Che Battalion
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Volume 61
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 1966
Number 302
FIRING SQUAD PAYS TRIBUTE
. . . traditional volley honors Aggie dead.
FOR AULD LANG SYNE
. . . Singing Cadets revive old memories.
Muster Pays Tribute
To Fallen Comrades
Aggies assembled in solemn
tribute Thursday to the memory
of fallen sons of Texas A&M as
the 64th annual Muster was cele
brated in more than 500 locations
throughout the world.
Traditionally designed to honor
heroes of the Texas Revolution
and students who have died since
the last Muster, the main campus
ceremony also memorialized 14
former students who have already
died in the bitter struggle in
South Viet Nam.
Aggies who have died in Viet
Nam include Capt. Charles F.
Allen ’63; Capt. James C. Caston
’58; Capt. Russell W. Condon ’55;
Capt. William F. Cordell Jr. ’60;
Capt. Royal Clifton Fisher Jr.
’52; Lt. George Gutierrez Jr. ’63;
Capt. Donald Ray Hawley ’59;
Lt. John Hernandez ’65; Capt.
Julius J. Jahns ’55; Capt. Foy
Manion Mathis ’57; Capt. Ernie
McFeron ’56; Capt. George P.
McKnight ’58; Capt. Richard E.
Steel ’55, and Lt. James Claud
Thigpin ’61.
Roll call of the absent was also
read by Head Yell Leader Joe
Bush for George M. Antilley,
Horace G. Young, Joe B. Wilson
and Wayne H. Werdung, all mem
bers of the Class of 1969.
Muster speaker was Penrose B.
Metcalfe, a 1916 graduate and
former member of the Texas
House and Senate.
Metcalfe described the Muster
as “a priceless legacy left to us
by those gone before.”
“Its memory will always remain
vibrant and strong because it is
a shrine in the minds and hearts
of Aggies everywhere,” he added.
“Thanks to our men it will
never, never die.”
Metcalfe saluted the Texans
who “rose up all over Texas” to
form an army and finally defeat
Mexican forces at San Jacinto
April 21, 1836. That victory in
sured independence for the Re
public of Texas.
“Texas was a strange land
crushed by war and poverty,” he
noted, “a land of turmoil and
travail.
“But when it became evident
that the common welfare was in
danger the people rose up, will
ing and ready to give up their
lands and even their precious
lives to secure liberty.”
The speaker attributed the edu
cation received by A&M men as
a contributing factor in the or
ganization of the first Muster in
1903.
“Only a definite and strong
cause could bring into being a
tradition so widespread and grow
ing larger each year,” he said.
“Whatever inspired those men
must have been some force or
belief principally acquired when
they became students at A&M.”
Metcalfe compared the turbu
lent days of the Republic to to
day’s troubled world and admon
ished Texans to meet the chal
lenges of the future as did their
predecessors.
“We must always recognize
that America alone has the power
and will to cope with all con
frontations and maintain a bal
ance of world affairs,” he said.
A&M President Earl Rudder
introduced the speaker and also
spoke briefly of his recent trip
to South Viet Nam.
Guests included Clyde Wells
and L. F. Peterson, members of
the Board of Directors; Royce
Wisenbaker, president of the
Association of Former Students,
and Aggie Sweetheart Cheri
Holland.
mmm
■ ■
METCALFE DELIVERS ADDRESS
. . . 1916 graduate Muster speaker.
Aggies In Saigon
Muster To Honor
Fallen Comrades
64th ANNUAL MUSTER SEREMONY
. . . crowd listens to main address.
SAIGON LP> — Texas flags
fluttered and there was singing,
cheering and mourning Thurs
day night as 70 graduates of
Texas A&M took time out from
fighting the Viet Cong to mark
the 64th annual Aggie muster.
The largest muster was held
in a downtown Saigon restau
rant but there were others in
Da Nang and Cam Ranh Bay.
Revelry and poignancy inter
mingled as the graduates of the
oldest public university in Tex
as bent elbows, swapped sto
ries, paid tribute to deceased
classmates and watched a foot
ball game film.
The boisterous Aggies tried
hard to forget the war and have
a good time.
A color movie of the campus
at College Station, Tex., en
tranced the Vietnamese waiters
even though they didn’t under
stand the narration.
The opening shot of the Texas
Capitol and the university’s
name sparked cheers from the
grads, but filmed classroom lec
tures brought memories and his
ses. A hush fell as a sequence
on “Silver Taps” for a fallen
Aggie appeared on the screen.
Then it was time for the roll
call. The names of graduates
who died in the past year were
read and an Aggie answered
“here,” symbolizing that they
still are here in spirit.
Then they stood and sang the
Aggie War Hymn.
Women, always limited on the
campus, had two representatives
at the Saigon shindig. One was
a USO representative who for
merly worked on the campus and
the other was a Vietnamese girl
who helped the bartender.
This turned the talk to the
admittance of women to regu
lar classes—on a limited basis—
at the formerly all-male school.
