The objective of this program is to determine the effec-
tiveness of personnel restraining devices in reducing
injuries and fatalities in Post Office vehicle accidents.
The method of test shall be to conduct simulated and ac-
tual crashes of Post Office vehicles with various seating
configurations and restraining systems using an anthropo-
metric specimen to simulate the vehicle driver.

II. WORK TO BE PERFORMED.

A. Phase 1 Simulated Crashes

1. Test Set-Up. Two basic types of restraining de-
vices, conventional lap belt and the combination lap
belt and shoulder strap with inertia reels, shall be
tested on a dynamic test sled or similar device capa -
ble of simulating actual crash conditions. Various
Post Office vehicle seating configurations and driver
positions shall be simulated. The seats and restrain-
ing devices shall be installed on the test device in
the same relative position as in the vehicle.
The po-
sition of other vehicle components such as steering
wheel, and dash panel shall be simulated for the test-
ing device and used on all test runs.

2.

Instrumentation.

An anthropometric specimen shall be installed to simulate the vehicle driver. Tri-axial accelerometers shall be installed on the chest and the head of the specimen. Linear accelerometers shall be installed on the propelling vehicle. Load cells shall be installed at each attaching point of the restraining device. A recording oscillograph having sufficient channels to record all data from the above instrumentation shall be used.

3.

Conduct of Tests. A total of 100 test runs shall be made. The following range of conditions shall be included:

(a) Vehicle speed 10 mph, Driver subjected to 10 G, Head-on

(g) Vehicle speed 20 mph, Deceleration Rate 20 G,

(h) Vehicle speed 20 mph,

45 degree right obliquity
Deceleration Rate 20 G,
45 degree left obliquity
Overturn right, No impact

(1) Vehicle speed 10 mph,
(j) Vehicle speed 10 mph, Overturn left, No impact

4. Pictorial Records. Regular speed and slow motion pictures of the test runs shall be taken at 500 frames per second.

5. Detailed Requirements.

(a) The restraining devices shall be modified as indicated by the test results to improve their effectiveness

(b) The results obtained by the simulated crashes shall be scientifically related to crashes of actual vehicles.

(c) The movies taken in this phase shall be combined, edited and narrated to provide a complete pictorial story of the test program.

B. Phase 2 Actual Crash Tests

1. Test Set-Up. Three surplus Post Office vehicles shall be prepared for crash tests. The latest types of seats shall be installed.

2. Instrumentation. - An anthropometric specimen shall
be installed to simulate the vehicle driver. It shall
be instr
in A-2 above.

3. Conduct of Tests. A crash test will be conducted from a speed of 30 mph on each of the basic types of seating configurations. The optimum restraining device for each type of seat as determined from the simlated tests shall be used .

4. Pictorial Records. Slow motion pictures in black and white and regular speed pictures in color shall be taken of the test set up and test runs. The slow m10tion pictures of the test runs shall be taken at 500 frames per second.

5. Detailed Requirements.

The movies taken in Phases I and II shall be combined, edited and narrated to provide a complete pictorial story of the test program.

C. Phase 3 Reports

Monthly progress reports shall be furnished during
the test program and a final report shall be fur-
nished at the conclusion of the work.

III. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED EQUIPMENT

IV.

The Government shall supply the contractor with 4 typical
Post Office vehicle seats, 3 surplus vehicles and the
required restraining devices.

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED EQUIPMENT

The contractor shall furnish all test equipment including
dynamic test sled or similar device capable of simulating
actual crash conditions, anthropometric specimen, photo-
graphic equipment, film, accelerometers, load cells: os-
cillograph and all related instrumentation.

V. SCHEDULE

Planning and test set-up

Conduct of Tests (Phases 1 & 2)

Reduction of Data and Writing Report

1 Month
3 Months

2 Months

6 Months

Senator RIBICOFF. If there are no further questions, we thank you very much for coming here. And if there is anything else we will have you back.

Thank you very much.

First, you are most welcome here, General Gruenther, and I thank you for coming. May I say personally, that you are one of the men in this Nation for whom I have the highest and greatest admiration. From past experience and association with you, not only have you been our great general, but I think you are one of the finest minds the United States of America has today, with your work after you left the Department of Defense and went with the American Red Cross. I think we are fortunate in having you before our committee.

You are welcome wherever I am, General. We are all glad to see

you.

Alfred Maximilian Gruenther was born at Platte Center, Nebraska,

March 3, 1899, son of the late Christian M. Gruenther, publisher of the
Platte Center Signal, and the former Mary Shea, a school teacher, who
died in 1957. He was graduated from the U. S. Military Academy November 1,
1918, fourth in his class, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of
field artillery. When the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, his
class was sent back to the Military Academy and remained there until
June 1919.

From 1919 to 1941, he served in routine peacetime assignments.

-

During

8 years of this period he was an instructor and later an assistant pro-in chemistry and in electricity at West Point. In October 1941,

fessor

-

he was appointed deputy chief of staff of the Third Army, San Antonio, commanded by Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger. Brig. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was transferred to Washington, and Lieutenant Colonel Gruenther was made chief of staff of the Third Army.

Eisenhower.

On August 1, 1942, he was transferred, as a brigadier general, to
London as deputy chief of staff, Allied Force Headquarters, under General
In January 1943, he was named chief of staff of Gen. Mark W.
Clark's Fifth Army in North Africa. He served as General Clark's chief of T
staff throughout the rest of the war.

In December 1944, General Clark became the commander of the 15th Army Group. This field command contained all allied combat units in Italy. It included Amrican, British, French, New Zealand, Italian, Polish, Indian, and

South African units.

When General Clark became commander of the U.S. Forces in Austria in July 1945 General Gruenther was named deputy commanding general. He served there until he

returned to the United States in December 1945 to become deputy commandant of the National War College, which opened in September 1946.

In October 1947, he was appointed as the first director of the Joint Staff, which served as the staff for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the preparation of strategic and logictic plans for the armed forces. In September 1949, he became Deputy Chief of Staff for plans in the Department of the Army.

General Gruenther was appointed chief of staff of the Supreme Headquarters of

the Allied Powers in Europe in January 1951 under General Eisenhower. In July 1953, he succeeded Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway as supreme allied commander in Europe and as Commander-in-chief of the U.S. European Command. He occupied both of these posts until late November 1956, when he returned to the United States to retire on December 31, 1956.

He served in the grades of second and first lieutenant for 16 years. He did not become a captain until May 1, 1935. With the advent of World War II, however, his advancement was rapid: major, July 1, 1940; lieutenant colonel, September 15, 1941; colonel, December 27, 1941; brigadier general, March 15, 1942; major general, February 4, 1943; lieutenant general, September 30, 1949; general, August 1, 1951. General Gruenther was married August 22, 1922, to Grace Elizabeth Crum of Jeffersonville, Ind. They have two sons serving in the Army, Donald Alfred, a (now in Germany) lieutenant colonel stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; and Richard Louis, a major, serving as instructor, The Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Dick married a Red Cross worker in Japan a few days before he vas sent to Korea, where he was seriously wounded in combat in November 1950. The Gruenthers credit Red Cross-collected blood with being responsible in part for saving his life. General and Mrs. Gruenther have 14 grandchildren, eight in Donald's family and six in Richard's.

General Gruenther served in an advisory capacity to several governmental, quasigovernmental, and private organizations. He is a member of the Business Advisory