Dartmouth Navy News
May 1946 may well be considered an important month for the Dartmouth Navy Alumni Association. For the entrance of the DNAA into the regular DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE marks another step towards our closer affiliation with the College and with all other classes who have gone before and will follow us. When the DNAA was formed in the latter part of 1944 at the invitation of the College and the Dartmouth Alumni Council, there was admittedly a large gap existing between Dartmouth College and the men of the V-12 Unit. The aid, guidance and cooperation of the College and the realization by many men that they were truly Dartmouth Men regardless of whether or not this was their original school of choice has all helped to close this apparent gap until it is now almost negligible. We hope that this latest step will close it completely.
There is another reason why it was decided to disband the Navy Alumni Magazine and become contributors to the regular MAGAZINE. That is the fact that the DNAA is, for all practical purposes, a class which has "graduated" from Dartmouth. For, of the five thousand or more men who have attended this college under the Naval program since July 1943, there are now only about six hundred still on campus in the NROTC and V-12 Unit and even these are scheduled to leave at the end of this present term.
By the word "graduated" we by no means imply that the class as a whole has received degrees. Far from it. Just as there are representatives of every class from 1938 to 1950 en-rolled in the College, there are also man ex-V-12ers back on campus and there will undoubtedly be many more returning within the coming year. But the fact remains that we no longer exist as a definite undergraduate class and will be considered as graduated by the College with the completion of this semester.
From the realization of this fact spring the questions as to the future pathway of the DNAA. The present membership of the DNAA is larger than any other Dartmouth class, either past or present. We hope that it will remain that way but it is bound to drop as more and more former V-12 men come back to Dartmouth to complete their college education and will then be given regular class affiliation. We like to believe that the DNAA has done much to help its members keep in touch with one another and with the College. We believe that by being incorporated into the regular ALUMNI MAGAZINE that we can do that even better and with less strain on the Navy Alumni Executive Council. So from this issue on, all active members of the DNAA will receive the full-fledged DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE, supplemented by occasional issues of "Soundings.".
Within the next month the 1946 membership drive of the DNAA will begin. You will receive a copy of "Soundings" which will be sent to all men who ever attended Dartmouth as part of the V-12 or NROTC program and which will contain a fuller explanation of the projected program and aims of the DNAA. In the same envelope will be an application blank and a return envelope. Stick with us and rejoin promptly. We need your support and you need the DNAA.
NAVY:
To get to the news section of our report, we leave Red Copenhaver and turn to the letters. First word is from Ens. Chuck Claughsey. Chuck is Comm Officer on the USS San Clemente now stationed in Shanghai. He doesn't like the town, and hopes to be headed for the States for his discharge in late June. TomMathews, Si/c, is in the Palm Beach Naval Hospital. He expected a discharge from the hospital and the Navy in January. In the pile next is a letter from Ens. Steve Moore. Steve is coming home from the wars. He has the points, a wife. The Moores will make their home in West Hartford, Connecticut. BobMateer wrote Steve that he saw Ed Wyder and Carl Tolf at Harvard now and then. Last June Steve and Bob Nelson pitched a liberty in Pearl.
Dick Bucci made "jg" last summer. Congrats are in order. A recent letter from BillJohnson tells of his duty at the Navy Pier in Chicago. He reports that Tom McCollow is an ensign in the Supply Corps on board the USS Platte, AO-24, in the Soupac. Stan Yingling is a radio tech at the Pier with Dick. Dave Naffziger is working at the Separation Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Joe Connolly has duty in Boston very near his home. Nice work, Joe. Bob Carlton writes from the AD-21, USS Muskrat at Shanghai.
Bill Baker fills four pages of paper with vital statistics about his life. Lend an ear. He's applying for a commission USN. Back in the States after an eventful tour of the far reaches of the Pacific, Bill became engaged to Miss Mary Burke of Rahway, New Jersey, a red-head. Congratulations to Bill and Mary.
Word comes that John Barker is an ARM2/C. Tom Hohn is a F\/c on the destroyer, USS W. M. Wood. Dick Denatale is a QM striker aboard the USS Wyoming. JimMerritt has presumably been discharged. At least he expected to be a civilian by midMarch. Good luck, Jim. From the letterhead one would suspect that Morris Lazarus was a civilian and working for the Petroleum Service Company of Providence, R. I. Ens. ArnCartin was exec, officer on the USS YP-236 in the Philippines. He doesn't like the heat and has run into a number of men of Dartmouth.
Mrs. James S. Jones wrote us a very nice letter on the life and times of her husband, Jim Jones. From the letter we would like to report that Jim has a swell little woman. Anyway Jim is in the Pacific at last word. He has points to spare and should be out soon, if he isn't already. Ens. Bourke Welch sends in word of his travels in the Pacific. He liked Shanghai and wouldn't mind spending a little time there. His ship, the destroyer Eaton was headed for New York for overhaul at the last words. News from Woburn, Mass., brings the latest address of Alan Hodges, SM3/C. He is on the USS PC 1082 in the South Pacific.