“I hate to see it change. We
fought it in my day and won,”
Maj. Charlie Roper of Houston
said.
Roper, a 1952 graduate, has
tened to add it’s not that Ag
gies don’t like girls.
“There’s plenty of time for
women and I think it’s better
when a man is through college
and more mature, he explained.
“I don’t like it one bit,” Ron
and Doug Florence of Kings
ville, Tex., said in unison.
Doug Florence graduated in
1964 and has been in South Viet
Nam 2 1/2 months, two weeks
less than his brother who grad
uated last year.
A shout of “Beat the hell out
of TU (the University of Tex
as)” rocked the crowded room
when a football film brightened
the screen.
The film, was of the game
last fall in which A&M beat
Rice, 14-13.
First Bank & Trust now pays
4^% per annum on savings cer
tificates. —Adv.
12 Positions Filled
Fudge Chosen
Senate Head
In Elections
By JOHN FULLER
Battalion Staff Writer
Wayne B. (Barney) Fudge,
Francis J. Bourgeois and Jerry
Stevens were elected to top Stu
dent Senate posts Thursday in the
spring general elections.
Fudge won the presidency with
a majority of more than 2-to-l
over Jack Pyburn, his only op
ponent.
Eight offices in the Student
Senate, three in the Civilian Stu
dent Council and the senior class
agent post pere filled, with a voter
turnout of less than 11 per cent
of the student body.
Election Commission Chairman
Harris Pappas termed the per
centage “very poor” and said
there was “evidently not enough
interest aroused by the candi
dates.”
“The freshmen elections last
semester had more votes cast than
there were in the general elec
tions,” Pappas pointed out.
Bourgeois won the closely-con-,
tested vice-presidential race with
184 votes, followed by Jack Cole
man with 171, Joseph P. Webber
with 152 and Leon Travis with
115. Other candidates were Jack
M. Whiteside, 104, Richard Adams,
99 and Weldon T. Bollinger, 64.
The Student Issues Committee
chairmanship went to Stevens,
who tallied 389 ballots to James
Baldauf’s 284.
The winner in the parliamen
tarian’s race was Daniel H. Fisch
er with 422 votes. Larry Lee re
ceived 345.
In a close race for recording
secretary, Benny Sims won with
326 votes, followed by Gerald El-
liff with 310 and Wiliam Allen
with 140.
Others officers named were Ter
ry Aglietti, Student Life chair
man; Troy H. Myers, Public Re
lations chairman, and Donald Al
len, chairman of the Welfare Com
mittee.
James T. Oliver was named
president of the Civilian Student
Council defeating Edward Salis
bury, 91-77.
In the races for CSC vice presi
dent and treasurer, Lewis Venator
and Michael McAfee were elected
without opposition.
Joe Bush won the senior class
agent post with 28 votes. Robert
A. Wright polled 18 and Miro A.
Pavelka 14.
When asked what he hopes to
accomplish in his new office,
Fudge said he would like “to im
prove relations between the Stu
dent Senate and the student body
to get more interaction between
the two.
Patient
Suffers
Damage
HOUSTON, Tex. UP) — A 65-
year-old patient with a partial
artificial heart may have suffered
some brain damage after a dra
matic operation to save his life,
doctors said today.
However, almost 24 hours after
the device — about the size of a
grapefruit — was implanted in
side the man’s chest his condition
was generally reported as satis
factory.
Physicians feared there may
be brain damage because the pa
tient, Marcel L. DeRudder of
Westville, 111., had not regained
consciousness.
A team of noted specialists
from Baylor and Rice universities
headed by Dr. Michael E. De-
Bakey, 57, performed a six-hour
operation on DeRudder Thursday
at Methodist Hospital.
They hope it will prolong his
life and usher in a new era in
the treatment of heart disease
that could help thousands of oth^
er heart patients.
The latest medical advisory
said it was too early to tell the
extent of the brain damage De
Rudder may have suffered.
The advisory noted that the
heart device was functioning noi’-
mally as expected.
Other than the report of pos
sible brain damage, it was sim
ilar to an earlier advisory that
said DeRudder was “exhibiting
no evidence of heart failure and
everything was progressing most
satisfactory.”
DeBakey performed an opera
tion similar to DeRudder’s in
1963, using a silicone rubber de
vice instead of the plastic type
used Thursday. That patient,
who was 43, lived only four days
because of a hopeless condition
of the brain, kidneys, liver and
lungs.
On Feb. 4, at Maimonides Hos
pital in Brooklyn, N. Y., Dr. Adri
an Kantrowitz installed an air-
operated artificial heart in a 34-
year-old man who died 24 hours
later of complications not con
nected with the heart surgery.
■I I ■■
TEXAS HISTORY DAY OBSERVED
A&M Consolidated Texas history teacher Fred Hopson
snaps photos of some of his students as the junior high
school celebrated Texas History Day Thursday. Seventh
grade students and instructors wore costumes linked with
periods of Texas history. The program was conceived by
Hopson to make the study of Texas history more interest
ing.