(a) Saved the United States Government the claim value of the vehicle by evacuating same from Taegu to Pusan, Korea, thence to Japan.

(b) By selling the vehicle in Japan saved the United States Government the cost of returning said vehicle to the United States under normal conditions.

(c) As senior officer in the Pusan area responsible for the evaucation of American dependents action taken to protect American property does not indicate that there existed a selfish motive in shipping the vehicle to Japan.

(d) Being the senior American officer and having no headquarters at that time, the decisions and actions were only in the best interests of the United States Government. It is the opinion of the undersigned that no private contract existed between the American President Lines and the claimant.

The Military Personnel Claims Act of 1945 (59 Stat. 225; 31 U. S. C. 222c), as amended, authorizes the Secretary of the Army and his designees "to consider, ascertain, adjust, determine, settie and pay" claims of military personnel not exceeding $2,500 "for damage to or loss, destruction, capture, or abandonment of personal property occurring incident to their service*** The Army regulations implementing this act provide that one of the types of claims payable there

under is

"Enemy action or public service. Where property is damaged, lost, destroyed, captured, or abandoned as a result of enemy action or threat thereof, combat or activities incident thereto, belligerent activities or unjust confiscation by a foreign power or its nationals, civil disturbances, public disasters or disorder, or the saving of Government property or human life." Colonel Emmerich is incorrect in stating that he saved the Government the cost of returning the vehicle to the United States, because any such return would have been accomplished by utilizing otherwise empty space on a military vessel and return in any other manner would have involved expense to the Government in violation of the act of June 30, 1932, supra. However, Colonel Emmerich's actions in evacuating the vehicle from Taegu to Pusan and placing it aboard a vessel bound for Japan almost certainly saved the Government from reimbursing him for its less under the provisions of the Military Personnel Claims Act of 1945. Although it may be construed that, because one of the vehicles involved was his own, his dealings with the ship's master amounted to a private contract, at least with respect to his own vehicle, his actions on the whole do not lend themselves to this interpretation. It appears that he was genuinely concerned, as a senior officer must be, not only with respect to bis own property but with that of other personnel of his organization, and was primarily concerned with preventing such property from falling into the hands of unauthorized and hostile persons. Had this vehicle been lost under such circumstances, the expense to the Government would have been greatly in excess of the amount here involved.

The facts in this case indicate that Colonel Emmerich did everything in his power to save the United States from a claim substantially greater in amount than is involved in this bill and that, following the evacuation of the vehicle, he was prevented from taking further immediate steps with regard to it by urgent military duties, arising from the hostilities, which he performed in an outstanding manner. It therefore appears that in all justice and equity Colonel Emmerich is entitled to reimbursement. For this reason the Department of the Army has no objection to the enactment of S. 1203 and recommends favorable consideration by the Congress of the legislation proposed by this bill.

The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report.

Sincerely yours,

83D CONGRESS 2d Session

SENATE

REPORT No. 1390

MARY GOODYEAR BROWN

MAY 24 (legislative day, MAY 13), 1954.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. LANGER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1332]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill (S. 1332) for the relief of Mary Goodyear Brown, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of the bill is to enable Mary Goodyear Brown to regain her United States citizenship which was lost by voting in a political election in England in 1950.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The beneficiary of the bill was born in Leesburg, Va., on November 7, 1915, of native-born United States citizen parents. In 1933, she married a native and citizen of England and lost her United States citizenship by voting in a British general election in 1950. She stated that she was unaware that by voting in such election she would lose her United States citizenship.

A letter, with attached memorandum, dated December 31, 1953, to the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary from the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service with reference to the case reads as follows:

Hon. WILLIAM LANGER,

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

DECEMBER 31, 1953:

DEAR SENATOR: In response to your request of the Department of Justice for a report relative to the bill (S. 1332) for the relief of Mary Goodyear Brown, there is annexed a memorandum of information from the Immigration and Naturalization Service files concerning the beneficiary.

The bill would enable the beneficiary to regain her United States citizenship by taking, within one year from the date of its enactment, the prescribed oath of

renunciation and allegiance before any court having naturalization jurisdiction. Without the benefit of the proposed special legislation, Mrs. Brown could not be naturalized until she shall have resided in the United States for 5 years subsequent to her admission for permanent residence.

Sincerely,

Commissioner.

MEMORANDUM OF INFORMATION FROM IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE FILES RE MARY GOODYEAR BROWN, BENEFICIARY OF S. 1332 Mary Goodyear Brown was born in Leesburg, Va., on November 7, 1915, of native-born United States citizen parents. During the year 1933 she was married to Mr. Charles Brown, a native and citizen of England. She is presently residing in Canada with her husband and their two children who were born in London, England.

Information concerning the beneficiary was furnished by her mother, Mrs. Donald McNeil, of Leesburg, Va. According to Mrs. McNeil, her daughter left the United States for Europe immediately after her marriage to Mr. Brown in 1933. She resided in London, England, from about 1933 until her departure for Canada about 1951, except for visits to the United States and a 3-year period spent in Washington, D. C., during World War II.

