University of Western Ontario - Occidentalia Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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61644 0454104 Four years ago the war started and so did Arts '-43. lt was a large class and a good onewtime has substantiated this. Our reception and dance were the usual affairs-some of us still condemn the Big Sister-Little Sister idea. ln the fall, football was our chief interest-the guard to protect our fair Stadium from the Queen's toughies. Szumlinski and l'Brute put the skids to the Varsity jinx-what a week-end! Then our class election with a 7595 vote and the '43-'42 hard times party. Hunt let Venus turn out the Frosh Gazette. Then there was the Rugby Dance-the last one for some time. l'Fritz started a drive for a real Frosh initiation-to-day we give them purple pots and identification badges. The hoopsters tied with Varsity that year and the girls brought the 'lBronze Baby home. Western gained nine titles at the Assault-at-Arms. Short-pants Risk did himself well at it. More elections and the Arts Ball with Richard Avonde. We got our field house by virtue of our unknown benefactor's picture appearing in the Gazette. Then the finals and- The following term we became Sophomores. But what a change! No more Toronto week-endsg no more lntercollegiate sports. School was becoming a serious business. Western became an armoured camp over night, with Leonard, Steadman, Gladman CThe Madmanl, Fraser CThe Kidl and Emory running the show. Remember those nights in the Armouries and how the boys used to beef about no boots, no uni- forms, no nuttin'. Brute took over Ferris's job and Wheable and Nickleson mounted the throne of the S.A.A. The Gazette tried to sell the Stadium that fall to get itself out of debt. lt was a stormy term with Stoner antagonizing everybody with his editorials. Metras's Inter-company football was a washout. Handsome Herb Hollingworth edited the Handbook that year-it came out late in keeping with tradition. The Mustangs took the R.M.C. Cadets and the U. of D. B team down the line. The Meds carried some real 'lspirit into those games. Our precocity doomed the Date Bureau from the start. The Psychology Club emerged. Leo Mitchell's ping-pong game with Betty Moore in the girls' room got him into court-what a session! The Meds scalped Stoner and invaded the Arts building. Neville paraded the lower halls with a hammer in his hand, and limmie Burns threatened failure to any Med leaving the lab. to join the fracas. We saw Colonel Reilly playing crap that year at the Commerce Club's Den of lniguity. The Gazette began its battle with the L.S.R. for students' fares. Hershman resigned the associate editorship of the Gazette in bitterness at Colucci's autocracy. The Meds copped the Volleyball title and McAlister copped the prefect election. Mary Malkowski Cnee Gttonl turned out as a second Portia and Frank Dowler turned out the 'l0Xy. m 4 4' if .3. 5 'I' sf 1 3. -2'-.M j 'a,.,M.,fif

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You can, correctly, reply that your government did not request your services in any other capacity. A more effective reply consists in proving that a man who profits from University training, is a better fighter Cor a better producerj and a better peace-time citizen, because of that University training. You should not allow the barbs of criticism to disturb you, if you have used your 'iuniversity time profitably and are now prepared to deliver the type of goods which you are best fitted to Hproducef' War creates, even in educated people, a disastrous amnesia, or at least an extreme myopia. Worse still, this blackout of memory and partial blindness, spreads over into eras of peace. Nations lose wars because they overlook certain crucial facts. Nations, victorious in war, lose the peace for the same reason. ln the midst of conflict, martial or industrial, remember that at Western you found it possible to co-operate and be friendly with people of entirely different interests and back- grounds. ln the midst of war remember that peace is possible, and highly desirable. And yet don't blind yourself to the ease with which misunderstanding may arise, and the fact that some people must be profoundly changed before co-operation is possible, if at all. Do not blind yourselves to the fact that, particularly in time of war, men and women show their true greatness, as well as their despicable weakness. lf you observe greedy egoism, parading as patriotism, don't indulge in hasty generalization and vow that all men are selfish beasts. Remember that many ordinary men and women are