“Ode To The Class Of ’46”, Presented Orally At Senior Ring Dance
Editor’s Note: Given by Harold
Borofsky at Senior Ring Dance.
THE CLASS OF ’46
We are the class of '46, and this
is our story:
We first saw Aggieland in the
sweltering summer of 1942, that
first summer after Pearl Harbor.
Some of us came from cities and
some of us came from the country,
some of us came from other states
and gome of us came from Texas.
We were tall, short, fat, thin, and
scared by the whole thing. We were
green, but then the weeks began
to pass. We began learning—more
outside the classrooms than in
them. We remember calisthenics in
the early morning, long sessions on
Saturday afternoons, endless num
bers of people we met, the “han
dle” we were so proud of, the in
finite maze of duties, and the grow
ing feeling of pride.
In September the second half
of our class joined us and we bore
our burdens together. Football
season—the chills ran down our
spines! We think back to that first
long cold winter, the thrills of
Aggie football, yelling until we
could yell no more, college night,
the corps trips, Turkey Day, then
Christmas—we sang carols in the
cold—back to school—not long to
go, and, suddenly, Final Review.
We were happy as we ripped off
our “Fish Stripes”, but then our
hearts were heavy. Though we
did not know, we had become Ag
gies, and as we said goodbye to
our seniors—some of the finest
men we had ever known—we be
gan to feel the true meaning of
the spirit of Aggieland.
We became Sophomores—our
chests began to swell. We felt add
ed responsibilities, new duties. We
changed our ‘handles” to “Mister”
and felt supremely wise as we
went to work at teaching the new
freshmen. We remember how dumb
we thought they were, how we
drilled long hours and whipped
them into shape, how we became
proud of them. Suddenly advanc
ed R. O. T. C. was abolished. We
saw our juniors and seniors in
ducted then sent back to finish the
semester. The days flew by—the
semester ended—they left, and
once again we said goodbye.
The summer was hot again—
outfits were broken up—we began
getting into harder and harder
work. One by one we began los
ing classmates. September rolled
around and we were ready to don
serge. We had lost more than half
of our original number.
As juniors we worked together
to keep Aggie tradition alive, and
we succeeded. We saw the “Kid
die Korps” roll over every oppon
ent except one, and on Turkey Day
we heard Taps played on Kyle
Field. We began to appreciate
things we had not noticed before
—the Academic Building in the
moonlight, the Administration
Building at night—the little things
about the campus that we had un
consciously come to love. On Jan
uary 18, 1944, we buried Reveille
at Kyle Field. An era in Aggie
history had passed.
Another semester began—we
dug in and worked harder and
harder. Slowly the Junior Prom
rolled around. We didn’t quite
realize how many of our class had
gone until the dance. We missed
old faces, old friends, old times.
Now we are seniors. We are
wearing our pinks and our boots,
and our pride cannot be equalled.
We have done our job well. To
night we have come to the biggest
event of our college life—our sen
ior ring dance. We should be hap
py, and we are happy—until we
think back and remember. We re
member men we have known and
loved like brothers,, men who have
given their lives that we might
be here now. We remember, above
all, what Aggie tradition means—
honor, courage, loyalty—and we
know that the burden of keeping
that tradition alive rests on our
shoulders. For them, those men
of Aggieland who shall never re
turn to their school, who shall
never again see the campus they
loved, we pledge to be forever
loyal to the ideals we believe in—
the ideals they fought and died
for.
Now if we close our eyes we can
see their faces once again; we
can hear their voices singing “We
are the Aggies, the Aggies are
we; true to each other as Aggies
can be , . . ” Our tears may flow,
but they are tears of strength
and pride. Those men are not for
gotten, and they know, wherever
they are ,that they shall always be
with us in our hearts.
Look to the sun, you men of
Aggieland . . . The days ahead
are dark, but we know that if we
carry on until we have reached
our goal ours will be the greater
glory and the more triumphant
victory.
Texas AsM
DIAL 4-5444
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER
OF THE CITY OF
COLLEGE STATION
The B
College
alion
BI-WEEKLY
STUDENT NEWSPAPER
TEXAS A. & M.
DEEP IN AGGIELAND
VOLUME 44
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JANUARY 16, 1945
NUMBER 57
Dean Kyle Nominated For Guatemalan Ambassador Post
Notified Of Nomination In
Telegram From Connally
First Board Of Directors Meeting Of Year Held Here Saturday
Formal Inauguration of President
Gilchrist Postponed Indefinitely
Plans for the formal inaugura-t-
tion of Gibb Gilchrist as president
of Texas A. & M. College were
postponed today as a result of ac
tion taken at President Gilchrist’s
recommendation by the college
Board of Directors and Vice-Pres
ident F. C. Bolton at Saturday’s
meeting.
