Berkshire Community College - Falconer Yearbook (Pittsfield, MA)

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With our ,hrsl eivafnzs over and graduation past, we left Bancroft Ilall on leave. mll dBllDEEl'EB1flGlDHR5 for Deccmberls graduation were marred by the attack on Pearl Harbor. It came in the midst of days busiecl with the important events of Academy life -getting ready for exams, graduation and leave-and pushed all other happenings into the background. Its suddenness and ferocity shocked us and made December 7, 1941 a date history will long remember. Yet in spite of that quick plunge into war, our first Christmas was cele- brated with most of the usual zest of midshipmen on furlough. It was lwt as Jane Ufeelc in Dahlgren Hall, but we stood straight as we could while 14:2 received their prizes and awards. We envied the graduating class for they would soon join the fleet newly at war.

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'Q' - - i-aim-ui -' The security watch was a firmly establishecl 'institution when we returnecl from leave. LEAVES END fw..a enum' We tools over lhe Mate of the Deck watches and longed for baltalion office duty s IT was then necessary to settle down quickly to the realization that we were now a part of a nation at war. Our mission at the Academy had suddenly turned into a grim one, and it took us a while to adjust ourselves to the idea that we had an important job lying ahead of us. The old routine, better known as the systemi' immediately took charge and helped us with that adjustment. V- 'A U . -,ig ft, y - 1w7 Window closing was a duty relegated to ue, the lowly plebes The greater part, and perhaps the least exciting part of plebe year was before us. With the war had come new additions to the routine of the Academy, notably the Security Watch. Little did we pity the upper classmen who had the distinction of standing those long Hgraveyardv watches, for at the time we were bothered mainly with that curse of plebe year, the window-closing detail. Most of us can easily recall the shock of getting up an hour early on those coldest of winter mornings to close the pneumonia gaps in the rooms of the fresh air addicts on our decks. As we reached Youngster and First Class year, though, we realized the benefits of that institution. Wallcing to class in the snow was an- other popular sport, only the fact that it terminated in the classroom detracted from its enjoyment. It seemed that we were always marching to some class or drill.