Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, General, The Soviet Union, Volume I

842.20/185

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)

[Washington,] April 4, 1941.

Participants:	Air Commodore G. C. Pirie, British Embassy;
	Squadron Leader Russell, British Embassy;
	The Honorable Dean Acheson;
	Mr. Donald Hiss.9

Air Commodore Pirie and Squadron Leader Russell called at my request at 2:30 this afternoon. I referred to the proposal of the British authorities to establish a Civilian Technical Corps, the details of which are set forth in a memorandum submitted by the British Embassy under date of March 27, 1941. I explained that it was understood from the memorandum:

(1) That the Corps would be established and offices set up in this country for the purpose of publicizing the Corps, of soliciting mechanics residing in this country to enroll in the Corps, and of examining applicants to determine their qualifications, and financial assistance, where necessary, would be provided to those applicants found to possess the proper qualifications to permit them to travel to Canada for further examination by the competent authorities of the British and/or Canadian Governments; that all applicants would be urged to proceed to Canada, where they would be finally examined and if approved they would be enrolled in the Corps and sent to designated areas in the Empire as members of the Corps;

(2) That the Corps would be civilian and not military in nature; that its members would perform no combatant functions but would be engaged solely in repairing and servicing technical equipment; that its members would be subject to the civilian authorities under the applicable laws of the country and community to which they would be sent to the same extent as other civilian workers in the same or similar classifications.

Air Commodore Pirie replied that this was a correct statement of the plan.

I then stated that this proposal had been informally discussed with the interested agencies of this Government, including the Department of Justice, and on the basis of these discussions and the deliberations of the Department of State, this Department would interpose no objection to the Canadian and British authorities putting into operation the plan as explained above. As a matter of circumspection, however, it was pointed out that the representatives of the Corps in this country could not under the laws of the United States promise directly or indirectly, or otherwise indicate to applicants, as an inducement to their proceeding to Canada, that they would be accepted in the Canadian or British armed forces.

Dean Acheson

9. Assistant to the Legal Adviser.