1934

After many, many months of going without seeing another '34, all of a sudden I run into two within the same month. The James Cowans' (which now includes besides Jim and Mary, a lovely girl Betsy, age six, and a robust young lad who answers to the name of Terry, age two) gave out with some of their best hospitality at their new home in Riverside, 111. He has a story that stands out in these days of housing problems. It is better told by Jim, "but anyhow, Cowan was moved to Chicago by the Blue Cross plan to spend one year, no more, no less. After looking around for a bit for a place to bring his wife and kiddies, he stumbled into a fellow from Riverside whose company was moving him to Boston for one year, no more, no less. Before you could bat an eye, the obvious trade had been made and both families were on their way, leaving everything but their tooth brushes.

The other visit of the month was from SolPalmer, who came out for a quiet Saturday evening to get away from the objectionable features of OCS at Fort Knox. After spending a year at Fort Riley learning the Army way to ride a horse, he now must master the art of riding a tank. It's most encouraging to meet up with someone occasionally, for if other lads still look and talk like college kids, maybe I'm not in such bad shape as I thought.

One of the outstanding birth announcements of the season is from the Bill Knibbs' telling of Linda Knibbs, born March 4 with a gross weight of six pounds five ounces. Another arrival in the "34 family occurred up in Danville, Pa. Here's a note from Bill Wilson with the details and a little extra about himself:—

As predicted when I wrote you last fall, blessed event No. 2 for the Wilson household occurred on schedule, with the arrival on December 9, 1944, of Miss Susan Elizabeth Wilson. All is well, with mother and daughter doing fine. Our three-year-old Debbie can't wait until the new member can play with her. The old man's labor pains weren't too tough, and now I find myself taking orders from three gals. They can really gang up at times, but they're mighty nice. The hospital business in central Pennsylvania continues to boom along, with the usual headaches entailed by personnel shortage and troubles in procuring certain supplies. However, this is one guy who has no kicks to make and only wishes there were more ways to lend a hand in the war effort. Membership on the local ration board continues to provide the main outlet for that feeling, and so we continue to lose mere and more friends and antagonize more and more people. But when the end of the war comes, we hope these apparent sins of commission can be forgiven.

My first note from a prisoner of war arrived from Howie Hinman after being- in the mails for better than four months. It was postmarked Kriegsgefangenenlager (pronounced Kriegsgefangenenlager) and read .... "Your letter last week gave me quite a bit of news I hadn't heard—" (At this point the German censor went crazy with a paint brush for about three-fourths of the card and then it continued), "A great bunch of fellows here, so we don't lack of entertainment and the excitement is supplied. Dreading the winter ahead but last summer wasn't so bad here. Regards to all."

And for the first time in a good many winters, young Steve Meigher picked up his pen and found that he could still write:

Denny has been giving me h— for not writing you and I must admit that I've been a stinker. However, I've been here in England quite a while now and as you can imagine have been more than busy. I have my own surgical section, a majority, and am not kicking for anything—save victory and a return ticket. Ike was here for twenty-four hours a few months ago and spent most of the time bragging about his son and my godson, Stephen. I could hardly get a word in about my own daughter. It was wonderful, though, and we went over the past in good order. I haven't seen any of the other fellows, and if I did, they would probably be patients and they are that much better off. I'm looking forward to a real get together when this is over.

And faster than Superman, we jump to the Pacific for a moment. There we find Lt. Frank Parmelee, who writes from aboard his ship, "We are now 'somewhere in the Southwest Pacific'—if not making history, we are at least somewhat rounding it off. I'm not sure yet just which is my favorite war—the short look I had at the European scrap gave me a very dark brown taste, to put it mildly, and this isn't any better, except for the marked advances we make month by month. But then, we have so much further to go."

And to keep you up to date on the family status of some of the other lads, here are some previously unreported additions. Lt. Chick Chickering USNR now has a third—the name, Nancy, the date June 30, 1943. Lt. (jg) Marc Young now has a daughter, {Catherine, who dates from November 1, 1943. Lt. Bill Fischbach, who is riding a boat in the Southwest Pacific, now has a second daughter, Helen Edith. Mac McCann is holding down the job of production manager for General Crystal Corporation, and now has a second child, a boy named Joseph, who will be about a year and a half old when this hits print. Mac Carter is still trying to sell telephones and has a second child, Folett, who dates way back to August 23, 1942. (Why don't you tell me these things sooner?). Capt. Jack Fish is also plenty, tardy in announcing the arrival of young John D. who has been with us since September 1, 1942. The same goes for Art Ward who has been boasting of his second, Stephen Taylor, since April 4, 1942, to everyone but us. And the second child in the Herbert Hawkes family is a lad by the name of Samuel Lee, whose birthday is January 25, 1943.

Lt. (jg) Hory Miller, who is entitled to wear all sorts of ribbons, writes a note . . . . "Lt. Charles Kehoe Jr. '34 was the first Dartmouth man I saw upon my return to the States in May of this year. Charlie is a CAP pilot at the San Jose, Calif., Army airport. He has been cracked up three times since entering the service, but has escaped each time with slight injuries. We and our respective families had an informal Tenth Reunion at their ranch home."

And from Lt. (jg) Art Moebius .... "After two years in the Midwest at five different Naval Air Stations, it finally looks as if I will soon have to open my pores and start absorbing some additional Naval training. It will be welcome after more than a year as a flight instructor and I am looking forward to possibly seeing some of our classmates who have already oriented their nostrils to that salt air. Following that, my next objective is to return to Hanover for a nice crisp October football game with some colorful hillsides thrown in and some of us old boys around for a Reunion."

Don Bunting is back in this country after five and a half months in Trinidad BWI and has as- sumed the post of Supervisor of Meteorological Training for the Latin American division of Pan American Airways. Ed Thomas is now a major wearing a Bronze Star and the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon with two battle stars garnered during thirtyfour continuous months overseas. Charlie Henry is in New Guinea attached to the Coast Guard of the AAA. Mel Earl is now a full lieutenant in charge of the armed guard of a transport. Necky Necarsulmer carries two silver bars these days and runs the Finance Department for the Second Air Force.

Lt. (jg) El Fulton sent in a few lines .... "I spent a month or so in Miami in' September and met Eddie Chamberlin and his family there; also one of my instructors was Doyle of '33. Now I am proceeding to my new address with my wife Ef in tow. I learned from his brother when up home that my old roommate Dick Emerson is at sea now as a jg on a destroyer." And a short note from Jim Walter, who is now a lieutenant (jg) and tackling the School of Military Government at Princeton. .... "Last weekend, exams having finished, I went up to Bridgeport and had an enjoyable two days with the Bob Naramores, Class '35. Also saw Pat O'Reilly, his wife, and his six-year-old son, also named John."

This looks like about as good a time as any to thank all you folks for the way you turned out with your class dues for the year. No twisting of arms, no goon squad, no rubber hose, and still we set a record. Nice going!

Secretary and Treasurer General Box Cos. 816 S. 16th St., Louisville 1, Ky.