Brooklyn Technical High School - Blueprint Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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The Armahella II plowed under and slowly righted herself. Captain Snow, peering out of a window, saw a figure lying prone on the deck. Rushing out, he fought his way through the swirling waters of a receding wave un- til he reached the unfortunate and dragged him to the waiting hands of several persons who had witnessed this feat. When these people looked around, Captain Snow had disappeared over the side. The Irish hrought to us their great sense of humor. Perhaps their love of fuzz sometimes led them to tell tall stories. At any rate, you he the judge of this one. It was Sunday, and my grandfather, Mr. Simon O'Hollern, was thirsty. Now he could not buy any beer in New jer- sey because its sale was prohibited on Sunday. He knew where he could buy it, but he would have to cross the Hud- son River to get there, and the ferry boats were not running so early in the morning. Grandpa did the only thing left to do. He donned his bathing suit, which had skirts and prisoner's stripes on it, took his beer can, and swam across the river. His pint can had a tight cover and a handle. Grandpa pur- chased the beer, slid into the water, and started back. He looked very com- ical because he had to swim with his head two feet out of water and his body almost in a vertical position. He held the beer can with the handle be- tween his teeth. When he finally reached his barge, Grandmother and Mother congratulated him for his swim, be- cause there was no salt in the beer. But there was a one pound sea bass swimming around in the beer, quite drunk. To this day no one in the family has ever been able to explain how the bass got in. No doubt if we could have examined further into the ancestry of Tech boys, we might have found examples of the qualities of character that other na- tionalities have given us. But let these illustrations suliice, for America's more immediate past has also contributed. America is made of the fight, adven- turous spirit, and humor that have characterized the eventful existence of her people through the generations from the Revolution to the present. Evidenfes of the adventurous spirit that made America are all around us, espe- cially on Long Island. Here a bullet hole tells a dramatic story. During the summer, I received an invitation to visit Sagitos, a stately manor that stands on the north side of Montauk Highway in East Islip. I had been told that the house was built in 1699 by a New Amsterdam merchant, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, and I natural- ly was anxious to see it. On visiting the place, I was impressed by the care taken to preserve the colonial architec- ture, but when I was in one of the rooms, I was thrilled to find a bullet embedded in the wall. When I inquired of my host how this had occurred, he told me that when Long Island was held by the British troops, they made their headquarters there. A revolution- ary spy fired a bullet at Sir Henry Clin- ton, but missed, and the bullet embed- ded itself in the wall. I never found out what happened to the adventurous revolutionary. A visit to the Revolutionary War fort, Fort Ticorzderoga, will also recall adven- turous days of the past. Last summer I had the privilege of visiting Fort Ticonderoga. The fort is on the top of a slight slope right above the banks of Lake Champlain. Inside, one may see displays of articles of

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THE MAKING OF AMERICA Compiled and edited by LEONARD HIRSCH, 735 SOLOMON TEPFER, 793 MILTON WILNER, 76 FOREWORD M MERICA has been made by m l people and their experi- lir gg g ences-the people of far- off lands, the people of America's past, and finally, L .5 the people of today. Espe- cially at a time like this, it is well to inquire what the America is that has resulted from these experiences. What are her ideals? What are her pur- poses? To that end, we here present a series of short compositions written by students of the senior year, relating their own experiences and those of their fami- lies, and thus showing a cross section of American life as represented by Tech. In so far as possible, the material has been arranged in chronological order so as to illustrate the growth of the American spirit. First of all, then, America is made of the combination of virtues brought to our shores by our European fore- fathers. The Greehr, the first democratic people, gave America their lore of liberty. 'The glory of Greece,' .said my father, a veteran of the Balkan wars, in speaking of his native country, 'was slowly dissipated through a. series of invasions, culminating in the Turkish occupation, from which we were freed in 1821. But in 1912, the Balkan war broke out. However, with the help of our Serbian allies, we defeated Turkey once again, and later, Bulgaria, who 4 laid claim to Thrace. Our battles were fought with courage, and people sent their loved ones for the cause of free- dom. Greece has always revolted against oppression, andl predict that the Greek people will rebel against the present tyrants'. Our Dulrh forefatherr heflowed upon ur :heir remarkable ingenuily. My father, who formerly lived in Rotterdam, Holland, tells about how, forty years ago, in that city, a floating drydock was built for the city of Port Natal, South Africa. To transport the drydock, it was necessary to board up two ends and fill it with bags of coal to be used as fuel for the two tugboats used on the long trip. If either of the boats needed fuel, it would go along- side the dock and get the coal, while the other tug pulled the dock. In calm weather, the drydock was pulled along the top of the water, while in rough seas, it would be sunk ten feet to make easier transportation. The complete trip took three months and was hailed as a great achievement in ocean transporta- tion. The following story illurtraler the rourage and Jelf-rarrijire of lhe English people. A packet of important papers had been entrusted to the care of Captain Snow, my grandfather, who, as a pas- senger, was carrying them by sea to New York, and thence to the nation's capital.

