quarters—and when he has changed into the prescribed uniform, bring him to my office.»
«Aye, aye, sir,» the technical sergeant said. «This way, please, Lieutenant.»
note 69
Office of the Base Commander
Memphis Naval Air Station
Memphis, Tennessee
0910 29 March 1943
Three Marines, two of them wearing shore patrol brassards and armed with .45 –caliber pistols, marched in a line into the base commander's office.
«Detail, halt,» the Marine technical sergeant ordered, then «Detail, left FACE!» The three were now facing Rear Admiral Jesse Ball, USN. «Sir…« the technical sergeant barked as he saluted.
Lieutenant Malcolm S. Pickering, USMCR, started to raise his hand in a reflex action to salute, but catching something in Admiral Ball's eyes—a look of contemptuous surprise—stopped with his arm half up and lowered it.
»… Technical Sergeant Franz reporting to the Admiral with the prisoner as ordered, sir,» the technical sergeant finished.
Admiral Ball returned the salute. «Leave the prisoner and stand by in the outer office,» he ordered.
«Aye, aye, sir!» the technical sergeant barked, then went on. «Guard detail, one: step backward, ha-arch! Right, FACE! Forward, ha-arch!»
The two Shore Patrolmen marched out of the room.
Lieutenant Pickering remained at attention, facing Admiral Ball.
«Pickering, prisoners are denied the privilege of saluting,» Admiral Ball said conversationally. «That's something you might wish to keep in mind.»
«Yes, sir,» Lieutenant Pickering said.
«Have you any idea why I have placed you under arrest, Mr. Pickering?»
«No, sir.»
«I have the odd feeling, perhaps naively, that you may possess one—one only—of the characteristics required of an officer in the Naval Service,» Admiral Ball said. «You may not be a liar. Are you a liar, Mr. Pickering? Are you capable of answering a question put to you truthfully?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Yes, sir, which? Yes, you are a liar? Or yes, you will answer a question bearing on your fitness to be an officer truthfully?»
«Sir, I am not a liar. I will answer any question put to me truthfully.»
«Well, then, let's put that to the test. Mr. Pickering, it has been alleged that you have had on several occasions carnal knowledge of a female who is not only not your wife but is married to someone else. Specifically, one Elizabeth-Sue Megham, sometimes known as Mrs. Quincy T. Megham, Jr. Do these allegations have any basis in fact?»
«Sir, I was raised to believe that a gentleman does not discuss—«
«Don't hand me any crap about you being a gentleman, you miserable sonofabitch!"' Admiral Ball exploded furiously. «Have you. or have you not, been fucking this banker's wife?»
«Yes, sir,» Pick said.
«Knowing that she was a married woman?»
«Yes, sir.»
«The basis of all law in what we think of as the Western world, Mr. Pickering, is generally agreed to be the Old Testament. In the Old Testament it is recorded that Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying in his arms two stone tablets on which God himself had etched a number of rules by which God-fearing men were to conduct their lives. Are you familiar with that story, Mr. Pickering?»
«Yes, sir.»
«These ten rules, which came to be called the Ten Commandments, provide for God-fearing people a list of some things they are supposed to do and some things they are not supposed to do. Are you familiar with the Ten Commandments, Mr. Pickering?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Two of them have a special meaning for us here today. One of them is 'thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days,' et cetera, et cetera. Are you familiar with that particular commandment, Mr. Pickering?»
«Yes, sir.»
«I'm told you are an imaginative young man. 1 believe that. When you told the flight safety officer that you weren't even aware you had barrel rolled over the control tower because you had an oil-pressure warning light at the time, and were devoting all of your attention to that problem, now. that was imaginative. You were lying through your goddamned teeth, of course, but it was imaginative.»
«Yes, sir.»
«You admit that you lied to the flight safety officer?»
«I didn't think of it as a lie at the time, sir.»
«Goddamn you!» Admiral Ball exploded again. «Did you lie to the flight safety officer or not?»
«Yes, sir. I lied about that.»
«For your general fund of knowledge, Mr. Pickering, the Regulations for the Governance of the Naval Service, to which you are subject, provide that any officer who knowingly and willfully utters any statement he knows to be untrue shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.»
«Yes, sir.»
«We were talking about your imagination, Mr. Pickering. Can you imagine which of the Ten Commandments in addition to the 'thou shalt honor thy father' one has an application here today?»
«No, sir.»
«You mean you really don't know? Or, sniveling little smart-ass that you are, you're afraid to say?»
«The one concerned with adultery, sir?»
«Thou shalt not commit adultery,' « Admiral Ball said. «Now, that seems a simple enough order to me. 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' It means you shouldn't screw somebody else's wife. Was that commandment beyond your comprehension, Mr. Pickering?»
«No, sir.»
«But you disobeyed it anyway, right?»
«Yes, sir.»
«The next real codification of the law as we know it, to the best of my understanding, Mr. Pickering, was the Magna Carta, granted by his Majesty King John of England, Ireland, Scotland, et cetera, et cetera, to his nobles at Runnymede in June in the Year of Our Lord one thousand two hundred and fifteen. Are you familiar with the Magna Carta, Mr. Pickering?»
«Somewhat, sir.»
«Goddamn you, you sniveling pup, don't waffle with me! Yes, goddamnit, or no?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Then you are doubtless aware, Mr. Pickering, that the Magna Carta is the basis of what we think of as English common law?»
«Yes, sir.»
«And that when the Founding Fathers of this great republic of ours got around to writing the laws for it, they incorporated much of English Common law? Except that we pledge our allegiance to the flag of the United States and the country for which it stands, et cetera, et cetera, instead of to the English monarch. You do have that straight in your head, Mr. Pickering?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Then possibly you are also aware that the duly elected officials of this great republic of ours, recognizing that the basic law provided for the ordinary citizens of this great republic of ours was not really adequate to govern its navy, came up with what we call the Regulations for the Governance of the Naval Service. You are familiar with that, Mr. Pickering?»
«Yes, sir.»
«And you are aware that you, as a Marine, are subject to it?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Then perhaps you can tell me what the Regulations for the Governance of the Naval Service has to say about what you can do with the physiological symbol of your gender?»