Kenyon College - Reveille Yearbook (Gambier, OH)

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'THE 1920 REVEILLE 27 evening mess, the majority of men went in quest of wood while others busied them- selves in making a dummy Kaiser. The army was then called together and 13 men chosen to hold a general court martial for the trial of that notorious figure in world history. Needless to say, he was convicted and sentenced to be -burned in effigy. Carrying out the sentence, the beast of Berlinl' was tied to a stake on top the enormous pile of wood and the blaze started while the men indulged in the usual snake dance around the fire. Following this, and to close the evening speeches were made by President Peirce and Lieut. Brewster. With the lifting of the quarantine, which was prevalent during the influenza epidemic, a company dance was agitated, a committee was appointed and worked tirelessly for the next few days to give the company the pleasure of attending a dance as nearly like a Kenyon dance as one could be under the circumstances. On Friday, December 6, Rosse hall was a veritable fairyland for the men who had been kept under the quarantine for so long and they tripped the light fantastic until the wee, sma, hours to music furnished by Parker's orchestra. Shortly before the unit was disbanded, President Peirce presented medals to five men for excellence in military and academic work, their standing being compiled from a list tendered him by the commanding officer and from faculty reports. The medals were struck by the municipality of Verdun in commemoration of the defense of that city in 1916, and were secured by Dr. Peirce in a tunnel underneath the City. The following were the awards: For excellence in both military and academic work, standard medal, Sergeant Henry C. Wolfe of Coshocton, souvenir medals for the same work, Sergeant Robert C. Heinbuch and Corporal Kenneth C. Kastor, both of Cleveland. For excellence in military work, First Sergeant Isaac C. Brewer. For excellence in scholarship, Corporal William P. Wiseman of Lancaster. During the afternoon of Friday, December 13, physical examinations prepara- tory to demobilization were given and on the next day the unit was demobilized. ' Imagine, Mr. Alumnus, the Commons being turned into a mess hall on the cafeteria plan with no table cloths and no napkins, the divisions being divested of all furniture and made barracks, the Alumni library being a study hall Where all men marched to study when they had no classes and no one being allowed in said barracks except for a few minutes at noon, just before and after supper. Imagine Kenyon men tumbling out of bed at 5 245 in the morning to the call of a bugle and standing reveille a full half hour before breakfast, making their beds, sweeping out their rooms before breakfast, and the rising bell being rung only in case of a fire or fire drill! Truly, the government turned things topsy-turvy. To First Lieut. Brewster, commanding, is given the honor of making the unit what it grew to be-the best unit for its size, in the whole of the S. A. T. C. Kenyon may well feel exceedingly fortunate in having the service of such a man to command its first army corps.

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26 THE 1920 REVEILLE RAVAGES QF THE EPIDEMIC Shortly after the unit was mobilized an epidemic of the wide-spread Spanish iniiuenza gained a foothold and remained for six weeks. Because of the fact that there were four, and sometimes five men in one small room and as the men were crowded into the Philomathesian and Nu Pi Kappa literary society rooms each even- ing for two hours' study, the epidemic spread with amazing rapidity. Every day for almost a week, men would be seized with the disease and faint while standing in ranks. Ultimately, the West Wing was converted into a hospital and the Hu victims were there isolated, but not until they had had time to pass the germs on to others. Finally, when all patients were removed to the hospital, conditions were bet- tered. Eight men in the company acted as nurses and two professional nurses were secured. Soon, the wave had reached and passed its crest under the careful guidance of the graduate nurses. During the epidemic, two of the unit, Verner Lee Hulse and Neal Jones suc- cumbed to the dreaded disease. About the middle of October, another officer, Lieut. John J, Kindel, was assigned to the unit as rifle instructor. Of course, it was a small matter and VVashington was a busy little town about that time, but, nevertheless, it may be imagined that it was a trifle diliicult to instruct the men in the manual of arms and in shooting when there were no rifles. However, that was but one of the multitudinous slightly dis- concerting arrangements in the fall campaign of the Hill. Wlieri the unit had been operating but one month, orders were received to send five men to the O. T. C. at Camp Grant, Ill. Sergeants Weida, Snow, Corporal Branch, and Privates MacAdie and VValter were the men chosen. Second Lieut. Jesse C. Williams of Fort Stockton, Texas, was assigned to the unit in October and took up his duties immediately as drill instructor in which capacity he was an adept. - November 11-It is superliuous to mention what happened on that day. When the news first reached Gambier, recall was blown and the men raced to the front of Old Kenyon where pandemonium reigned for half an hour. At the end of the first period of rejoicing, the company was formed and marched through the streets of the village, singing. In the afternoon, the unit joined with the entire town in a big parade. Later the men were taken to lVIt. Vernon and there paraded in the main streets. Had .it not been known and whispered around, that the Kenyon unit was coming to lVIt. Vernon, the residents of that place might easily have mistaken the heterogeneous lot of marching men for a parade of factory employes as the government, evidently not caring t-o have the men in the Kenyon -unit divested of their individuality and foreseeing the end of the war shortly after the establishment of the S. A. T. C. units, had carefully not provided the men with any of their equipment. f Just before supper on that day of days, Lieut. Brewster announced that study hall would be dispensed with for that evening and, according to the usual Kenyon custom of celebrating any big event, a bonfire should be had. Immediately after

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ZS THE 1920 REVEILLE As-to the real success or failure of the S. A. T. C., one should be wary in pronouncing judgment because of the fact that the armistice was signed and the men demobilized before it had been given a fair trial. However, Dr. Charles F. Thw-ing,president of Wiestern Reserve university, approaches a complete surnmaryof the training in the following words: The college man has acquired formal courtesy, health, industry and a thorough democratic spirit, but-higher education, culture, intellectual breadth and liberal learning have been retarded. As far as the success of the S. A. T. C. in Ohio is concerned, taking Kenyon as representative Cand Kenyon had the best unit in the statej, the S. A. T. C. was not a success. Academic work was practically useless as it was being constantly inter- rupted when the military establishment ranked the college authorities and what- ever academic work was done, was of a neglible quantity. Again, because of the fact that the men were supposed to attend classes and study most of the day and in the evening, a minimum of actual d1'ill and military science and tactics Could be taught them. ' , Apropos of its being a target of ridicule in its characterization by people as a Sad and Terrible Calamity, Saturday Afternoon Tea Clubf' Safe at the College, Sit a Trifle Closer, Stick Around Till Christmasf' etc., the rule of the Students' Army Training Corps certainly was the best evidence that can be obtained that a military establishment and academic learning must each separately maintain its integrity and that the two must not be immersed in any shape or form if one desires toisee the prosperity of them both, or, in other words the two are con- clusively and completely incompatible! The following is a list of those in the Kenyon unit: Ackerman Black Chamberlain Adams Bliss Chase, P. T Andrews' Bogardus Chase, S. K. Anger Bostwick, H. K Chew Arndt Bostwick, R. H. Clock Bailey Boyd Crawford Bair Brain Cron Banks Branch Danes Barkan Brewer Davies Bennett, A. Brooks ' Davis, A. C. Bennett, W. Brown, IC. A. Davis, VV. C l Biggs, B. C. Browne, C. P. ' Dechant Biggs, F. L. Brush Devault Biggs, L. B. Cable Dickson Billow Carabelli Doolittle Bitzer Carr Drake