Norwich University - War Whoop Yearbook (Northfield, VT)

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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

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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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ff -gx xxx xx xxx , ,f .,, .-1zff,- xx g ..- HOWARD F. WELCH Cm, of 1944 Second Lieutenant, 325th Fighter Group Howard was awarded the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters for his work as a fighter pilot in the 319th Fighter Squadron. He took part in bomber escort missions over northern Italy, Germany, Hungary, Austria, and Yugoslavia, strahng missions to southern France, and in the first shuttle mission to Russia. On June 24, 1944, his plane was struck by German anti-aircraft fire when he was providing protection for a flying boat that was searching for a downed pilot and his aircraft at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea. Howard,s airplane crashed and he was killed in the crash. His mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. C. Raymond Welch, make their home in Springfield, Massachusetts. STEPHEN A. WOYNAR Class of 1944 Private, 86th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron Steve was a native son of Vermont from Bellows Falls, Ver- mont, where his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Woynar, now reside. He is also survived by three sisters and one brother, Bernard. Very little is known of Steve's death. He was on a recon- naissance patrol in northern France on August 12, 1944, when he lost his life. It is believed that the entire patrol was wiped out. He is buried in the United States Military Cemetery about 33 miles northeast of Rennes, France. Before his death Steve had taken a part in the Normandy and Northern France Campaigns. CHARLES WARREN DENNIS, JR. Class of 1945 Second Lieutenant, 80th Fighter Group, 10th Air Force Rated a pilot and commissioned a Second Lieutenant at Moore Field, Texas, Charles joined the 80th Fighter Group in the China- Burma-India theater after finishing Fighter Operational Training in this country. Charles had just completed thirty-two missions as a P-47, Thunderbolt, pilot over the jungles of northern Burma when he landed at Shingbwiyang, Burma, on January 4, 1945. He made a good landing, but his tailwheel failed to unlock. A crew chief was proceeding to the airplane that was on the runway when another aircraft came in for an emergency landing. The pilot of the disabled airplane did everything possible to avoid a collision, but he crashed into the airplane, killing Charles instantly. His father, Mr. Charles W. Dennis, and his mother, Mrs. Frank McHugh, make their residence in Needham, Massachusetts. TWENTY-THREE