At President Gilchrist’s sug
gestion, the inaugural ceremonies
were postponed indefinitely due to
the recent recommendation of War
Mobilization Director James E.
Byrnes that all meetings, confer
ences, ceremonies and conventions
be cancelled to alleviate the trans
portation shortage. After President
Gilchrist suggested the move the
Board called Vice President Bolton
to ascertain if the ceremonies
could be postponed without undue
difficulty.
Other action of the Board was
as follows:
In accordance with the unanimous
recommendation of the Athletic
Council and the president of the
college, it was expressed as the
intention of the Board to tender
a contract of Homer H. Norton as
director of athletics and head foot
ball coach for a five-year period
beginning Sept. 1 at his present
salary. The details of the contract
are to be worked out between the
president of the college and C. W.
Crawford, chairman of the athletic
council with Coach Norton, and
will be submitted for final con
sideration as soon as this has been
done.
First action of the board was
to pass resolutions on the services
performed to the college by F. M.
Law of Houston and A. B. Conner,
formerly director of the Agricul
tural Experiment Station. Mr. Law
was a board member for many
years and president of the group
for more than a quarter-century.
It also was announced by Pres
ident Gilchrist and approved by
the board that Lt. Col. J. T. L. Mc-
New will assume his duties as
vice president for engineering on
Feb. 1.
The board authorized employ
ment of a head of the dairy hus
bandry department to succeed C.
N. Shepardson, dean of agricul
ture.
A professor of chemical engineer
ing also was authorized.
Vice President Bolton was au
thorized to work out details of a
plan to cover college employees
by workmen’s compensation. This
is to care for those not under
teacher retirement benefits.
The athletic council was author
ized to invest $50,000 in D. S.
Treasury bonds.
Several budgetary items were
passed calling for slight increases
in salaries of several college and
branch college employees, and some
funds were transferred to ac
counts where they will be more
available for college improvements.
Four of the seven members pre
sent were subject to Senate con
firmation. Absent were H. L.
Kokernot, Jr. of Alpine, and A. H.
(See DIRECTORS, Page 4)
Property Owners
Asked To Better
Drainage System
Property owners of College Sta
tion are asked by City Manager
Lloyd Smith to keep ditches sur
rounding their places open for
drainage. In some places gravel
is being piled into driveways which
is detrimental to drainage as well
as to the streets.
Mr. Smith calls attention to drive
dips installed in front of the Lyle
and Taubenhaus homes which were
put in to grade by R. B. Butler at
the expense of the property owners.
“I suggest that any property
owner planning on having his
drive reconditioned contact some
concrete finisher,” Smith said. “He
then can contact the city office
and have the work done according
to grade. This work now can be
done at one of the concrete plants
set up at College Station just off
the College campus.”
College Credit Union
To Meet Next Monday
The Texas A. & M. College Fed
eral Credit Union will hold its an
nual meeting on Monday, January
22, at 8:00 p.m. in Room 313 of
the Agriculture Building.
This union is an organization of
college employees devoted to ex
tending credit to anybody connect
ed with the college who is having
financial difficulty. It is an ex
periment on a national scale in
cooperative credit.
Not only members but all who
are interested have been invited
to attend.
Water - Sewerage
Course Scheduled
Here February 7
Noted Speakers To Be
On Hand for Twenty-
Seventh Annual Course
Texas mayors, city managers and
city governing bodies are urged
by S. R. Wright, acting head of the
Department of Municipal and Sani
tary Engineering, to arrange for
their water and sewerage works
men to attend the 27th annual
Texas Water Works and Sewerage
Short School to be held at the
Texas A. & M. College, Feb. 5, 6
and 7.
This short school is held at Col
lege Statioin annually under the
joint auspices of the southwest sec
tion of the American Waterworks
Association, Texas State Board of
Health, and the School of Engineer
ing of the Texas A. & M. College.
Attendance at the 1944 short
school was a little over 400, break
ing all previous records, but this
figure is expected to be increased
by another 100 representatives at
the 27th school. So important is
this course of instruction that every
camp, post and flying field located
in the 8th Service Command had
one or more military personnel en
rolled at the 26th school. Similar
representation is expected for the
coming course.
