United States Naval Academy - Lucky Bag Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

Page 17 text:

years wc niax ' rcli c our iTii(lshif)inan career and to combine these experiences into a story that vill enable all vho ha e never known the Naval Academy as vc haxe to understand its tradi- tions, purpose, accomplishments, and customs. Toda ' we oiaduate; tomorrow we go to join the fleet, but eslerday. . . . ' eskM(la ' we entered the academy. We expected much. A great deal has been said of the lure of the sea; little has been said of the lure which attracts and holds the fancies of hun- dreds of oung men from every station of life and every stale in the union. Much has been said of tlu discipline and die training of the Naval Academ ' ; little has been said of how an in- stitution manages to combine hundreds of creeds, hundreds of ideals, Iiundreds of diverse philosophies of life into one single, useful wa ' of living— a service life ot honor, patriotism, virtue, loyaltx ' , and subordination. Mow was it accomplished? Tlie secret lies hidden in the ears. WV cannot now retrace oui- steps, but ve can foetus the telescope of time back— back— all the wa - back to gray walls and green grass ... to honor and duty ... to wind and sea . . . to laughtc r and music.

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' DEPARTING U i COKING back, we see our life at the Naval Acadeni - not as a series of isolated events to .be recorded in chronological sequence as so many who ' ■i ' i , ha c gone l)cforc us haxe done; for to those of us who ha ' c lived them, June Week, the Ring Dance, Gradua- , ■ ■ ■.. i : tion are more than welcome events in the academic cal- endar. The ' are experiences iiill of humor, pathos, tenderness , . . elements which escape tlic constrictions of time. ... Taken as a whole, howex ' er, these individual ex- Pericnces- episodic and disconne , l|iey., ay seem-- tell a story. ... It is our profound hope, then, in the 1941 Lucky Bag to accomplish a two-fold purpose: to recreate each experience as we knew it so that in later

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...tali » S, MART as the Regiment of midshipmen looked every day, day in and day out, there was an added brightness about them when Saturday noon meal formation came around. Smiles were gayer, uniforms presented a more striking contrast of freshly-brushed blue and gleaming gold, and the sun glinted more brightly on polished shoes and cap visors. The inflexible routine of drill, exercise, and study was over for another week, and the air was charged with expectancy. The week was over, but the week-end was just beginning. Release from routine, however, was not all the week-end had to offer. It brought us sports, dancing, and sailing—not to mention feminine companionship! Undoubtedly most of that peculiar charm which haloes our memories of Academy week-ends is due to the girls we dragged. Meet- ing our drags . . . taking them to football games . . . dining out. . .dancing. . .sailing . . . and simply basking in the warm radiance of a pretty girl ' s smile . . . these were the ingre- dients that went into the m; king of that most noble of institutions— the week-end !