Grant and Lee's Beards Never Saw Gas Masks

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Letters to the editors. Wall Street Journal, Nov 1, 2019. (There are many other letters in print that day, but only two letters under this heading.)

(heading Grant and Lee's Beards Never Saw Gas Masks.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gra ... s-masks-11572635460

(1) "I laughed when I read ML Cavanaugh's 'The Military Shouldn't Shave Its Numbers' (op-ed, Oct 29) about how to jump-start military recruitment by allowing beards. I realized Mr Cavanaugh's real-world disconnection from how the military operates when he wrote: 'The worse-kept secret in the US military is that special-operations units routinely choose to go razor-free and everyone simply looks the other way.'  

(2) "Why stop with the beard? * * * Most of the ancient Chinese terracotta soldiers who aren't shown in helmets have man buns.  Mark Morgan[,] Frisco, Texas

Note: number (n): "1 a (4) numbers plural : a numerous group : MANY  <numbers died on the way — Marjory S Douglas>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/number