Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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The Unit received its colors early in the Winter of 1943. The Unit is here standing by before passing in review. getting the traditional Golden • 4-20NC-2-LH. The play featured Bob Bartlett, Bill Dorman, the Cornstalk - Ure correcting machine, with Charlie Mayer bringing down the house with his impersonation of “Little Jeep” Meyer of the then notorious Physics Department. Winter passed quickly. Finals and the draft reduced class still further. Less than fifty civilians now remained. On 1 March a new group of Navy transfers entered the Institute and the Class of ’46 gained about ten more members. Later in the Spring, the class voted to have class rings, and orders were placed. The big social event of the season was the Junior Class “Banquet”, a mer¬ ry event held somewhere in South¬ ern New England. Inter-class com¬ petition had died down now that the Class had moved into Junior Position. The eventful early life of the Class of ’46 was now over. It was replaced, instead, by a methodical work-eat-sleep-work existence with all eyes on June 1945, which looked so far away. For most of the men, their story was the story of the Naval Unit . . . Chow lines, study hours, liberty, musters . . . “Report to Lieut. Brown at 1300” . . . “Squat Thrusts in Four Counts” . . . “Back to bed! No exercises” . . . . “Company Commanders, Re¬ port” . . . “Count Off!” . . . “Just a reminder, men” ... all of this added up to make life in the Unit what it was. That the Unit would remain at least until June ’45 ap¬ peared fairly certain ... it was chiefly a matter of work, work, and wait. The remaining civilians had plenty of headaches in the days that followed. There was always the draft, and the fraternities faced many problems with reduced civil¬ ian membership. The Class officers for the Junior year were: Carl Simon, third term President; Larry Stewart, Vice-President; Jack Laf- fey, Secretary; Herb Slaughter (for the third time) Treasurer; and Don Flohr, Historian. Before the end of Junior year, The bugle has just sounded in the Rabbit Ranch, and the inhabitants pour over Earle Bridge for another muster.

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Every member of the new Unit had to undergo a physi¬ cal examination upon arrival. Here the original medical staff (l. to r.), Archambleau, Cmdr. Lewis, and Kelleher, are shown with subjects Peters, Kull and B. Johnson standing by. whom had been traveling hours from Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, Michigan . . . men who were fresh from the campuses of Lafayette, Delaware, G. M. I., Car¬ negie Tech . . . Bowdoin. They were all coming to form a part of the new Naval V-12 Unit, and many, a part of the Class of ’46. Orders were presented. Chiefs Creeden, McNulty and Rogers signed the men in. Tickets were drawn from a hat for rooms; long lines stretched before the issue- room in the gym, the medical office, the Navy office. Everywhere there were lines; but in time these lines were knitted into the pattern of Tech’s Naval Unit. The Class now totaled 180 men. Of this number, 57 were transfers. The total number of Navy men in the Class was now 102. The hot summer months wore on. . . . Sophomore Class work . . . shop . . . surveying . . . but none will ever forget those first Navy gym classes, and the Phys Ed Depart¬ ment’s prize orgy, the Commando Course. The Rope Pull was the first big class event of the season. This proved the seaworthiness of the ’46ers, for they crossed the Pond in the record time of 2.8431 min¬ utes. A few weeks later came the Paddle Rush. This was a ’46 vic¬ tory, 37-33. Then came the Tech Carnival . . . and another victory for the Class of ' 46. This skit centered around a dream of Tech being run by the students, and the faculty A gym class starts on its way over the treacherous ordeal — the “Commando Course”, part of every gym class during the first few months after the Unit opened. This was a standard

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The class received a few more men when the first replacement transfer group appeared on 1 March 1944. Here the new men line up for instr uctions from Lieut. Brown on the afternoon of their arrival. the Class of ’46 lost 156 of its original members, and of the 53 that remained, 11 were civilians; but the Navy kept total enrollment over 100. It was difficult for a long time to realize that we were really Seniors. The Class of ’46 was now at the peak of its scholastic career. Five men were selected for Tau Beta Pi, eleven men were tapped for Skull, and seven more nomi¬ nated to Sigma Xi. Later in the year, nine more of our class were added to Tau Beta Pi, one more to Skull, and eleven more to Sigma Xi. There was plenty of snow during our last winter at Tech. The prin¬ cipal topics of discussion during those months were the basketball games, the activity tax, and the Winter Formal. The night before the Winter Formal—9 February— was a wild one as far as the weather was concerned. The next morning many feet of snow lay on the ground. All day the Navy men spent time out of class shoveling snow to clear the drive in front of Alden so that the guests could get to the dance, while civilians dug out the fraternity houses. Getting to the dance that night was a real accomplishment, for taxis were few and far between. “‘Call back in an hour, and we ll let you know if you can get one in an hour,“ was the reply to many calls. From far and near the ladies came, however, and despite the blizzard, the dance was a great success. In the Senior Class elections, Larry Stewart was elected Presi¬ dent; Bill Gagas, Vice-President; Herb Slaughter, Treasurer; and Bill Grogan, Historian. John Lan¬ ders, Jim Maloney, and Art Rosen- quest were elected to the T ech Council. Spring came the third time for the Class of ' 46 to see the members gradually withdrawing from active The first Spring Formal with the Navy aboard was a great success. Here lies a room in Stratton Hall at 0845 26 May 1944—the morning after the Formal. The Rope Pull, baseball game and Round-Robin followed later that day. Wonder what Room 34 looked like Sunday morning.