Arlington High School - Indian Yearbook (Arlington, MA)

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THE AHEIXGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLAIHOX kinds of companies — machine gun, light and heavy artillery, signal, searchlight, mine laying, and even one of cavalry in Cuba. The marines also have their own aviation corps. “Every ship (that is, a battleship) in the navy is entitled to a complement of ma- rines, ranging from twenty-five men under a sergeant to 250 men under a cajitain; in a fleet the marines may he organized into a battalion under a major. “The marines aboard ship are used for guard duty and landing forces. They also man the three-inch guns and anti-aircraft guns, and on some ships they man the six- inch guns besides. Whatever gave you the impression that we had no hiking to do? Every other morning we do our little ten miles in heavy marching order. The other morning we have regular drill — that is, we have general inspection under arms, then regimental or battalion jiarade, and then drill. In the afternoon we sometimes have boat drill or signal drill, street riot drill, or the new British bayonet drill, or prac- tice in trench fighting. I like it fine down here. Our work lasts from seven A. M. until 3. .50 p. M., after which we scrub our dirty clothing, and then go down to town for the movies, or else drop in to the Y. M. to see what’s going on. o Arlington, Mass. Oct. 2.3, 1917. Dear Editor-. — You have asked me what I am doing at present towards becoming an aviator, and I regret to say that 1 am only one of hun- dreds of young men who have successfully passed the examinations and physical tests, and are now anxiously awaiting their turn to enter a “ground school.” I will try and give you an idea, however, of the duties of an airplane student. The physical examination determines by means of a whirling chair and various 2i) other devices whether a man has what is called a sixth sense, or a sense of balance so necessary to a flyer. Without this he cannot pass. Then after passing the men- tal examination, which discloses one’s knowledge and education, aiul being ac- cejiteil by the examining hoard, he is en- tered on a list of names of men available for ground school. He attends a ground school for eight weeks, studying such subjects as air cur- rents, astronomy, jrhotograjjhy, telegraphy, angles of incidence, fulminates, etc. Then comes another period of waiting until he can enter one of the flying schools. Here he perfects his knowledge of engines, and after sj)ending something like fifteen hours in the air with an instructor, is al- lowed to take the controls himself ff r short flights. Then he is given a test flight of sotne length to do alone, in which he has to visit certain j)laces shown him on a map, and, this accotn])lished, he receives a commission as first lieutenant in the Avia- tion Section Signal Corps. In a finishing school he learns to use a machine gun and to loop the loop, take nose dives, spirals, and all the fancy tricks useful in an aerial battle. Then he may he assigned to one of three branches of the air service: the homhing aeroj)lane, a big, unwieldy machine capalde of carrying great weights, hut slow in speed; the ob- servation aeroj)lane, a smaller, faster ma- chine for scouting purposes; or a fighting plane, the small, incredibly swift, high- jiowered machine, which forms the so- called “cavalry of the air” for the protec- tion of the first two types. In closing, I should like to rej eat that I am still among those who are waiting their turn, as many of my friends seem to take it for granted that I am already more at home in the air than on terra-firma. Sincerely yours, Lawrence G. King.

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28 THE AHUXGTON HIGH SCHOOF. CLARION J. Edwaiu) .McCarthy Battery A, 301st Light Field Artillery, Ayer, .Mass. K. .McLrtAN Battery . , 301st Light Field .Vrtillery, .' yer. Mass. Lieut. Fdward Mead 49th Regiment, .Syracuse, N. Y. Coiu’. Rai.i’h Philpott Coast . rtillery, Fort Revere. Roland Edwards 104th Infantry, . rnerican Expedition Forces. Joseph Zvvinge Battery 101st Field .Artillery. .American Expedition Forces. W. .Iardine Co. F, 101st Regiment Engineers, American Expedition Forces. Ci. .Iardine Co. F, 101st Regiment Engineers, .American Expedition Forces. Nils .Alsen Coast Artillery, Fort Revere. W. Merrican Battery A, 301st Light Field Artillery, Ayer, .Mass. NAA Y. C. .1. Adams LI. S. S. “Malay. Whytal Bennett Reserve. AA’illiam Baily U. .S. .S. “Kearsarge. .Arthir Clare Reserve. •Stanwood Cook U. .S. .S. “Inca.” Ellsworth Gamester Reserve. ,1. WiNTHROP Jewett Reserve. William Kirlin U. .S. .S. “ irginia.” Lawrence B. Marshall LI. .S. .S. “Marietta. George B. McCarty U. .S. .S. “Oklahoma.” Clinton Peabody LI. S. ,S. “Virginia.” Harold Peterson LI. S. S. “.Aztec.” Walter Hutchinson Radio School. Russell Cutter Radio .School. Stewart Goodwin LI. .S. S. “Gresham.” Fred Percy Reserve. MARINES Boyd Allen, H8 Marine Detachment, U. S. .S. “St. Louis.” IN FRANCE. 11. Dadmun Amhulance. Sergt. H. G. Lowe, Jr. Amhulance. .Arthur Dallin .Amhulance. tiEORGE LttWE Amhulance. 1.AWRENCE KtNG .Aviation. Hugh Berquist .Aviation. HOSPITAL UNITS. Thomas Percy 2nd Mass. Hos])ital Corps. o The following is a letter from Boyil Allen, ’lo, who is our only representative in Uncle Sam’s Marine Corps. He has been in the service since the earlier part of the summer, and is now a memher of the Marine Detachment on the L SS. St. Louis, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. “I am surelv glad to hear from you and through vou from the old town. Where are all the hoys? Odie, Steve, and all the rest? Have they all enlisted? What has become of Holde Baker? When you write me again send me all the ‘dope’ about them you can, to use patois. “About the Marines. Th e Marine Corps is peace time numbers 15,000 enlisted men, while at its full war strength it contains 30,000. “A marine recruit puts in from twelve to fifteen weeks of training as a regular infantry soldier, after which he can pick out his own line, for the marines have all

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30 'I'HE ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CI.ARION “I suppose you are wondering if we ever eat. Well, as my bunkie would say, ‘I hope ter tell yer’ we get fine chow, and believe me we sure do polish it olT. Every- one’s appetite is expanded about sixfold ( man size I . “Well, I must close. “Your friend, “Boyd Allen. “P. S. — Tell Miss Littlefield that I have found my French useful already. The dialect spoken here is thickly intermixed with French and Spanish picked up by the marines in Haiti, Cuba, Mexico, and San Domingo.” — o — • HEARD DURING DRILL. Coined, to Pete Sullivan ami Gideon Burnham : “If I knew which of you two boohs were out of step. I’d give you de- merits.”— Ex. — o — • Military Notes. Pie Fong is in his element. He is now a doughboy at Ayer. I wonder if Mr. Cross, as he is formally known, is making the captured Dutchmen learn the Constitution? — o — ■ Whytal Rennet is serving on the USS. Bologna, the first brick battleship to he launched from the Saugus Navy Yard. o A POEM. White, white, white was this land, like the driven snows. Peace reigned over all. Now, alas! across the seas. Red, red, red with the blood of a million foes. And the tears of a million hearts, which God alone can ease. Dorothy Roberts, ’18. HYMIE’S STORE is Y our advantage M erely because 1 t is E ast Arlington’s Handiest Store