A timely program of instruction
has been arranged. A few of the
speakers include: Gibb Gilchrist,
president of the Agricultural and
Mechanical College of Texas, and
outstanding engineer; Col. W. A.
Hardenberg, head of the Sanitary
Corps of the Army; Dr. William
Rudolfs of the New Jersey Agri
cultural Experiment Station, prob
ably the outstanding authority on
sewerage treatment in the country;
Prof. Gordon M. Fair of the Har
vard Graduate School, likewise well
knowp in the field of sanitary
engineering, and many others.
Dean E. J. Kyle, recently nominated for U. S. Ambassador to
Guatemala.
Aggieland Orchestra, Singing Cadets
To Perform for Camp Swift Wounded
Sunday afternoon at 2:45 p.m.
the Aggieland orchestra and sing
ing cadets will entertain the hos-
pitalzied veterans at Camp Swift,
near Austin, with a mixed program
of songs and orchestra selections.
W. M. Turner, director of the
singing cadets and the orchestra,
announced that newspapers in that
area had recently been appealing
for some form of entertainment
for the wounded veterans and they
complained that the convalescing
at Camp Swift had been overlooked
by entertainers touring the state
on good will missions.
The singing cadets recently per-
fomed at Humble Oil Company’s
recent celebration commemorating
the production of their billionth
gallon of high octane fuel at their
large refineries. The cadets were
received exceptionally well for
their part in the program, said
Turner.
For their Sunday program Tur
ner announced they would include
school songs, spiituals, and both
popular and sacred numbers. Burl
Ervin, president of the singing
cadets will sing two solos, his first
offering being “The Holy City,”
and the' other “Forgotten.”
Turner announced that approx
imately fifty-five students will
make the trip, leaving by bus at
the assembly hall at 11 a.m. Sun
day.
President Andrew Jackson was
a tailor by trade.
Cadet Opinion On Campus Places Roosevelt As Most
Outstanding Man In World Events During Past Year
By L. H. Calahan
In the last few days reporters
have been interviewing various
people on the campus in an at
tempt to find out who they thought
was the most important man in
world events in the year 1944. A
similar poll has been conducted by
hundreds of other newspapers all
over the country with the same men
being mentioned in nearly every
case.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was
voted the most important man in
the world in 1944 in every in
stance, but the next four varied as
the next most important in differ
ent sections of the country.
Eisenhower was voted the next
most important man in world
events and he was followed by
Winston Churchill, Adolph Hitler
and Joseph Stalin were named
third and fourth in importance.
A few of the opinions ran as
follows:
Butch Butchofsky, Corps Com
mander, believed that Roosevelt
should be named the leader in
world events of last year because
he was the leader of the Unitel
States, and the United States was
the leading nation in the war in
1944. He also stated that President
Roosevelt must have been an im
portant man to be elected to the
Presidency for the fourth time.
Bill Geer, Aggie football star,
gave his opinion that Admiral
Chester Nimitz should be awarded
top honors as the big man of ’44
because it was the Admiral that
saved the Pacific Fleet from
destruction in the South Pacific,
and he also showed brilliant stra-
gedy in various naval engagements
that he won.
William Krause, sophomore in F
Company, said that MacArthur was
important, as he was the leader of
the Allied forces in the Pacific
and it was from his headquarters
that the plans for the invasion of
the Philippines came.. Krause also
stated that it was MacArthur’s
fullfillment of his promise to the
American soldiers on the Islands,
“I’ll be back”, that brought a great
moral victory to the Americans.
Harold Daily, Cadet major of
the first Battalion, first Regiment,
believed Eisenhower was the lead
ing figure of last year. Daily said
that it was on his shoulders that
the success or failure of the Allied
Invasion rested. If his plans for
the invasion had been delayed, the
war might have been prolonged
another year or two, said Daily.
George Siguet, graduating sen
ior, nominated Roosevelt, saying
that our national problems as well
as those of the world depended
on our President, and that a man
has to be great to be elected head
of a government for the fourth
time, and be the only man that has
ever won that honor.
Olin Hoskins, art editor of the
Longhorn, said that Varga was
perhaps the prominent figure of
the year. After it was made plain
to him that he was not to name
the man that brought the most en
joyment to the Aggies, but the
most prominent man in world
events, he agreed that it was
Roosevelt.
Jack Cooks, freshman in C Com
pany, believes that Joseph Stalin
should be named the top man of
(See CADETS, Page 4)
Senior Ring Dance
Pictures Go On Sale
Senior Ring Dance pictures
will go on sale Thursday of next
week, it was announced today.