Ens. Jim McHale received the last Newsletter while riding the hook off Kure, Japan, aboard the USS Baltimore. He likes cruiser duty. Aboard the Baltimore with him are two former V-i2ers, Ens. Hank Gladon, a turret officer, and Bob Klatt, a fire controlman. He ran into Frank Mahoney who is aboard the USS Charles Badger in San Diego. Frank married Miss Ruby Garrity of Quincy, Mass., last May. Sorry that we are so late, but with twelve months gone we hope that we can still be permitted to wish them the very best.
Bette Roberts writes that brother, Ensign Buzz Roberts, was at last reckoning flying for shore duty in Shanghai. That was in January. Thanks Bette. Next word on Fred Lowe, Si jc. Fred has returned to the States after serving for 17 months with an Aviation Supply Unit on Oahu and Guam. After a 30-day leave he went to Norfolk. Ens. Rubin Miller of the Supply Corps is aboard the destroyer escort Otter with a New York FPO. Ens. Wyly Moore writes from the destroyer Walker, aboard which as the supply officer he is having many minor difficulties such as 30 thousand dollars. Be careful, Wyly.
Ens. Edgar Elmer was expecting a discharge at last count at the Comm 4th Naval District in Philly. He wants to get in a visit to Hanover Plain as soon as possible. Do that. The bottom letter of the pile is from Vincent Edmunds, Si/c (RM). He is now on the LCT 68 in the Admiralty Islands or was last we heard. According to Vin the Pacific is fine, but the States are far and away the best.
MARINES:
Now that we've covered the goings-on of the Navy alumni, we've got a few letters here from the ex-Marines. Ens. Egon Werdelman, who was a marine at Dartmouth during the early days of Topliff Hall writes that he ran into Walter Troy and Ted Wilson while at Pearl Harbor last December. He also ran into Sgt. Lewis who was attending a Field Artillery school at the time. Some of you who were here in the early days of V-12 will remember him as one of the NCO's at Topliff. Speaking of NCO's, ex-Sgt., now Mr., Jack Gant paid a visit to Hanover a few months ago, and a much quieter and subdued Mr. Gant he was at that. Ens. Steve Moore writes that he heard that Joe Shearer was with a Marine outfit at Sasebo, Japan, the same time he was, though they didn't get together. Steve also mentions a couple of other boys from his home town of Burlington, Vt.: Lts. Larry Killick, whose younger brother Tom, an ex-V-12 Marine is now on campus, and Bill Muir who, we are very sorry to learn, was killed on Okinawa.
George Merrill writes to us from Kagoshima, Japan: "I am with the Ist Bat. at Kagoshima, and with me here are Red Slattery and Moose Sieler. Up at the and Bat. at Runonuto are Joe Foster and Milt Smith, so you can see that Dartmouth is well represented in the Bth Regt." Our news service uncovered an interesting item from a Norwalk, Conn., newspaper concerning Lt. Frank Mace. Frank, with the 2nd Marine Division, is stationed at the Abarutsu Naval Base in Southern Kyushu and has charge of supervising the military and civic work of over a hundred miles of occupied territory. He tells of the Japs doing all of the labor and says that they have no sense of danger while working around the big stocks of explosives encountered in the demolition work. Lt- Chuck Langley and his lovely wife were in town recently. Chuck is stationed at Washington and hopes to leave the Marine Corps for Dartmouth this next fall. Dick Connolly, home from China on an emergency leave, stopped by for a day in Hanover. He tells us that Lt. Stu Cohen and Bob Aaron were out there with him. He spent a little time in North China on skirmishes against the Chinese communists. That about winds up all the news we have of our Marines, and we hope that by next time we go to press our basket will be filled with letters from you guys out there. Ah, yes, wishful thinking!
Recently the Navy at Dartmouth has been given a break in an effort to make the lives of the trainees a little more normal. There is only one muster all day, at 0655. This enables personnel to stay out all night. We don't have to march to chow; we go, when we want, during certain hours. Lastly we are allowed to drink liquorous beverages in licensed places. This is not the sequel to Grimm's Fairy Tales for Younger Children. It is true to the last drop.
The final release is that the Navy, with the possible exception of a few V-s's will be gone from Dartmouth by 1 July. A peacetime NROTC will be active at Dartmouth, but the members of it will be civilian students. So when you alumni come back to Dartmouth, don't sneak back next fall hoping to find the Unit in the process of a review because we can't see that deal.
When you come to Hanover, you will find the DNAA office on the 3rd floor of Robinson. Drop in, if the door is unlocked. It isn't much, but it is our home. Beautiful view of the building behind it. Nuff sai'd. And even if you can't get to Hanover in the flesh, at least send along a post card to let us know that you're still around and haven't forgotten us.
MEMBERS OF THE DNAA now enrolled as Dartmouth civilian students include this sextet photographed in front of Dartmouth Hall. Left to right, Lavern Courton, George Woods, Jack Havens, Charlie Marshall, Tom Morelli and Dave Culp.
SOMETHING NEW HAS BEEN ADDED. With the liberalizing of regulations at the start of the March term, men in the Navy Unit are now permitted to drink beer within the Hanover limits. Above, a few of the boys are shown enjoying the social hour at the Inn's Coffee Shop.
Acting Secretary, MC 307 North Mass., Hanover, N. H.
