New York Military Academy - Shrapnel Yearbook (Cornwall on Hudson, NY)

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iw The fencing team was by this time faced with the para- doxical situation of being too good. An almost unbroken string of victories in scholastic competition has the effect of discouraging entries of other schools in any of the ma- jor events, and the National Amateur Fencers' League, tak- ing cognizance of this fact, proceeded to place the Acad- emy's four best swordsmen-Rigobert McFarlane, '16, Al- cides Betancourt, '16, Francisco Horcasitas, '16, and Bar- tolomae Ducassi, '17-in the junior classification, where they would have to meet more experienced fencers. Captain Vauthier, sword master, thereupon developed a new novice team and Mario Betancourt, '16, immediately ran away with the Novice Championship of the United States. A few weeks later another novice combination of Humberto Giquel, Louis Deschappelles and john Lliteras, all of the class of '16, finished 1-2-3 in the Novice Foils competition at the Crescent Athletic Club in Brooklyn. Once again the League stepped in to put the crusher on the squad with word that Mario Betancourt, Giquel and Deschappelles were now juniors also. With seven of its best swordsmen therefore ineligible, the Academy then lost the classic Clemens Medal for the first time in three years, although Lloyd Miller did manage to come through to second place. Outstanding in the memories of all the boys in at- tendance that year is The Big Snow of December 13 and 14, 1915. Beginning with a light fall that Monday morn- ing, the storm increased in severity to blizzard proportions and continued for more than thirty-six hours. At the end of that time there was no less than thirty-eight inches of snow--a fall exceeded only by the blizzard of 1888. The weight of snow caused the collapse of several old buildings and made all roads impassable to ordinary traf- fic. Troop D was mustered into service, however, and forty horsemen, in column of two, broke roads to the station and to Orr's Mills in order that a much needed milk supply might be brought to the Academy. Cold and more snow continued through the winter until the total fall was more than ten feet. Old grads still recall the use of sleighs of all descriptions for the exodus at the time of the Christmas vacation. The going was still so bad that many sleighs overturned, depositing cadets and baggage in small mountains of snow along the roadside. High point of the social season was the Midwinter Hop in February. The Midwinter not only attracted the largest crowd ever to attend a social function at Cornwall but was the scene of some extemporaneous excitement, when a photographer's flash-light powder set fire to the decora- tions in the gymnasium and kept a group of cadets busy for several minutes in the role of volunteer firemen. The fall of 1916 witnessed the arrival of the first of- ficial N.Y.M.A. mascot-Mike. Mike was a white English bulldog who wandered in from no one knew where and made himself at home. He was taken to the heart of the corps as an omen of good luck, and equipped with a lux- urious blanket which he wore proudly at all athletic en- counters. An unfortunate incident with a railroad train at the Cornwall station during the summer of 1917 cost Mike what little remained of his already stubby tail, but ap- parently it had no effect upon his mascoting activities dur- ing the rest of the year. He was forced to share the latter part of his reign with another, however. Bill, the rambunctious goat, not only superseded Mike in short order but remained in all his glory until 1928, when he was retired from active duty after a term of al- most a decade as official luck-bringer for all cadet activi- ties. Mascot No. 3, the present incumbent, is Skippy. Skippy is a donkey who came to the Academy from the Pine Tree Riding Academy in Central Valley, N. Y., in 1928 and has lived a life of ease and plenty ever since. His most arduous task is leading the parade around the football field in the fall, and his sleek and glossy hide never feels the weight of harness. He is the only drone at N.Y.M.A. The school year of 1916-17 was a mixed one for sports at the Academy. The football team, almost entirely lacking in experienced material, lost its first scholastic game in four years Qto Yonkers High School by 6-Oj and won only two games through the season. Basketball was discontinued as an interscholastic sport and was played on an intramural basis only. The rifle team won the National Rifle Associa- tion Trophy for the first time, however, and when cold weather brought ice on the Hudson, hockey was revived after a three-year lapse. The puck-chasers won one match, lost one, and tied one. America's entry into the World War in April, 1917, unleashed a wave of patriotism, but it was not until the following fall that the war hysteria which gripped the nation communicated itself thoroughly to the N.Y.M.A. corps of cadets. By September of that year it seemed likely that some of the older cadets might be called into service, and all other activities and thoughts were subordinated to the great condict. Extremely active in the somewhat limited scope within which the cadets might demonstrate their patriotism were the Academy musical organizations which gave their ser- vices on many occasions for Red Cross and other benefits, in one case returning to the Chester KN. YJ Red Cross a fifty-dollar fee proffered for appearance of the band in a parade. I i Page Twenty-seven

