1941

As the summer heat engulfs the western shores of Florida, I recall the more temperate days of late March when 32 classmates and guests convened in Sarasota tor a mini-reunion. Their names have been reported by that prolific pro George Herman. I can only add a few footnotes. Bob andBecky Baker had just returned from a twomonth odyssey to India and back. Having just sold their sea-going motor sailer, they resorted to a container ship for their voyage through the Suez. Bob Lempke was enthused about his voluntary carpentry work with Habitat for Humanity, an international organization that builds houses for low-income families. Felix and Rae Lilienthal missed the mini, having just left the area after a week on Longboat Key, a nice respite from the wintry winds of N.Y.C. Other no-shows were Stu andAudrey May who had to go up to Mass General for an evaluation of Stu's bionic hips. The results were good, and Stu has now given up his canes, takes short walks, and does lots of swimming.

A note from Vic Schneider reminds us all that the mini in Hanover is set for the Penn game weekend, September 23-24. And for your long-range planning, our 55th Reunion will be June 10-12, 1996. Forty-One out!

And now some farther remembrance of our classmates who gave their lives for us in WW II. Dick Messinger left college early to join the Army Air Corps. He won his wings, flew a fighter in Europe, received the Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters, but crashed and died in Germany. Quiet, gentle Bob Nichols, a navy doctor, was killed on the beach at Okinawa. His medical school classmates established an extensive book memorial to him in 1947.

Jim O'Hearn, a handsome Irishman, joined the army in 1942, trained for 21 months with an anti-tank unit in England, and was killed on D-Day-plus-2 in France. We all remember Jack Orr the scrappy football and baseball player. But he should also be honored as Navy Lt. John I. Orr who lost his life in the Philippine Sea when the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis was torn apart by two underwater explosions on July 30, 1945, and sank within 15 minutes. Bruce Pelto was a marine pilot flying out of Guadalcanal. After a mission on December 2,1942, in which two enemy cruisers were sunk and a third was damaged, Brace crashed in the ocean after four attempts to land in a heavy fog at his home base.

Ralph Shanesy joined the Air Corps right after graduation. As a first lieutenant and pilot he was killed in action in China just three years later. Jackman Shattuck was an avid golfer and skier at Dartmouth. Just two years later he lost his life in a plane crash at Curtis Field, Texas, where he served as an instructor pilot. He left his bride of five months in his hometown of Dedham, Mass.

Lieutenant (j.g.) Phil Shribman died on February 1, 1943, in action off the Solomon Islands just after his PT boat had sunk an enemy cruiser. Phil wrote in a letter, "No greater mistake could be made than to neglect fine, decent, really important things as we had a chance to know—I miss Hanover terribly, the cold and the snow." We miss you too, Phil and all the others.

5975 Camelot Drive North, Sarasota, FL 34233