1954
Fifty-four is out for another year. Hope everyone had an enjoyable summer and had better luck with flood and hurricane than some of us did. We've got miles of summer events to unravel so we shan't waste any time.
Again this year it is rather difficult to open the October issue. Tragedy has struck us once again. On June 16 Air Force Lt. Bill Gmelin was killed when his plane crashed and exploded near Marana Air Base, Arizona. With him in the plane and also killed in the crash was Bill's instructor. Bill had entered the Air Force through the AFROTC program in Hanover. On July 13, less than a month after the crash, Bill's wife Mary Jane announced the arrival of Peter Brooks Gmelin.
On January 13 the yacht Home Sweet Home left Bermuda for Antigua, 8.W.I., carrying among its nine voyagers, lan Wheelock and his father. Though communications with the ship were made a day later, neither ship nor any of its crew members were seen again. Recently lan was officially declared lost at sea.
Two other classmen were reported in serious condition. At the Brooke Army Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, Lt. Dyke Ketelhut is improving after a bout with a very serious case of bulbar poliomyelitis. And at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., Ens. Hugh Nolin is coming along fine after a near fatal crash while practicing carrier landings at Pensacola on Friday the Thirteenth of May. Both would like to hear from Hanoverians.
Cupid has really been slinging his arrows this summer. His greatest toll came from (he Tuck-Thayer boys. It'll be a few months before we are all caught up on the marriages and engagements that were announced. Back in the spring Lew Milkey, Lt. USA, put the engagement noose around the finger of Nancy Joan Lee of Pine Manor. Lew was with Scott Paper before entering the Ordnance Corps.
The betrothal of Loys Muriel Lindgren of South Woodstock, Conn., and Springfield to Dick Leary was likewise announced in May. Loys is anesthetist at Mary Hitchcock and Dick is assistant to the municipal manager at Medford, Mass. Ens. Joel (U.S.S. Ticonderoga)Wertheim made preparations to throw the lifeline to Lois Shephard of Kew Gardens, N. Y., as their engagement was announced in May. Last we heard, the Ticonderoga was in Norfolk. Dave Sices and Toni Picker joined the to-be-married group lately. Toni is from Hewlett, L. I., and is at Bucknell University. Dave is stalking his Ph.D. at Yale.
Dick Gates, 2nd Lt. USAF and Kathleen Virginia Ellis, recently engaged, plan a December wedding. Kathleen hails from Grand Haven, Mich., and -the University of Michigan. Dick is going through pre-flight at Bartow, Fla. Estelle Weinstein of Hunter College hunted out Marty Siegel for betrothal announcements. Estelle lives in Brooklyn, N. Y. Marty is entering the first class of the Einstein School of Medicine this fall.
Colby Juniorite Allison-Lea Ash of Marlboro, Mass., and Bob Oxford agreed on their future marriage plans last June. Jane Ann Handleman of White Plains, N. Y., and Syracuse and Columbia Universities was affianced to Jim Davidson, Lt. USA in July. Irene von Dehn is the bride-to-be of Charlie Davis. Irene is from Limburg Luhn, Germany, and cur- rently on the Graduate Education Staff at Harvard.
A frightening number of bachelors tumbled this summer. Rollie Haynes signed a life contract with Carolyn Caswell on June 17. Carolyn is from Newtonville, Mass., and Boston's Katy Gibbs. Paul Wilson, just out of Tuck and on his way to Albuquerque, N. M., with the Air Force, stopped at South Sudbury, Mass., on May 29 just long enough to pick up a co-pilot, Phyllis Cove, a grad of Tufts and Bouve School of Physical Therapy in Boston.
Army Corporal Ed Norman, now at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, found himself a partner in Patricia Springsteen of Babylon, N. Y. The Normans were married on May 7 and will reside in Darlington, Md. Best man Andy Guilliano of Buenos Aires, Argentina, smiled on as Janice Eaton became the bride of Don McHugh on April 7. Janice is a U. of Mass. grad from Washington, D. C., and is teaching at Silver Spring, Md. Don is at Georgetown Medical School.
Before leaving Tuck for flight training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas, PhilKaiser held up at Jersey City to marry Kathleen Anne Beliaeff on June 11, Kathleen was at Roosevelt Hospital School of Nursing in New York City. Tom "Chromic" Myres went "over there" to bring Inga Enlund of Falun, Sweden, over here. The couple was married in Sweden in June. Inga is a graduate of Falu Seminarium in Sweden. After a Paris honeymoon the Myreses settled down in Tampa while Tom carries out his 2nd Lt. duties at Mac Dill AFB.
Dick Lewis and Audrey Maass were altargoers in Upper Montclair, N. J. Dick is just out of Tuck; Audrey's a Green Mountaineer. Best man at the Lewis' wedding was DickTrowbridge. Dick himself took Marjory Perkins of Nutley, N. J., another Green Mt. lass, to the altar on June 25. The Trowbridges live on Long Island now while Dick is with the Air Force.
