1939
Sid Hayward, Secretary o£ the College, has written me regarding election of class officers for the five-year period June, 1944 to June, 1949. Owing to the war conditions the class of 1938, and to date the class of 1939 will be unable to hold formal class meetings at their fifth reunion. Consequently, it will be necessary for our class to shortcut these elections through some plan. Sid suggested a plan to me which I think is about as good as we can use owing to the short time we have in which to make these elections.
The plan is somewhat as follows: I am to appoint a nominating committee, preferably of fellows located close together, so that they might in turn get together personally a slate of officers. This slate of officers will be a comp osite group made up by the nominating committee with suggestions from the class members in general. After the nominating committee has compiled the complete slate of officers, it will be forwarded to the various members of the executive committee, who will vote on this slate of officers. As the College is interested in having the election of officers posted in the June issue, and this will not get to the class members until after April 10, it is imperative that if any members of the class are interested in suggesting nominations to the nominating committee they write any of the three members listed below which make up the Nominating Committee, immediately, for I shall have to forward the slate of officers given me by the nominating committee to the various members of the executive committee before April 20th. In order to publicize the names of the new officers in the June issue, the executive committee has to vote on the various names and have the results in my hands before May 10. On the nominating committee I have appointed the following: Erwin Lyon Jr., Wakelee Avenue, Ansonia, Conn.; Louis Bradley, Wakelee Avenue, Ansonia, Conn.; and Theodore Wolfe, Bethany Wood, Bethany, Conn. According to the College, the 1939 class executive committee is comprised of the following men: John A. Boynton, Loren J. Dilkes, George O. Mudge, Lloyd V. Noland Jr., James M. Parks, Joseph J. Urban, Robert B. Whitcomb, James M. Mathes Jr., and Robert Dickgiesser. These men will receive personal letters from me provided they are within mailing distance in the time alloted.
Let anyone on the nominating committee hear from you if you are interested in the nomination of any one, or several, individuals for the various officers, namely, President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer.
I want to thank many of you fellows for writing in recently but as there is a letter that has been in my hands for some time which I should like to quote, it will be impossible for me to give you much news from many fellows. This information I will reserve for the next issue.
From Lt. (jg) Ray Frese I quote part of his excellent letter as follows: "My own 'career* in the Navy has been exceedingly quiet and unwarlike up to now. After going through the Midshipman's School at Columbia, I remained as an instructor for about eight months. Of course, I complained continuously about the pettiness that it has been my experience to find at all Naval shore stations. I had an apartment a few blocks from the school, was only 20 miles from home, worked (?) from 8:45 to 4:00 (very unnautical, I know, but they were banker's hours and shall be so written!), half day on Saturday, Sunday off .... oh God! it really was hell when I look back at it! After 8 months of it, during which time a whole host of Dartmouths went through the school, I was ordered to Key West for a 3 months training course in submarines, just about 10 months after I had first requested it. Needless to say, I was tickled silly but when I got there, I found just as many things to complain about as I had in New York. We went out on operations 6 days a week, had Sundays off, duty only every 4th night, I lived at the Casa Marina Hotel, which was formerly the showplace of the Island, my wife was down with me, liquor was plentiful and unrationed—and have you ever seen a Key West Moon? Brother!! When I look back and think of not being satisfied with a setup like that, 1 feel like heading for the nearest base hospital to have my head examined. I finally received overseas orders, and spent a glorious 18 days in San Francisco waiting for air transportation, ranking jg. somewhere between Chicago and Omaha on the way across country. To the best of my knowledge, those were the only 18 days I have spent in the Navy without a murmur of complaint. I used to teach the apprentice seamen at the school that if they ever hit a ship where the men didn't complain continuously, they'd better get busy and find out why, because it wasn't a healthy sign (I read it in a book, somewhere).
From that point on, my actions have been interesting from a personal standpoint, but, for reasons which are apparent to anyone on subs, not for publication. Enough said that I worked with the boats for several months without making any patrols. I was terribly disappointed when I was ordered to this boat after having my heart set on one of the big fleet type boats, but have gradually become reconciled to it. The opportunity for learning is far greater, so that when I eventually get a sub 1 will be far better qualified to handle a job than I was, or am, now. When I reported aboard, I found myself third officer with the jobs of first lieutenant, torpedoes, and gunnery—and that's a mouthful for a first assignment to any type of ship! It's hard to realize just how many things can happen to the hull and auxiliary machinery of an old ship until you take over the job of being responsible for them."
Service promotions to the following grades: 2nd Lt. John A. Boynton, Capt. Robert L. Kaiser, Lt. (jg) John M. Davenport, ist Lt. Grover C. Spillers Jr., Capt. David M. Lilly, 2nd Lt. Henry Muller 3rd, Lt. (jg) Richard S. Jackson, 2nd Lt. John H. Whipp.
Your secretary recently was informed of the unfortunate death of Lt. Theodore K. Johnson, USMC, caused by wounds received in action during the invasion of Marshall Islands.
Weddings are announced as follows: Lt. Robert Bassett Whitcomb USNR and Alberta Gillette of Duluth, Minnesota, on December 21, in N. Y. City; Lt. Frederic Garfield Worden, AAF Medical Corps, and Miss Katharine Cole, on January 8 at Tarrytown; Dr. Armando Chardiet and Mary Josephine Fernandez, on October 23, in Havana; Lt. Thomas Brooks USNR and Susan Elma Spencer, on January 21, in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Don't forget the Alumni Fund. Let's get the money in before the buds come out.
Secretary, Bethany Woods, Bethany, Conn. Treasurer, c/o J. M. Mathes, Inc. 182 East 42nd St., New York, N. Y.
