Letters

Encore, Mr. Jenks

To THE EDITOR:

Congratulations to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE for its biography of Paul R. Jenks! When the clamor of publicity affects so many judgments, it is no small accomplishment to discern a great man who makes no noise. To know the holders of large reputations is sometimes a dubious fortune. But knowing P. R. J. for eighteen years strengthens my gratefulness for life. May I, in the light of those happy years, supplement your story a bit?

The analogy to Mr. Chips caught the odds and ends of Jenksian whimsy. Yet it largely missed the man. Certainly, he was a good teacher in the classroom sense. But his immense capacity for friendship made him much more. Therein lies his genius. He is a teacher in the universal sense. His interest stopped not with Commencement. Nor did he merely follow the subsequent careers of former students. He led them in pointing the way by the example, and not the lecture, of a quiet, generous life. The warmth of his friendly influence has steadily permeated the lives of many young people. Just how many, only P. R. J. could say, and won't. But to my knowledge, they are several, besides myself; and I sense that they are numerous.

And that is not all. He will accept no return for assistance rendered; but encourages the making of a return by assisting others. By that method he stands at the center of many chains of good will that should reach people yet unborn. He says, as I recall it, that he got the idea many years ago in his youth from Mr. Towle, a Dartmouth man. The idea is an old one in sentimental literature. P. R. J. has put it into practical application and without gush.

P. R. J. tried hard and taught me some Latin. I have long since forgotten it. But he taught me too what it means to be a human being. That I hope never to forget. And it is gratitude for that that must lead in some

obscure way to writing this letter, for it is my first to an editor. But I thought you ought to know these things, since you had opened the subject that lies close to my heart.

Arlington, Va.

Article Made Friends

To THE EDITOR:

I am very grateful to you and the others of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE for the fine and flattering comments about my work in the August issue.

Since that issue I have been greeted in several Army camps, where I've been testing and instructing, by Dartmouth men who immediately referred to the article. It has been invaluable in making friends and proves that the bonds of Dartmouth are strong and far reaching; that they can not be broken, come what may.

The College and its alumni should be justly proud of their men in Field Green, in Khaki and in Blue, for one finds them pursuing their duty and going beyond with courage and forthrightness. I am very proud of a tiny place behind them.

Buffalo, N. Y.

[Note: Mr. Hofheins is inventor, perfectorand manufacturer of amphibian cars, the"Aqua Cheetah" and "Water Buffalo," for theArmy ED.]

Guadalcanal

Professor Poole of the Biology Departmentrecently received the following letter fromCharles F. Spiltoir Jr. '39:

When I applied for the Cramer Fellowship, I never thought for a moment that I would be spending the time on a tropical isle. Anyway, that is how it turned out for, at present, I am with the Marines on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons. As you may have gathered from the news broadcasts, the weather is not the only hot situation here.

I am afraid that I have not had an opportunity for botanizing, although I am curious to look over the flora sometime in the future. At the moment I am swamped with coconuts, and anyone interested in doing a problem along this line would find Guadalcanal a highly desirable place.

Life isn't too bad. We have ocean bathing with no crowded beaches and a fresh water well with an improvised soap-box bath tub for scrubbing. Naturally we sleep in the open, but so long as the weather remains clear that is no hindrance.

Remember me to the members of the Biology Department.

Pacific Odyssey

Ensign F. R. Fette '39 described recent experiences in the Navy in a letter to his classsecretary, Richard Jackson, which is printedbelow: '

My father forwarded your card to me which finally got out here day before yesterday. Am not much of a writer but will get off some of my experiences since this war started.

I was ordered out to China last November as Assistant Naval Attache and Assistant Naval Attache for Air and was to be resident in Shanghai. The Nips were getting ready for the war but we did not expect it when it came and it was not until I was down New Zealand way that I received a dispatch ordering me to Chungking. After a good time in New Zealand and Australia I finally got up to Java where I ran into the Asiatic Fleet. It was decided right then and there that I should be with the fleet but after two weeks someone said I should go to Chungking and so I was on my own again with no very good prospects of getting up to Burma. In the meantime the damn Japs were coming closer and closer.

Finally the Army said they would fly me out but with the fall of Singapore they forgot about me. As the Nips were already in Sumatra I decided that I better get down to the sea and get a ship. In Batavia I found out that I could get a ship for Colombo from Tjilatjap, which is on the south coast of Java. Off I went to the port and waited around for a few days before I sailed on the 28th of February. As it turned out the Japs won the battle of the Java Sea and were coming into the Indian Ocean and it was not surprising that I was awakened at two thirty on the morning of the first to find the Japs using the ship I was aboard as a target. As the third shell hit and shrapnel was flying I decided to abandon ship and went over the side for deep sea swimming. I was later picked up by a lifeboat which had managed to get into the water before I left the ship. After a thirty hour open boat ride we were picked up by the next to the last ship to leave Java, which arrived safely in Australia.

Australia was a swell place and especially for a shipwrecked sailor. The Naval Command decided that a trip up to India was too much for me, kept me and I naturally had no objections but one day Washington caught up with me and again I had to start my travels. I was fortunate enough to be able to get on a quick trip to Ceylon and up to India where I spent some more time before I came into China.

At the present time I am what I started out to be, that is an assistant naval attache. Chungking is not as bad as some people make it out to be but it is by no means the garden spot of the Orient. I am leading a lite of ease when one compares the life of the fellows in more active combat zones but I still long for the good old United States. Am hoping that I get to see some more Nips but this time I want to be on the shooting end of the job.

Once in a while a stray ALUMNI MAGAZINE comes through and I sure enjoy it. Am glad to see that the good old college is more than doing her share in getting Dartmouth war conscious.

Here's wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year and to all the rest of Dartmouth.

Signal Corps Training

To THE EDITOR:

I know it is long past time that I informed you of my acceptance into the Signal Corps Officer Candidate School, but the pace that they set up here is really terrific. Any spare time, that could possibly be used for correspondence, comes between the hours of midnight and 5:30 a.m.

However, I want you to know that I appreciate your giving me a letter of recommendation for this school. Despite the long hours and constant pressure, I am still optimistic about getting that and lieutenant's commission on November 30. (News received says hegot it—ED.)

You've probably heard stories about these Officer Candidate Schools, but in case you've been spared the gory details, let me say that they are plenty rugged. The school work is actually not hard in comparison with college, but the volume of material that you are ex pected to assimilate in 3 months is really another matter and the Signal Corps places an emphasis on the technical side radio, telephone, etc. We go to classes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then study till .

But studies are only half the battle. There is also a rigorous system of discipline designed to keep you "on the ball" every minute. Every officer on the post makes it his duty to keep a constant watch on the candidates and the slightest lapse of memory on their part is certain to result in a demerit. No excuses are accepted, so the inventive mind of a man who trained under Dean Neidlinger would be of no avail.

Many thanks for the grand up-to-date ALUMNI MAGAZINE you are turning out.

U. S. Signal Corps,Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

LT. LAWRENCE GILBERT '39 USNRStationed at Antofagasta, Chile.