1952
As of this last week in August I sit on board ship with considerable in. the way of news of the class amid, I confess, a great mass of unorganized notes. If I have been slow in answering notes from you who have written over the summer, it is because the ship has been operating on a rather busy schedule in efforts directed toward keeping the Sixth Fleet supplied with fuel. Towards that end we have steamed the length and breadth of the Mediterranean and have in fact seen many of the ports that stretch between Gibraltar and Turkey. At present we lie beneath the Posilipo of Naples, and with the mails caught up I shall attempt to bring you up to date as to the doings of other '52s who have indeed ranged wider than I and about which you will probably know more than I. Dick Watt's early August, five-page edition of "The Crier" was quite inclusive in its coverage of the class and this will be after the manner of a supplement withas little duplication as possible.
To Bernie Lewis and his capable group of assistants a word of praise and thanks for the outstanding job they did on the Fund. While we didn't quite manage to walk away with Little Green Derby" honors (though it was close), we did manage not only to reach our dollar goal but to bounce over the four-grand mark. According to my sources no other class did as well their first year out. To all many thanks; that the time and money is appreciated by alumni and College alike goes without saying.
Starting with the letter department I find first a letter from Charlie Allen dated early this summer from Korea at the foot of Christmas Hill. Says he plans to look up Deke Emmons and looks forward to stateside duty. Next chronologically, a card from one Binswanger postmarked Oslo, Norway. Why he was there he didn't say, but apparently he still holds the presidency in the "Nice Guys Finish Last Club." Willie Breed in a letter dated 8 July says he was poised, at that time, for a trip East and that Indian Gap was nice while it lasted. More recently a report from a correspondent reveals that Les Bauer is back on his feet after a rather serious operation this last spring. It seems it was touch and go for a while but all is well now and Les has taken himself a bride, though at this writing I do not have her name.
The Military Life
Johnny Bricker graduated first in his class with honors from the Cartographic Drafting School at Fort Belvoir last spring and received the Certificate of Achievement for his efforts from the Commandant. Bill Rooke is now with the Amphibs and, I gather, still on the East Coast. When last heard of he was finishing up a course at Little Creek which covered the finer points of cargo handling and deck rigging. Julie Robinson, on last report, was serving with the First Cavalry Division in Japan. Julie, incidentally, received his degree from NYU, having left our class before graduation. As of last spring Al Reigelman was in Pacific waters on the Ashtabula, a fleet oiler which has been working with the fleet off Korea. Dave Griggs is now in New York, unless my dope is too outdated, having returned from his travels to South America. Brew Sturdevant is wearing the blue and is serving on the destroyer Roan. Dick Little has completed his course in communications at Monterey, Calif., and is now the Comm. Officer on the USS Rozve, also a tin can. VinnieRathburn is at the Engineer Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir, Va., from which he will graduate as a second looie engineer about the time this hits the presses, if not sooner. Ed Fitzgerald made the crossing last spring and has of late completed a two-week course in chemical warfare at the Eta Jima Specialist School in Japan. A couple of the boys who look from here like Navy regulars have donned the uniform of the airdales and by now have their wings. They are George Littlehales and Ronny Marcks who have been training at Pensacola and on the USS Monterey. Dave Schwarts probably got himself a close look at the trouble in Germany this past summer as he is stationed with the 28th Infantry Division there.
The Academic World
Can't quite get everybody in at this writing, but here is a partial box score on those who came through the last academic year not only unscathed but with sheepskin plus. Fred Neumen received his Master's from Tuck with highest distinction. He was awarded the WallStreet Journal Achievement Award and will probably be in the service as of this writing. Al Ziviello is, unless he's been drafted, at Ottawa Med School commencing his second year. Ed Malonis received his M.A. from Tufts last June along with Frank Heineman. PaulTaylor received his Master of Arts degree from Harvard and Fran Frellick received the Horace Smith Fund Scholarship at the Andover-Newton Theological Seminary a $500 fellowship. Among those who received the Master's at Tuck are Farquar Smith and Vic Trautwein. Both men will be serving with the USN for the next couple of years. Bill Fletcher, Don Horrigan, and Bill McAndrew were among those to graduate from the Med School. Mac and Bill are at Harvard now completing med studies while Don is at the Cornell Med School.
The Matrimonial Picture
Early in June, Hank Bingham and Joan Thompson announced their engagement. She is a Colby Junior grad and has been working at the Hitchcock Hospital as an X-ray technician. Hank received his Master's from Tuck last spring. Larry Markin and Sheila Ruben announced their engagement last spring. She is a senior at Smith, and Larry is also among the Tuck grads. George Jenkins and Audrey Patricia Davis announced their engagement July 9. She is Colby Junior '53 and lives in or near Stamford, Conn. George is wearing the Army uniform at present. Three more engagements of last spring include those of WaltSimons to Mary Sullivan, Wellesley grad; Nancy Wickers to Jim Churchill; and Nancy Coursen, Smith senior, to Dick Carlton. Jim is at the Harvard Business School and his fiancee is a graduate of Colby Junior and Wheelock College. Dick is studying at the Harvard Med School, and Walt was at the NYU School of Practical Arts and Letters as of last spring. Roy Abbot became engaged to Leigh Eleanor Hinsie in late June. Roy received his Master's at Tuck and Leigh is a graduate of Centenary Junior College. SamDaniell and Zandra Smith announced their engagement last spring. Sam has a hitch with the Navy to take care of and is a Tuck-Thayer graduate. Zandra is a Mount Holyoke graduate and is studying language abroad this year. Chris Weld and Sara Merwin were engaged last spring. Chris attended Dartmouth with our class and is a graduate of B.U. Sara is a graduate of the University of Vermont.
As for weddings, there are too many for this edition of the column so I'll draw the line at June 14 and note the rest in the next issue. Way back last May Navy pilot John Mykrantz and Barbara Larrabee of Shoreham were married at St. Dennis Church in Hanover. Johnny is, of course, now flying with the airdales and Barbara recently received her Master's degree from UVM. Kenny Clark and Zillah Cuddleback were married May 2 in Lexington, Mass. The honeymoon trip was to Florida and Ken is working with the Draper Cos. in Boston. His bride attended Syracuse University. Fred Barstow made Dorothy Tibbott his bride last May 29 in Newton, Mass. Fred was working with the U. S. Geological Survey on the Pacific Coast, but answered the call to the Army last June. Dottie is a graduate of Mount Holyoke, class of '52, and, incidentally, made more than one '52 look like an amateur on the ski slopes. Joe Lyon and Barbara Osborne were married on June 6. She is a Middlebury grad, and also attended the American School in Cairo and Chateau Brilliantmont in Lausanne. They will make their home in Hudson, Ohio, where Joe is working for the Markem Machine Cos.
I run across Jack Fessenden and JohnnyDoty now and then, on business of course. Johnny rides the Coral Sea and Jack is a tin can communicator. Apologies are due from your secretary here in that I still can't announce the name of the class baby. Am still working on it and will inform the class as soon as final results are in. C'est tout for now. Don't let the distance scare you off from dropping me a line. The mail to the Med is pretty fair of late. See you at one of the games.
Secretary,USS Nantahala (AO-60) c/o FPO, New York, N. Y. Treasurer, 33 Hosmer St., Everett 49, Mass.
