1940
The new Alumni Fund campaign is midway now, and, although I know that the Class of '4O is, as always, up with the leaders, there should be room in these notes for a small paragraph reminding you all that this war year is an important one for our College. The Fund this year means more to the Alumni than usual, for we are building a reserve which will be used to help the College over the postwar hump. We will want to see the ideals and the principles of Dartmouth as we knew her reestablished and strengthened, and the best way we as a class can help is by chipping in with the rest of the Alumni and putting it on the line for Dartmouth. Our Class Fund organization, at the moment of writing, is somewhat askew, due largely to the pressing duties of about every one in the class either in the services, in war work, or in our everyday jobs. We hope this will be remedied before the campaign gets older, but, fellows, make it easier for those who do take over by getting yours in early, and make it big.
I stopped in this month at St. Albans (Vt., just over the border) to see Jack Willson and his new wife comfortably ensconced in a new apartment, biding their time till Jack's call, now scheduled for April. A fuller report of Jack's last month's wedding discloses that Eddie Miller stood up with him and Dick Babcock was among the ushers. Our long lost and only legally elected secretary, Tom Braden, has shown up, via a letter to Jack. At the time Tom was spending a leave with his mother in Rock Island, 111. following a-hitch hike trip home from England with Ted Ellsworth. They were sent back to England after the Sangro. Tom finds a good bit of satisfaction in "getting marriage announcements and thinking that it all seems quite natural and peaceful and nice and undisturbed as it was two or three years ago." He was to go back to England to join his battalion of the King's Royal Rifles about the middle of March. Jack also had heard from or about Roy Merchant, who's now stationed at the Naval Air Station in Hutchinson, Kansas. That town is one of the few home towns one remembers, it being that of 800 Hayden, who always seemed to me to be a bit lonesome in his listing on the football programs among the players from more familiar burgs.
Don Rainie, still stationed in Boston, attended the recent Alumni dinner there, and reported another neat address by.Hoppy. Ken Newbert, Ted Miller and Maj. Don Tenney, introduced as the youngest major in the Marine Corps, were the other '40's present.
Jim Scott has just finished Navy training at Wellesley as part of the first male class to graduate from that time-honored degree factory for young gentlewomen. He's now an Ensign in the Supply Corps. While in Boston, Jim saw Bob Draper, at Harvard, now in the Caribbean as a disbursing officer, Mickey Miller and Ken McCotter, also at Harvard, and since departed for destinations undisclosed. There always seems to be a fairly large group of '4o's in Beantown at any given moment, though the makeup of the group changes day to day as assignments bring new faces in while others depart. Along the lines of promoting news for this column and the Indian Drum, it would be my suggestion that this gang try out a beer or two together once in a while.
Cliff Holmes, teaching Physics at New Hampshire to AST students, expects to be pulled out via the draft in mid April. Cliff reports on Bill Cleaves, last heard from in Salt Lake City, where he was presumably assembling a crew prior to final advanced training and shipment overseas; Nick Turkevich, working in priorities for GE in Philadelphia and living in Media with wife Betty, a real Dartmouth gal through her brother, Bill Cleaves; and Lt. Lloyd Blanchard, now overseas as meteorologist.
Jim McElroy seems to be making some progress in attempts to get the '4o's together who are now stationed in England. We've tried to find some way of getting the information over here and sending it to you, but there seems to be no way of achieving this. Jim thinks the best way would be through the college registration service of the "Stars and Stripes," where some of the Class are now registered. If you Dartmouths over there will sign up with this, mayhap we'll have a real party to report in another month. It certainly would be a slick shindig for such as could make it.
Lee Nichols shows up this time with the —th Armored Division at Camp Gordon, Ga., the same outfit that harbors Scotty Rogers. He completed his assignment on Army films in Hollywood and is now Public Relations Officer with the division and a full lieutenant. George Kimball, lieutenant in ordnance, is now stationed in Northern Ireland, having been pulled out of the States about six months ago. Jack Rourke, in Hollywood, is working on the jobs-for-honorably-discharged-servicemen angle of the Horace Heidt show, which should be a satisfying way to earn a living.
Lt. Joseph P. Armanini '4O, who once collected honors as tackle on the Big Green gridiron, now holds the Air Medal and two oak leaf clusters for his service with the Bth AAF in England. His most exciting experience took place during a bombing mission over Paris, while he was lead bombardier.
"There was a malfunction in my bombsight, and while I worked on it a Focke-Wulfe 190 shot a 20-mm cannon burst into No. 3 engine. Fire broke out along the wing so I closed the bomb bay doors as we slipped down from the formation to avoid spreading the danger. While we were thus alone five more Focke-Wulfes attacked.
"We got three and the other two scrammed. Our increased flying speed extinguished the fire. The navigator didn't know about the fire, kept giving the pilot his course. When I called the flames to his attention he made for my parachute and I started to argue with him, when one of the boys brought his chute from back in the ship. Luckily we didn't have to use them."
Service Promotions Jack Chisholm is now an ensign, flying for the Navy, following graduation at Pensacola in February. And the following men of the class recently hiked to the grades indicated: Capt. Bud Hewitt, Maj. Bill Daniels, Lieutenant Elliott Foster and Lieutenant (jg) Joe Adams.
One marriage and one engagement this month slows this department down to a walk. We have for reporting the marriage of Dr. Bud Czerny, It. (jg), and Elizabeth Gregory of Westfield, N. J., Jan. 29, and the engagement of Gertrude Witt of Ramsey, N. J. to Dr. Gordon Stokes. Lew Chipman and Dink Wiener were among the ushers at Bud's wedding. Gordon's fiancee is chief X-ray technician at Mary Hitchcock, and he's at Hanover, too, assisting in pathology at the Medical School.
The male side shows up a little better this month in the births column, a tendency which
Lt. Robert O'Brien '4O, who was an instructor in philosophy at Dartmouth before joining the Army, has been on 15 bombing missions over Germany with the Bth AAF in England and has been awarded the Air Medal. Of the 15 missions, he remembers best the latest one, in which he was lead bombardier.
"I was flying in 'Purple Heart Corner' (lowest squadron) when we became separated from the combat wing formation and were attacked by i 5 fighters, who really shot us up. We were entering Germany when the right waist gunner yelled to me that the right wing was on fire. We were about ready to bail out but the pilot remained calm, said the fire was not so much.
"The wing gasoline tank was hit and we lost 400 gallons. Gas leaked into the bomb bay and radio room. The fire went out, I salvOed the bombs and we took off for home. It was my scariest experience." Although due for a leave in the United States, O'Brien prefers to stay on active duty until the war ends.
must be continued if we hope to hold up '40's end in the early 60's classes. Jim Scott and Cliff Holmes are both proud parents of new sons, while Les Nichols keeps the average down this month with a new daughter. Congratulations to the new fathers, and to their offspring for having joined a good group.
LT. JOSEPH P. ARMANINI '40
LT. ROBERT O'BRIEN '40
Acting Secretary, i Terrace St., Montpelier, Vt.