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Colonial warfare-rifies, cannons, uni- forms, and ammunition. He may also inspect the room in which Ethan Allen had his headquarters. It is impossible to look through the crude glass of the windows of this room without seeing images that are greatly distorted. As the visitor leaves the fort, he is chilled by the formidable aspect of the cannons protruding from the stone wall and is saddened by the old Indian pottery maker, one of the last of his kind. The lrefnendoni pre-war ifnznigration proclureil many economic problemr for the innnigranl. How he fought to exirl and lo belter hir existence is here relaled. Life was growing increasingly dif- ficult for the immigrant, who was try- ing to support his growing family in their shabby apartment in the East Side slums. He had a hard time providing the necessities of life on his eight dol- lars a week for fifteen hours a day in a sweatshop. Life was even more diHi- cult when there was no eight dollars at all. There was a union and later a strike. The grocer didn't sympathize, nor could the children go without food. But finally things changed, and there was a new job. Life was much pleasant- er with the consequent better pay, shorter hours, and Saturday and Sun- day off. The immigrant went to night school, became a citizen. He took his family to the museums, to the aquarium, and to Coney Island. So that his chil- dren would not grow up in the slums that produced criminals, he moved to Brooklyn. There I was born. IV ar fame, war the like of which had never been fought before, for the jiri! lWorlzl War introduced many inaehinei which made fighling a diffirult art. The airplane with iff armament way one of the mort intrirate of the new rnarhinef. Since my father was a machine gun 6 instructor at Kelly Field during the first World War, it was his duty to teach the pilots in training the tactical use of the Lewis machine gun. Part of this training entailed the assembling and dismounting of the gun. This op- eration had to be done blindfolded in three minutes. It all depended on the pilot's sense of touch and the ability of his body to distinguish between differ- ent parts of the gun. One pilot in the squadron could accomplish the entire operation in one minute. There were many Jacriffef on the field of baffle in the war. Many of ui have some relative who can dercribe lhe fight r.rt hand . A group of men including my father are sitting in their dugouts after trench duty. A messenger arrives with an order. It is for a mass attack in an hour. The men prepare. They wait. The signal is given. Waves of American, English, and French soldiers charge across the field. Airplanes drone over- head. The staccato of rifle fire fills the air. The Germans give. Their line crumbles. The Allied soldiers won the battle of St. Mihiel, but hundreds were left behind on the field. Some were dead, others wounded or gassed. To this day, my father suffers from the effects of the gas, and he still bears a long jag- ged scar on his arm. The war wa: not all battle and killing. A whimsically humorous account of thore bloody days i.r related thai. My uncle was nervously serving sentry duty on his first night at the front. As he paced up and down, he noticed the moon reflecting off a dis- tant object. 'Probably -a bayonet,' he thought. Twice he challenged, then, as it is a sentry's privilege to shoot if