Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

Page 21 text:

THE WAR • Did you get one of those applications for this ERC that the University has been sending out 7 Yes, and I ' m taking advantage of it, too. Whv, even if they should call you, you ' d he sent to Officers Candidate School. ' ULY OF 1942 is notable in that it marked the first appearance of that imporant character The Army Enlisted Reserve Corps, or ERC, in the Lehigh drama. Like the Navy programs, it did not attract many upperclassmen, many of whom were already Army reservists through advanced ROTC; but its appeal to the fresh- men, arts and business men for whom the University could not request deferment, and especially to the then sub-freshmen to whom information concerning the pro- gram had been sent during the summer, was considerable. Certain cautious characters began to pencil into the ERC after the look before you leap of the Navy posters. The relative peace and quiet of the summer term was shattered in mid-September, 1942, by the arrival of over six hundred members of what was then termed the class of 1946 almost all of whose survivors are now in the June ' 4? group. As Lehigh ' s largest entering class it taxed campus housing facilities to overflowing and spilled over into the rooming houses of South Bethlehem. When Arcadia president Bob Whipple introduced Dean Neil Carothers to the freshmen at a meeting held in Packard auditorium during rush week, he mentioned that the dean would soon be heard over a nationwide radio hook-up in a debate on the question of lowering the draft age from 20 to 18. Everyone laughed. The war seemed very far from Lehigh during those warm autumn days. Fra- ternities announced the pledging of 291 men, the largest number since the gay days of 1924. All four dormitories were filled to capacity, and the campus swarmed with brown-tied-and-socked freshmen wearing those brown caps with white numbers that one still sees worn now and then on rainy days. The first pep rally of the year spon- sored by the sophomore class packed Grace Hall to the doors. Peculiar rites accom- panied by strange chant ing concerning whales were performed almost nightly in Tay- lor Quad. . . . College life was going full blast. C 5 [17]

Page 23 text:

THE WAR • Things began to look better over the country that fall, 1942. The almost legend- ary Field Marshal Rommel and his Afnka Korps had been handed their first setback after the supermen had pushed almost to the suburbs of Alexandria and were motoring hurriedly across the desert in search of a good place to make a stand against the pursuing British. News about an island called Guadalcanal had filtered back to America, and although the full story of how the Marines had exterminated the little brown brothers with cold steel was not known at that time, people felt that Guadal- canal symbolized the turning of the tide in the Pacific and that it was the first step on the road to Tokyo. People felt better than at any time since Pearl Harbor. Some even thought the war might be over soon since Japan could see that their cause was a hopeless one. But 940 guys signed that petition. They ' ll have to call off classes the day of the Yale game. Listen, sonny, the University wouldn ' t call off Saturday classes un- less the armistice had been signed the previous day. INCE NO armistice with either Germany or Japan came, classes were held as N usual the day of the Lehigh-Yale football game. The faculty turned down the huge petition to which 940 assorted students, bartenders at Kinney ' s and fraternity dogs had signed their marks, but this deterred only a few from making the pilgrimage to New Haven. And the fact that the Brown and White eleven, after put- ting up a dogged fight for the first half, succumbed in the later periods due to lack of reserve strength, hardly dampened the enthusiasm of Lehigh rooters, who felt sure that this would be the year that Lafayette blood would run red on Fisher Field. In many ways the Yale game marked Lehigh ' s last big splurge of extra-curricular college life for the duration of the war. With the exception of the trip to Easton for the Lafayette fracas, the Yale game was the last time most of the men were ever to make a trip with their team and have a big football weekend. Except for the brilliant and decisive victory scored over the Easton police department later that season the Yale excursion marked the most vigorous display of school spirit seen at Lehigh in a long time. Hundreds of students jammed the railroad station at the ghastly hour of six in the morning to give their team a spirited send-off for the Yale trip. Going to the big pow-wow over at Grace Hall? Yeah, I ' m a little confused about this reserve business but this should clear things up pretty well. C HE ENTIRE ROTC regiment in uniform marched into Grace Hall that brisk October morning in 1942 to hear — with practically all the rest of the Univer- sity — representatives of the Army, Navy, and Marines disseminate information, much of which was later found to be somewhat erroneous, concerning their various reserve plans. No doubt, this meeting caused a great many men who had previously We pay no toll tonight!; Getting pushed around; Serenading Moravian; Oh the eagles they fly high at Lafayette! [19]