1940

This month is the fifth anniversary of our graduation. Other times would see us gathering in a week or two on Hanover Plain, donning the regalia of the five-year class, usually beer jackets, and spending most of the weekend in those tents behind New Hamp or ToplifE greeting old friends, renewing old acquaintance, and reminiscing, all the while quaffing Tanzi's best from paper cups. There would have been about a hundred of us, plus a sprinkling of wives. Of the rest, some would: have lost touch and wouldn't care to come, but to most it would be too far to travel, too much time from breadwinning, or too much dough from a limited budget. Of course, some would be doughheavy, and these would arrive in Hanover via pullman with enough baggage to last the summer.

A tew would have come early to look around and torture themselves with nostalgia, and some of these plus maybe a half dozen others would stay the next week for Hanover Holiday.

During the weekend, most of us would stick pretty close to the beer, but some old glee teamers would take in the concert, and maybe choke up a bit listening to the old songs, and the old band men would take a little time for the band's outdoor concert on Webster's steps.

The talk would mostly be of the "remember when" variety as old roommates, fraternity brothers, heelers, team mates and neighbors from Eccy 1 brought to life again a thousand incidents at Dartmouth between September '36 and June '40.

In the absence of that reunion, it's the thought of this '40 Reunion Year that a statistical review of that first five years would be of at . least momentary interest. So, instead of the usual news bits, this month's space is given over to that part of the '4O story that is available in figures.

As of the first of May, 508 men of '4O, representing 90% of the class were in, or had been in, the services. Of these 299 are Army, 161 Navy, 27 Marine Corps, 11 Coast Guard,3 American Field Service, 2 Merchant Marine, 3 British Army, 1 French Army, and 1 (we surmise) German Army. Most of the class has achieved some rank or other, but the job of reducing these to figures is too great for the time available. However, it is worthy of mention that 351 or 69% hold commissions. Of these 171 are Army, 150 Navy, 24 Marine Corps, and 6 Coast Guard.

Twenty-two men of the class have died in war service and at the time of writing four were listed as missing in action. Some of these were killed before they got to combat, but all had risked their lives and lost, in this war. Two men of the class, not in service have died

The above figures are pretty reliable, since they derive from the fact gathering of the Alumni Records Office. The rest of this story is quite the reverse, since it depends entirely on four class secretaries whose sources are primarily the letters of the members of the class who deign to write in once in a while.

According to these people, 252 of us have exchanged vows with an equal number of the opnosite sex, resulting, to date, in 27 sons and 28 daughters, fathered by 48 of the class. It has seemed to this gatherer of data that these figures are extremely low and do not represent the full activities of the class in finding the girl, marrying her and starting the next generation. Which reflects on our ability as a gatherer and dispenser of news. Take it either way.

More. So far, the class has produced 21 doctors of medicine, 6 known masters of arts, about a hundred masters of commercial science, maybe a dozen engineers, 11 lawyers, one minister of the gospel (Congregational), 5 college teachers, and 6 members of what we called the "Sharon Experiment," now, more or less, a war casualty.

Back to '4O in the services: The secretary s research has discovered 63. decorations bestowed on 45 of our fighting men. Again, there must be many more of these of which we have not been informed. Five of the class have been, or are, prisoners of war, and one of these, Jim Cooke, died in a prison camp. It is to be assumed that the 3 nrisoners of Germany have now been released.

For the Alumni Fund, we have given $14,072.70 in five campaigns, including the present one. In one of these we were first among the later classes by the standards set up by the Fund office for measuring class participation. In two years we were second in this group, and at the time of writing we were second in the 1945 campaign, trailing 1941 by some $275.

On the whole it would seem that these figures are meaningless as measuring class achievement for we have no comparable figures to use for measurement. But some of them represent, in the opinion of this writer, differences worth noting. The 90% in the services seems to be a high proportion compared with other groups of the same age. The number of men dead and missing is high in relation to the number in the services, and the number of men commissioned appears to be higher than any other Dartmouth class. There aren't figures available to the writer to support a definite statement on Alumni Fund participation, but, at least, an opinion can be recorded. That is that the class of '40 has given more in its first five years out than any other class in the history of the College. That record will probably stand but a little time, due to the increasing amounts given by every class each year, but it's something to mention during its brief period of existence.

And that, for now, is that, for what you may find it to be worth. When that big postwar Reunion comes off, we can find out what has really happened to '40 in five years in terms of the attitudes, capacities and accomplish- ments of the men we will then meet again.

Acting Secretary, Terrace St., Montpelier, Vt.