New Mexico Military Institute - Bronco Yearbook (Roswell, NM)

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fPage 101 New conditions met the returning Corps of Cadets in Septem- ber: the First Class had dwindled to a token few: fourteen, in the place of a hundred seventy-three in the previous graduating group. The Army reached deeply into the Second Class as well, and the junior College, ignoring the threat of losing still more of its enroll- ment through the possible drafting of seventeen-year-olds, opened its classrooms to a scant hundred boys. Not all the hundred remained to complete their college year-but then, even the A. S. T. P. pro- gram was abandoned by the Army before the end of the year, and there was a scurrying of feet toward the training camps. Third Classmen sported the complex stripes of sergeants of all degrees, the Second Class paraded boots and buttons, the Corps was organized for its new yearis work under the direction of a new Professor of Military Science and Tactics. Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. Wise stepped into the Nlilitary Qffice in a most difficult year: his own force was diminished by

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THE SCHOOL YEAR IA Prose Recordl

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transfers, his cadet leaders were an average of two years younger than usual. That he met the challenge which faced him need hardly be said: with wisdom and patience, with understanding and skill, he directed the Corps toward another outstanding year of military achievement. Colonel VVise came to the Institute from San Antonio, where he had already had experience as P. of NI. S. 81 T. A Virginian, and a graduate of V. NI. I., lClass of 19153, Colonel VVise chose the Army as a career. An lnfantryman until 1940, he transferred then to the Cavalry. ln October, Captain James H. Wlatson joined the military staff, coming from the C. R. T. C. at Fort Riley, Kansas. A gradu- ate of the University of Georgia, class of '39, Captain W'atson grew up in Alabama. His popularity is attested by his appearance in this year's Bronco Hall of Fame. Major Stapp, Major Posz, and Captain Robinson filled the fPage 111