1940*
Within three days in August, two fine fliers of Forty were killed: Ensign Harold D. Webster of the Navy Air Corps was killed in the crash of a huge Navy Consolidated patrol bomber near the Dahlgren, Va., proving grounds; Lieut. William W. Vroom of the Army Air Corps was killed in action somewhere in the South Pacific. These two deaths swell to seven the number of those who have passed on since Commencement; it is men of the sort of Hal and Bill for whom and for the perpetuation of whose ideals we of America are seeking vengeance.
The news this month may be a bit scarce and a bit local, as your Secretary has been in the Army for the past four weeks with no time for even a card to solicit news of ig4o. Accordingly, if any of you have any bits about yourself or others of the class, please whip off a note to me at the above address. On August 10th I reported for active duty here at Fort Benning, Ga., as a Lieutenant with the 10th Armored Division. Life with the 10th Armored is a very full experience, what with driving everything from a peep to an M3 Medium tank. I had been here for only two days when Lt. Joe Burnett got me to attend a Dartmouth reunion, at which I was surprised to find some from '40, and to hear of many others at Fort Benning. Since that reunion, Joe Burnett has been made a Captain, and he is the weatherman at Lawson Field where the paratroopers are training. I saw Lt. Bob Bramley with his G. I. haircut, and he is an instructor of instructors in Communication at the Infantry School; I have seen C. Page Smith, another Lieutenant at the Infantry School, in the Mortars section. Page said that Walt Bernstein had been at Benning in some morale and publicity capacity, but that he had been called back East by Irving Berlin to help in the production of his new show "This Is the Army." I have heard second-hand that Bob Foss, Ed Schecter, Pete Gibson, and Bud Raymond are all Candidates at the Infantry OCS here at Benning; Corp. Earle Reingold is on the staff of one of the student training regiments.
Leading the September bridal procession was lovely Martha Ann Cook, of Columbus, Ind., who was married to Lt. Lee Bassett; Lee, recently commissioned at Fort Riley, Kan., had George (the Greek) Mahoney as his best man, and Lt. Chuck Haskell as an usher. Ensign Gerry Torborg was married on July 4th to Doris Myers; he is in the Navy Ordnance Dept. in Washington. Howie Tallmadge was married back in June to Kate Weber of East Orange and Smith College; an usher was Frank Whaland. Miss Joan Tellington of Gorham, N. H., was married in June to Bill Sinclair, who is at the College of Phys. & Surg., N. Y. Lt. Beezie Smallwood and Ruth Rider were married at the chapel at Key Field, Miss., on August 6th, soon after Beezie received his Air Corps bars; Beezie is Armament and Ordnance officer for the 57th Bomb. Sqdn.
Ensign Jack O'Brien, now on active duty, is engaged to Coral Kenney of Brighton, Mass.; Helen Wolverton, daughter of Col. and Mrs. Wolverton of Fort Dix, is engaged to Lt. Cliff Falkenau (with the wedding set for August); Lt. Bob Armstrong (whose whereabouts I would like to know) is engaged to Mary Kneass of Boylestown, Mass., and Smith College. The only reported births are a daughter named Diane to David and Helen Davenport; and a son, named W. D. Lyon Jr., to Duke and Pat Lyon.
Those of 1940 who are at various centers in Florida learning to fly are Pete Shedarowich, Paul Dyer, and Fred Michel. Lt. Chuck Haskell writes that he is with the Industrial Planning Section of the Air Corps, and that he, Lt. Duke Lyons, and Dan Rectanus are all in Dayton, Ohio. Lt. Bill Watson is with the Marines, and is stationed south of the equator. Fran Imo is at Esler Field, La.; Lt. (j.g.) Don Shippam is stationed at Pearl Harbor. Lt. Beezie Smallwood wrote that at the first Officers' Club party he attended, Lts. Jay Stout and Dave Fish walked in; they are both at Key Field, with Jay as a Squadron Commander, and Dave as head weatherman at the field. Word from Fred Eaton Capt. Fred Eaton relates that he was decorated with the "Silver Star" medal during the summer. George Mahoney, before leaving New York to report to his Indianapolis draft board, saw D. Rogers, who was about to receive command of a Flying Fortress for combat duty. In a mighty interesting letter from Capt. Johnny Peacock of the Marines, written from deep in some jungle on an island in the So. Pacific by the light of an oil lamp, he tells of Ensign Chet Brett being a few hundred yards away from his ship in a convoy, and never being able to see him or talk with him all the trip. Lt. (j.g.) Bill Shelton writes from "down-under" that he is looking forward to some real yarn-spinning at our sth reunion; Lt. (j.g.) Dick Everett is in the Amphibeous Corps at San Diego, Cal.
Emory Eldredge is in the Military Attache's Office of the American Embassy in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Jack McDonald is now in N. Y. C. as Assoc. Director of the Boys Club of New York, which caters to some 10,000 kids. Jack Rourke, in addition to his regular announcing schedule at C.B.S. spends mornings at the Office of War Information doing short-wave broadcasting. Whit Miller is now a flying instructor in Instructor's School at Mather Field in Sacramento, Cal. Bradford Rowland is at a Conscientious Objectors' camp in the High Sierras fighting forest fires. Dick Bowman writes a newsy letter from somewhere at sea, closing with a heartfelt, heart-rending P.S.: "I wish that you wolves back home would slack off; most of the fellows on board have been jilted and jolted; I just found out that one of my true loves has pulled the string on me and has been married; hellz bells."
Secretary-Treasurer, 2935 Brighton Rd., Shaker Heights, Ohio