unhesitatingly sacrificing themselves, to the limit, for the fruits of a victory which they in some cases Won't enjoy. This is no pious platitude, as you very well know. Men in the Air Force, Army, and Navy have proved beyond all shadow of doubt that a man will freely give his life for a friend-or even a stranger. Those who say that all ordinary men are incurably egoistic, lie. ln the fields of production and distribution, what was regarded as impossible in the lazy days of peace, has been achieved with startling ease. War has shown us our unexpected capacities-for good as well as evil. We shall be worse than fools if we for- get this when peace comes. And so, when the going is tough, remember those l'idle hours at Western, when occasionally chatter changed to the expression of blazing idealism-a new world was out- lined and constructed in imagination. Remember those visions. Unless some of them are realized-brought down to earth-and they can be-we, and all our kind shall surely perish. Human beings, for centuries, have spent too much time imitating the worm, the monkey, the tiger, the wolf, the pig, the peacockveven the dullest among us recognizes that life under these auspices is nasty, brutish and short. This is a turning point in the world's history. You are among the few people who are in a position to realize it and do something about it. Before you succumb to the siren lure of the comfortable routine of some conventional social groove, take a long look at yourself, your world, your fellow men,fand, if by chance you have ever visualized some- thing better, then, in the name of everything that is holy, don't turn your back on that ideal. For where there is no vision the people perish. But, vision by itself is not enough. There must also be efficient action. A. H.. TOHNSON, Honorary Class President, Arts '43

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14422 '43 Our third year saw Peters president of the new Frosh class. Dixon resigned as editor of the l'Oxy and Leacock handled the Handbook. Towe renewed the battle with the L. S. R. to no avail. Krol, King, Moore, Benson, Bissett and Kennedy played their last game in the fall. '43 was on the road to the lnterfaculty championship. We also won the Inter-year Drama Festival. The C. G. T. C. Ball was held at the Arena instead of the Armouries. The R. T. C. boys rented a van to solve transportation problems to the Christmas Lit. Quite a few of the boys went active that spring. Gtton and Smith got their M.R.S. '43 finally defeated Huron by two points in the bitterly fought Arts' Basketball League. Austin Smith started to deny himself and tried to turn us all into ascetics. The Honour Society was launched again but Colucci missed the boat. The elections for the S.A.A. and the U.S.C. were the hottest of any year previous. Scott, Colucci, Robb and Kemp railed at each other at a noon mass meeting over the returns. Robb burned the ballots all too guickly, and the Gazette was scooped by the local press. Our last year began without Gordie Risk-we still miss him. The U.S.C. reduced the number of big dances and the boys went West for a few weeks to take their minds off things pedantic. Galbraith and Peters took over the Gazette after Scott's resigna- tion. Harris proved to be a backfield man that fall. The higher authorities decided to shorten the school year. Western took a look at life and some are still wondering what they saw. Lewis Carroll was writing for the Gazette first term. King forsook post-War security and married Agnes. The Huronites under Staff's direction won the Drama Festival. The boys won the Interfaculty Rugby championship again. Then there was the New Year's Eve Party and the post-Xmas flurry of engagement rings. Twenty-two students left the Campus after the mid-year grilling. HBoots left shortly after and Major Frank became our O. C. The A. K. Psi slate was triumphant in the U. S. C. elections, and Lafontaine eked out a victory over Humphries. l'Staff was promoted. Only six were chosen for the Honour Society. John Houlding was elected our permanent year president. The Navy made its initial appearance on the campus as a University training unit. The Tuesday four o'clocks began in our last term in the Music Building. We gnashed our teeth in anger and disgust at the lnterfaculty Sports Committee ruling. Then the gag issue of the Gazette and the number of people who actually believed exams were cancelled-the exams themselvesi! And so our four years are finished. We say good-bye for the present, but our memories of these four years shall live with us wherever we go. W. G. S. .w t h Q3 D., 4' P5399