1933
As you know the' Alumni Fund campaign is underway, off to an early start again this year to give us a chance to reach and, we hope, to top our objective of $250,000. This is the time, as President Hopkins said in his message to us a few weeks ago, "to put the foundations under our castles in the air"; in other words, to build the financial sinews for a stronger and better Dartmouth in the years to come. After the termination of the V-12 program there will be an interval of perhaps several years before the College's enrollment gets back to normal. Our civilian enrollment at the present time is 180, the lowest since 1819. It will probably take several years after the war to build this up to 2400, and in the meantime the College's income from tuitions will fall far short of meeting its needs. The greater part of the Alumni Fund will, therefore, be used to build up the Postwar Reconversion Account the College has set up to see it through this critical period.
There has never been a time in the history of the College when it was more important than it is today for each and every class to do its utmost to help Dartmouth. We are confident that, realizing the seriousness of the situation, everyone will pitch in to the best of his ability and that '33 will do its full share of the job. Sam Black is our Class Agent this year. In the coming weeks he and his assistants will get in touch with you. Remember that every early contribution saves Sam and his assistants a lot of work, worry, and headaches. Send your contribution in right away and help Sam to get the ball rolling in the best year '33 has ever had in the Alumni Fund.
Frank Ripley has already gotten out the first issue of the '33 Newsletter, and he will get it out to you as often as the information coming in warrants it. Very little news has come in to either Frank or yours truly in recent months, much less than we should have from a class as large as ours, and very much less than we should like to have. Let us know what you are doing, and pass on whatever information you may have about other members of the class. We know you are busy but it doesn't take long to drop us a line and everyone would be interested to know what you are doing.
You will recall that a couple of months ago I passed on to you Treas. Lee Eckels' announcement that the class was in the red to the tune of $7O. In reply to an inquiry Lee reported a week ago for all our heartrending appeals we had gotten in more deeply than ever. We are now in the doghouse for $100. for the fiscal year ending August 31, 1944. So there is an urgent matter to attend to for those of you who have not yet paid your class dues for the current year. If you've forgotten the amount, the Treasurer will gladly absolve you of any further claims if you will mail him a check for four dollars.
A letter from Jim Alder came to our corner of the Fund office the other day, together with Jim's contribution and an additional gift from Jim's mother, who, says Jim, is such an enthusiastic Dartmouth rooter that he sometimes suspects she went to the old school herself. About his own activities Jim reports: "It (Dartmouth) seems a long way off right now but like many Others of us who have 'round the girdled earth they roam' I have thought of it often. Have been in the Navy now for a couple of years—first as a deck officer attached to the Western Sea Frontier doing some escort work on a four stacker—then being sent back to get my Navy wings of gold. Am at present a flight instructor in the uninspiring State of lowa—itching, as are most of us, to get into something with a bit more zest in it."
Gene Merkt is one of those rare good guys in ye olde classe for whom we have an especially warm place in our heart since we have become sec'y, namely, one of that sparse Gideon's band who take it upon themselves to drop ye sore beset sec'y a line at least once a year, more or less, as Gene says. In his latest Gene says that his path somehow crosses those of Dartmouth men of other classes for the most part but that he has a little news of classmates. Concerning my esteemed predecessor, Fra Johannes Monagan, he says,
. ran in to see him at his office about a month ago. It was on a Saturday afternoon and he had holed up to catch up on a few chores. Had a fine chat and it was good to see him. He looks as though the life agrees with him, and if the truth be known, Waterbury looks as though John agrees with it I also have an occasional letter from Ed Hird who is now, and has been for some months, in the Navy. At last reports he was at the Radio Materiel Center in Washington, learning all about the esoterics of those things. Haven't seen him in quite a while but from the tone of his letters I would gather that the life is not too disagreeable. Guess he will finish up there before long Last bit of news concerns Ed Lap ham. Ed is just completing his basic training (8 weeks) at Fort Knox, Ky., in the Armored Forces. Have had a couple of amusing letters—here's a quote: 'My Day gets longer and longer. This week my hours have been from 5 A.M. to 1 A.M., except for Saturday, when I had 24-hour guard duty. Among other amusing and interesting experiences we got down in fox holes and were run over by tanks. Also we went through the famous infiltration course with which soldiers love to impress civilians—you've heard about it no doubt—you crawl along on your belly with live machine gun bullets a few inches over your head. This is fun, but no one was killed or even slightly scratched for that matter. Also we've walked approximately 8,000,002 miles, including Agony Hill, Misery Hill, and a few others which shall be nameless .... so far I have done everything as it has come along, so I guess I can take it. I'm still amazed at what I can do. I'd never have believed it a few months ago. I can't say that I enjoy the Army, but it's a lot better than I expected.' "
As for Gene himself, he says that he is still at the old stand in the rubber shop in Naugatuck, looking forward to warmer weather and in the meantime paging anxiously through the seed catalogues.
A number of men have moved up a notch in the services recently. Charlie Allen is now a lieutenant colonel; Harry Osborne, a major; Rollie Stevens, a captain attached to the surgical service of the AAF Training Command; Tom Noonan and Charlie Hinds are First Lieutenants in the Army. Alan Jaques has received his commission as a Lieutenant (jg) in the Navy. Alan will presumably continue in the Navy to employ the surgical talents that until recently were at the service of the civilian population in and around Freeport, N. Y. BobWatson, who, as I reported in last month's notes, has been living here in Hanover since last Fall, expects to be commissioned in the Navy shortly.
Our mail this past month reflects General Hershey's ever increasing interest in the class of 1933 as a manpower pool having considerable potential resources for the U. S. Army. We have a note this morning from Laura Allen telling us that Ted received his invitation last month and proceeded forthwith to Camp Blanding, Florida. The invitations have not yet reached Page Worthington and George Rideout, and doubtless a host of other '33 pappies, but postcards have been arriving with the General's cryptic lA affixed thereto. All of which tends to belie our doubtless erroneous impression at our last reunion that '33 was beginning to show its age. We must have been wrong and that was six years ago. Oh well, some time time will tell.
Secretary,20 Valley Rd., Hanover, N. H. Treasurer, 2812 Grant Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa.
