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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2015)
MUSTER The Battalion I 4.21.15 3 Honoring the fightin ‘ Texas Aggie Class of 1965 FILE The top image shows Albert Clay, Class of 1965, now. The image beneath it shows Clay as a senior at A&M. FILE The top image shows Edward Kainer, Class of 1965, now. The image beneath it shows Kainer as a senior at A&M. 50-year reunion remembers changes to campus By Sam King leven members of the Class of 1965 went to Vietnam and never came back. Their ultimate sacrifice will be honored with 11 empty seats at the 2015 Campus Muster ceremony Tuesday. The Vietnam War was just one of the tu multuous events that the Class of 1965 lived through while at Texas A&M. Cold War ten sions almost resulted in nuclear war with the Cuban Missile Crisis, construction began on the Berlin Wall and women enrolled at the Ag ricultural and Mechanical College ofTexas for the first time. Fifty years after living through a time of lo cal and international change, the Class of 1965 will again walk campus as the 2015 Muster reunion class. Texas A&M has changed sig nificantly since their brief tenure as students — Corps membership is no longer mandatory and over 25,000 women now study on cam pus. But their visit is a reminder of the remem brance and camaraderie that Muster ultimately stands for. Their time on campus There were 1,894 male students enrolled in what was at the time called the Agricultural and Mechanical College ofTexas, all of whom were a part of the Corps of Cadets, which was mandatory for all students until 1965. Enrollment of the A&M College was just under 8,000, and tuition cost less than $50 per semester. Women would not enroll until 1963, and 1964 saw the enrollment of five black freshman students — the first to call AMC home. One of the members of the Class of 1965 is Albert Clay, who studied accounting and was a member of the Ross Volunteers. He said while life was difficult in a predominantly Corps life style, there were also some lighthearted mo ments. He said one of the ways freshmen got back at the upperclassmen who hazed them was through something called a BABO bomb, which consisted of a cherry bomb put inside a can of BABO, which is a kind of powdered cleanser. Unfortunately, the revenge was short lived for the fish. “You live with these guys, so once you did that, you usually did it at night,” Clay said. “You’d run back and you’d jump back in your hole and you’d get back in your rack and all they had to do was come around and put their hand on your chest and if your heart was beat ing a hundred miles an hour they knew you were the guilty party, and then you’d have to pay the price.” Clay said that while a lot has changed since his time at A&M, specifically with the Corps presence, change isn’t necessarily bad. “The Corps has changed dramatically, but you know, the people that are here now are just as good as the corps folks, and that’s pretty hard for us to believe, but I think it’s true,” Clay said. “Old Army hasn’t gone to hell, there are still good folks here and everybody is doing their best to represent Texas A&M and they’re doing a real good job of it.” V "Back then, we could walk the entire campus pretty quickly and not have to cross any major highways. It would blow your mind away if you haven't been back to campus in 50 years, so it's quite a transition." Edward Kainer, Class of 1965 The importance of Muster Helping organize this year’s Muster is the Muster committee’s liaison to the reunion class Marikit Tomlinson, kinesiology junior. Tom linson said working with the class has been a surprising experience. “It's very cool because they have such a pas sion for each other since their class isn’t as big as ours,” Tomlinson said. “And so they seem to know their fellow classmates on a very person al, individual level and they are full of stories of mischief, which is hilarious to me but also very honorable in terms of what they carry on post-graduation.” Clay said he looks forward to meeting up with his fellow classmates. “We’re getting here already,” Clay said. “Just me and the guys that we graduated with 50 years ago, and [finding out] what they’re doing and their families and just the camaraderie of meeting up with old classmates — that’s what it’s really all about for us.” Clay said Muster is a great tradition that reminds him of the persistence of the Aggie spirit. “It’s once a year to remember where you came from and why you’re doing what you’re doing and what the spirit of Aggieland’s about,” Clay said. “It’s just a tradition that you do not want to ever let die. It’s just that simple.” Change on every front Another former student returning to Ag- gieland is Edward Kainer, who studied sociol ogy and is the Class of 1965 historian. Kainer said the size of the campus will surprise some people who haven’t been back to campus since their graduation. “One of the major changes is campus is just so huge with new buildings,” Kainer said. “Back then, we could walk the entire campus pretty quickly and not have to cross any major highways. It would blow your mind away if you haven’t been back to campus in 50 years, so it’s quite a transition.” World events kept pace with the transition the Class of 1965 experienced on campus. A nuclear war narrowly avoided after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War split Germany and much of Europe into opposing sides and American advisors were sent to Vietnam. The Vietnam War was hugely prevalent to the Class of 1965, Kainer said. Many of their class enrolled in the military after graduation, including 11 who never returned home. The 11 classmates who died in