1928
Lt. Comdr. Dick Foote was separated October 18 after forty months in the Navy, of which twenty-four were spent as skipper of an LCI. He saw action in Sicily and his was the first LCI to land at Salerno beach.
Capt. Norm Chamberlain went through the Pentagon Separation Center October 20, after forty months in the Signal Corps, of which ten were spent in Italy. He will return to the New York Telephone Co. early in December.
Lt. Col. George Davis called up November 7 to say goodbye. He had just been separated at the Pentagon, after thirty-nine months of duty at Headquarters of the Army Service Forces. He, Marion and their two children will spend a long vacation in Florida, inas-much as George is not returning to his position as treasurer of the Glens Falls Insurance Co., until' January 1.
Lt. Comdr. Don Solis writes from the Naval Air Station, South Weymouth, Mass., "My forty-seven and one-half points qualify me for release on November 1 and I definitely am ready. I hope to be back with Cities Service in Boston about November 15."
A telephone call to the Bureau of Naval Personnel on November 9 revealed that three other lieutenant commanders are being demobilized: Jack McLaughlin at Camp Wallace, Texas, after 41 months of duty; Hub Har- wood at New York, after 43 months; and Hoyt Thompson at Chicago, after 44 months.
Coming out of the Navy Department building the other day I bumped into Lt. Comdr. Myles Lane, just back from five weeks in Honolulu on a special mission for the Judge Advocate.
Capt. Jack Phelan writes: On September 9 I left Tinian as one of nine lucky officers on board a new Victory ship. We arrived at San Francisco September 21 after a completely satisfactory trip—smooth sailing, fine food, good crew. After only 24 hours in S. F. we had reservations on a train East. I arrived home on the 26th. On October 8-9 I went through the Separation Center (I had 108 points as of V-J Day). Who should I meet going through Fort Devens at the same time but our good friend and classmate, that high stripe (7) veteran of the ETO—Rocky Keith! We had to look at each other a couple of times before the light came— and then we sat down to lunch together. The many 5, 6 and 7 stripers I saw at Devens made my 3 pale into insignificance. I rounded out just 18 months and 18 days overseas.
Jack was in uniform thirty-eight months.
Lt. Comdr. Red Jenkins had quite a surprise when he ran into two '28ers on October 29 at Pearl Harbor. He writes, "First was Capt. Dick Rendell aboard the USS Detroit on his way home—X went aboard to see somebodv else—a very pleasant visit, in fact I stayed aboard for lunch. Then a couple hours later I ran into Lt. Comdr. Brad Brown right in the same building with me—on his way back to Mechanicsburg, Pa.—and another pleasant reunion." Red also told o£ a wonderful 9,000 mile hop around the Pacific to some of our bases. He expects to be back in the States early in December.
Stalf Sergeant Herm Schnepel of Army Counter Intelligence was discharged September 19 at Fort Dix. V-E Day found his 87th Infantry Division facing the Russians fifteen miles from Czechoslovakia in the province of Thuringia, Germany. The division was brought back to the States for redeployment but Herm was too old to be sent to the Pacific and stayed on for three months at "Oklahoma City," an assembly area near Rheims. He spent three weeks in Paris, a furlough in Switzer- land, and made numerous short trips in France before being flown home September 15. He is back with National Dairy Products Co. in New York.
Captain John Lawrence became a civilian on September 26, the third anniversary of his entry into the Army. He started from Frank- furt August Bi, but didn't land in Boston until September 21, after twenty-six months over- seas. On November 5 he went back to work for the Telephone Co. in Providence. He and Barbara are house-hunting and complain that there isn't a single house for rent—everything is for sale at 200% of value.
Lt. Comdr. Norm Nash was demobilized October 4, in Boston, after thirty-eight months in uniform.
Major Rocky Keith, Army surgeon with thirty-nine months of overseas duty, was "separated" October 9. Four months after he went on active duty in February 1942 he was sent to England and worked among buzz-bomb victims in London. After D-Day he served in France and Germany as head of the Fifth Auxiliary Surgical Group. He has resumed his position at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York.
Lt. Comdr. Bob MacPhail was separated October 8, in Boston, after forty months in the Navy's flight training schools.