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N.Y.M.A.lS 25th ANNIVERSARY Alumni Group at the 1914 Commencement Exercises at Cornwall. Association. Cord Meyer, '98, one of the founders of the Association and its first president, was returned to the presidency in this year, and it was under his guidance that the alumni program was carried out. A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Dinner, held at Murray's restaurant in New York, was attended by several hundred old boys . Plans for participation in the commencement exercises were made at this time, with the result that the alumni delegation occupied a special train to Cornwall in June. The group was so large that the entire Grand View Hotel was reserved as alumni headquarters during the com- mencement week-end. In the fall of 1914 the corps departed from the Acad- emy for the first time, except for furloughs, in its history. The date was October 17 and the occasion was the football game with Manual Training High School at Brooklyn, N. Y. The steamer Homer Ramsdell was chartered for the trip and the whole school, including a chef and his as- sistants, set sail down the Hudson. Luncheon was served just before landing at the foot of Fulton Street, Brook- lyn, and the corps then entrained for the field on a string of trolley cars. The score: N.Y.M.A.-20, Manual Training-0. Territorial expansion on a large scale took place at the Academy in September, 1915, when the 375-acre Tall- man farm was purchased by the school. This large tract lies directly west of the campus. Its acquisition insured more than enough property for future expansion of almost any sort. Football continued to dominate Cornwall sports activi- ties. The record of the 1914 team, seven victories and one defeat, was bettered by the 1915 eleven, Captain Hoxie An- derson, '16, leading his eleven through the season with only one tie to mar an otherwise perfect record. N.Y.M.A. scored 278 points to 19 for its opponents. The tie was a 6-6 struggle with Cullum Hall of West Point. s.--.-...m.-ff .. ,nf Y .-.-.-,Y-Hex.-.. aww., - .fzmf afar i:........., ..-H..-..X.......- an-... Y, . ......-. ..--.af-f Q-, . Y . ,-..,..-.-...s-s1.,:?fwff:: , - .. - .. ...-fs-,Y Y ..--- ---- - . -1 --.fm-J-.e..-......-..-rs., ' ' ' W' 'H WTY' 'WW ' ' ' Y' Yi N . - ' H .--. - ,,1 '-,1-', '.- '. . -a .. , ' ,. . ,'. Page Twenty-six

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UNITED STATES ARMY K 'T trust Of the Academy's war record General Davis wrote The New York Military Academy, through its alumni, has rendered the country and the national government during the great war a splendid service, which a thou- sand times justifies the basic ideas on which the school was founded. When the war burst upon us, and found our army and navy without any reserve officer organiza- tion, the graduates of the school were scattered over the whole world, were unknown to the War Department, and most of them were without military training be- yond what they received here, yet at the First call to arms practically every man in the alumni was eager to drop all the duties and responsibilities of civil life at any cost to his own career or fortune, and to give the country the service for which he had been trained. When these men appeared at the various training centers it was promptly demonstrated that they pos- sessed certain qualities which can only be secured from a long service under strict discipline, and which form a most important qualification for an officer. While they were rusty in technique of military drill and the art of war, nevertheless they were soldiers by instinct and training, and so were equipped to give a special and most valuable service in the work of training the im- mense mass of raw material out of which an army was to be created. In the search for material out of which to organize the advanced detachment of the army which was des- perately needed in France, and which was sent there before it was ready for work, a large number of these men were picked at once for the so-called Regular Army. The school was therefore largely represented in those divisions of our army which were first thrown into action in France, and which soon constituted what might be called the veterans of the army. N.Y.M.A. men were scattered thickly through the