Also on June 25, wedding bells in Greenfield, Mass., tolled for Dorothy Ann Rugg and Dave Fitch. Dotty is from Conn. College. An onlooker at the Fitch wedding was Jim (B.)Fisher. Dave was soon forced to abandon his bride and answer to the Air Force with a year and a half at Okinawa. Dotty hopes to follow.
On July 1 in Redlands, Calif., Lt. Don Des-Combes USAF knotted nuptial ties with Elizabeth Baker, and in Concord, N. H., Elizabeth Lee Duffett and Ed Horton tied down the lifeline on August 27. Recently checking in at the Hanover Inn were newlyweds Jack Reilly and Elaine Ganem. Elaine is from Lowell, Mass., and Simmons College. Jack is in the Army now.
Also in the Army are a herd of Ordnance Corps lieutenants who blew into Aberdeen Proving Grounds in June to increase that already bulging Indian hideaway. The recent arrivals include Bob Woodberry, Sarg Joys,Ned May, Bob Oxford, Bob McKeever, EdQuinn, and Myles Jacobs. We expect to hear lots of war-whoops from Aberdeen this year. Formerly at the Proving Grounds, 2nd Lt.Mike Korjeff took up residence in the Ordnance Maintenance Depot in Schwaebisch Gmuend, Germany.
Another serving in Europe is Pvt. FredHolland USA, working with NATO in Naples. Ed Keller is with the 298 th Army Band in Berlin, and Jerry Goldstein is stationed at the Erding AFB in Germany. Rosemary and DaveMandelbaum are living in Saverne, France, while Dave checks in at the Phalsbourg Air Base. On a summer visit to Austria the
"Mandies" stayed in Salzburg with Tony andBarbara Kossove. Tony is in the Army and from what Dave says is living well. Over in the Far East, Marine Lts. Howie Aronson and John Schrieber are living it up in Japan. They're stationed at Camp Shinodyama. Up in Baltimore, Md., Jim Adams is working with the Army CIC.
In Norfolk yours truly has stumbled upon a number of Navy boys who are attending assorted Navy schools on the premises. SinnyHitchings, escaping from the USS Monrovia;Bob Kenny, off the USS Calcaterra; and BobDean, a late Tuck evacuee now aboard the USS Rowe were on the listings. On Middle cruise "Able" this summer to Spain and England we bumped into Bud Siqueland, who is on the USS Columbus, and John Heston, a rider on the USS Power. Though John wasn't in a story telling mood a. tale about his rabid defense of the service of his choice did seep out. Seems John and a particularly pixillated gyrene" (i.e. USMC) were discussing the merits of their respective services. Tenacity led to pugnacity, and though Hes drove a hard argument the Marine drove a harder right (John later claimed the monster was a pugilistic champion of some repute). The receipt of two beautiful shiners by the Navy evidenced that deeds often speak louder and more painfully than words.
To clear up some erroneous information which we put out a few months ago . . . JohnGillespie is now in Europe for maintenance officer duties at Chateauroux AFB in France (75 miles from Paris). Contrary to what we had said, he was at Advanced Aircraft Maintenance Officers School at Chanute AFB, III. Understand Wally Anderson was at Chanute too. Ens. Doug Dodge sends us a "jig" on a report about him. He claims to be on an LST (Large Slow Target) in California. He reports seeing Ens. Rip Coffin out there, who for the interest of the NROTC lads, notes spying "Happy Hank" Engleman in the North Island (Coronado) Officers' Club awaiting orders to the Far East.
Perry Davis reports the establishment of the Dartmouth Downtowners," an informal eating and tippling society in New York City which gathers monthly just for the sake of gathering. Perry wants any '54s in the vicinity who are interested in participating with the group to call him at Worth 4-4141.
Many thanks from the class go to Kev Sullivan and his band of Agents for their work on the Alumni Fund. Fifty-Four wound up with a total contribution list of 414. Unfortunately, as a class we fell $275 short of our intended goal, but as a College we set new highs in number of contributors and percentage of contribution.
We hope you will all pitch in when the call for the Milton Sims Kramer Memorial comes this fall. The planning phase of this memento has been completed. It is a worthwhile memorial to one of the worthiest men in the class and as such deserves each man's deepest consideration.
Next month we'll announce the Class Boy. Hope to see you around the gridiron rooting for the Green, and also hope to get together with the gang after the contest to celebrate the victory.
His first solo flight successfully completed,Marine 2nd Lt. Herbert D. Syle '54 nowmoves on to instruction in precision air workat Pensacola, Fla.
Secretary,USS Basilone (DDE-824) c/o Fleet P. 0., New York, N. Y.
Treasurer, 17 Bancroft Ave., Beverly, Mass.
