1940*
Braden has answered the call. Long since converted to an active proponent of the British cause, Tom had planned as far back as last summer to join the King's Royal Rifle Force, but his plans were not consummated until this month when the second contingent from the States sails for England. Scheduled to embark for Winchester, England, sometime around the first of February, Tom will join the 1941 trio of Bolte, Brister, and Durkee in a training program that will result in his becoming an officer in the Army of England, under whose flag he will serve without loss of American citizenship. Few outside the group of Tom's closer confreres in New York has been aware of the grand job he has been doing for the Mutual Broadcasting System. As you all may recall, Tom went to work for the Public Relations Division of the Rockefeller Foundation immediately after commencement; after less than a year of this activity, he transferred his literary talents and imaginative capabilities to the Advertising and Sales Promotional offices of WOR radio station. Since WOR has become the hub of Mutual's fight for recognition in the radio chain sphere Tom has dreamed up many stunts and stories to advance their cause as he spent long but interesting hours giving releases to and gleaning new angles from the city editors, the well-known newscasters, and even the Mutual fight announcers. And Tom is leaving all this, but not alone; somehow he succeeded in soliciting the company of his fellow-townsman, Ted Ellsworth, and this Dubuque duet should cut a mighty respectable swath in their trail to success for the Allies, for England, and for '40.
On his way to New York from his home last week, Braden took five minutes from Hayville, Ohio, to ask me to write the column; and so I was neatly caught with a vest-pocket full of little but local news. However, at the risk of condemnation as a provincial, I shall relate what spatterings of '4O facts have come my way, and thus prove conclusively how miserable my coverage has been for the past few months.
On January 10th, an Associated Press headline caught my eye at breakfast, for mentioned in the Navy Department's report for heroic conduct was Elmer T. Browne, "who was not a member of the ship's company but who was on board for passage for another fleet unit." And last week Brownie unexpectedly was in Hampton Roads for a short leave; his ship, the Vincennes, has taken him half-way around the world already. A complete roster of those of 1940 who were in the Far East when the little brown brothers stung our big gray battlewagons that eventful Sabbath morning is not yet available, but I have one name to submit: Jim Cooke was undoubtedly in the Philippines is probably still there—as that was his station as of December Ist, when I last heard of him.
Jack Ingersoll has, in conjunction with his achievements at the Western Reserve Law School, been corresponding with Ned Jacoby; Jake's marriage to Miss Barbara Downing of Laguna Beach, Calif, as of December 3 has been announced. Jake, along with several other young officers in the army ferrying command, has been sent to Albuquerque to study the tricks in the handling of four-motor flying fortresses. Bob Skinner was Jake's best man, and he since has reportedly been instructing skiing on the West coast somewhere.
I don't know of many engagements and marriages that haven't already been reported in this column, so those of you who haven't let anyone know of your aisle activities, drop me a note or so. Lewis Lambert started the year off in rather effective fashion as, at one minute after midnight on New Year's Eve, he slipped an engagement ring on the finger of Miss Dorothy Loomis of Pittsburgh. Keith Benson, draftee who has worked his way into the finance office of a Western army center, has become engaged to Miss Jean Sprague of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Whizzer White's name keeps creeping into the line-up of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station's basketball team as they continue their phenomenal record of knocking off such clubs as Notre Dame, Purdue, Indiana, Butler, etc.; Whiz is a boatswain's mate off the court. The ugliest rumor that has drifted across my desk is that Dick Babcock is leaving the number 1 spot at the Chicago Law School for a job with a volunteer unit in Egypt: some more complete affirmation of this rumor will appear in the next column.
I don't quite understand "why they leave Mac Arthur to rot in that Jap-infested island; I can't quite conceive of the necessity for the reported painting of Dartmouth dormitory windows a black black; but most of all, I can't figure out where the Class Boy went: all claims should be filed with your acting Secretary as soon as you're sure.
Secretary, 353 East 56th St., New York, N. Y From SCOTT A. ROGERS JR.
