1934
Many thanks to all you guys who have been so prompt about sending in your class dues, and particularly to those who have penned a few notes of their activities as a welcome accompaniment! The same goes for those gals who have taken over the family finances while the men are busy fighting. There seem to be so many of them that I'll have to dig up lots of stuff with feminine interest for this column.
Which brings me to the point that there are lots of men in uniform that we didn't know about before. John Mellen is at present in Africa as an Army M.D. Ned Bitner, from whom very little has been heard, is also overseas with the Army, though I don't know just where. Fred Wolf has been getting a taste of practically all phases of this war, having started out a couple of years ago with OP A; by June of this year he was holding down the job of chief counsel for the non-ferrous metals branch. About that time, General Hershey spied him and before you could shake a stick, Fred had a nice new suit of Army khaki. He didn't get to keep it a full two weeks because the Navy thought they could make better use of him in the office of the Judge Advocate General, so he is now referred to as Ensign Wolf and can still be reached in Washington. Alan Hewitt now carries a Pfc. stripe and is learning about the Army out in California. Another soldier we haven't heard from in a long time is John Carney, who is now a captain of ordnance located at Apco, Ohio. And in the way of promotions, Mrs. Oare's little boy Bob is now a lieutenant (jg). There are a number of others who must be wearing a uniform of some sort, since their class dues were paid by someone else. If I'm wrong, send in your complaints; I like to get lots of mail. Anyhow, here they are: Dick Hayes, Graham Ong, Bob Balgley, Bill Stowe, Chet Birch, Bud Hall, Bil DeRiemer, and John Hallenbeck.
Those of you who, like myself, haven't seen some classmates since Jtme of '34 will be glad to learn that nine and a half years haven't done much to the rosy cheeks and schoolboy smiles of most of us. Not that I have had a chance to make a personal inspection of a very large percentage of the class, but during the past month I did make a few trips, and if those I saw constituted a fair average, we could all slip on a pea-green cap and enter the next freshman class. Rollie Morton, Dave Callaway, and Bill Scherman were just about the same as you remember them. Maybe a little redistribution of weight here and there, but holding up pretty good. And, incidentally, I hope that the rest of you have been, or will be, as lucky in selecting wives as Marty Dwyer and those three have been.
In Chicago I found Lee O'Keeffe now a first lieutenant and literally big butter and egg man for the Army. In fact, they say he is responsible for putting a turkey in every soldier's lap at both Christmas and Thanksgiving. I also found that Lee had never told us of the birth of a daughter Karen on September 24, 1942. Jack Fogarty has been reassigned to a Naval air base near Portland, Oregon. And while in the windy city, I was very much complimented to have Carl Hess leave his wife and two-day old baby to join us for dinner. The name is Eric Hess and he tipped the scales at seven and one half pounds on October 10. Bill Gilmore, still a pilot with American Airlines, gets into Chicago occasionally, and in case he reads this, the '34s out there are plenty sore that he doesn't look them up. Tom Clark has moved back to New York and was just getting to the point where he could handle Hedges very niftily when Dave ups and goes to sea. Bill Mock is now a first lieutenant and stationed in Chicago. According to O'Keeffe, he is much displeased with the quiet life after having seen so much action overseas. Bob Wilmot has been a bit dilatory about keeping us informed of his activities. He has a second son already past the one and one half year mark, who is known as Christopher Wilmot. Bob Wildman, after having been released from the Army to run his boiler and tank company, got restless and joined the Navy as an ensign in the supply corps. He's now stationed somewhere on the West Coast. Not much has been heard from Mac Carter except that he is now back in Darien, Conn., and still running A. T. 8c T. his way.
Dick Herman is one of those lads that there's lots to write about, but only a part can be told at this time. To give you a rough idea of some of the stories we can look forward to: Dick was in thirteen engagements in the Pacific area in a period of eleven months; was aboard a warship that did more than its share of damage to the Japs before it went down, and then spent thirty-six hours in the water before he was picked up.
WHERE THEY ARE
Bob Terhune is now with Brown and Bigelow, who have moved him up to St. Paul. Bill Cumings is still with Bethlehem Steel and now has a young Bill about six months old. Frank Parmelee is now down in Miami at a sub-chaser school. Stan Neill is helping keep the submarines going as a lieutenant in the supply department of the Navy yards at Portsmouth, N. H. George Tibbits is now a captain in the Ordnance Department of the Army. At the present time he has a New York Postmaster address. Em Day is a physician with the Air Transport Command and can be found at the Washington airport most any time. Tom Cass has been helping out one of my competitors, the Chicago division of Container Corporation. (It's a shame I can't use this space for a commercial).
Lewis Grosenbaugh is a lieutenant (jg) and is aboard the USS Caldwell. Walter Draper is a Navy lieutenant and is stationed at California Tech. in Pasadena, Calif. A 1 Seitner is a lieutenant in the Field Artillery unit that is somewhere overseas. Ed Moore is another lieutenant (jg) and is stationed at Corpus Christi, Texas. Art Leonard is now known as Capt. Leonard in and about Ft. Washington, Md. Art Moebius is an ensign at the Naval Air Station in Olathe, Kansas. Lt. (jg) Bob Reynolds is in Hollywood, Florida, and Tiny Glazer is a lieutenant in the field artillery at Ft. Benning, Ga. Gerry Hall is at West Point as a lieutenant, Bill Reid is a Navy lieutenant with a Port Hueneme address, and Don Allen is a lieutenant (jg) in the Coast Guard at Boston.
Jack O'Brien is still with Sylvania, but has been moved to the Middle West. His office is in Chicago, but his home is just outside in Riverside. Bill Maynard writes that he's still in a groove with his printing business in New York. And to help keep my records straight (and that's taking on quite a job) I'd appreciate finding out about the present addresses of Neal Richmond, Jim Darling, and Ed Brown.
And now quite a few quotes—the first from Lt. Jerry Danzig; "Am working at being an exec officer on an LST in North .African waters and invasion fronts
Saw Hedges many months ago before I left the States; Dwyer was still an ensign then; went to cocktails at his house with Lee Eggleston, Roily Morton, and others." And from Marty Dwyer, "I've been here in the Canal Zone since early summer. My job is the operations work for which I trained at Ft. Wadsworth.... harbor defense and traffic control, and I believe it is as important and interesting an assignment as any Navy shore establishment can offer..... Panama isn't as poisonous a place as some people would have you believe. The climate's not very enjoyable, but easy facilities for recreation and reading fill in the relaxing hours, and most of the griping is due to being away from the people you'd like to be with One day when I was hurrying up the gangplank I ran into the heavily tanned countenance of Bill Hartman, who was in just as much of a hurry in the other direction. It seemed funny to see a good friend 2000 miles from home and let it go with a 'hello' and a handshake, but neither Bill's destroyer captain or my section commander could wait."
All for now Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season to all of you!
LT. ROBERT WOODCOCK '33 JJSNR, "knuckle-popping at Snafu Airdrome."
Secretary and Treasurer, General Box Co. 816 S. 16th St., Louisville 1, Ky.