Mrs. McNeil stated that her daughter does not intend to return to the United States to reside permanently and that her daughter's husband is a lieutenant commander in the Canadian Navy. Mrs. McNeil further stated that Mrs. Brown lost her United States citizenship by voting in the British general election in 1950.

The files of this Service contain Foreign Service Form No. 348 (certificate of the loss of the nationality of the United States), which shows that Mary Goodyear Brown, born in Leesburg, Va., on November 7, 1915, who left the United States in 1933, expatriated herself under the provisions of section 401 (e) of chapter IV, of the Nationality Act of 1940 by voting in a political election held in England, a foreign state, on February 23, 1950. The evidence of such action by Mrs. Brown consisted of an affidavit executed by her before a consular officer of the United States at London, England, on September 7, 1950, in which she stated that she cast her vote in the British general election at Westminster, London, England. Mrs. Brown alleged in her affidavit that she was unaware that, by voting in such election, she would lose her United States citizenship.

Sen: tor Estes Kefauver, the author of the bill, has submitted the following information in connection with the case:

Hon. ARTHUR V. WATKINS,

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, March 12, 1953.

United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR WATKINS: There is attached hereto a copy of the private bill (S. 1332), which I have introduced for the relief of Mrs. Mary Goodyear Brown who inadvertently lost her citizenship under the provisions of the Nationality Act of 1940 by voting in an election in Great Britain where she was temporarily residing with her husband.

Mrs. Brown is a native-born citizen of the United States who possesses dual nationality (British and American) by virtue of her marriage to a British subject. She had no intention or desire to divest herself of her American citizenship by voting in the election and would not have done so had she been appraised of the consequent loss of her American citizenship.

On the basis of long and close personal relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Brown, I can assure you that she is in fact, as well as by birth, a loyal and partiotic American citizen and deeply desires the restoration of her citizenship which was inadvertently lost contrary to her intentions.

I accordingly solicit prompt consideration of the bill which I have introduced to restore her citizenship.

Kindest regards.

Sincerely,

ESTES KEFAuver.

The committee, after consideration of all the facts in the case, is of the opinion that the bill (S. 1332) should be enacted.

O

MAY 24 (legislative day, MAY 13), 1954.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. LANGER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1573]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill (S. 1573) for the relief of the Federal Republic of Germany, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon, without amendment, and recommends that the bill do pass.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to appropriate the sum of $300,000 for the construction of a new embassy in the city of Washington, D. C., to be occupied by the Federal Republic of Germany.

STATEMENT

A great many years ago the German Government acquired property located at 1439 Massachusetts Avenue NW., Washington, D. C. This property was used by it to house the German Embassy in Washington under the Weimar Republic and under the Third Reich. It was vacated by the German Republic upon the entrance of the United States into World War II and remained unoccupied thereafter for several years. Along with other properties of the German Government and German nationals, it was seized by the Alien Property Custodian. In the spring of 1951 some 6 years after the end of hostilities between this country and Germany and only a few months before diplomatic relations were resumed between this country and the Federal Republic of Germany, the property was sold by the Alien Property Custodian, and the money realized from such sale went into the

general funds of the Alien Property Custodian. This bill would make an award equivalent to the sum realized from the sale of the old property as a contribution toward the acquisition and maintenance of a new German Embassy.

The committee believes that the award contained in the bill is required as a matter of fair dealing and good faith to the Federal Republic of Germany for the acquisition of its former property seized by the Alien Property Custodian. For some years, Western Germany has been under the military occupation of Great Britain, France, and the United States. This occupation has not been that of the conqueror over the conquered. Instead, it has represented an honest and farsighted attempt to restore the self-respect of the German people, to revitalize the German economy, and to provide the conditions. under which the German people themselves might set up and maintain a Federal Republic of their own. The alienation of the German Embassy is more than a taking and a sale of a piece of material property. It is the destruction of a symbol which citizens of the German Republic hold dear. The committee is of the opinion that it is fitting and proper that a new building in the city of Washington housing the Embassy of the new German Republic should symbolize the ties between the two countries. Hundreds of thousands of our best citizens are of German descent, and to the rich fabric of American culture the Germans have made substantial contributions.

The act of seizure and sale, if left uncorrected, is out of step with our whole German program. Germany was a totalitarian state for only a brief span in its history, and that phase passed with the end of World War II. The great danger to our free institutions lies not in Germany, but in the great Russian Empire to the east. Against such a danger we are concerned to organize a West European Army which is under the joint control of the great democracy of West Europe. We have already taken positive steps toward the rearmament of Germany, and we expect Germany to furnish a substantial contribution to this international army. If in the future there is to be armed conflict between the democracies of the West and the communism of the East, Germany will become to us a fighting frontier. We need the good will of a German Republic which will keep the morale of its people high.

In World War II Japan and Germany were equally our enemies, and yet the Japanese Embassy has not been subjected to confiscation. On the contrary, the treaty of peace which the United States has concluded with Japan underwrites the security which has been accorded to it.

The committee therefore recommends favorable consideration of this bill as a feature not only of international good will but also demanded by justice and fair dealing.

Attached hereto and made a part of this report is a letter from the Department of State, to which is attached copy of a letter from the Treasury Department to the Bureau of the Budget and copy of a letter from the Bureau of the Budget to the Department of State on this subject.