1915
THE DEFERRED 30TH—HANOVER—JULY 12, 13 AND 14, 1946!!!
Little by little word is coming back, through various members of the Reunion committee, of 'isers who are planning to be back with us in July for the deferred 30th, and as each name comes in it makes more definite the assurance of a pleasant weekend in the now thoroughly re-converted Hanover.
I can definitely tell you that the dream of three years of seeing the College back to normal is virtually complete. A few stray Navy personnel are still inhabiting the College, and Thayer Hall is still the mess quarters for them. But—count 'em—there are 1,991 bona fide undergraduates back in college as of March 16, when I was there and had a fine long talk with Hoppy and also with our new, and very democratic and personable new President, John Dickey. The Dartmouth is once more being published (that was the meeting which took me to Hanover two weeks ago); all undergraduate activities are going on high; fraternities opened up March 15 and had their rushing completed this week; and it looks like old times. The only trace of the Navy still remaining to the naked eye is the barbaric system of telling you in notices that something starts in Webster Hall at 1900 or 2100 or some such figure which requires a mathematical mind,—but for the Reunion, don't give it a thought—there'll be something doing all the time, from 1 to 24..
While it is news only because the appointment became permanent this week, it is with great pride that our class records the elevation of Dr. Dwight (still Harp to us) O'Hara as Dean of Tufts Medical School, and what is more news, that he is the president-elect of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Harp has been acting dean for several years, but the job is now permanent, and his selection as head of the medical society is a great honor to a fine student and physician.
Paul Gibson, who writes me now and then, and who always says that there are few Dartmouth men in Richmond, Va., and that such a thing as a 'iser is positively extinct, wrote me offering some pictures his father took on June 23, 1915, as we were in the Bema and marched out of Webster Hall. I'm getting the prints, and shall send them along to the MAGAZINE, and I hope the editor reads this and marks down a "must" for them in a later issue.
It's swell to get word of sons of '15ers now in college, and here's a few not previously mentioned: a card from Gil Campbell, reports that his son Gilbert M. 11l has just started his second year after getting his discharge from the Army Air Corps on February 21, and further, sez Gil, "I shall be with you all July 12-13-14." Walking through the Inn lobby two weeks ago today, I spotted Howie Wing, who introduced me to his son Pete, now enrolled as a sophomore; then to the meeting of the new Dartmouth Board, and a fine young man, competing for a place on the board, came up to me and said his father was in my class—turning out to be John Tower, son of Dr. Art Tower, who likewise tells me that he expects to be back in July, and his son agrees to make it certain.
Now comes a note from Johnny Mullin with a clipping from the New York Herald-Tribune about a chicken (real, not slang) which flew through the door of the staid Chase National Bank branch in West 34th St. The head doorman, with the experience of meat shortages still vivid in his memory, appropriately secured the aforesaid and placed him in the safe deposit vault of the bank, thus indicating clearly the results when a staff, well trained by Fred Child, goes into action under any and all conditions.
Chan Foster, dropping by my office the other day, reports that George Simpson, returning from Florida had dinner with Howie Fuller in Washington; and that he met Ed Dewing on the street, the latter just back from the land of Ponce de Leon. Indicating that bankers and politicians have time for winter southern sojourning.
Ernie Earley, secretary of 'lB, sent me a page from The Eastern Underwriter of March 22, and under the heading "Clarke President of Reinsurance Corp.," appears a story and up to date picture of Dick, revealing that he has become president of the organization of which he has been executive vice president since June 1943. Dick, whose entire career has been in the insurance field, has gone far in his profession, and this newest connection is gratifying to all of us.
achieved in processing some twenty thousand cases." General Howie Fuller, whose military career dates back to World War I, and who was one of the first Dartmouth men in active service in the most recent conflict, has received the following citation for the Legion of Merit: "Bridadier General Howard E. Fuller, a member of the Secretary of War's Separations Board from May 1945 to February 1946, demonstrated the ability to make keen analyses of difficult cases. By devoting his exceptional professional knowledge and experience to the board's exacting duties, he contributed in great measure to the success
Of course Howie's present citation for board work comes after a long and brilliant period of activity in the field, in the South Seas where he first went as a colonel in the "Massachusetts National Guard at the beginning of the war; thence as a general officer to other posts of responsibility in the field; then to this country, where his work in training men for subsequent service in the fronts where he had so distinguished himself was outstanding and won him the recognition which finally took him to Washington.
Don't forget that all Bostonians are called together each Wednesday at Patten's on Court Street near Scollay Square at 11.45 A.M. for lunch; and New Yorkers each Tuesday at noon at the Dartmouth Club, in company with members of '13, 14 and '16 who will be our side partners at the July Reunion in Hanover.
A quick flash from the Boston group tells me that out of a clear sky, Lt. Col. Herb Potter, for several years chief personnel officer at Ft. Devens, Mass., has been ordered to China, and when I got the word about a week ago, he was already on his way.
Another late flash adds a few more names to those who are planning to be at Reunion: Fred Lowe and Willis Putney from Vermont; Bob Guest, who recently was visiting Jack Bowler in Hanover; and probably Dick Merrill, who expects to be in New Hampshire for part of the summer, and who is counted on to conduct the Memorial Service for the deceased members of the Class. Dick, by the way, has been in Boston and is conducting religious services there as part of the Boston Lenten Services.
It was a great shock to all of us around Boston to learn last week of the death of Pete Winship, who died suddenly on March 29. A full account will appear in the In Memoriam column. We were able to gather in a fine delegation of '15ers to attend the services.
One classmate who will not be back for Reunion, but who will be engaged in a historymaking event, is Commander Ralph Sawyer, released from active naval service in December but engaged later as a civilian organizing part of the Navy's guided missile program at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at Inyokern, Calif.; and subsequently as Technical Director of Joint Task Force One, which is to carry out the Crossroads atomic bomb tests in the Pacific this summer. Deploring his inability to be at the postponed 30th, Ralph says: "Consequently I shall be spending the reunion weekend at Bikini atoll with the Task Force of 30,000 men, including some 500 scientists on four laboratory ships, who will carry out the instrumentation program for which I am responsible." In the past six months, he has flown 30,000 miles, and still has ten to fifteen thousand more to go before going back to the University of Michigan this fall.
Service promotions of 'isers recorded with the College are: Commander Vincent G. Byers (inactive); Capt. Robert H. Griffin, (also now inactive, I understand); Commander Elliot R. Sharp.
Changes in address for this month are: Horace G. Holton, 289 Howard St., Brockton 14, Mass.; Herbert D. Lanterman, c/o Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corp., So. Charleston, W. Va.; Robert H. Griffin, 100 Gold St., New York 7, N. Y.; Milton P. Ghee, Tyrone, New Mexico.
DARTMOUTH MEN BROADCAST ON "OPERATION CROSSROADS"-Dr. Ralph A. Sawyer '15 and Lt. William J. Mitchel 42, both members of the staff of Joint Task Force One, participated recently in a national radio broadcast on plans for the Bikini Atomic Bomb Experiments. Dr. Sawyer, now on leave from the University of Michigan where he is Professor of Physics, is civilian Technical Director for Operation Crossroads. Lt. Mitchel, founder of the Dartmouth Broadcasting System, is radio program officer for Crossroads.
Secretary, Bay State Building, Lawrence, Mass Treasurer, 31 State Street, Boston, Mass.
