Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

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en THE WA R . 82 K| 7 HE MAGIC number 82. When the number of deferments to be granted to Tl science and engineering students was limited to 10,000 and it was learned near j . the end of the fall semester that Lehigh had been allotted 81 engineers and one chemist from the arts college, the tension generated made the ERC jitters of the previous year seem insignificant by comparison. By this time, however, most men were tired of indecision and welcomed a showdown. Shortly after the beginning of the spring semester the men recommended were notified. Those not on the quota have either left or await the call of their local board with calmness; for them the big complicated game that was beyond their control or understanding is over. II Qi Y OF THE readers of this little history probably regard it as rather mel- 1 1 ancholy and pessimistic. In a way, it is melancholy because of the metamor- phosis of a college of 1,800 men — most of whom were living on the campus without worries other than those of passing Physics 2 J or getting a date for house- party to one of only 300 men — many of whom are spread out all over Bethlehem, most of whom are concerned with the possibilities of not being able to finish the edu- cation that is so important in this technically advanced society; and some of whom are having a hard time deciding just what is the morally right course for a young man to take in time of war — these facts are not good material for a hymn of joy. But in addi- tion it has been a story of some of the many achievements Lehigh ' s know-how has accomplished in aiding the cause of American victory. Such a story can only be one of pride and satisfaction. But despite the great importance of the material contributions Lehigh has made to the war effort, they are dwarfed by her contribution in men. Some, like Major Ralph Cheli, have done great deeds of battle and some, like Eugene Grace, have done great deeds of production of war materiel. But these men are products of a past Lehigh. What of the war-time graduates? Although lacking physical unity, although depleted in numbers, and though pained at times by the feeling that something very real and vital is missing from their college lives, Lehigh men of today can do as much for war-time and post-war America as Lehigh men of the past did, for while melancholy about the past, this history is not pessimistic about the future. It cannot guarantee a future filled with achievement and progress for Lehigh and its students. Only the Lehigh men of today can do that. Can enough courage and determination be mustered to overcome the wartime conditions that threaten to change Lehigh from a university to a factory, from a place where men can grow mentally and spiritually to a place where they just work, eat and sleep? Do Lehigh men have enough stamina to keep their extra-curricular organiza- tions together rather than let them dissolve for the vague- reason — the war ? Do they have enough guts to support their athletic teams both by active participation and cheering from the sidelines instead of suggesting that sports be dropped because of the war ? Do they have enough guts to hit the books instead of forgetting studies because I might be drafted soon ? It ' s up to the present student body primarily to decide whether Lehigh will live in their memories as a glorious adventure of discovering many of life ' s finer things or as a bad and rather dull dream. The issue is still undecided. And the outcome? We leave that with you.

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. EPITOME Tf ing office at its own plant with a machine that Mains helped to design, Frit: lah t}- served as a real war plant, working three eight-hour shifts much of the time with 0 s both students and faculty members aiding in the work. Summerill Tubing estimates i-H that the new process has stepped up their production over 500 per cent, a real contri- bution to the war effort. Only a few hundred yards away from Fritz lab in the chemistry building a dif- ferent brand of know how was serving the war effort. Under the direction of Dr. Albert Zettlemoyer, both graduate and undergraduate students worked on projects such as a plastic tile to be used in flooring on ships and in buildings such as barracks At the same time, experiments in heat flow that provided data useful in the operation of marine diesels were carried on, and a new type of finish for metal products that had to be transported on the open decks of ships was being developed. At about the same time, Dr. Harvey Neville completed work on the new type of paint brush bristle that has been put on the market by Devoe-Reynolds Paint Company. What ' s the matter, too much beer? J [aw. Just thinking about the way things have been dissolving around here. It seems that Lehigh is just a shell oj what it was before the war. Gee, I wish I could have been born a couple oj years sooner and had been able to have a real college life. 7 HE WAR really began to make itself felt on the South Mountain during the summer and fall of ' 43. The tremendously decreased enrollment and the loss of campus housing facilities were the main factors in killing off a great many items that are labeled college life. It was more than the losing of the beloved relics of the good old days that helped to alter the feelings of Lehigh men during the fall and winter of 1943. The wave of unfounded optimism that swept over the country after the surrender of Italy carried in its wake realization that presaged a grim struggle ahead. The draft was be ' ginning to tighten up on student deferments, thus throwing a feeling of anxiety and uncertainty into most of the student body. In addition, many of them had that vague notion so well expressed by one man as, You feel that whatever you ' re doing here even though you know it ' s helping the war effort in the long run, is unreal, that it isn ' t really living, that l ife is only going on out there. Then, too, every once in a great while a man would get a copy of his home town newspaper and read that a fellow who had graduated from high school with him had been killed on Attu — or Tarawa; and two powerful forces within him would immediately start pulling in op- posite directions. As the Americans pushed forward slowly but determinedly on all fronts during the winter of 1943-44, Lehigh took less interest in football, basketball and even wres- tling as well as other extra-curricular activities. Lehigh men no longer having the physi- cal unity afforded by living on the campus and disturbed by a vague feeling that something important was missing, felt that they were playing in a big complicated game that was beyond their understanding. [28]

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