United States Military Academy West Point - Howitzer Yearbook (West Point, NY)

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q iidtoftke We knew, of course, th.u this group h.ul prescribed and designed the regular and validating examinations we tf ok before entering and esta ' ' ished the j rerequisite courses we took before we tocK the exams. And wc realized that the Board determired what was to be taught, how it was to be presented, and what stand- ards were to be met and maintained. Whether we were to be discharged as deficient or graduated as officers was deci ' ' d by this section of the Superintendent ' s special staff. Action of the Board was also required to fix the dates and duration of leaves and furloughs; its influence was present and felt as we certified proficiency on First Class weekend leave blanks. One of the major tasks that has confronted the Academic Board was the acceleration of the four-year course into the present three-year program. This in- volved a close economy of time and a thorough distilla- tion of all but crucial material in every subject essential to the graduate officer and necessary for diploma and degree. With shorter wartime courses, too, came larger wartime classes making the problem more acute. That the Academic Board has effected a successful solution may be seen in three preceding so-accelerated and so- graduated classes and will be borne out in the careers of this, the Class of ' 45 ... . Col. C. L. Fenton Col. C. E. Wheal Col. Wm. B. Meister Col. H. Beukema Col. B. W. Bartlett

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1st Row — Col. W. E. Morrison, Brig. Gen. George Honnen, Maj. Gen. F. B. Wilby, Col. R. G. Alexander, Col. C. L. Fenton • 2nd Row— Col. B. W. Bartlett, Col. L. C. Leonard, Col. H. Jones, Col. T. D. Stamps, Col. O. J. Gatschell, Col. C. W. West, Col. C. F. Schlatter • 3rd Row— Col. L. S. Smith, Col. H. Beukema, Col. C. E. Wheat, Col. W. B. Mcister. Brig. Gen. George Honnen Col. R. G. Alexander CBOII When the days had dwindled to two hundred seventy and a butt and the Corps had turned from training to instruction, we found before us a new and potent factor; generally — academics; especially — the Academic Board. At the time of our initial meeting, we knew little of the Board, its members, or its functions although we were ac- quainted with section room procedure. We soon learned that the Board consisted of the Superintendent, his Adjutant, and the various heads of the fourteen departments including the Commandant of Cadets in his capacitv as head of the Depart- ment of Tactics. Col. Wm. E. Morrison 26

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4 -fi Too hard for some, difficult for man -, and easy for a few, plebe Math— important in itself— laid the ground- work for a variety of technical subjects to follow. As we hived, spec ' d, stumbled, and blundered through algebra, solid, trig and analytics— through Cardan ' s cubic— through planes, spheres, prisms and frustums— through celestial navigation— through conic sections and hyperbolic para- boloids—and, as yearlings, through derivatives and inte- grals longer than the line of grey— we little realized the direct application it would have in upper class courses and, quite possibly, in post-Graduation careers . Math. 1st Row— Capt. Richard P. Yeilding, Lt. Col. Vivian S. Lawrence, Jr., Lt. Col. Robert A. Sharrer, Col. Harris Jones, Professor; Lt. Col. Henry A. Robinson, Maj. Edward P. Coleman, Maj. Robert C. Yates • 2nd Row— Capt. Peter J. Kiernan, Capt. Kenneth G. Fuller, Mai. Raymond I. Schnitlke, Capt. Albert B.Farnell, Capt. William Bobaike, Capt. Alan G. Rorick • 3rd Row— Capt. Donald E. Kibbey, Capt. Emmett A. Hazlewood, Capt. Benham M. inscrsoll, Capt. Harris T. Guard .