1924
There has been so much news coming in from the men in service, that we will dedicate this issue to them and give you a few highlights from some very interesting letters. The first comes from Bob McCollom, who is a major in the Medical Corps. His address can be had by writing to me or the Records Office in Hanover. His letter, written January 25, gives us the following information about his work abroad:
"I enlisted as a medical officer in the Army Air Forces in June 1942. At that time I had been living in Manhasset, Long Island, and specializing in Ear, Nose and Throat in New York City, and instructing at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, along with a hospital job at the Presbyterian Hospital Medical Center in New York. I was commissioned as a major in the Medical Corps and assigned as Chief of the Ear, Nose and Throat Service at the AAF Station Hospital at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine. My wife and two boys were there with me and we had a very pleasant eight months' stay there. From there, I went to Randolph Field in Texas and took the Flight Surgeons' course, ending up at the Nashville Aviation Cadet Classification Center. From there I was sent to McDill Field at Tampa, Fla., and assigned as group surgeon to my present outfit, which was then being activated. This was in April 1943. My family and I had a very pleasant six months in our cottage on the Gulf of Mexico at St. Pete while our group was training nearby in Tampa and our two sons Laddie and Bruce, ages eight and three, were able to acquire nice coats of tan and become excellent swimmers. From there we made numerous short hops to Orlando, Moutbrook and Avon Park in Florida, then finally to Hunter Field in Savannah, Ga., where we completed our training.
"I bade adieu to my family at Hunter Field in February 1943, and flew across to England by way of South America, South Atlantic and Africa. It was a very interesting trip for me as it was my first glimpse of those places.
"In England our outfits soon became operational and the other flight surgeons and I were soon busy with the usual problems of casualties, operational fatigue amongst the fliers, crash landings, sanitation, sick call and running our little hospital. The duties of a flight surgeon are varied and interesting.and you find the days go fairly rapidly. In the fall, after D-Day, when our armies had gotten a firm foothold on France, we came over after them and have been here ever since. We have been in various and sundry places here and our bombers have been busy whenever able, doing their share towards our ultimate victory. Have had a chance to visit the Hedgerows of Normandy, Rheims, Chartres, Paris, and a few other places of interest which I can't name. I had a chance to see Paris a couple of weeks after the liberation and it looked a lot different than the last time I was there in 1926. We have a fine bunch of boys in our group, although now a lot of the boys (not doctors) are getting a chance to go home, and there are many new faces. So far I haven't run into a Dartmouth man in the bunch, but I am always hoping. Just got my Dartmouth ALUMNI MAGAZINE yesterday, so that helped a lot. Incidentally, this place now reminds me of Hanover at this season of the year. Well I guess this has gone on long enough so I'd better sign off."
Don Coyle is a captain in the Marine Corps. Following a long training at Parris Island, he left last August for the Pacific. His first stop was Pearl Harbor, where he met a Dartmouth graduate of the class of 1930, Lt. Col. George A. Sarles, who secured his transfer to his Marine Bombing Squadron. Don is now adjutant of the Squadron, stationed at some base in the Pacific. Ruth is not satisfied to let Don make the only contribution in this war effort, for she has taken a war job in Paterson.
Lt. Comdr. Hookey Hagenbuckle was one of the first members of the class to join up and we will let him give an account of his many experiences. He writes: "I joined the Navy in March 1941 and spent two and a half years at Corpus Christi, beating aviation cadets around, and then went to a fighter director school in Georgia. Commanded a mobile radar unit during six months training on the West Coast. At a God-forsaken spot in Washington called Pasco I ran across Norm Everett. Norm and Claire had a little bungalow near the base and we had some good times there, working in his garden, eating his chow, and drinking his liquor. Maury Ahlquist raises pigs and a fine family within striking distance of Pasco and we spent a swell afternoon with him.
"The Navy knocked off the land-based radar program just as we were ready to go out. We were decommissioned and I wound up in Norfolk. Have been over here about eight months as liaison officer with French Naval Aviation units. We have a few headaches, especially when it comes to supply and politics, but it's all very interesting and we couldn't ask for a better spot to operate. Wonderful climate, swimming every day, good gazelle and wild boar hunting from a jeep back in the mountains, excellent deep sea-fishing off the coast. Romance and social life aren't up to pre-war standards but they're passable. When our conscience bothers us for having things so soft, we make noises about wishing we were in a more active theater but no one seems to pay any attention so we plug along, making the best of a tough situation."—This letter mentioned Norm Everett so we wrote to him and got the following reply. Lt. Comdr. Norman S. Everett, Pasco, Wash., in case you want to write to him:
"I've been at this base since October 1942 and can't tell whether I shall be here for the duration or moved. I came here when the station was just getting commissioned and have been in the same job ever since. The mission of the station is to provide missing facilities for fleet squadrons and units for advanced operational training, including dive bombing, aerial gunnery, rocket firing and tactical operations. Maury Ahlquist has an alfalfa ranch about thirty miles east of the station. His farm affords some of the finest chink (pheasant) hunting in this area which is truly a hunters' paradise for wild fowl."
CHICAGO NORTH SHORE TWOTERS GREET VISITING CLASS SECRETARY, Andrew Marshall 2nd, at a Sunday afternoon, March 18, gathering at Gene Hotchklss' home, Highland Park, 111. Surrounding Secretary Marshall, seated, are from left to right: Butch Spiel, Jack Taylor, Spic Saunders, Host Gene Hotchkiss, Les Wagner, John Bray, Ted Davidson, Chet Clifford, Modie Spiegel, Walt Aschenbach and John Weare.
Secretary, 70 Fifth Ave., New York 11, N. Y Treasurer, Niles & Niles 165 Broadway, New York, N. "V
