Dartmouth Navy News
It is a sad, sad fact but it is true. The Dartmouth Naval Training Unit has ceased to exist. Or perhaps we should modify that statement and say that if you were to return to Dartmouth these days you would have a hard time finding the super-swabbies, swabbies and leathernecks formerly so abundant on the Campus. The NROTC still exists but since the men in this program are on inactive duty you could detect them only by an occasional Naval Science book under arm or by the Military Drill class held one afternoon each week. In charge of the unit is Captain Roger E. Nelson who is enjoying his first shore duty in many years. Commander Cook remains as the Executive Officer and three or four junior officers together with a small handful of enlisted men comprise the ships company and the only men in uniform regularly on campus. The former Quarterdeck in College Hall is now the Hostess House with Mrs. Broderick still presiding and the NROTC offices are confined to the second deck. Captain Cummings, skipper of this unit since the Fall of 1943, has been retired and the only two remaining plank-owners, Lt.-Comdr. McKinney and Lt. Kirk, have gone back to civilian life via the point system.
Following Commencement Exercises the Commissioning Ceremonies were held in Rollins Chapel in the evening o£ June 29th. It was the largest and mostly likely the last to be held here at Dartmouth with 64 NROTC Seniors who are going to active duty and some forty going to inactive duty receiving their commissions. Captain William H. Buracker, commanding officer of the Naval training schools at M.I.T. and skipper of the former light carrier Princeton addressed the ceremony and Under Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan '2l was on hand to pass out the certificates. The assignments given to the men going on active duty were nearly all for sea duty on board every type of vessel from aircraft carriers to patrol craft though a large part of the men drew assignments to fleet oilers.
Ens. Charles T. Chute writing from Tsingtao, China aboard the USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD729) tells us that he ran into Phil Sheppard in Shanghai some time ago and that Ens. Johnny Walker is serving on the USSTaussig (DD747) in the same squadron with him. Chute also adds an interesting note, "The strangest meeting was made while we were directing mine sweeping operations off the mouth of the Yangtze River. When one of the minesweeps came along side to pick up ice cream I stepped out on the gun deck and looked across to see Hal Clayton (ex-fullback) on the bridge of the sweep. We had a short talk over the voice circuit." Clayton must get around quite a bit as Ens. William S. Mayer, writing a little earlier, states that he met Hal in Yokasuka. Mayer is aboard the USS Strong (DD7SB) which is now back in the Boston Navy Yard for overhaul. Dudley A. Davies wrote us some time ago from Subic Bay, P.I. where he was a Bos'un second class on the YMS 95. However, his sweep was up for decommissioning so he is probably home on thirty days leave by now. While in Subic Bay he ran across Donald Anthony on the EST 1096 and Jack Curtis, SF2/c on the PC 493. Curtis has already been discharged according to Davies.
We were very sorry to hear of the death ofRobert L. Culp. A recent letter from hismother informs us that Bob died on October23, 1945 from head injuries resulting from being struck by an auto very near his base atCorpus Christi, Texas.
George Scala had only three months to go for his discharge when he left here last February but he certainly made use of that time. He hopped aboard the Mighty Missouri just in time to make that cruise to Turkey hitting such liberty ports as Constantinople, Athens, Naples, Rome, Algiers, Tangiers, and Gibraltar during the round trip. He then consented to the urgent requests of BuPers and stayed aboard long* enough to take part in the Bth Fleet maneuvers in the South Atlantic. But then it was Lido Beach for Scala and, ever eager, he is now going to Hamilton College in Clinton, N. Y. E. J. Culwick also left here in February. He was discharged in early March and is now attending the Rutgers University School of Engineer- ing. Arnold S. Cartin is another ex-USNR. His last Navy billet was as Commanding Officer of the YP 236. After decommissioning that he returned to the states and was separated on May 20. He adds that he hopes to get back here in October or February. Good luck, Cartin, you'll need it.
Harry Stack sent us this enlightening note: "You might be interested in knowing that a member of the DNAA spent the five months of his Naval career in the Shore Patrol of the First Naval District at Boston." .... as an official and not a P. A. L. we trust. Sidney Vickers is now enjoying all the comforts of civilian life at home (1604 E. 3rd St., Austin, Texas). After a summer of rehabilitation, Sid will enter the Univ. of Texas as a junior. Ensign Thomas M. Meredith has been aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt since its commissioning last Navy Day. Bob Zabell was discharged as a It. (jg) on 11 April 1946 after 22 months at sea. He writes that he is planning on returning to Indiana University in September and hopes to make that reunion we are planning for next summer. The latest word concerning Ens.George. G. Carr is that he has been cruising around the Carribean on an LST and was last heard of when in Little Creek, Va. on the LST 983. EnsignGilbert O. Robert is at present C. I. C. Officer on the USS Duluth which is operating around China and Japan.
