Barre High School - Barretone Yearbook (Barre, MA)

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REVENGE IS NOT SVv’EET .. Jerry, Jack, and Slira had enlisted in the R.A.F. when the war broke out in the fall of ' 39. These three Canadian lads had con- sidered themselves lucky that they v erc in England and could enlist immediately v hcn the Gorman Blitzkrieg rolled into Poland. They were examined, outfitted, and hustled off to training camp. Jerry, freck- led and joyous, Jack, quiet and calm, and Slim, hotheaded and impetu- ous, wore inseparable and v ore called ' The Three Canuks by the other pilots . V hilo the boys were training, they joked of the way in which they would treat the Germans. ’’Wait till I got one of those ' Einkel bom- bers around,” boasted Jerry. ”I’ll make his name mud or mine ain’t Jorry.” Slim was about to voice tne same opinion v hen the night air was filled with a high-pitched, droning roar. The pilots hardly had time to rush cut side, v7hen a series of explosions rent the air. The barracks and a hangar burst into flames, several men folded up, and the dive bo.abers fled as swiftly as they had come. Jack stood stunned, for of that little group that had rushed out of the barracks, he alone romainod. Jerry, kindneartod, lay in a pool of b]c d-. Jack could only stare. Suddenly througii his ben imbed sonsos, a faint moan came above the roar of the flames. He av okc to action and n-jorly stumbled over an unrecognizable J ' igure with its (.rm tern away aid its features bloody. Jack knelt ovej this borljr with a horrible st-. ' -t.. He roalizod that this corpse was his buddy. Slim. Ho bent to ;.aich the sounds issuing from the laeorcted mouth. Slim cried, Oh Gehk ' -d.s head fell back, and he v as dead.. The stretcher - ' ..c arers found Jack where he had fainted over the bodj- of his dr-a.d Jiionid , They carried him to a shelter, v hero he v as rov?TGd. He ?oon ;c blank for a moment ana then remembered the tv70 fr ' rnds v.in: w;. old ray and never sing again. There and then he vov ed that the u.i.-imy would pay and pay and pay for the lj.ves of Jerry and SI: m Tne r ' .ext xring Jacx v as waiting with 200,000 other British Tom- mies” for the expected blitz through the lov countries. By now he was an expert pilot vnth four planes to his credit. When the drive came, he v as up from davrni to dusk scouting, convoying bombers, and dogfighting , One day a group of bomber-f ighters dropped out of a cloud on the vengeful Jack. Their pianos v ere faster, but the pilots were loss Sxkillful, The enemy planes got in each others way and Jack sent three dovrni before something grazed his head and blotted out vision. He vdpod his eyes and his hand carae away bloody, a bullet had grazed his forehead. Vdthout further ado he headed for home and landed his ship riddled v ith bullet holes. The doctor, v ho bound up the wound, said to Jack, Bettor be careful of this. You ougiit to take a fur- lough and heal that v ound.” Jack laugiiod, I’ve got an old debt tc settle, and I intend to get mj full payment.” A young German pilot was up for his first flight over the front. Suddenly at sunset, out of 3 cloud came a British fighter. Unswervingly it held to its courso duo v;ost. The youth chased the piano and sent several drums of buk ' lets into it, but tlio plane hold to its course as before. In thaw plane sat Jack, his staring eyes sightless, and his body raked with steel- jacketed bullets. He and his plane, with its control locked in neutral, were flying into the sunset to meet his pals in the Great Beyond, Norman Carruth

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TliE EASY ' ,7AY Tiio traveler iiad stopped anotlicr autonobilo to ask directions, but vrlien they had been r lvcn, the ii:ni?ircr hesitated. But if v e take that roadj he said, we 11 niss the view of the falls. Oh, you v ant to take the- Falls Road,’ the other uotorist ex- clained. The road is very rou h and hilly. It s a Ij.ttle longer around througn Oakloigh, but the road ' s riuch snoother, I don’t suppose there is very nuch to see in Oakleigh. This conversation reveals a proriinont spirit of this nodorn age. This spirit asks not what is nost worth while but v hat is easiest. The two high sophomores, talking over their plans for the future, shov ed the same tendency. No, you don’t want to go to Sanford, said one of then in an- sv er to Oiis companion. If you don’t inke a certain grade, they drmp you at the end of the first tern If 3 ou go to Yvaterbury you can scrape by on most any standing - ’■ In this y ' ung nan’s mind, the question was not to find the school where ho v ould get the best education but v here he could got the easiest education. The thing that 3 oung people do not realize is that the easiest way is not always the best vray. The way to make rhe nost of our liv s is tu nick the cjurso that is .’xt the easies-b. The great men of the v orld v ould not have been so if they had shirked the hard road and taken the easiest. The easy way is the way wc should avoid. Alfred N ' ilbur