The Cold War had already doomed the program. By then, the Congress had raised the authorization to 12,500, but prohibitions on recruiting in Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Germany negated opportunities to reach the increased authorization. 1 It was almost a year before the first group of forty-five Lodge Act enlistees was sworn in at the 720th Replacement Battalion in Sonthofen, Germany. Public Law 597, 81st Congress, 2nd Session) authorized voluntary enlistment of 2,500 unmarried foreign national males in the U.S. The single step towards a VFC was passed by Congress on 30 June 1950 five days after North Korea invaded the South. congressmen recognized its merits, the postwar West European governments regarded the formation of a multi-national paramilitary element as a potential economic burden and possible threat to stability. The VFC, made up of stateless East European males, was to be a bulwark against Communism on the continent. Sixth Army staff officer in WWII, had seen the British, Russians, and Germans use foreign military units, had promoted the formation of a Volunteer Freedom Corps (VFC) since 1948. Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
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