1943
Dartmouth '43s in this war are not all concerned with tactics. To omit the onerous andboring details of some of our military careerswould give a false picture. Pfc. Josh Clark'sletter below speaks for a good many of us indescribing some of these less glamorous tasks:
"My work," Josh writes from England in that letter we promised last month, "is blood. I'm an unofficial medic due to the flexibility °f the private in the Air Corps
"Against my will they sent me to Colorado, imprisoned me among Rockies to learn red tape Naturally, I paid no heed to red tape. Have been shuffled from KP to Guard Duty, latrines to trash. Managed to complete an 80-square-foot mural fresco. Now I'm a practicing Doc with a minimum of theory. I like it because it's like getting your stories published immediately. I can stop hurts and prevent worse. Other people get ratings for their services. Guess General Marshall knows I'd do it without a rating. Ask John Odeneal if I've got a persecution complex. And ask the parlor pinks if they'd like to polish lids of stoves with lemon juice half a year for their Revolution. Sydney Cox and Robert Frost have been my work boots. Some of you guys, too I'm just honest old Josh who wanted to change the world like Stubby Pearson—and still wants to."
Incidentally, Josh was married in Chelmsford, England, to Helen Jane Dyson of Great Baddow, Essex, on January 24.
Nothing is more welcome, these days, than a note from one of those "lost" '43s who left school before graduation. We offer in evidence along this line a March 23rd V-Mail from Captain Cy BrownJr. in England: "While recovering from an appendicitis operation in a U. S. Army Hospital here I ran across the December issue of the Alumni Magazine. Since I left school in November, 1941, to join the RCAF I've only run across a couple of Dartmouth men. I was transferred back to the U. S. forces (Signal Corps), went through OCS and am now stationed here in England with a U. S. Army Air Forces Troop Carrier Outfit Saw Fenton Lane before I left the States. He's a PFC at Michigan Med School. Best to all the fellows." Cy's APO is 638, PM, New York.
Radarman l/c Frank Hartmann writes from the U.S.S. (Censored) that he's been on that cruiser for more than two years. "It is a good ship, and I might add, a very fortunate one," he writes. "Moreover, on the basis of its past history, I have an abiding faith that it will retain its bouyancy for the duration." An old Lambuth (English 1-A) man from way back, Frank intends to return to College after the duration and finish up. He adds, "Zeke Billings '41 is a lieutenant aboard, and a good guy." Frank's FPO is out of San Francisco.
GREAT BIG BEAU-TY-FUL DOLL, ETC:
Engagements reported this month include: Georgianna Levering of Baltimore, Bryn Mawr and Smith to Corporal John Smedley (more of him later); Carol Lee Atwood of Minneapolis and Vassar to A/C Harvey Daniels; Miss Elaine Schulman of Union City, N. J., and Holyoke to CorporalGil Augenblick, now reported in Washington; Shirley Azoff of Brookline, Mass., and Mass. State to Pvt. Bob Freedberg, who is now at Fort Monmouth; Shirley Brown of Southampton, L. 1., Smith, and station WOR, to Ensign Bill Robinson; Elizabeth Miller of Bridgeport, Conn., and Pine Manor to Lt. Jim Crawford, a Chemical Warfare second looie now at Mitchel Field, N. Y.
The month's marriages: Margaret Foley of Alpena, Mich., and Ensign Charlie Sivartzbaugh III; Mary Jane Davies of Coral Gables, Fla., to Lt.Johnny Robinson AAF now with the Air Transport Command; and Marjorie Anne Werner of Neenah, Wise., to Staff Sgt. Fred Stockwell, now with the AAF at Miami Beach.
BEGINNING AT HOME DEP'T:
For one who has seen few classmates, the presence of three '43s within commuting distance is a happy situation. This is the case of the writer at the moment. In fact, the writer's Division, which has struggled along so far with only one '43, is now fortified by a 100 per cent increase in its quota. This is Corp.John Smedley, who now reposes in the 303 rd Inf. Regiment at Fort Leonard Wood. John, who had a GI haircut when he left school in his freshman year, came here via a Tank Destroyer outfit. He noted that Harry Lockwood is in the Pacific, a Marine 2nd Lt.; that FrankWilliams, back from Africa, was recently at Gamp Barkley, Texas, a medic; that Vic Barringer has not been heard from in some time.
As close to Fort Leonard Wood as the Harvard stadium is to Hanover is St. Louis. And in St. Louis, according to his letter, is Bill Lothman, who is back in civilian clothes after a medical discharge from the Air Corps. "I don't find life very exciting after the initial luxury of sleeping late, donning a white shirt, and sneering at second lieutenants with reckless abandon has worn off." While in the Army in Los Angeles Bill missed Stu Gibbs but had a memorable Saturday night with Ensign Jim Malley ("a communications officer on some kind of small ship") .
"We ran into trouble immediately," Bill writes. "We rented a gray '41 Ford and proceeded to do the town. When we took the car back to the U-drive-it place it was a gray '41 Mercury. It was kinda 'hot,' having been reported stolen. It took some time to quiet the Hollywood and L. A. police down." Bill reports that Sparky Adams is on the Atlantic on a sub-chaser, and that he and John McCarthy,Jerry Souers, and George Van Petten got together recently for a little refreshment, 4 la Coffee Shop. He also notes that George Rider is at Washington University in St. Louis studying medicine for the Navy, and where are the North Fayer A. C. alumni, he wants to know.
FILE FOR REFERENCE:
A/C Dave Schirmer is at Yale working on photography Paul Rill is a second lieutenant, Field Artillery now Lt. Bill Cabell Jr., pilot of a Mitchell bomber, has been missing in action over Lae since March 5. .... There was a photo of T/Sgt. and Mrs. Dick Wood in the Boston Globe, February 17. .... Fred Slack is a lieutenant in the Navy and on active duty PFC Dick Barkhorn is with a Night Fighter Squadron in Fresno, Cali£ Ted Hopper is working on varnishes and chemicals in Newark, N. J., and saying nice things about Leon Burr Richardson and that terrifying Chem-3-4 Corporal Bill Zeitung, now at Chanute Field, 111., still doing public relations work, expects to move soon. Bill's story, "A Few Minutes in Omaha" was published in the March 13th issue of the New Republic, which gave Jack-o a little plug in writing him up. He adds that Al Eisenman is working at Fort Monmouth, N. J., "living contentedly with his wife and small daughter." Tom Schroth of the Air Corps is reported to be in the Carribean somewhere. Johnny Koslowski's splendid Alumni Fund work merits a commendation And misplaced in a mouldy barracks bag last month was a letter from PFC Dick Bugbee who is a radio operator in the Air Transport Command. "I'm really seeing some of the far corners of the earth." he writes, adding that former roommate Bob Pelren is now in the South Pacific, and will soon be a father. "I'm still an enlisted man and I don't regret it," he writes, which brings us back to Josh Clark's sentiments, and time for a 30-day break.
Secretary, 84 Wheeler Ave., Westwood, N. J. Treasurer, Shelburne, Vt.
