AMERICANS ABROAD THE MAGIC WORD AT FIRST IT SEEMED LIKE ANOTHER IN 
THE LONG SERIES OF RACIAL INCIDENTS IN THE ARMED FORCES . 
IT BEGAN ONE EVENING AS A GROUP OF NEGRO SOLDIERS OF 
THE 557TH QUARTERMASTER COMPANY WERE RETURNING TO THEIR BARRACKS AT THE 
BIG U.S . AIRBASE AT EVREUX, 62 MILES WEST OF PARIS 
. ACROSS THE ROAD LAY ANOTHER BARRACKS, HOUSING THE 317TH SUPPLY 
SQUADRON, WHERE THE AIRMEN WERE WINDING UP A " G.I . 
PARTY, " THAT IS, A CLEANUP BEFORE NEXT MORNING'S INSPECTION . 
DEATH AT DAWN . THE NEGROES PASSING BY WERE NOISY, AND 
SOMEONE SHOUTED AT THEM FROM A SECOND-STORY WINDOW OF THE SUPPLY 
SQUADRON BARRACKS . NO ONE KNOWS WHO DID THE SHOUTING . 
NO ONE AGREES ON WHAT WAS SHOUTED . BUT UNQUESTIONABLY, THE 
SHOUTS CONTAINED WHAT NEGRO SOLDIERS AT EVREUX CALL " THE MAGIC 
WORD " NIGGER . RUSHING INTO THEIR OWN BARRACKS, THE NEGROES 
GRABBED 12IN . METAL RODS USED TO TRANSFORM BEDS INTO BUNKS 
AND RACED ACROSS THE STREET . FIRST THERE WAS MUCH PUSHING, 
SHOUTING AND LOUD ARGUMENT . THEN A FIGHT BROKE OUT, LASTING 
APPROXIMATELY 30 SECONDS . WHEN IT WAS OVER, SIX WHITE AIRMEN 
WERE HOSPITALIZED WITH HEAD WOUNDS . NONE OF THE INJURIES SEEMED 
SERIOUS, BUT AT DAWN AIRMAN FIRST CLASS ROBERT PADGETT, 23, OF 
WOODLAWN, VA., DIED OF A BRAIN HEMORRHAGE . NEXT MORNING THE 
QUARTERMASTER COMPANY WAS LINED UP, AND THE SURVIVING INJURED AIRMEN PICKED 
OUT THEIR ASSAILANTS, WHO WERE ALL PFCS : RICHARD PARKER OF 
ECKMAN, W . VA., EDWARD SPEARS OF NEW YORK CITY, RAYMOND 
BOST OF PITTSBURGH, FRANKLIN WADDELL AND ROBERT BURRELL OF PHILADELPHIA . 
THE ARRESTED MEN WERE NEGROES, THE INJURED AND THE DEAD WHITES 
. EVEN SO, THERE WAS A DEBATE AT EVREUX AS TO 
WHETHER OR NOT THE FATAL BRAWL WAS INDEED A RACE RIOT 
. GUNG-HO LOOK . BOTH UNITS ARE COMPLETELY INTEGRATED AND IN 
THE SAME PROPORTION ABOUT 17 PER CENT NEGRO . AND THERE 
WERE GROUNDS FOR GRIEVANCES OTHER THAN RACIAL . THE QUARTERMASTER COMPANY, 
THE ONLY ARMY UNIT ON THE BASE, MUST SUBMIT TO A 
MIDNIGHT BED CHECK, WHILE AIRMEN HAVE ONLY TO REPORT FOR DUTY 
EACH MORNING . AS AN AIRBORNE UNIT, THE QUARTERMASTER COMPANY KEEPS 
IN RUGGED PHYSICAL SHAPE, HAS THE TOUGH LOOK OF GUNG-HO SOLDIERS 
. THE MEN OF THE SUPPLY UNIT HAVE THE LOOK OF 
OFFICE WORKERS AND THE VANITY OF INTELLECTUALS . ONE AIRMAN SNEERED, 
" YOU COULD TAKE THAT WHOLE ARMY COMPANY ACROSS THE ROAD 
AND ADD UP THEIR IQS AND YOU WOULDN'T GET 200 . 
" AT WEEK'S END EVEN MORE DOUBT WAS CAST ON THE 
RACIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE FIGHT WHEN A SIXTH MEMBER OF THE 
QUARTERMASTER COMPANY WAS ARRESTED AND ALSO CHARGED WITH HOMICIDE AND AGGRAVATED 
ASSAULT . HE WAS A WHITE MAN, PFC ALLEN GERNARD, 18, 
OF NEW YORK CITY, WHO PRESUMABLY HAD GRABBED A PIECE OF 
PIPE AND JOINED HIS NEGRO BUDDIES IN THE ATTACK ON THE 
AIRMEN . 