the Vietnam War will be remembered during what would have been their 50 year class reunion with 11 seats that will remain symbolically empty, Kainer said. “We did this at our 20 year reunion, we’re doing it again at our 50th,” Kainer said. “Most of us are former military, but these guys gave it all. These guys gave it all, so that’s of par ticular significance. They were young guys that had their whole lives ahead of them. So we pay tribute to that through what we’re doing. There will be 11 places empty. There will be photos there and they’ll be recognized by the class.” Clay said another major difference he’s no ticed is the importance of academics. In 1965 people were graded on a three-point grade scale instead of today’s four-point scale. “All you had to do was get out, and you needed a 1.0 to get out, and that’s really what everybody pushed and shoved for,” Clay said. “Nowadays the academics are extremely im portant and we didn’t push it that hard, we just didn’t. The idea was to get your hours get your grade point of a 1.0-plus and go on down the road.” The Class of 1965 will be present at Mus ter’s Camaraderie Barbeque, which runs Tues day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kyle Field’s Northern Plaza. Tickets are sold on site and at campus dining facilities, and may be purchased with Dining Dollars.The Class of 1965 will sit on the floor at Reed Arena during the Roll Call for the Absent, and all missing 1965 mem bers will be honored. “There’s not another Aggie group in really the four state area. There’s one in Nebraska, in Omaha. But we really encompass the western part of Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, so if any Aggies want to come from there we have some~Aggicrifl-e>tti?~ club that live 300 miles away. We’re not unfamiliar with driv ing long distances whe FP you live out in the part of the country. People are very intent onal about wanting to honor that piece of their history.” Mary Helen Olsen, Class of 1979 Rapid City, South Dakota “WeHdve in a city called Dammam but we live as pretty much alkthe other expats do in Saudi Arabia, we hve inside a compofijid. It’s basically a city inside some tall walls with guards andNbarbed wire. We have a house here inside the compound so~weTe just having people over, we have our barbecue grill that we brought from the U.S. and we’re just going to have t»&©ffle over and have a backyard with fajitas. I think we-^Tprobably have about 15 people. Laid back, kind " atmosphere. Since we moved here about six months ago don’t know anybody else in the group except some of our neighbors who are Aggies.” Joy Miletic, Class of2000 Saudi Arabia, Aratnco Camp Musters around the world Former students gather across the US and world to share memories “We have people come in from over 100 miles for muster. We do a fairly traditional ceremony, we’ll do a candle lighting for roll call. We’ll have approximately 40 Aggies who will be attending. We’re blessed with a young man who’ll be entering the Aggie band this coming fall. Two of his classmates for the last couple years have been doing Silver Taps for us. They’re musicians, he’ll be in the band. We have a speaker corn ing in from Walla Walla, which is about 60 miles aw^y. Col. Lt. Tim Vail, Class of 2006, does Masters work there at A&M. We’re really extited. This will be the biggest Muster we’ve ever had by far.” C' “We’ve averaged about 1,300 people over the last three years, we’re ex pecting between 1,200 and 1,400 again this year. It differs from the campus ceremony in the fact that we don’t necessarily have the 21-gun salute, we don’t have the color guard. We do have the candle lighting ceremony and we’re able to make it a little bit more intimate. For example, in Houston, we do ask our families to share a picture of their loved one who has passed and we include that in our Roll Call. We’re able to add a little bit of a personal touch. We’re also able to be directly in contact with the famihes of loved ones as well. We have about 188 names that will be called on our Roll Calls this year and between my family liaison and I, we’ve talked to probably about 100 to 120 of those between the two of us. So we’re ablejto. actually interact just like with the university having the representative the day of| we’re actually able to have someone as well not necessarily on the family liaison and myself talk to the families. their loved ones if they’ll share with us and also bje able to add that persor touch of that final memory for their loved one.’ da ry Hickman, Class of 1982 Kennewick, Washington ice and to Paris. The Eiffel Tower is the most le only place that came to mind when thinking know. As you may know, The Eiffel Tower lights up after dark. I thoughtfit would be a beautiful backdrop for a beautiful occasion such as Muster.” ( Sorrell Long, Class of2003 on vacation in Paris, France Lucille’s and so it’s kind so it reminds us of A&M. “We’ve picked a barbecue restaurant cq of cool. It has a nice oudoor patio settir It’s got everything from the iced tea and tflie pint glasses. 1 hey give us our own private patio outside. Last year \ye had about 65*70 people that came. And so it seems it’ll be a pretty good crowd. Anobfcourse you get young and old alike. Some are fresh •ot^of school, somekave been here for a while. There’s a couple that aW interns. I got sor emails here recently saying, ‘Can we join you for^our Muster? We’re interning at some company close by and heard about you.’ We’ve got a couple military bases around here and so we’ln^raw from those folks as well.” Tony Daugherty, Class„o£t9$5 Sacramento, Calijarnii Quotes compiled by Katie Canales, graphics by Frederica Shih — THE BATTALION
