“You can stand at ease, son. Despite what you might have heard, I really don’t bite off the heads of enlisted men.”
“Yes, sir,” Wagner said, and changed his posture from Attention to the nearly as rigid Parade Rest.
White smiled. “Even those who don’t know the difference between Parade Rest and At Ease.”
Wagner smiled sheepishly and relaxed.
“Sorry, sir,” Wagner said, and then blurted, “I’m a little nervous. I’ve never talked to a general before.”
White chuckled.
“Well, son, there’s a first time for everything. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. General officers put on their pants just like PFCs. So why don’t you tell me what you’ve learned?”
“Yes, sir,” Wagner said. “What Mr. Hammersmith—and I guess the others—missed is that the six-by-sixes aren’t the only trucks, only vehicles, that Stars and Stripes uses to deliver the newspapers every day.”
“Excuse me?”
“The Stars and Stripes motor pool sergeant, his name is Master Sergeant Gallant, they call him ‘Red Ball,’ he told me about the other vehicles.”
“Why did he do that?” White asked.
“Sir, Mr. Ziegler told me to find out everything I could, so I figured the best way to do that was to get close to the motor sergeant.”
“Who is Mr. Ziegler?”
Wagner pointed to him.
Ziegler popped to attention.
“August Ziegler, sir. Former CID agent. Now in DCI. When I came in, I brought Wagner with me. Before that, he was an interpreter for the MPs.”
“And you sent this young man to Stars and Stripes?”
“No, sir. That was Mr. Cronley’s idea.”
“And did you think that was a good idea, Mr. Ziegler?”
“Yes, sir, I did. I just didn’t want to take the credit for it. It was Cron—Mr. Cronley’s idea.”
White looked at Wagner. “Go on, son. How did you get close to Master Sergeant ‘Red Ball’ Gallant?”
“I bought him a couple of beers in the Stars and Stripes Club and asked him why they called him ‘Red Ball.’”
“And?”
“He told me because he’d set up the Stripes delivery system like the Red Ball Express. Do you know what that is, sir?”
“If we’re talking about the same Red Ball Express that rushed supplies from the ports in Normandy to the front during the war?”
“Yes, sir. That’s it. Red Ball told me how he’d started as a corporal in a Quartermaster truck company and wound up with six stripes as the battalion operations sergeant.”
“Sounds as if he’s a good soldier. Smart.”