University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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gleamed from all sides. Spread eagles perched majestically on their sturdy claws. There was a distinctly blue sky above and a very slippery floor below, while all about gleamed the white of shirt fronts and the brass of embryo officers. The Military Ball pulled the lanyard on the formal dance series at State . . . and they say that the shell which was re- leased has not been accounted for defi- nitely as yet .... Hal Mclntyre ' s band did the honors at the inception of a new Honorary Colonel — Jeanne Phillips, reputed to be the most beautiful bit of femininity on campus . . . we were convinced by the sight of the fair damsel drifting happily under the arch of swords created by the cadets of her command .... Ball Com- mittee Chairman Harry Scollin was the donor of a steady right arm for the escort detail. Lieutenant Colonel Donald A. Young, P.M.S. T., presented Miss Phil- lips with a colorful bouquet of red roses and a gold insignia of crossed sabres . . . getting back to horses, sabres and stuff, we hope the motif next year will not go ultra-modern on us and display combat cars stuck in the mud and the sabres re- Chosen as honorary colonel. Miss .leanne Phillips — Phi Zeta senior — is shown with K.O.T.C. Cadet Officer Clem Burr ' Cadets in camp — at left is a row of tents at Fort Ethan Allen and at right, inilitary majors with gas masks at camp in ' 40 19

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The Reserve Officers ' Tramm Corps at Massachusetts State College is a unit designed to provide a source of reserve officers in the United States Cavalry. Two years of training are required of every physically fit male who enters State. Re- maining two years of optional instruction give a limited number of students an op- portunity to earn commissions as Second Lieutenants. Basic course of instruction consists of dismounted drill, manual of arms, chemi- cal warfare, marksmanship, military hy- giene and sanitation, military history and customs of the service. The regi- mental review presented yearly during Commencement (see picture below) cli- maxes this rudimentary training. Sophomores learn the art of equitation and many participate in horse shows during the course of the year. The three upperclasses also participate in week-end road marches in the surrounding country- side. These trips are made under actual field conditions and provide necessary experience for the future officers. Perhaps the period most anxiously pre- pared for is the Federal Inspection — when officers designated by the War Depart- ment make their annual inspection of the various units throughout the country and judge the accomplishments of these organizations. The Massachusetts State College corps has received an excellent rating, a classification which is proudly upheld by members of the cadet corps and of the Regular Army personnel. The R.O.T.C. also possesses its social angle. The Military Ball, first big social event of the year, was held December 6, 1940. Harry Scollin, 1941 chairman of the ball, presented State ' s most popular military formal for years — together with his committee made up of Wes Aykroyd, Jack Haskell, Ernie Bolt, George Brag- don, Bob Hall, and Win Avery. One of the Index ' s on-the-spot writers, Duke Politella, gives his account of the colorful dance : Horses ' heads were profiled against a golden halo. Crossed cavalry sabres Last Platoon of Troop F passes reviewing stand on Alumni Field, Cadet Sergeant Hamel commanding [18]

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placed by crossed tommy guns, or some- thing. ... In June the awarding of commissions to members of the graduating class is the proudest moment of the Army ' s spirit here. Of the twenty seniors who became shave-tails with the class of ' 40, for example, thirteen were selected for a year ' s active duty under the Thomason Act; and this year the prospects are greater. Massachusetts State College is able to produce some of the best officer material in the Army. Two hundred twenty miles on horse- back to Fort Ethan Allen! After seniors receive commissions, juniors begin their annual ride to the fort. More than twenty junior military majors ride through Vermont ' s Green Mountains to the fort where they spend three weeks in rifle, machine-gun, and pistol practice. There the boys get a taste of honest-to-goodness Army life, living in tents and learning the ropes. Kitchen Police duty, a camp horseshow, and a daily routine of horse- grooming and range practice occupy the men from five-thirty in the morning imtil five in the afternoon. And finally comes the ten-day ride back to State where they arrive tanned and dusty and tired. The Cavalry, instead of being on its H. King, R. HaU. Prouty. Schen Aykroyd, Hamel, Scolliii, C. Bui Broderick, Crerie, Bragdon. Hendr t;vW ■ » ; v Color guard inarches at the head of College K.O. T. C. unit in the annual June review way out, is definitely on its way to being more important than ever before — this is the keynote of a statement made this year by Lt. Col. Donald A. Young, com- mandant of the Massachusetts State College R.O.T.C. unit. Gone are the days, Colonel Young said, when the Cavalry unit consisted of a cavalryman, a horse, a McLellan pack, a sabre, a rifle and a pistol. The modern Cavalry unit, augmented by small tanks, light guns and other pieces .er, C. Jones, Haskell, Skogsberg r, Foley. Bassett. Coffey, Knight ckson. Bolt, C. F. Goodwin. Tills. 20