Norwich University - War Whoop Yearbook (Northfield, VT)

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ff ,sxxxxxxxxx f f,4 , J, ..f1f1.,- .f JOHN ARTHUR GURWIN Cz... gf 1944 Private, 32nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop The Silver Star Medal was posthumously awarded to John For gallantry in action near Silad Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands, on 31 December 1944. Private Curwin was on guard duty when a large enemy force attacked his patrol's bivouac area. He sighted the enemy and was fired on, but instead of withdrawing to secure aid, he remained at his position and placed fire on the enemy. He was killed at his post, but only after he had held off the enemy long enough for the patrol to organize and form a defense perimeter. Private Curwin gallantly gave his life in order to protect his comrades. John had participated in the Saidor and Aitape battles before losing his life on Leyte. His commanding officer, Captain Herman Bottcher, was killed the same night that John lost his life. They were members of the Red Arrow Division. Mrs. Edna Curwin, john's mother, resides in East Lynn, Massa- chusetts. EDWYN ARTHUR FLORCYK Class of 1944 First Lieutenant, 489th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force Q'Ed took part in the Atlantic anti-submarine patrols after being rated a pilot in August, 1942. His crew was credited with one submarine before being sent to England. Ed supported the landing in France on D-Day. He was awarded the Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters for his skill, cool- ness and valor in the completion of his missions. On July 24, 1944, his unit was covering the advance of the ground forces near St. Lo, when his ship suffered a hit which blew the left wing off. One man was blown free and parachuted to safety. Ed and the rest of the crew were killed when the airplane crashed. He is survived by his wife, Gladys, of Jackson, Mississippi, and his father and mother, Colonel and Mrs. E. M. Florcyk, of Santa Ana, California. GILBERT H. HIGGINS, JR. Class of 1944 Second Lieutenant, 8th Armored Division Gilbert was leading his platoon in an attack in the vicinity of Zweckel, Germany, when his tank was disabled by enemy fire. He was severely wounded, and was being evacuated to the rear by .medi- cal personnel on March 28, 1945, when the ambulance in which he was riding struck a rnine. Gilbert was killed instantly. U He had been awarded the Silver Star Medal for heroic action, and the Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster. I Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert H. Higgins, his parents, make their home in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. TWENTY-ONE '

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xx ,zzz-ff, 11- xxxgg ff f,,g- xxx RICHARD C. AUSTIN Class of 1944 Private, 501st Regiment, 101st Parachute Division Dick left Norwich in the middle of his junior year in Decem- ber, 1942, to enlist in the ski troops. In September, 1943, he volunteered for service with the paratroops. After completing his training, he was sent to England in 1944. For his first combat jump, Dick landed in Normandy at mid- night prior to D-Day. He remained in combat for thirty days when his unit was returned to England. Taking off from England on September 17, 1944, he jumped over Holland with a Pathfinder Group of Company B. In the attack which followed, south from Schuydel towards St. Odenrode, Dick, who was a member of the leading platoon, was killed by a mortar shell fragment on September 22, 1944. His unit had been cited by the President of the United States prior to Dick,s death. His parents, Mrs. Thelma J. and Mr. Irving C. Austin, make their home in Reading, Massachusetts. SALTER STORRS CLARK, 3RD Class of 1944 First Lieutenant, 385th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force After enlisting in the Air Corps in 1942, and successfully finishing the pilotls training course, Lieutenant Clark was assigned as the first pilot of a Flying Fortress. He was awarded the Air Medal for raids against Brunswick, Tutow, Diepholz, Rostock, Germany, and against V-1 installations in the Pas de Calais, France. On February 28, 1944, his group was bombing the Robot Bomb installations near Boulogne, when Salter's ship suffered hits, which caused the airplane to go into a steep dive. Lieutenant Clark leveled the plane out long enough for two men to parachute to safety. He and seven other crew members lost their lives when the ship crashed. Mr. and Mrs. Edward G. Clark, his parents, reside in Wfestfield, New Jersey. SHERMAN NEIL CROCKER Class of 1944 Captain, 40th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force Captain Crocker received his wings, after transferring from the Infantry as a Second Lieutenant, at Napier Field, Dotham, Alabama, in 1943. The 507th Fighter Group, of which Sherman became the Commanding Officer in December, 1944, was cited by the President for its service from D-.Day to February 25. He was awarded the Air Medal with 17 oak leaf clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, in addition to being rated an Ace for his victories over enemy aircraft. Captain Crocker lost his life on February 13, 1945, near Arh- weiler, Germany, when the Thunderbolt he was flying on a low level mission sustained a direct hit from an 88. The German Government reported his death and burial at Ramerbach, but his grave has never been located. His parents, Sheriff and Mrs. Lauchlan M. Crocker, live in Barnstable, Massachusetts. TWENTY

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GILBERT NVAYNE STANSFIELD, JR. Class of 1944 Second Lieutenant, 48th Tank Battalion, 14th Armored Division Pete won the highest honor for outstanding leadership, charac- ter, and scholarship in the 60th class of the Armored Oflicer Candi- date School at Fort Knox. As a reward, he had his Second Lieu- tenant's bars pinned on by Brigadier General P. M. Robinett, Com- mandant of the Armored School. On November 24, 1944, Q'Pete, as a tank and platoon com- mander in Company B, was in the lead tank with his turret hatch open as the periscopes had frosted over in the vicinity of Shirmeck, traveling up the St. Quirin Valley Road, when, after going through a road block, he was killed by a sniper's bullet. Pete was buried in the United States Military Cemetery in Epinal, France. His mother, Mrs. Maria G. Osborn, lives in Monson, Massa- chusetts. Lf Sxsxx ffffff j,jNj,,f,,- xxggfjff.. .- SETH SPRAGUE, JR. Class of 1944 Second Lieutenant, 47th Tank Battalion, 14th Armored Division Those who knew young Seth well were conscious of a far- away look in his eyes. He rejoiced in all his happy associations, but he seemed at the same time to be seeing the invisible. He was already at home on the other side. And so when the call came to him to make the supreme sacrifice, to break away so early from all that tied him here, he was ready. The unseen was familiar ground to him. 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man give up his life for his friends' ,' Very little is known of the circumstances surrounding Seth's death. He was serving as a platoon leader in Company C when his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Seth Sprague, of Hingham, Massachusetts, were first notified that he was missing in action. Later his parents were informed that Seth was killed on January 13, 1945, in the battle for Hatten, France. XVALTER H. WEATHERILL Class of 1944 Sergeant, 106th Infantry Division Walter participated as a member of the 106th Division, which was cited by the President, in the Battle of the Bulge. He was wounded in the shoulder, but fought on until he was hit with a hand grenade about the face. A companion carried him to a German medical unit after they were captured. Hedied some- where in Germany in a motorized German prison hospital on Decem- ber 29, 1944. The following September, his wife received word that his body had been recovered and had been laid to rest in Margraten, Holland. Wfalter graduated from Thayer Academy in 1940 before coming to Norwich, whence he departed to enlist in the Army on Sep- tember 1S, 1942. He married Patricia McAllen of Youngstown, Ohio, a year later. His wife and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Weatherill, of Brockton, Massachusetts, survive him. TWENTY-TWO