Phillips High School - Phillipian Yearbook (Phillips, ME)

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THE PHILLIPIAN 25 This war, with all its heartaches, has done much toward strengthening the character of the youth of the Nation. With the young men gone to war we who were left were faced with new duties and responsibilities. Most of the boys who were old enough ioined the Home Guard. They, too, wanted to do their part to win the war. There was the metal scrap drive, the young people doing their part and earning enough money to buy the chairs for this Community Building, as well as helping the war effort. Young people have learned to save, too. It is astonishing to see how much the school children have put into the war effort, through war bonds and stamps. We've also learned to work. We've had to. We've wanted to. And work is a good character builder. Children and teen-agers, far from being liabilities, have become the nation's greatest assets. Clean, healthy, serious-minded, young Americans are now growing to manhood and womanhood in the shadow of a tragic world conflict. The challenge of the war has brought out the best and noblest in our boys and girls. To predict what will happen to the char- acters of the boys who are in the armed serv- ices is impossible. We who have remained at home, away from the bombs and other horrors of war, can have no conception of what they have been through. It is safe to say, however, that they will take life more seriously than they did before. If this war has made us strong, let's'see to it that we stay strong, let's fight for the right always- not only in battle, but in our daily living- and be a credit to those who fought and died for us. fTribute to the boys who will not returnj The class of 1945 wishes to pay tribute to- night to those who have made the supreme sacrifice during this war: Harvey Lovett, Melvin Prescott, and Hartley Fairbanks, who fought and died that we might keep the four freedoms in this, the Land of our Hearts. ln the words of Lincoln, we pray that these dead shall not have died in vain -that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earthf' fFarewell Speechj Tonight marks the end of one phase of our lives and the beginning of another. Tonight we realize as never before the re- sponsibilities we must shoulder-responsi- bilities to ourselves, to our school, to our nation. Probably we shall never know how many times during this great war we have come near to losing our country, our America. The thought gives us pause. It makes us, the class of 1945, determined to do our ut- most to keep this land of our hearts, the land of the free! Superintendent and School Committee: VVe are especially indebted to you for your hearty encouragement and support. You have labored most earnestly for the benefit of our school and we wish to express our gratitude and thanks. Teachers and friends: VVe are unable to render compensation to you for your zeal and faithfulness. But as you have been faithful to us, so will we be faithful to others. With a deep sense of our obligations to you, and of gratitude for the ability, zeal, and care which you have ever exercised in our behalf, we, one and all, bid you a kind farewell. My classmates: As we linger for a moment around the altar of friendship to enjoy the pleasant recollections of the past, we hardly realize our school days are ended. Outside of these walls, which kind parents have thrown around us, are engaged a band of workers, earnestly striving to promote the four free- doms and the welfare and the happiness of the human race. Let us resolve to discharge fully the obligations we owe to parents and not disappoint their expectations. With the noble purpose that is born of true genuine- ness of character, and that inflexible deter- mination which knows no failure, let us pass out the gate that now opens and enter into the field of life's active duties. Classmates, tonight marks the parting of our ways. Never again shall we meet as a class, but wherever you go, whatever you do, may the best of luck be with you always. Marilyn Mecham

