http://www.cooganresearchgroup.com/crg/index.htm

20 April 2009

COOGAN story 

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appearing in "Lincoln Evening Journal and Nebraska State Journal"
(07 JUL 1959, PAGE 12): 

TWO GIS JAILED; PEDDLED CHOICE OVERSEAS JOBS

Ft. Lewis, Wash. (AP) - There may be a soldier in a nice soft job
in Paris who owes it all to Coogan and Huller.

If so, he's probably not talking.

Coogan and Huller are Sgt. 1C William Coogan, 38, Watertown, Mass.,
and Specialist 5C George B. Huller, 23, Passaic, N.J.

They're in the stockade here because of a new wrinkle in the black
market.  The Army says they peddled choice overseas assignments
for prices up to $200.

This went on for 2 1/2 months.  The Army broke it up 6 months ago.
Officers said they weren't sure how much the pair raked in - maybe
$2000, maybe more.

Coogan and Huller pleaded guilty to half a dozen violations.  They
are now awaiting review of their court martial convictions.

Coogan, an Army career man with 13 1/2 years service, was sentenced
to 15 years hard labor, and dishonorably discharged.

Huller, who joined the Army in 1953, received 3 years at hard labor
and a bad conduct discharge.  

Coogan was the contact man.

Huller, an assignment clerk, did the rest.

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appearing in "Time Magazine" (20 JUL 1959, PAGE ?): 

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because
they have a distaste for riches. - Sun Tzu, 500 B.C.

Around the 4th Infantry Division noncommissioned officers' club
at Fort Lewis, Wash. last winter, the word was out: "See Coogan if
you want to go overseas," maybe to a cushy assignment in Paris.
Sergeant First Class William Coogan, at 38 a sharp-looking, 14 year
regular with a good record, had the expert and ready assistance of
Specialist Fifth Class George B. Huller, at 23 a six-year man with
an equally fine record, on duty as a personnel clerk at division
headquarters.  Theirs was the job of filling in the names when
Pentagon orders called for overseas billets by classification, and
Huller's initials were all that was needed to make the orders
effective.  Coogan collected $10 to $200 from each would-be 
overseas soldier, and Huller did the paperwork, juggling 
classifications and assignments to send the customer where he
wanted to go.

The Coogan-Huller travel service flourished, added a "travel now-
pay later" system for men who looked like good credit risks, 
experimented with a "group payment plan" when seven G.I.s promised
$185 to get a buddy to Korea.  In six months, the red-faced Army
admitted last week, Coogan-Huller cleared $1,750 from ten soldiers,
in all shipped at least 18 to chosen places abroad, had four 
customers ready to travel when the word-of-mouth ad campaign 
reached one ear too many.

In general court-martial, Huller pleaded guilty of graft, had his
three-year hard-labor sentence reduced to a year and a half and a
bad-conduct discharge.  But Coogan, ever the operator even in the
stockade awaiting trial, was caught trying to tamper with one of
the witnesses, slapped with 15 years' hard labor and a dishonorable
discharge.  The system out of which the sergeant and the specialist
made a flourishing business, said the Army hopefully, had been
forever thwarted by a new assignment system, controlled directly
from Washington.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892729,00.html

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