1917
Another good '17er and old Navy man has appeared in the Armed Forces in the person of Lt. (j.g.) Charlie Dixon, late of Rochester, N. H., and now stationed at Villa Deste Hotel, Miami, Fla. Charlie sent no details about himself, which we regret, but we will look forward to his filling in the blank spaces later.
From the columns of the N, Y. HeraldTribune we learned that Maj. Gil Swett was promoted to lieutenant colonel late in the summer. Without any doubt Gil deserves the promotion and we congratulate him enthusiastically.
In a recent letter to Gene Towler, Gil modestly says, Nothing that I am doing here is particularly newsworthy or noteworthy. Just a good stiff job. Quite a bit of hither and yon, but no smell of gunpowder or oriental harems, just mountains of work piled up around my desk whenever I get back Gil Jr. is just one year short of draft age and has just completed a summer school session at Exeter, attempting to recoup his educational handicaps acquired from a year in a little southern town. He is heading for the Army Air Corps, but I hope that his progress into Dartmouth won't be interrupted too violently. Not that I want him up there now. With the Navy in occupation he might get bad habits and end up with bell-bottom trousers."
Additional good news is the fact that Mose Hutchins has been advanced from captain to major. Congratulations Mose! The Major has been stationed at Yale since June, where he is in command of Headquarters Training Detachment. Mose had been at Miami Beach, Fla., since April, 1942. There he went through OTS; became an adjutant in a training squadron, then commanding officer of a squadron, and later of a training group. Mose says there is a rumor of a new assignment in store for him but adds that he doesn't put much stock in rumor. Pauline and Francie joined him at Pine Orchard, near New Haven, for the summer. Francie returned to Connecticut College for Women early in the fall, and Pauline and Mose planned to move back into New Haven.
Capt. Ray Collerd's thought that he might be sent abroad on short notice, materialized during August. His V-Mail letter says, "Here I am at last in England, and a grand place it is, too. We had a splendid trip over and are all anxious to get down to business."
Maj. Butch Sherman wrote from Mobile, Ala., in August, that "things are just the same with us down here except that it seems to get hotter every day." He and Lee and youngest son Joe had visited Maxwell Field recently to see second son Larry. They arrived in time to see the Saturday evening parade of 3500 cadets, all pilots, "and," he says, "the swellest looking bunch of kids you can imagine. After the parade, when they were marching back to barracks, they all sang. It really made the old spine tingle." Hilly, oldest son, was at Jacksonville taking aeronautical training. He received his leave late in August and then headed for sea duty. Joe returned to Vermont Academy this fall with the forecast that Vermont would take Kimball Union like Grant took Richmond, but there are members of the Towler and Emmons families, at least, who might have taken issue with this pre-season view.
Lt. Col. Harry Fowler wrote early in the summer that, "My job here is practically done and T am beginning to think in terms of coming home,— maybe in the fall. I shall have been here more than eighteen months by the end of July and it is almost three years since I have seen my own home. The General has approved my application for the School of Military Government I should like to get that under my belt and then come out here again. There's more play for my specialties out here than on the other side of the globe." Son Jim is assigned to the Ist Ranger Battalion.
A card from Alden Vaughn tells us that he forsook Providence, R. 1., for Minneapolis, Minn., about Sept. 1. Quite a jump we call it. The Vaughns "had a real job in finding living quarters in this beautiful city. I am teaching Latin at the Beaker School a few miles from here,—an excellent country day school." Our best are with Alden in his new situation.
Ray Sault writes that his business "is producing five times its normal output, all in the weapons of war. Have no doubt that some of the majors and captains in the class have had to handle some of our stuff on their anti-aircraft guns, etc." Ray has missed out on vacation entirely for three years, so in late August he just took his hat in his hand and headed for the Maine woods for a breather. He has run into Connie Murphy a couple of times lately, and says Connie is "just as fat and sassy as ever."
A letter from Art Jopson reports that daughter Helen Elizabeth was married early in the year, "accompanied to the alter by her old man." Art says, "she has a good kid for a husband,—a fighter pilot," but neglects to give us his name. Art Jr. is a second lieutenant, a bombardier having received his commission late in June at Big Spring, Texas. "Rachel, little Rachel, and the old man keep the shop going." Art had had lunch with Heinie Wright recently and had seen Vic Smith and Bruce Ludgate not long since.