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24 THE PH Who transports our troops to foreign shores? The Navy. Who carries supplies to them and to our allies? The Navy. Who makes it possible for us to help our allies? VVho guards our shores? The Navy. The class of 1945 wishes tonight to'pay tribute to the 33 boys and girls from Phillips who are serving with the United States Navy, and special tribute to the boys who, if they were not serving our country, would be receiving their diplomas with us tonight -- Mahlon Ross and Everett Caton. Carmond Moore TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND THE ARMY AIR CORPS ROM the time of the Revolutionary War to the present time the army has played its heroic part in our history. ln the year 1940, before Pearl Harbor, we had a moderately small standing army. Now we have an army totaling over 8,000,000 men and women, the various branches of which are fighting together in one great unit, the like of which the world has never known. A very important branch of our mighty army, and one which appeals greatly to the youth of the nation, is the Army Air Corps. Ask any boy of grammar or high school age what he plans to do when he gets older and without a moment's hesitation he will say, loin the Air Corps. And no wonder. The fiier's life is full of glamor, thrills, danger. Death and destruc- tion to the enemy! The saving of a life for our friends! All through the Army Air Corps. A Somewhere we'll find you is the official motto of a group of mercy fliers organized to save the lives of American air men forced to bail out in enemy territory. It is no easy motto to live up to, for sometimes this group of fiiers has to cover territory where no white man has ever before set foot. A certain Captain Spruell, a medical offi- cer with the rescue unit, was aboard a mercy plane, when word was received that a C-47 had crash-landed in the Himalayas after a lap attack, and the engineer had a broken ILLIPIAN back. XVithout hesitation Spruell bailed out over the wreck, strapped the engineer's back, hired native stretcher bearers from a nearby village and personally led the party on a perilous three-week journey over the moun- tain passes back to India. Such incidents as these make us proud of our army and proud of the 182 men and women of Phillips who help to make it the great organization that it is. We pay special tribute to Leslie Adley, Elwood Campbell, Richard Stinchfield, Vinton Kennedy, Ger- ald Corson, Floyd Norton, Lawrence Kelley, Glendon Smith and Leon Works of our own class. Delvine Vose VALEDICTORY - I THE YOUTH OF AMERICA N the days before the war, Phillips, like other towns, was a thriving center of business. Saturday nights many cars lined Main Street, and every day countless num- bers of cars and trucks went to and from this town. Garages did an enormous business. Gro- cery store shelves and refrigerators were well stocked. One could see at almost any time during the day a crowd of loafers, older boys as well as high school boys, collected in front of the post office or barber shop. War, cruel war, has changed all this! Ex- cepting for an occasional truck or car, Main Street is so quiet that every day seems like Sunday to a passer-by. ' Our class, more than any other, has felt the effect of this war! While we were soph- omores, the first boy from our class, Elwood Campbell, was drafted. Since then eleven boys who would have graduated tonight have been called into the armed forces! During those carefree days before the war, we young people thought only of pleasure outside of school hours. The serious side of life never occurred to us. Boys fiocked to the bowling alley and pool room, and we girls were making plans for dances. Our elders called us soft-and we were.

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Zn THE PHILLIPIAN LUM40 ll l 1944 Virgil Sampson - employed in Lewiston. Truman Masterman-U. S. Navy, Serv- Nelda Thompson - Simmons College, ice School Command, Sampson, N. Y. Boston, Mass. Maxine Staples- li. M. G. Hospital, Ban- Everett lValker - deceased. got, Maine. Myr Lyn Vllillmer - employed in Phillips. Dolena Foster, nee Walker-at home in Salem. 1942 lris NVilber - Fishers College, Boston, Maxine NVood, nee Bennett - employed Mass. in Phillips. lean Thompson - Wheelock College, Clovis Blanchard -- U. S. Army, clo Post- Boston, Mass. master, New York, N. Y. Myrtle Voter - employed in Portland, lean Poor. nee Boothhy -- Washington Maine. State. Marilyn Wing - employed in Boston, Lester Coffren - U. S. Army, clo Post- Mass. master. San Francisco, Calif. Ronald Haggan - U. S. Army, Camp Barbara Rowe. nee Shultz - at home in Gruber, Oklahoma. Avon. Curtis Smith - employed in Phillips. 1943 Marjorie Sawyer, nee Stinchfield - at Nathalie lidwards - C. M. G. Hospital, home in Phillips. Lewiston, Maine. George XVood - U. S. Army, clo Post- Charles lillicott - U. S. Army, clo Post- master, N. Y. master. Y. Dorothy NVorthley - at home in Phillips. liarl lfustis - U. S. Navy. Naval Mid Linwood Tyler - U. S. Navy, Sampson, School, Chicago ll, lll. N. Y. Mertie Ahlvott, nee Huntington -at home Lillian Lutkin - employed in Rangeley. in Phillips. Dorothy Mitchell - employed in Boston. Geraldine lienniston - employed in Port- Montford Morgan - U. S. Army, Gowen land. Field, Boise. Idaho. Phyllis Knapp - Concord, New Hamp- Norman Dustin - employed in Portland. shire. Glenice Dustin, nee Gates - at home in William Mills - U. S. Army, clo Post- Portland. master, N. Y. Mildred Gile - Boston, Mass.