Capt. Herb Sensenig spent an evening with us in Arlington recently just after returning from Germany. His experiences in Europe will make interesting reading when the Army lifts its censorship on his work. He has been assigned to temporary duty interrogating German scientists arriving in Boston. He expects to be out of the Army the first of the year and will start teaching again at Dartmouth March 1 when the spring semester begins.
We enjoyed an elegant dinner with Hod Carver, highway-reflecting-sign tycoon, on October 29 at the Shoreham.
We had steak and everything else that wasn't on the menu, and ended up by meeting Hod's friend, the chef, who took us on an interesting tour of the vast kitchens. In addition to being an epicure, Hod is also an experienced cook.
Harry Jewett spent a Sunday afternoon with us recently. He is one of the scientists at the Johns Hopkins Laboratory of Applied Physics, Silver Springs, Md.
Harold Rugg, assistant librarian at Dartmouth, writes that Roy Myers has sent the Library over 700 books, including bound volumes of newspapers, maps used for the invasion of Belgium and Holland, and a quantity of interesting propaganda material. Royrecently received his captaincy and expects tobe in Germany until March or April.
Lt. Col. Ed Sawyer is stationed in Copenhagen buying food for American troops inEurope. A Danish friend of mine living innearby Frederikssund entertained Ed recentlyand reports that Ed seems to be doing verywell with the beautiful Danish girls.
Writing from Tokyo Bay where his Navytanker, the USS Niobrara, was unloading, BillWilliams says:
Have seen Yokahama, Yokasuka and Tokyo. I believe the Japanese were thoroughly beaten and would have given up very soon even if we hadn't used the atomic bomb. The people are a depressing sight. To me they appear bewildered, ashamed and frightened. I can't imagine how they ever expected to win.
The Niobrara has been around considerably for an Oiler. We rate three battle stars and may get the Philippine Liberation bar with a star. We have travelled 50,000 miles out here—fueled 600 ships of 48 different types and distributed two million barrels of fuel of all kinds, including millions of gallons of aviation gas. We were based at Ulithi for some time, returning there after each operation. We were in the Philippines twice Saipan three times, Okinawa four trips.
We first arrived at Okinawa on D-plus-3 and got in on the memorable day of April 6 when the japs raided time and time again. We nearly stopped a kamikaze plunge while anchoring at Kerawa Retto, the plane being shot down just off our stern. Three ships in that anchorage were hit that day—burned and exploded near us. All other brushes with the Japs were dwarfed by that jay—I'll never forget it. The other highlight of my nineteen months at sea was a trip into the South China Sea early in 1945 just as the landings were being made on Luzon. We fueled the task forces striking Formosa and the China coast. Our unit rode out a terrific typhoon (two cans were lost), survived attacks by planes and submarines. The typhoon was the worst threat on that trip.
Thanks to the help of the Naval Air Transport Service I was able to get to New York Dartmouth Night in time for a meeting of our class officers. President Paul Kruming, Treasurer Bruce Lewis and Class Agent Phil Orsi were present, and ex-Class Agent Craw Pollock dropped in later in the evening. Our 1946 "Victory" reunion, the class dues campaign and other class affairs were discussed. Reunion plans will be announced as soon as they have been cleared with the Alumni Council.
At the Dartmouth Club that evening the only other 'aBer encountered was Beef Vernon, who is doing well at the New York Subways Advertising Co.
A big class dinner will be held at the Dartmouth Club in New York on December 6. Bruce Lewis and Phil Orsi are arranging it.
Please shoot along a little news about your- selves—this is your column and we want to see everyone mentioned now and then. Also, Bruce Lewis will appreciate receiving your check for the class dues which he has been writing you about since October.
That's all for now, except my best wishes to each of you for A Very Merry Christmas and the best of good things for the New Year!
DUAL GOOD NEWS on Don Solis '28 who has been made a lieutenant commander and released from active duty after 35 months with blimps.
ON SEA DUTY AGAIN, after being a staff officer at the Armed Guard School in Norfolk, Jack Heston '28 is now a lieutenant commander.
Secretary, 3427 South Utah St., Arlington, Va.
Treasurer, Lewis Historical Pub. Co., Inc. 80-8th Ave., New York, N. Y.
