VMI Cadet. December 11, 1959

              VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, DECEMBER 11. 1959
Governor Almond Visits Institute
^en. Cooper
To Receive
Corps Review
Major General Ralph C. Cooper,
Commanding GeneraJ 21st U. S.
\rmy Corps .will visit VMI on 16
December and take a Review d
I iie Corps of Cadets.
General Cooper, a Tennessee
tative, graduated from the United
: States 'Military Academy at West
. ^oint in 1929. He was also gradu-
I -ted from the Command and Staff
^ 'oriege and National War College.
';{e ha's advanced throught the ranks
jrom a Secbnd Lieutenant in 1929
?o Major General dn 1955.
-^The General was on General Mark
:iark's staff in 1942. (General
lylark is now the Superintendent
I'f The Citadel.) General Cooper
/ as provost marshal, Algeria, in
f j m . From 1944 through 1945 he
{-•as the commander of the 36th
; A. Group in France and Germany.
' 1 1949 Cooper entered the plans
Vvision of ithe Army, became
tuief of the Wiar plans branch, and
le deputy chietf of plains for the
riepartment of the Army.
General Cooper was commander
f the 1st Cavalry Division Artiller>'
Japan in 1952. He was command-g
genera/1, 7tli Infantry Division
I ' rtjillery, 9Ch Corps Artillery, in
oreia' from 1953 through 1954. He
I as chief-of-sitaff of the 1st Army
1^54 through 1956. General Cooper
lecame Assistant Chief of Staff
'rf G-3 pflans and Operations in
lurope in 1956.
General Cooper has been decor-
•'|d many times. He has received
Silver Star, the Legion of
;erit with Cluster, the Bronze Star
Kith Cluster, the Air Medal, and
Croix de Guerre from France
I th palm and gold star.
' Generafl Cooper's home in the
' S. is in Corinth, Mississippi, He
I presently stationed in Eiux>pe.
,! vpert On French
\\ riters To Speak
The Influence of French Litera-on
Yeats and Eliot" will be
topic of Enid Starkie, noted
!;kiity on French writers, when
visits Washington and Lee next
iday. >
s^ ae will speak ait 8:15 p.m. in
I , t|>ont Auditorium under 4he anis-es
<rf the Senminars in Literaltoire.
iliss Starkie, now a visiting pro-sor
at Hol'liins, is allso a lecturea-
French literature at Oxford Uni-siiy.
She has taught at the Sor-tne
and at the University of
forma.
Miss Starkie has a doctorate of
t Iters from Oxford and is a 4nem-
.»r of the Irish Academy of Leit-ly,
the French Lagion of Honor,
d the Anglo-French Joint Govern-ment
Cultural Conimissdon.
She has lectiu-ed in numerous
••ritish and Continentail schools,
t^ tid is the author of nun>ei-oui booku
French literature.
She was educated at the Alexan-fl
School and the Alexandirsi Col-fe
in Dublin.
GOVERNOR J. LINDSAY ALMOND
McKenna Named
Conference Coach
by Mike Carmichael
Coach John McKenna has been named Southern Con-ference
Coach of the Year by conference coaches and sports'
writers. V- M. I.'s head football coach was awarded this honor
in recognition of a season which saw his team compile an
8-1-1 record while capturing its second Southern Conference
grid championship in the last three years-
This was a Keydet team which®
Greg Taylor Leads
European Tour
preseasion polls picked to finish no
better than fourth in the finiail con-ference
standings. Many of the
sportswriters who wrote the^se pre-season
predioftion were in Charles-ton,
S. C. llasit Ihursday night to
present Coach McKenna with a
plaque which is given annually to
the outstanduig football coach in
the Southern Conference.
Mr. McKenna' now has two of
these plaques, the first coming in
1957 after he had guided the Key-deits
to an undefeated season, and
their first Southern Conference
Chaanpionship.
This year was supposedly a lean
one for McKerniia and his forces
since graduation had see^n 18 mem-bers
of the '58 squad including
10 starters depart from the Institute.