First, Second and 26th Divisions, and saw the hardest fighting of the war. Some were killed: some were permanently maimed: and many were wounded in the desperate fighting at Chateau Thierry and the campaign which immediately followed that crucial struggle. In every battle in which these splendid divisions took part our boys were found fight- ing, organizing and directing in a way which should make us all intensely proud of them. Many of our best men were found so efficient that they were held in this country as instructors in the various branches of the service. The representation of the school in the Navy was naturally smaller than in the Army, but it was an hon- orable one, and some of the N.Y.M.A. men in that service were headed for high careers when the Armistice brought a sudden end to their successful progress. A fine group of graduates entered the Marine Corps, and promptly found themselves at home in the magnificent discipline and organization of that famous corps .... If a man was not in the service it was because the service would not take him, either because he was physically disqualified or because the peculiar and particular serv- ice which he was giving in civil life was considered by the Government to be of greater value than any service which he could give as a soldier .... Something over 500 of the N.Y.M.A. men were actu- ally in uniform and giving service during this war. Some classes were commissioned to a man. The great majority of the men were naturally commissioned as junior ofiicers on account of their youthfulness and lack of recent experience, but our list shows that the school fumished the army one brigadier-general, eight colonels, five lieutenant-colonels, twelve majors, fifty captains, and a swarm of first and second lieutenants. Twenty-six men from the faculty entered the service, including one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, four majors, and many junior officers. Perley R. Hamilton, '16, was the first N.Y.M.A. gradu- ate to lose his life in the World War. Hamilton was driv- ing an ambulance on the French front on july 24, 1917, when he was killed by an exploding shell. The French Government awarded him the Croix de Guerre for his heroic service. Twelve other of the Academy contingent marched away behind Hamilton, never to see those hills around Cornwall again! QA special page in this book is dedicated to the GOLD STAR BoYs. j Here follows a record of N.Y.M.A. men in the World War according to the branch of the Service to which they belonged: Edward A. Acker, '07 George B. Aigeltinger, '13 Joseph Clark Allen, '13 Walter B. Allen, '15 Elijah S. Alvord, jr., '18 Hoxie Anderson, '16 Myron M. Andrews, '11 Manuel R. Arteaga, '17 Charles M. Atkins, III, '14 Clarence K. Atkinson, '03 Edward C. Ballou, '09 Arthur Field Barnes, '07 David A. Barry, jr., '13 Melchor Batista, '09 Lindsey D. Beach, '01 Prescott Beach, '17 Joseph H. Beer, '09 Alfred N. Bell, '15 Frederick G. Bell, '16 Frank L. Benscoter, '13 Robert E. Bernhard, '14 DARWIN F. BERRY, '18 Orville P. Berry, '15 Otto L. Beuttler, '13 Edgar W. Bieber, '14 Leonard Biel, '10 William L. Bird, '10 John W. Blackford, '10 Wilfred K. Blake, '17 John J. Boniface, '95 joel Frazier Bonnie, '00 Walter J. Bortz, '08 Rudolph L. Bosselmann, '11 G. Whitney Bowen, '14 Albert M. Bowles, '10 Henry M. Bowman, '02 Le Roy Bowman, '17 Talmadge H. Brereton, '96 john B. Bristol, '06 Harold R. Brouwer, '04 Lee Roy Brown, '01 Olin D. Brown, '16 Thomas E. Buckman, '08 Walter Raymond Burke, '14 James Burton, '13 Thomas Merrill Byrth, '14 Cornelius Cable, '98 julio A. Cadenas, '10 Alexander H. Campbell, '07 jay H. Campbell, '11 Edward Carpenter, '91 john Channing, '05 George Shepard Clarke, '09 Bertram T. J. Clayton, '13 Charles Sherman Cline, '12 Frank M. Collingwood, '11 Francis Barnard Collis, '17 Roscoe S. Conkling, '03 ALBERT HANSFORD COWART, '13 Samuel G. Creden, '90 Thomas Victor Cremin, '15 Edward F. Dalton, '07 Schuyler N. Dalton, '08 THEODORE DAUGHERTY, '19 john Lamont Davidson, '16 Leon Davidson, '12 Lamont Davis, '16 Henry A. C. de Rubio, '94 Stanley H. Dempsey, '16 Walter J. Dennis, '15 Alan P. Dexter, '08 Nelson Dingley, III, '10 Frederick G. Dodge, '12 Ira J. Dodge, '02 Edward H. Dougan, '14 William O. Dunlap, '13 William Holman Dwyer, '14 John MCN. Ealy, '04 Charles L. Eberle, '17 j. Van Rensselaer Eckerson, '92 Sanford B. Edwards, '17 Gregory H. Eickhoff, '05 William L. Elliot, '17 Frederick J. Esteves, '15 Clarence A. Eustaphieve, '96 Edwin M. Eustis, '10 William D. Faulkner, '12 Harry W. Fawcett, '12 Harry J. Feinberg, '17 Kendall Fellowes, '97 William H. Fellowes, '10 Herman C. Fickersen, '09 joshua M. Fiero, jr., '05 Robert N. Fiske, '11 Eugene N. Fitzgerald, '13 JOHN FLENNIKEN, '04 joseph XV. Flenniken, '06 WlI.l,ARD HI. FREEMAN, '14 Leigh H. French, '11 Marion O. French, '04 William C. Fryling, '15 Percy Whiting Fuller, '97 john Harvey Fye, '13 Page Twenty-eight '