Ensign Dick Hoster is now the disbursing officer for the Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine. Apparently he is a "30-year man"as he is waiting for his application for the regulars to be approved. Dick proudly writes, "My wife presented me with a son on 5 April 1946. Both are doing nicely." Our congratulations to the Hosters. He also adds that he ran into "Red" Frank who was aboard an APD in Portland at the time. Harvey A. Taschman is now living in. Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife. He is attending school and hopes to get his degree from the University of Wisconsin in September. Bob Huntington was commissioned on June 27th from the University of Pennsylvania NROTC and signed up for a year's active duty. Ens. Tom Williams dropped us a line while decommissioning the LST 515. He was looking for his walking papers shortly. He says that he has to settle down to a good job since he is contemplating marriage in the not too distant future. His better half is Miss Edith Fettinger of Portland, Me. MARINE MEMOS.
About the same fate has befallen the M rine Detachment here at Dartmouth as th rest of the unit. "Mad Anthony" is no lon C with us and the Sergeants are no longer sea so that we suspect that they too have left the Hanover Plain. With few exceptions the Marine Detachment which was, has now been discharged in its entirety. Those few exceptions were some men with parts of a hitch to finish and three men, Howard C. Macmil lan, Edward J. Markham Jr. and Richard N Sisson, who volunteered for a year's active duty so that they could flash those gold bars
A letter from his home tells us that Lt. T Alfred Gustafson, USMCR, better known as "Gus," has been stationed in China with the First Division since last December. Gus is at present at Tientsin, where he is serving as Graves Registration Officer for the division, Accident Reporting Officer for the battalion and Special Services Officer for his company. And as if those three jobs are not enough he has recently been named Mess Officer for the battalion. However, he is now eligible for discharge and is waiting to get back to Boston as soon as the Marine Corps can get three or four good men over there to take his place.
We are sorry that this is all the news we can scrape up but we are pinch-hitting for the regular Marine correspondent, Art Wilson. Art was just discharged along with the rest and we suspect that he is out on an extended binge since it has been impossible to locate him at any of his old haunts, addresses or phone numbers. We hope to have him back for the next issue if his money runs out.
Before we close shop for this issue we would like to thank all the men who have already sent in their membership dues for the coming year. We have already received about four hundred application blanks and they are still coming in. If you haven't already sent in the necessary three dollars we urge you to do so now since this is the last issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE that you will receive on your old membership. If you didn't receive or have misplaced the application blank just send the three bucks and your home address and we'll do the rest. And keep the news coming all year long. We may have plenty of news right now but we'll probably be crying for it around Christmas time.
NROTC Seniors Commissioned to Active Duty
Robert B. Bade William Bennekemper Jr. Morley Brickman Robert E. Brotman Mark F. Byrne Eugene A. Cafiero Henry W. Cleeff Charles E. Cooper Robert D. Day William DeStefano Donald R. Elliott Julian Farb Charles W. Fendrich Jr. Robert H. Ferris Richard D. Fitzgerald Donald C. Foukal Frederick M. Garfield ; Stanley Geller Herman H. Gensler Albert L. Greenberger Tames R. Greene John L. Greisberger Owen D. Griffin James C. Kearney Richard R. Kelly Patrick F. Kennedy Stephen P. Kenny Paul E. Lacke Herman A. Lambert William C. Larsen Richard J. Leary •.George R. Little Victor D. Macomber Adrian G. Magrath Harold Mahmarian Edward W. Martin Maurice J. McGrath Donald R. Miesel Mortimer Mishkin Andrew J. Murtha Alex Nazarek Richard H. Nelson Roy C. Nelson William J. Nicholl Jr. Jon J. O'Brien Patrick T. O'Connor Robert E. Pretat Jr. Charles W. Reardon William C. Sherer Leonard J. Schiff George J. Seifert John H. Smith James L. Stevens William W. Striker Gerard Van Halsema Leo B. Warring Charles H. Whitmore Alan K. Whitney Leonard M. Wilson Jr. Marius J. Zawodniak JOHN H. COPENHAVER.
UNDERSECRETARY OF THE NAVY John L. Sullivan '21 congratulates a new ensign as he hands him his certificate of commission while Capt. Damon E. Cummings, USN, retiring commanding of the NROTC Unit (left), looks on. The commissioning ceremonies were held in Rollins Chapel in conjunction with Commencement Exercises.
THE V-12 AND NROTC UNIT pass in review on Memorial Field for the final time before Capt. Damon E. Cummings, USN, who retired from active service July 1 and was relieved as commanding officer of the Dartmouth Naval Unit.
Secretary-Chairman, Chicago, Illinois
Treasurer} West Roxbury, Mass.
