1940

Lt. Gerry Sullivan is missing in action in the Pacific, according to a short news item in the Boston papers. There were no other details. Capt. Duke Lyon has been missing in action over Germany since February 23. He was piloting a P-51 out o£ England. His wife Pat feels that there is good reason to think he is a prisoner, or with the underground. Word has been received from Cal Bowie's family that there is now no hope that he will show up, and, although he is still officially "missing," his status changes this month to "presumed lost." Lt. Jack Upton was killed in action in Germany the latter part of February. That's about all there is to say for these '4O men, and their stories are so big that by comparison it makes the writing about the rest of us difficult.

With the Army engineers in the Philippines, Capt. Powell Holbein writes of contacts with veteran Filipino guerillas and their stories of their three-year fight with the Japs. New Year's Eve, he says, was distinguished for the first beer and singing, to the accompaniment of a guerilla's guitar.

Capt. Bill Cleaves is still making history, piloting the Fortress "Fearless Fosdick" over Germany. He was in a recent (March) attack on oil refineries and has been awarded a fourth Oak Leaf cluster to the Air Medal. Another decorated brother this month is Lt. Lee Brekke, who received the Legion of Merit for his work in charge of a Combat Demolition Unit in the invasion of Southern France last August.

Minor '4O reunions keep popping up. This time we learn of a chance meeting in India between Capt. Cliff Falkenau and Second Lieutenant Lt. Joe Harpham. Cliff is with the quartermaster corps on the , and Joe is an Army transport pilot. It appears that both Joe and Cliff expect to stick around a while, so any of you who are in India, or might be, write to me for addresses.

Through Capt. Les Nichols we learn that Scotty Rogers and Beezie Smallwood, as well as Les, are in the thick of things in Europe. Les and Scotty are in the "Terrify and Destroy" Division with Patton's Third Army, very much in the news as this is being written. Les and Scotty see each other almost daily, while Beezie was with them for a time in Metz.

The 1940 Club of Hawaii is about the largest in existence. Capt. Hank Dahl reports seeing Phil Dostal, Bud Barber, Bill Pitz, Joe Huber and Bill Rutherford, the last three at a Dartmouth gathering out there. He also suggests that other '4os were about but un encountered. The party was "a good deal" by Hank's report, and ended in the usual newsswapping and reminiscing.

Going over the latest quickies we find Bill Buttfield piloting a Superfortress out of the Marianas over Japan; Major Gordie Wentworth as a finance officer at an Army base in Brazil; Gorman as a first lieutenant at a Texas air field; Dave Mellor city editing the Southbridge Evening News; and the following previously unreported promotions: Major Larry Herman, Capt. Jim R. Gibson, and Capt. Percy Rideout.

Lt. Hodge Jones checks in from Chanute Field, 111., where he is taking a weather course. In the same class is Lt. Col. Dave Fish. Hodge reports that Hodge 111, now ten months old, is tougher than the Army, and does everything but chew tobacco.

A slick letter from Bud Swenson's wife, Marie, brings us up to date on him. Lt. Bud is now a patient at the Naval Hospital, Treasure Island, San Francisco, following a tour as a weather officer on an Essex-class carrier. Bud has met Bill Mahon at the hospital, which we take to mean he is also a patient. The Swensons' are the parents of Kurt McFarland Swenson, born February 7, and as yet unseen by his dad. The hospital part was nearly over when Marie wrote, so Bud's expected State-side duty is probably a reality.

The following statistics have come to light this month: Miss Eleanore Jean Girdler of Montclair, N. J., is engaged to Lt. Maurice Allen Williamson; Art and Dottie Qstrander, down in New Britain, Conn., have parented Deborah Jayne, born March 24; Rowland Lowe Hale Jr., namesake and son of the '4O Marine Major, was born in Detroit March 13; and the Ed Miller child of last October, reported but unnamed, is hereby recorded as Patricia Arnold Miller, pronounced PAM.

WEATHERMAN CONS THE BREEZE. Major Lloyd G. Blanchard '40 AAC is now somewhere in Francewith a'Weather Squad. He received his meterological training at MIT and after graduation was sentoverseas and advanced rapidly to his present rank.

Acting Secretary, i Terrace St., Montpelier, Vt.