1916
Since George Smith was unable to get to the New York dinner on February 1, Dick Psrkhurst and Joe Newmark thoughtfully went down to Greenwich Village the next morning and visited with him. Dick even took along a packet of letters George had written him from the French front 1917-19. Just as they were coming away, George Dock arrived, but let George speak for himself: "George and I, it developed, had been in many of the same villages on the Western Front, from the Glorieux barracks at the edge of Verdun during our ambulance careers, to La Grange au Bois in the Argonne. Dear to our souls were memories of a tearoom in Ste. Menehould, whose patronne, Marie Pignon, was one of the loveliest, nicest and bravest young Gauls between the North Sea and Switzerland. One afternoon when the Germans were heaving 380 mm. shells at long range at the local railhead, Marie remarked 'How these people hate us, today!' George Smith in turn remarked on the closeness of the bonds of friendship among members of the same ambulance section, infantry squad, or air outfit - stronger than even the ties that bind classmates on a campus, or partners in business. More somber was the thought of the tens of thousands of Vietnamese we saw all along that French front as our non-combatant but useful allies, most of them from Annam and Tonkin, in central and northern Indochina. Their sons or grandsons are our 'enemies' today, in the Greek tragedy of a conflict that sees them pitted against strangers from Ypsilanti, Mich., and Etna, N. H., while their immemorial foes, the Chinese, contemplate the scene happily."
George Smith later wrote that he was touched by these follow-ups of the dinner he couldn't attend and added: "My ulcer is coming along nicely, and I sail on the 'Michelangelo' the 24th for a many-stop trip to Cannes which includes the Azores, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Majorca, Naples, and Genoa. My Geneva daughter boards the boat at Lisbon to see I don't violate the diet with even one highball!" Come again soon, George.
Of fourteen other absentees who were sent a brief report of the evening, the only three to respond so far were all shut-ins, bless 'em: Charlie Cressy phoned the next Sunday to swap a few reminiscences and report that he has a new battery that should last several years. Dutch Doenecke is fighting back. Charlie Jones wrote: "I surely intend to attend the next dinner. I am trying to get myself in better shape by attending the NYU Rehabilitation Center twice a week."
George Dock's note prompted me to get out my old copy of the Dartmouth War Record 1917-1918 and draw off the highlights of 1916's participation. That compilation seems incomplete and many who did report apparently were overmodest, so let this present a consolidated summary without giving names: Besides the many men who were in war work as civilians, close to 256 men of the Class served in uniform in World War I; at least fifteen different men received a total of at least decorations or citations - two Legion of Honor Crosses, one Medal of Honor (French), one War Cross (Italian), four Croix de Guerre, and twelve citations. And fifteen gave their lives.
Class statistics we are sure of: 1916's total preference count is 418, including the seven adopted members recently listed. At February 25, 157 are active, of whom 125 are graduates; classified as not interested are 25, of whom seven are graduates; and ten are lost or of unknown address, all non-graduates. Additionally, eighty of our widows or classmates next-of-kin are interested enough to be on our active mailing list.
More alumni than of 1916 may be interested in two items prompted by Dick Parkhurst. Folks approaching Hanover from Boston and Concord way, if at West Andover they take the short-mileage Route N. H. 4-A, will be reminded by signs that for the better part of three miles they are passing across a veritable green doormat to the College, appropriately known since 1956 as the John F. Gile Memorial Forest. In 1953, Dr. "Jay," long a Dartmouth trustee, brought into the world the only son of Walter and Edith Gardner, then living in Springfield and now in Gilford, N. H. In 1953 the son died and his parents offered to the College at a reasonable price the 6,000-plus acres of consolidated timberland in Wilmot and Springfield townships, which were to have been young Walter's heritage. The present oldgrowth hardwood overstory is gradually being eliminated to permit full takeover by the vigorous undergrowth of green softwoods - fir, spruce, and hemlock with an occasional white pine. As long as these trees and their successors reach into the sky, they thus will provide not only a great green "doormat" to the College, but appropriate living memorials of a boy who died too soon and of a dedicated North Country surgeon of 1916 who loved a full life. The foregoing is adapted from an article by the Dartmouth Forester, Robert C. Monahan '29. If desired, a detailed annotated map of the forest can doubtless be obtained from him.
This is 1968. Dartmouth graduated its first class nearly 197 years ago, in 1771. Yet you knew "a man who knew a man in every class that graduated from Dartmouth" up to our time, if, from our first Dartmouth Night, you remember Judge David Cross, Class of 1841. Let the following excerpt from The Dartmouth of October 10, 1912 bring back the occasion. He spoke slowly, so read it slowly.
Immediately following President Nichols came the leading speaker of the evening, Judge David Cross '41.With impressive dignity and a marked youthfulness despite his 95 years, Dartmouth's grand old man greeted "Dartmouth All!" and then spoke to the men of the newest class (1916). Judge Cross, greatly moved by the demonstration accorded him, said in part:
"What can I do? What can I say? Let me explain to the Class of 1916 that they cheered Judge Cross not for David Cross, but for the spirit of loyalty I hope I represent. You look upon me as the Japanese look upon their ancestors— with loyalty.
"Seventy-five years have come and gone since I graduated; in. that time the sun has shined upon me and I have had my sorrows, but my greatest emotion comes tonight, for never has there been such a joyous gathering as this. Colleges have their commencements, their classdays, their many affairs, but no other college has its Dartmouth Night!
"I wish to say that I have studied the Class of 1916 and, in my opinion, it is the best class that ever entered Dartmouth. I am a candidate for honorary membership in your class, - William Jewett Tucker will give reference for me!"
No cue was needed; the honorary membership was soon voted. It was warmly accepted by Judge Cross in a letter dated March 13, 1913 which lies on my desk as I type. For when we recently found that five of 1916's honorary, or as they are now called adopted, members had never been included in the Class or College records of 1916, and substantiation was needed, Dick Parkhurst provided this acceptance for our Class archives.
David Cross was born at Weare, N. H., on July 5, 1817 and died at Manchester on October 1, 1914, in his 97th year. He was graduated from Dartmouth in 1841, Phi Beta Kappa, then from Harvard Law, and was awarded an honorary LL.D. by Dartmouth in 1891. He opened his own law office in Manchester in 1845 and practiced there most of his active life. He additionally rendered long service in the New Hampshire legislature, was probate judge of Hillsborough County for eighteen years, president of the N. H. Bar Association for two years and of his County Bar Association for thirty years, the active president of the First National Bank and vice-president of the Merrimac River Savings Bank at Manchester. He was an almost constant attendant at Dartmouth Night in Hanover from its inauguration in 1896, and in his later years was elected an honorary member of many classes. But ours was the last Dartmouth Night he was able to attend. At its annual meeting in Dartmouth Hall in June, 1914 he held the Alumni Association spell-bound with an eloquent address eulogizing Francis Brown, President of the College during the Dartmouth College case.
Secretary,2-C Swarthmore Apts. Swarthmore, Pa. 19081
Class Agent, 50 Rugby Rd., Manhasset, L. I., N. Y. 11030
