Captain McCoy's fine tailoring was something of an accident. Officer Candidate McCoy had ordered his officer's uniforms from the same place that Officer Candidate Pickering had ordered his, and at his suggestion, the Custom Department of Brooks Brothers in New York City. Officer Candidate McCoy had no idea at the time what the uniforms would cost, though he had been assured that Brooks Brothers would happily extend him credit.
Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Huff rose to his feet behind his desk.
«Good afternoon, sir,» he said.
«How are you, Sid?» General Pickering replied, offering him his hand.
Huff took the hand, then nodded at the junior officers.
«I'll tell the Supreme Commander you're here, General,» Huff said. «I'm not sure the Supreme Commander is expecting these gentlemen…«
If that was a question, Pickering ignored it. «Thank you, Sid,» he replied.
Huff walked to the door to the inner office and opened it. «General Pickering is here, General,» he announced.
«Send him in,» MacArthur replied cheerfully.
«The Supreme Commander will see you, General,» Lieutenant Colonel Huff announced formally.
«Thank you,» Pickering replied with what could have been a smile of amused contempt. He had heard Mac Arthur's voice as clearly as Huff had. Pickering made a quick gesture telling the others to stand fast, then walked through the door and past Huff. He stopped halfway to MacArthur's desk and saluted.
There was a question about whether the salute was actually proper, under the circumstances. Navy protocol decreed that salutes were not exchanged indoors unless under arms. But Douglas MacArthur was a soldier, and Army protocol stated that juniors saluted seniors. Fleming Pickering had enormous respect for Douglas MacArthur. For that reason he decided that saluting MacArthur was the proper thing to do.
MacArthur returned the salute with a casual gesture in the general vicinity of his forehead, then came smiling from behind his desk with his hand extended.
«My dear Fleming,» he said, «I was wondering when I was going to see you.»
MacArthur's use of Pickering's first name was yet one more of the many reasons Colonel Sid Huff did not like General Fleming Pickering. It indicated Pickering's special position in the pecking order surrounding the Supreme Commander.
In the vast majority of instances, when MacArthur addressed one of his officers directly, it was by rank. A privileged few close to the throne were addressed by their last names. And on some rare occasions, a very, very few officers—for example, Generals Sutherland and Willoughby, and Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Huff, all of whom had escaped with MacArthur from the Philippines—would be honored to be addressed by the Supreme Commander by their Christian names.
General MacArthur rarely addressed General Pickering by anything but his first name.
«Thank you for receiving me on such short notice, sir,» Pickering said.
«Nonsense, Fleming,» MacArthur said with a wave of his hand. «You know my door is always open to you.» Then a smile crossed his face. «I mean, after all, Fleming, once the camel's nose is inside the tent, there's not much sense in closing the flap, is there?»
Pickering was surprised to see that MacArthur was responding to his appointment as Deputy Director of the Office of Strategic Services for Pacific Operations as something like a harmless joke. He had imagined that MacArthur would be as furious and frustrated as he himself was.
«General,» Pickering said, «before we get into that, I thought you might wish to talk to the officers who went onto Mindanao to meet with General Fertig. They're outside.»
«And then we can discuss this new development?» MacArthur asked, smiling.
«Yes, sir. Whenever you wish to, of course.»
«Perhaps you're right, Fleming. It probably would be best if we discussed the OSS privately, unofficially, between friends. Are you free for cocktails and dinner tomorrow? Unfortunately, Mrs. MacArthur and I are dining with the Prime Minister tonight. Can't get out of it.»
«Yes, sir.»
«Then that's the way we'll talk about it,» MacArthur said. He turned to Colonel Huff. «Sid, would you ask General Pickering's officers to come in, please? And then telephone Mrs. MacArthur and tell her General Pickering will be joining us for cocktails and dinner tomorrow?»
Captain Kenneth R. McCoy, USMCR, and Lieutenant Chambers D. Lewis III, USN, marched into the Supreme Commander's office and came to attention before his desk. They did not salute. They were officers of the Naval Service.
«Stand at ease, please, gentlemen,» MacArthur said.
«General, Captain McCoy and Lieutenant Lewis,» Pickering said.
MacArthur offered both officers his hand, then took a closer look at Lewis.
«Haven't I previously had the pleasure, Lieutenant?»
«I'm flattered the Supreme Commander remembers,» Lewis said.
«And where was that?» MacArthur asked.
«Corregidor, sir,» Lewis said. «I was aboard the
Remora
.»
MacArthur's suddenly increased interest in Lieutenant Lewis was visible on his face.
«Frankly, I had been searching my memory to recall the name of your admiral,» he said, gesturing toward Lewis's aide-de-camp's cord. «But now I remember! Of course. It really is good to see you again, Lieutenant.»
He turned to Pickering.
«The submarine service did not share the belief of the rest of the Navy, Fleming, that it was too hazardous to attempt breaking through the Japanese fleet to reach us.»
«Yes, sir, I know,» Pickering said.
«They came, again and again,» MacArthur continued emotionally. «Until the very end. They couldn't bring us much, but at least they tried!» He returned his attention to Lewis. «You made more than one voyage to Corregidor, didn't you, Mr. Lewis?»
«Three trips, sir.»
«And, more recently, if I correctly understand the situation, you left your sinecure as aide-de-camp to… ?»
«Admiral Wagam, General,» Pickering furnished.
»… Admiral Wagam,» MacArthur went on, «to undertake the infiltration of Mindanao, a mission posing great hazards! Your courage is inspirational!»
Lewis, visibly embarrassed, did not reply for a moment, but then blurted: «Sir, that was my first rubber-boat mission. It was Captain McCoy's third!»
MacArthur looked at McCoy. «Is that so?»
«McCoy was on the Makin Island raid,» Pickering replied, «with the President's son. And then he went onto Buka to replace our Coastwatcher team there.»
MacArthur looked at Pickering. «Presumably, Fleming, recommendations for decorations for these two fine young officers are making their way through the bureaucracy?»