Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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. , P E1iis SI1eu'e 132 w 42' erm State men in War Service I llv lfmcn l,1':w1s f'.x'1 1'1c1f: .N Vlli estends botl1 l1a11ds to tl1e soldier boys of .l'enn State. twig XY XV1 1 1 ' lth't 1 tl 1 1 f'l -wr fd' l' 1t'110' ' ' 1 l 111e ,Q , Ui ea epiour .1 o11 s is 1c p 111 c,,c 1. cc 1c. 1 5 Ulll xo u to tl1e111,-to their manhood, tl1C1I' patriotism, their loyalty to fg ifd f the flag, tl1eir glory which is to come. All that LA Xllli can do for them we do,---we wish we could do 1no1'e. God bless you, b1'ave heartsg you l1ave p1'oved yourselves wo1'tl1y of your .Nlma Mater Zlllil your flag'-the 1nost noble Alma Mater a man CVCI' left behind him Plllfl the most glorious flag' afloat today in all the wo1'ld. State is a young' college wl1en compared witl1 tl1e older i11stit11tio11s in tl1c ffiast, but no other college l1as a l7l'UllClCl' war l1isto1'y. StllClCIltS were 11ot ad- mitted until ISSQ, and the attendance at first was small, yet for the 2lI'I11lCS of tl1e Civil XVar sl1e contributed altogether one hundred Zlllfl ninety-six officers and men. From the first five classes-1861-1865-fifty-five per Cellt. enlisted Zlllll served their time, a remarkable percentage when it is remembered that a large number of tl1e StllflC1'ltS of tl1at period we1'e boys too young' to be ac- cepted. .lt was for serious -work that they volunteeredg they came hack shat- tered Zlllfl maimed: many of tl1em gave to their COL1l1ll'y tl1e last full measure of devotion. 'lfheir blood on all the battle fields of tl1e South baptized the young' college in its Cl'2lCllC Zlllll set for it that high sta11dard of l1'lZ1l1l1OOCl Zlllfl won1anl1ood wl1icl1 all State students have kno1wn so well. Penn State has been fortunate i11 l1e1' lCZlIlCI'S-YCIUZll'liZllJlC men, all of? them. lfour of her presidents have been military leaders. Dr. John lfrazer, the third in order, was the Colonel of the 140th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and at the end of the war had risen to the rank of Brigadier General: Dr. 'l'homas H. llurrows. the fourth, 1869-l87l, had bee11 a commander of cavalry: Dr. George W. .fXtherton, President, 1882-1906, who more than Zllly othe1' man laid the foundations of tl1e college, had been a captain of volunteers. No man ever loved the Hag' more than he. 'lt was his request tl1at when he died his body be wrapped i11 tl1e folds of Old Glory, a11d in its folds he lies today, just o11tside the walls of the Penn State AllClltOl'll1l'l'I, a lesson of patriotism forever to the g'enerations of State l'l'lCll. And who that eve1' saw llllll can for- get General James QX. l3eaver. for many years Chairman of the Board of Trus- tees. and for o11e year acting' li'resident of the College? llis military reco1'd is a part of the glorious history of 1 ennsy1vania. For years he ca111e l1e1'e monthly to attend tl1e meetings of tl1e Committee of Trustees. His brisk fig'- ure, on crutches-he had lost a leg' in battle-his vi1'ile personality, l1is ringing words of lJZll1l'l0tlSl11 and 0lJlIlllllStlC cl1ee1', we1'e 'familiar to forty classes. He is a part of the spirit of Penn State. ffroin their l'Il'llS these stalwart men of the past still 1'lllC tl1e college. - ' riuiiii i if 'ki I S

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1'N1 .,..1PflTliii'iOT'9CfcE 1 ls it any wonder that when, in April of 1917, the call of the nation came for her manhood to rise in her defence in the latest and most terrible of wars that the old college was ready? All her ideals had been shaped by free men and for free men: and now when the crisis came 'Penn State met it as a body of free men always meet a crisis. T.ike their forefathers in earlier generations, they pledged their lives, their liberties, their sacred honor. Called in the spring of 1917 to form a corps for war work in France, the college furnished two corps instantly, and it would have furnished more if more could have been accepted. 'l'!1r1'c is but one exampleof the spirit of 'Penn State. Months before the declaration of war, State men had entered the Allied armies of liurope, but when war was declared in April, enlistments began rapidly. l raternities were almost deipopulated and the senior class was greatly reduced. The months of May and June, 1917, were the most unset- tled months the college has known since the Civil NfVar. What had been true in the old universities across the sea-in Oxford, for instance-became true here. The years go fast in Oxford, The golden years and gay, The hoary colleges look down On careless boys at play. llut when the bugles sounded war They put their games away. lloys at Ql'enn State became suddenly men in 1917. All through the summer and autumn and winter they have been leaving the college for service under the flag. Scores have entered the aviation camps, hundreds have entered the training camps, many of them to emerge as officers, many hundreds more went with the ambulance se1'vice and the other branches of the great army, and, in addition to these, many who remained at State enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps and the Ordnance department, preparing themselves for future efficiency in. the service of their country. Some are already at the front on foreign soil, and some already have given their young lives for country and for Godf' Our roll of honor is not yet complete. The roll we print hereis only partial, but it is as perfect as we can make it now. .If any name has been omitted, it has not been an intentional omission. The college keeps watch over her boys, and in the final history not one who has entered the service, not one who has dared a deed for the land we love, not one who by his life has helped to swell the glory of Old State, not one of them but will be recorded to the full in the imperishable memory of his Alma Mater. Again, both hands and our whole heart to the Soldier 'Boys of 'Penn State. Our book is a trifle compared with their glories, but all that it is we dedicate to them. , There follows a list of our men who are in the service. .tL'5.8.t ' - 9