Students desiring prints
should contact Louie Clark in
Dormitory 16.
The pictures are 8 x 10 and
the first print will cost $1.50
and all others taken will have a
price of fifty cents each.
Nomination Is Complete Surprise to Him;
To Leave for Washington Conference Sun.
In a telegram received from Senator Tom Connally on
Thursday, January 11, Dean Emeritus E. J. Kyle, was
notified of his nomination for the position of United
States’ Ambassador to Guatemala. Declining to comment on
the subject Kyle announced Thursday’s notification was his
first knowledge that he had even been considered for the
diplomatic post.
Kyle is expected to leave for Washington Sunday where
he will attend a meeting of the
Inter-American Conference on
Agricultural Education. He was
appointed to the committee last
spring. While in Washington he
is expected to onfer With the
state delegation there and with his
long time friend Senator Connally.
chairman of the foreign relations
committee. After a stay there of
ten days Kyle will journey to New
York for a conference with of
ficials of the Institute of Interna
tional Education on the subject of
scholarships. He will return to the
college after a stay of four or five
days there.
At present Dean Kyle is in
Houston attending a meeting of
the Federal Land Bank of which
he is a director. He will return here
■Friday night before journeying to
the nation’s capital.
Kyle has been very active in
Inter-American affairs; in 1941
he made a trip through Central
and South Americas sponsored by
the Standard Oil Company, the
Andejrson-Clayton and Company
and Nelson Rockefeller, coordinator
of Inter-American affairs. Dur
ing this five months tour he vis
ited Guatemala. In July, 1942, he
was a delegation to the second In
ter-American Conference on Agri
culture held in Mexico City. Kyle
was also appointed by Nelson
Rockefeller as Agricultural Ad
viser to the Inter-American De
velopment Commission. He has
been appointed by the Conference
Board of Councils, as a member
of the Committee on Latin-Amer-
ican Studies Association Research.
Senate action is expected to be
taken shortly on the nomination
and if confirmed Kyle said he
would confer with state officials
before accepting.
Texas u. Dean Will
Talk to Pre-Meds
Dr. C. C. Doak, head of the A.
& M. Biology Depatment an
nounced today that Dean Bailey
Calvin of the University of Texas
School of Medicine will be on the
A. & M. campus Wednesday and
Thursday, January 17 and 18. At
6 p.m. Wednesday a “Dutch” sup
per is going to be held for Dean
Calvin at the Aggieland Inn, ac
cording to Doak. He added that it
is planned that after the supper
those interested in Dean Calvin’s
talk will retire to the lounge of
Sbisa Hall. There, Doak said, the
Dean will take on Recent Develop
ments in the Prevention and Treat
ment of Disease and the Treat
ment of Wounds Among Our
Troops.
Dr. Doak requests that all staff
members who will attend the sup
per call 4-5664 before noon Wed
nesday, January 17.
Following the talk in Sbisa
Lounge an open forum on Pre
medic and Medical Education will
be held, Doak added. He also said
that medical men, biologists, ento
mologists and veterinarians should
be especially interested in what
Dean Calvin will have to say and
are, therefore, especially invited.
Doak urges all students of pre
medicine and all others interest
ed to be sure to attend.
Slide Rule Contest
Winners to Be Named
At Meeting Thursday
Prizes to the winners of the
Slide Rule Contest are to be
awarded at a meeting of the forty-
eight contestants to be held in the
Mechanical Engineering Lecture
room on Thursday January 18 at
seven o’clock.
All contestants who participated
in the finals held recently have been
urged to be present at this meet
ing.
Ex From Weatherford
Flys 50th Mission
15TH AAF IN ITALY—Techni
cal Sergeant Floyd A. Richards, 25,
of Star Route 12A, Mineral Wells,
Texas, Engineer Gunner on a 15th
AAF B-17 Flying Fortress, recent
ly flew his 50th long-range com
bat mission in the Mediterranean
Theater.
Sgt. Richards began combat fly
ing July 14, 1944, with an attack
on the oil refineries at Budapest,
Hungary. He ranged over other
targets in Italy, Germany, France
and the Balkans flying his 50th
mission December 2, to bomb oil
refinieries at Blechhammer, Ger
many. He wears the European
Theater Ribbon and the Air Medal
with two Oak Leaf Clusters. ,
Before entering the army he was
graduated from Weatherford High
School and attended Texas A. &
M. College.