1938
Last month's issue gave you a pretty vivid picture of the number of men we've got in service now. A good percentage of our boys haven't seen any foreign shores yet, and out of those who have, it appears that a far .greater percentage are in the Navy. Maybe the Army is saving us for something. Yeh. . . something like the Saturday night prom. Lt. (jg) Howie Van Riper CO writes from somewhere in No. Africa. Says he has a Dartmouth Indian head painted on both ship bows, not as a good luck charm, but as a warning for Jerry and the Eyeties to stay out of the way. "Midnight July 9-10. Inky blackness, thousands of ships inching forward, countless thousands of troops below, holding their breath for 'H-hour' to arrive. The silvery wake of the ship ahead is all that is visible. It is 0243, 0244. and Whammmm!! H-hour. The sky is filled with red tracer-fire, countless planes come from nowhere, there is a constant ear-splitting roar as bombs keep falling and men-o'-war keep salvos following each other without let-up. Sicily is caught with its pants down. A brilliant blue-white light is turned on somewhere on the beach.... seems like it's right on the beach between the two pill-boxes where I'm supposed to land my troops." The story goes on, the light goes out, ME's dive, the ships ground ashore. The Indian heads are still intact.
Bill Lyle is aWarrant Officer in the Coast Guard now. When I heard from him last, he was Pay Clerk at Ft. McHenry, but was in the process of heading for Charleston. I think he's been in everything in the CG: . . . inspection, boot camp, ship, repair base. The part that gets me, though, is that he's been married for over a year to Betty (that's all I know about her). Our Lts. (jg) McMurtrie and Archibald have been holding down the Chicago area, though Arch seems to be touring for V-13 recruiting. McMurtrie, on reliable authority, hasn't done much but drink, swear, go to ball games, movies, circuses, dances, hayride parties, beach parties and horse-races. Arch is currently bunking with Cy MacKinnon, and Mac, with stray dogs. Staff Sgt. Bud Walls, unless the situation has changed, should be at LaGuardia Field now, with the Air Forces. Second Lt. Coke Barton, of Boston reunion fame, graduated from Engineer OCS, and is now on the Engineer Board at Belvoir, living with wife, Rosemary, in Alexandria. Yours truly and the rotund Dick Francis are taking a battalion commanders' and staff officers' course here at Benning, and look for our reassignments in November. Sometime between now and then I look forward to my wedding.
Lt. (jg) Red Heath is on duty at the Navy Armed Guard Station in Brooklyn, but more importantly has collaborated with Mrs. Betty Magee Heath, the V.assar panther, in the production of one Jane Parker, daughter born March 35. How can this column get so far behind? So long as we're on the subject, Lt. John McGreevy took the hand (what poetry) of Peggy Hammer, Petersburg, Va. Mac, after he left us, went to Heidelberg, and then to Columbia, and now he's a Navy flyer. Corp. George Reynolds, N. Y. Air Defense Wing, married Elizabeth Nicholls on June 26. She's from N. Y., went to Oberlin. George got his M.A. at Teachers' College, and was teaching school in Suffern, N. Y. Johnny Nassikas (Ens.) was best man, and Lt. El Taber was one of the ushers. Ann Salmon, Syracuse charmer, and our bread-winner, Lt. Dave Hosmer, were married June 10, and are now in San Antonio. The bride, when she left, wore a navy and white checked print ensemble with bracelet sleeves and white pique collar with jeweled buttons. The groom wore a two-piece light tan suit, with slightly darker buttons, and a tuckedin tie. I don't see how you can stand these articles. Forgot to tell you, it's now, and has been for some time, Ist Lt. Tom Rowland of the Infantry School. And speaking of T I S, it was bad enough when they slipped Bill Geraghty into this course I'm taking, but they rubbed it in when they made him my squad leader. He never looks for me when I'm lost. Capt. Dave Duffey has left here for the 66th Division, where he's working in the G-3 section.
Lt. Jim McKeon has gotten back from two years of duty in the Pacific, and has been assigned to the Naval Academy for a year's training, and on the promotion side, it's now Maj. Tom Richmond, Marine Corps. Dr. Ulysses Wharton and Aurelia Johnson were married in Washington May 20. Use is a graduate of Howard Med. School. And speaking of medics, Foley and Gordon are at Carlisle Barracks now, ready to hit the Army trail. Van Kirk hit Sicily with the invasion, and at last report was comfortably ensconced in some town, drinking up all the local wine, and eating the local melons.
More next month. Keep the information flowing. I'm no mind-reader.
LLOYD KRUM JR. '38 has been graduated from the Naval Air Training Center, Corpus Christi, with an ensign's commission.
Secretary 41 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. Treasurer, 1743 Q St., N. W., Washington, D. C.
