Wake Forest University - Howler Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

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A YEAR IN THE MIDST OF WAR Adapting itself with incredible ease to the re- were vacant in the classrooms, filling their places quirements of a world at war, Wake Forest College in the army, the navy or the marines — in the comes to the conclusi if a momentous year. The camps or in the thick of battles in the Pacific, in session of 1943-44 opened to the sound of march- Africa, or in Italy. Frequently came reports, ing feet — marching, ever inarching, in the dense missing or killed in action. darkness before dawn, throughout the day, and Yes, the students of ' 43- ' 44 realize,] a war was far into the night. For the Army Finance School, goin g on and they Nettled down to work with consisting of about 1,200 officers and men. using a new seriousness of purpose. Potential doctors, eight of the college buildings, the ( ' munity ministers, journalists and housewives alike schooled Center, the athletic Held.-, the campus, the streets, themselves fur the part they would soon play in and the homes of the community, worked strenu- the war and later in the peace which was to follow. ously for fifteen hours or more a day. with the For these students, whose tune was running short, hum of activity that made the care-free days of realized that their generation must he ready to leisurely college routine seem like a vanishing build a better world in the days to come. They H rea m studied with increased diligence, understanding and No student could evade or escape the spirit of enthusiasm, realizing their responsibility. the hour. Every one had friends whose places The Army Finance Sel I. having served its

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■ A book store for a coke between classes. Fraterni- ties socialized and held political caucuses and shot the bull with the same vigor evidenced by irger membership. Procrastinators sat up all night before examinations with the sustenance of hamburgers arid coffee from Shorty ' s. The foot- hall team upheld its reputation in foreign fields. Publications came out on schedule. Informal parties sprang up on Saturday nights, with the in- structed and instructors attending. But even in the gayer moments there were frequent reminders of Byron ' s famous picture of a scene in Belgium before the battle of Waterloo, when there was sound of revelry by night, and bright the lamps shone o ' er fair women and brave men. For the ominous sound in the distance could never be drowned out by the sound of mer- purpose, began to move out about the first of riment, and frequently there was hurrying to January and soon it had vanished. For a time and fro and sudden partings. there was a great vacancy and a great silence And so at the end of a momentous Year we go settled down upon the campus. But still the our several and varied ways, whither we may not College went calmly and serenely with its never- know, hut grateful for a haven during many ending routine. stormy days while we have gathered strength But, in the midst of the serious atmosphere, the for tile battles ahead, and confident that when the spirit that has been a part of Wake Forest for storm is over our Alma Mater will still stand the hundred and ten years since the College was serene and secure, our home of many happy founded remained. The students gathered in memories — memories recorded in part in The chapel three days a week. They still rushed to the Howler of 1944. JtfAKfc FOREST ursu. LIBRARY