Under the skill of Coach Mc-
Kenna the Keydets lost only to
powerful Penn State in a year
which saw them win their last
seven games after an eaj'ly sea-son
tie with Richmond.
VMI climaxed the season with
a spirited 37-12 Thanksgiving vic-tor>'
over archrivall Virginia Tech.
This was the win that brought the
Big Red titles in both the Southern
Conference and the Big Five.
(Head Coach McKennia took over
ViM.I. footbaU fortunes in 1953 with
the tlieory that students made
good football players. Tlie resulti
(continued on paige 8)
Next year for the fifth summer,
the Department of English will spon-sor
a tour of the prlncrpafl European
countries. The leader of this year's
tour will! be Gerg Taylor, an English
major graduate of V.M.I. in 1957,
v/ho is now Secretary of the V.M.I.
Foundation. Any cadets interested
in joinmg ithe tour, or wanting to
find out more about the detafil's £ind
expenses, are asked to call Taylor
at Ho3-2532 (during office hours)
or H03-5457 (at other time's) or
to stop by the Foundation office,
Room 95 in Ithe concourse.
Even though plans are not com-pletely
firm now, it is expected that
the cost of the trip will be approxi-matdly
$1,100, which wilil include
all necessary expenses, other than
personal ones. The tour will take
cadets to England, France, Italy,
Germany, and Austria, and possibly
to Spain, Switzerland and other
countries. The great cities, includ-ing
London, Paris, Rome, and Ven-ice,
will have considerable time
devoted to them, a's usual, but it
is hoped that severi^l other nioi-e
unusual places imay be included.
As aiTangements for transatlantic
traiisporation must be made im-mediately
after the Christinas fur-
(Continued on page 2)
Takes Corps Review;
Talks To Alumni Board
by Sam Clement
In the coming days, three distinguished guests will be
present on the V.M.I- and W.&L. campuses: Governor J. Lind-say
Almond, Jr., Miss Enid Mary Starkie, visiting professor at
Hollins College from Oxford University, and Major General
Ralph C- Cooper, commanding general of the XXI Army Corps-
Governor Almond is already on the post and received the regimental
review given by the Corps this afternoon. Although the Governor has
visited the post before, in August of this year for the budget presen-tation,
this will be his first time to receive a review of the Corps o£
Cadets as Commander-in-Chief of, the Virginia Militia. Governor Al-mond
has come to V.M.I, upon the invitation of the Alumni Asso-ciation
whose Board of Directors he will address tomorrow at 10:00'
A.M. in the auditorium of Scott Shipp Hall. Mrs. Almond has accom-panied
the governor on this trip, and during their stay they will be
guests of the Superintendent.
Developmental Reading Course
To Be Offered To Cadets Here
Colonel H. N. Dillard, Head of the English Curriculum,
announced this w^ek that a course in Developmental Reading
would again be offered at VMI during the second semester.
Arrangementsliave already "been completed, he said, to have
a group of specialists in the field of reading here on campus
from February 1 to March 26, to conduct this course-
THIRD YEAR AT VMI ®
these men will be sent to VMI
by the Reading Laboratory, Inc. of
New York, Philadelphia, and San
Francisco, the same group that
has conducted such a course here
for the past two years. Reading
Laboratory Teachers are engaged
in this work in schools, colleges,
and universities throughout this
country and in Puerto Rico, Haw-aii,
and Canada. Top-ranking offi-cers
of the Royal Canadian Air
Force, following VMI's example,
it appears also have recently com-pleted
a Developmental Reading
Program conducted in Ottawa by
the Reading Laboratory.
Purpose of the Course
Developmental Reading is 3
course in advanced reading skills,
designed to increase reading rate,
to improve comprehension and re-tention
of assigned and collateral
reading, and to heighten the read-ers
critical awareness of meaning.
Materials and Training devices,
such as reiading pacers and Tachis«
toscopes, are provided but Stu-dents
will be required to bring their
regular text-books to claiss in order
thiat they may leiam the practical
(Continued on page 3)
COACH JOHN' MCKENNA