The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 22, 1966, Image 1
Che Battalion ^jNEWSRAPig 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.