Le Roy Central School - O At Kan Yearbook (Le Roy, NY)

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We Honor l In l94l when we were Freshmen, japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States declared war upon the aggressor nations. Although the actual combat seemed far away, awareness of the war was soon thrust upon us. Faculty members left to join the services, our curriculum was subjected to many changes, our time was spent in collecting scrap paper and working in defense plants or on farms as well as in school, our money was put into VVar Bonds and the Red Cross. Altogether too soon the boys of our own class became of an age to enlist. Yes, we complained about the difficulty of obtaining materials and the curtailment of en- tertainment before it became necessary to purchase this memorial plaque. The names placed in it are those of boys we have known: Allan Burrows Frank Brown Louis Caccamise Francis Castle Howard Covell john Darby john Darrow Carl Dutton Frederick Feneran Robert Graney Leonard Ingles Hugh Pickell Kenneth Pinney Gerald Platt jack Reamer Anthony Riggi Earl Rubens Ralph Shepard Samuel Steffenella Robert Thompson Salvatore Vona james VValker Richard Longhany Reid Wloodward Charles O'C'een They too attended the Le Roy Public Schools and experienced joy in a victory over Batavia, groaned about the amount of history homework, worked and played as we do. Events of the world are moving swiftly. On May 8, scarcely a month after the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, we celebrated victory in Europe and turned our full attention upon the Pacific. Today we dedicate this plaque to those men who made our victories possible, and in so doing lost their lives. -Neg 1 0 ji?-D.-

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Adlninistration EDWARD W. SPRY Mr. Spry. our superintendent, wrote this greet- ing for the Class of 745. l know that every Senior values his message. HTV!It'I1 llzzfbv ?Ull.:5flt'l'5 lore, 'Tlzozf 11111sf,' The lyozzflz rc'fWI.es, 'I C6111 f' Events of the past four years confirm for me the truth and fitness of these lines written by Ralph XYaldo Emerson and give me confidence in the future of our social order, both national and international. Pearl Harbor, with all its sad but infuriating consequences. came early in your freshman year. The youth who had attended your and other high schools in the decade of the thirties were thought to be flabby, mentally and physically. They had been accused of being relief seekers and con- firmed pacifists. Many had taken the Oxford Pledge. During the pgtst four years American youth has been demonstrating that these criticisms were without real foundation. Corregidor and Bataan bear testimony to their sad lack of preparedness but also to their possession of invincible courage. During these four years we have followed these young men and young women as they have gone- many directly from our school roomsvto training camps. and then as they have gone to their battle stations around the world, some in the Army, some in the Navy, and others in the Air Corps. XYe are all aware of how well they have done their jobs. The fact that in the brief space of eleven months our boys have driven the much-boasted, unbeatable Nazi military machine back from Cherbourg to Berlin and forced it to accept an unconditional surrender bears ample evidence of their intelligence, physical Htness and courage. During the same time, others of our armed forces on the other side of the world have won back and avenged Corregidor and Bataan and have the leaders of another power-drunk nation certain of impending defeat. Once our youth had sensed the issues at stake, there has been no faltering. To the challenge that these rapidly advancing enemy hosts be stopped, Youth has replied and made good on its declara- tion. I canf' b Some members of your class of 1945 are now with the armed forces. Others will be inducted before school opens again. Perhaps in a year- we hope less-japan will acknowledge defeat. Then will come the task of building a structure to prevent future wars, and building a social order in which the people of the world may enjoy politi- cal freedom and may achieve economic and social satisfactions commensurate with their efforts and desserts. This building of a new social order in which ..... the war-drums throlvlwd 110 longer, mm' the battle-flags were furl'd In tlzc Parliament of man, the Federation of the world has been an age-long dream. The idea of a Brotherhood of Man was born in a herdsman's shed in Nazareth. You know from your experiences of the last four years that youth has been willing to give its all in behalf of a better social order. More than twenty-live boys of Le Roy High School have made the last supreme sacrifice for this cause. XYill you make it your responsibility that they did not die in vain? This new social order won't be achieved in a year, a decade or two decades. Yours is the generation which has lived closest to it. You must have acquired a definite realization of the urgent need for building for world peace and reached some conclusions respecting the changes that must come in the present social and economic orders. Will you accept the responsi- bilitv? i UTVIIUII Duty whispers lore, 'Tlzozf m11.rl',' The Vozftlz replies, 'I can. if 12 lie--