Burgard Vocational High School - Craftsman Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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MELVIN COLLIER GIRO F NAVARRO Presldent VICE Pres1dent Elan all NCE upon a tlme on a Saturday mornmg nn May 1947 a group of young enthuslastlc boys walted for the doors of golden opportunlty at Burgard to open to them When these doors were opened all entered wxth an object IH mmd to be accepted as members of the Burgard Vocatlonal student body After the 1nterv1ews were concluded we went home and waited for the news of our acceptance The all lmportant letter flnally arrlved To some the news was satxsfymg to others It meant that thelr dreams were shattered When the doors were opened agam 1n the fall of 1947 304 new faces were seen ln the rooms and corrldors We were freshmen wlth one goal G day fgraduatlon dayj Our fir t year was easy We broke our grammar school hablts an d learned the why s and wherefore s of hlgh school llfe We made new frlends and also perhaps a few enemles June ex ams caught up wlth us and w1th much studymg the mght before we were now fully fledged sophs Here we were sophomores and our goal was Just a lxttle closer Thls year our cross country squad brought home another trophy Exery five weeks our report cards come along and everyone hoped he would be on the honor roll Wlth the report cards also came the bug honor merlt and lmprovement roll assemblies One of these 1n partlcular we shall long remember The Star Spangled Mm trels Unfor tunately there were a xexy few of us who had to lt these assemblle out IH the salt mme because we were not on the ball It takes all kunds to make a world By thls tlme we were hlgh and mlghty Jumors and our goal was stxll closer Thxs year was a great one for the prmt mg department All the old outmoded equlpment especially m the Lltho shop was modermzed Through the combmed efforts of our lnstructors and the Board of Edu atlon we were placed h1 h on the 11st of the art of prlntlnff The avxatlon department also had 1ts day wh n It was presented w1th a Curtlss Commando C 46 mak1ng us the only school m the world to own 1tS own transport plane The electlon of class officers and movmg up day brought to vxew the fact that we had one more year to go Came the exams Some salled some sank but now most of us were semors Ah Semor ' We finally reached the top from whlch we will step 1nto llfe Along wlth the xncommg freshmen came a crew of pamters plasterers brlcklayers and carpenters to glve our old Alma Mater a face llftmg We can well re member when half the perlod was spent looklng for our class because lts usual home had been lnvaded by an army of workmen wleldlng deadly pamt brushes Fwhtmg m Korea was heaxv and wxth the pos lble threat of all out war the student body was put on edge Some of our school chums were now carrylng guns lnstead of penclls and rulers Even though a few left to Jom Uncle Sam most of us stayed to flght a dlfferent foe our final June exams How many of us w1ll recelve a dlploma IS yet unknown but we are all work mg hard so that we wont be left out 1n the cold Even though we now hate only one thought to be flnlsh ed wlth school 1n the years that follow we w1ll wlsh we had net CI left To the many who wlll be followmg 1n our foot steps we wlsh to extend wlshes for great success and a llttle ddVlC6 Work Hard JACK D HELDA WILLIAM H HI' LDA Treasurer Secretary

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FUI itll C 61:55 I0 QC? In my travels as a reporter cox ermg cond1t1ons m the Army I hax e come upon many facts that were not qulte up to snuff but when I saw Fort Johnson fthe men pmcked out the namej I really was ready to throw IH the towel Throughout the ranks I d1s cox ered buddles of mme who had graduated from Burgard 1n the prmtmg class of 1951 When I arrxved at camp the first place I went of course was the mess hall where I was greeted vuth the sweet aroma of Irxsh stew I found to my su1pr1se that xt was Rlchard Kochmanskl stew1ng xegetables from Ralph Haefners Jumor vegetable garden On my way out I bought an xce cream sand a concesslon from force of hablt Walkmg around the grounds I sp1ed Gerald and Jerome Ledwln and Moose M1nton cleamng garbage cans and close by Adam Greszkowlak and Art Derenda were peehng potatoes falso from Ralph Haefner s Junlor vegeta ble patch, I was lnformed by Master Sergeant VValter Pllarowskx that Paul Mye and Jerry Butler vt ere 1n charge of physlcal educatlon at the fort and that J1rn Degen and Paul Geesey took care of all the forts prmtxng Agaln I took off through the fort and on my way I came upon B111 Helda and Frank Heath shootmg baskets wuth a hand grenade Lnto a bomb casmg They 1nfo1 med me that the grounds are kept clean by Paul Kurtzdorfer and Dan Owczarzak At th1s pomt I had to due under the barracks because I saw Rlchard Boeck commg I knew he was lookmg for h1s half a buck Even under the barracks I met some of the boys Herman and Mxller snatch mg a smoke out of srght of the Commandmg Ofhcer who had made a rule about smokmg on the grounds After dodg1ng Boeck I sauntered up to the P X and found Edward Rogala Ernest Kraska and John Dollna preparlng a program for St Patrlck s Haykal who was 1nJured adJust1ng the front s1ghts on a machlne gun when Wllllam Eberhardt happen ed to pull the trlgger Joe Taurlello was also abed He got a broken leg try1ng to be first ln lme for the beer ratlon I learned that one former classmate Tom Borow1ak was deferred because he was mar r1ed and had two chlldren Of course the most 1nfluent1al and respected men 1n the fort were Lee Heuer and LOUIG Terragnoh VV1th thlngs bemg as I haxe reported above do you vt onder that John Boland IS try1ng hard to be d1s charged or transferred I you af e popu ar, ef of vers 0 afff e fdlklflg, 1 wfse, onfy fsfen g f'0 7 ' ' ' KK .73 wich from Jack Bates and Pete Heberlein who ran Day. They sent me to the hospital to see Zaid KK Y, ' ' . . i...........T f ' f l 1 A '