1938

A Merry Christmas to you gentlemen and Mattimore. To get into the news quickly, Lt. Frank Martin of the Navy Medics, and Julia Anne Peters (Ashland, Ky.), were married September 11. She was a Navy nurse. Frank got his M.D. at McGill. Capt. Fred Howard, "Army pilot with the sth Air Force carrier command in the Southwest Pacific and overseas since July '43, has been awarded two Oak Leaf Clusters to his Air Medal and one to his D.F.C. for combat missions with a troop carrier plane." Fred was with the 172 nd Inf. Regt., transferred to the Air Force in June '41. Wife Jessie and daughter Penelope are living in Bennington, Vt. Lt. Paul Feakins, Marine Air Corps and Jane Harris (N. Y. and Omaha) are engaged. Capt. Bob Matteson has been awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters; he "graduated from flightleader to squadron-leader, and later led his Marauder group against Nazi targets in northern Italy and southern France before he was appointed acting operations officer for his squadron. He has flown more than 55 combat missions with a veteran B-26 Marauder group in the Mediterranean theater." Seven pounds, six ounces, and 21-inch Duncan Scott Fox arrived September 27 in Austin, Texas to the Grover Fox and wife.

Lt. Bob Harvey writes from the USS

I bumped into Bob Reeve last night, bemoaning his fate and the curtailment of his athletic activity, over a glass of beer, and only after some solid salesmanship on his part was I convinced that there was such stuff as snow arid hot buttered rum. There's no doubt that a long hitch on the wrong side of the world paralyzes the memory. Son John (for Falter) Christopher (for Columbus, I guess) Harvey put in an appearance December 28. Latest reports from Sue indicate his first words were an Indian yell for the team, "Da Da Dartmouth." Sherman was right. The Navy has grown so you have to stumble over a thousand feet and peer into five hundred faces in any officers' club to find one familiar one. Only others I've seen recently are Ross Bornemen, now exec of an AM, and Bob Eckel, medical officer on a can.

Blacky Van Kirk, now a captain, passes on the good word from France:

In some of the towns we entered we were the first Americans these people had seen and the reception was terrific. Flowers, wine, and all the rest were wonderful. They told us one city was liberated, so in we went.... liberated my neck we were lucky to get out. Anyway it's been lots of fun, and if any of the crowd gets close to 7th Army Hq., I can be located from there.

The Mattimore, at last word, was flat onhis back in the Brooklyn Navy Hospital with a bad knee, but that's his story. My wife tells me he stays in long enough to grab off a meal and a few hours' sleep, and that's all the hospital sees of him. She saw him having his temperature taken on a trolley car.

It seems like a month ago I was talking about Pfc. Reno; now it's captain. This is his report, "I finally got away from, and out of Quantico, in September, and was sentenced to temporary duty at Navy Hq. in Washington. Before reporting I got to New York for a couple of nights and a day, and much to my surprise I did nothing rash there. Had dinner with Lt. and Mrs. Mays, and Lt. and Mrs. Soule, who are all doing nicely, thank you, and had a date with Nancy Spencer. I don't know whether it was the effect of the big city on my country bones, but a couple of days after I got back I was torpedoed by something the doctors refer to as infectious jaundice. I am all white again, except for the eye balls, and they threaten to evict me from this paradise (Medical Center at Bethesda) next week. Confidentially, I think they're going to make me a judo instructor at the Women's Reserve School."

Capt. George Dana, from France, writes,. "Started out from the Cincinnati General interneship to Carlisle Barracks, from there to Salina, Kan., to join the 80th Div., then to the School of Chemical Warfare, maneuvers, Fort Dix, then in July to England, then on to France. On August 13 had news of a baby girl, Grace, eight pounds, twelve ounces. Heard from Foley last month. He's doing surgery in a General Hospital in England. Saw Dutch Holland, who was in uniform with an Army Air Force band at a Red Cross party in Manchester, England." John Nelson and Jean Pinckney were married October 29 in Berkeley, Calif. Dick Chase is a chemist with Merck and Cos., in Elkton, Va. Promotions.... To major, Scott Runkle, Bill James; to captain, Bill Sullivan, Art Van Kirk, Bob Matteson; to lieutenant (jg), Bob Mussey, Tel Mook, Jack Stephens, Harry Hanley.

PROMOTED TO CAPTAIN, Samuel C. Wakefield '3B is in England with an Eighth Air Force Composite Command.

Secretary, 41 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. Treasurer, 1743 Q St., N. W., Washington, D. C.