Both Sam MacKillop and Sunny Sanborn were fortunate in seeing Perc Streeter on his recent brief visit to Boston. Both reported Perc as looking perfectly fit. He was optimistic, busy, and reported his family well.
A brief word has been received from Perne Hutchinson and from Al Cheney. Neither reported: on recent doings but both sent regards to the gang.
ANNIVERSARY
On the occasion of our recent twentieth anniversary, we were pleasantly surprised by a calT from Cranford, N. J.; for the Towler's wedding, coincided with the Browns exactly,—year, month, day and hour. Both couples were celebrating wholeheartedly at home, getting used to living alone again after nineteen years of children, and hoping that by dint of thrifty living their young fry could be maintained away at school. Gene and Lucille had two particularly pleasant visits in the course of their vacation last summer. With Bob and Anita Scott at their Westbrook, Conn., summer home they just swam, baked, ate, talked, and slept, except that Bob did demonstrate a superior memory of Johnny Poor's astronomy. Later, at Tom and Ellen Cotton's cottage back of Bear Mountain, N. Y., the restful scene was re-enacted, except that expert Tom gave Gene a first lesson in handling a scythe. Gene says Tom makes almost as good an Old Fashioned as Ellen does meals. Now Gene 'and Lucille are living alone, with Jane a freshman at Smith, and Tommy back at Kimball Union as a junior.
With Bunny Holden we had the pleasure recently \of visiting with Ping and Caroline Doty in their lovely home on the shore of the Atlantic on Littles Point, Swampscott. The skiff which Ping and his boys use for fishing was pulled up on the beach, and nearby, just out of reach of the tide, is the fireplace around which the Doty family has many an outdoor lunch. We met Laurence, twenty, and Nathan, ten, oldest and youngest sons. Laurence, Dartmouth '46, was in Hanover less than a year before, enlisting in the Navy; he is stationed in Boston. Nathan helps Ping and Caroline keep the ship trim between sessions at North Shore Country Day School. Douglas, eighteen, is a graduate of Clark School and was attending Middlebury College Language School until the call of the service became too strong. He is now in the Tank Corps at Fort Knox, Ky. Incidentally, Laurence and Douglas are justified physically in calling Ping, "Little Man." Ping and his family lived abroad for six years, returning in June 1941. They traveled during the summer and settled down for the schooling of the boys during the winter months. As a result they speak Italian, French, and German, well. In fact their departure as recently as June, 1941, gave the Doty's a close-up of the beginnings of the things which have happened since in southern Europe. Also as a result, Ping has one of the nicest collections of knives from all over the world that we have been privileged to look upon. Ping describes himself as up to his old tricks of buying more land and improving it. We noted, however, that his garden had the appearance of receiving more than its proportionate share of his time. And his produce also shows the influence of his travels. In addition to the usual victory garden products, Ping has kohlrabi, escarole, fenochia, fennel, and lupini, and probably others which we could not remember.
Your humble servant collected a real dividend recently in the form of a visit from Hal and Jo "Weeks. They had left Barbara at Lasell Junior College to start the fall term and were enroute to visit Hal's sister in Rumford, R. I. Fran prevailed upon them to have lunch with us and the result was a delightful opportunity to catch up on Hal and his family over and above the brief chats in Hanover at our Silver Jubilee. Hal is just the same as ever. He reported that his garden had not been too successful in the eyes of the local farmers, but among other crops, a harvest of six bushels of potatoes from one bushel planted, sounds all right to us. At any rate any disappointment from the garden was not evident in Hal's attitude and outlook on life. We reviewed the days at Watertown Arsenal, Camp Devens, and Camp Meade, and recalled many a '17 day in which many of you figured. Our only regret is that Hal and Jo's schedule would not permit a longer stay. They planned to visit the Sherm Smiths in East Greenwich before returning to Exeter.
And so for this time. Sunny's Reunion Album comes home to roost at infrequent intervals. Let me know if you would like to look at it and I will route it accordingly.
LEON CONE and BUD STEELE, class of '17.
Secretary, 57 Chestnut St., Dedham, Mass Treasurer, 9 Park Terrace, Upper Montclair, N. J
