VMI Cadet. January 19, 1962

              VOLUME U VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, JANUARY 19, 1962 NUMBER 14
V. ni. I. Cadet James J. Stepnowski has recently been selected to
receive the James Lewis Hares Award for outstanding chemistry
achievement. ^
1961 . A Year Of
Progress At VMI
Stepnowski To
r-
Recei ve' Chemistry
Award For VMI
Cadet James Joseph Stepnowski
of Oyster Bay, Long Island, New
York, has been selected to receive
the James Lewis Howe Award as
the outstanding upper-classman
majoring in chemistry at VML
Stepnowski is now progressing
through his first class year, has
been on the Dean's List through-out
his cadetship, and has been
named a distinguished academic
student.
The James Lewis Howe Awards
have ben given for the past ten
years in the memory of the late
James Lewis Howe of Washington
and Lee University. The awards
annually go to the outstanding
major in the field of chemistry at
each of the ten institutions in this
area granting degrees in chemistry.
The Virginia Military Institute,
looking- back on a year of high
academic achievement, has entered
1962 with a six-year program de-signed
to provnJe expanded physi-cal,
recreational and intellectual
facilities for the Corps which since
World War l l has expanded by ap-proximately
one-third to its present
size of 1,050.
The Institute's academic status
was dramatically illustrated in
June when the approximately 200
graduates included one Rhodes
scholar, two Woodrow Wilson Fel-lows,
and the only winner from a
Virginia college of a Danforth Fel-lowship.
Aill are considered among
the top awards for graduate studies.
Still other graduates have enter-ed
graduate school in such fields
as history, law and medicine, or
will do so upon completion of their
military service.
A highlight of the year was the
inauguration in May of Major Gen-eral
George R. E. Shell as ninth
superintendent. General Shell suc-ceeded
Major General William H.
Milton, who resigned in 1960.
Among steps taken in 1961 to
strengthen the academic program
was the institution of a "quality
standard system" which upgraded
on an average basis overall require-ments
necessary to advance from
one class to another and to grad-uat
«. VMI also benefited by the
acquisition of a sub-critical nuclear
reactor, purchased for use by the
Physics d^artment with a grant
from the Atomic Energy Commis-sion,
and tlu-ough strengthened li-brary
services.
Various research and writing pro-jects
were engaged in by members
of the faculty during the year.
"Letters of a New Market Cadet,
Charles Beverley Stanard," an edi-tion
of letters written home by a
cadet killed in the Battle of New
Market during the Civil War, was
the result of a collaboration be-tween
Lt. Col. John Barrett, of the
History department, and Major Rob-ert
Turner, of the English departr
ment. Lt. Col. Louis R. Hundley,
of the Biology department, is cur-rently
engaged In a project, with
the aid of funds from the U.S.
Public Health Servic«, designed to
e.'cplore the physiological changes
in bone and musele which «ome
about when exercises and fat loads
are reduced. A project concerning
fuses is being carried out by the
Physics departmemt. Other faculty
members during the year contribu-ted
articles to various publications
or read papers before scholarly
societies.
The Institute also sponsored sev-eral
special events in which the
public participated. In May, more
than 800 persons assembled at VMI
for the four-day annual session of
the Virginia Academy of Science
and the Junior Academy of Science.
The fifteenth annual meeting in
October of the Virginia Highway
Conference attracted several hun-dred
more. A traffic engineering
course and a special school for
surveyors were also other events
staged in 1961.
The Institute's already-renowned
military side was .presented to the
public on two special occasions—
the presidential inaugural parade
(Continued on Page 8)
Diddley Coming
For Midwinters
The thoughts of exams are never
pleasant, but the Hop Committee
has shown great initiative in mak-ing
the weeks following much more
interesting.
As a change from past years, the
normal Friday and Saturday night
dances will be split into two
separate Saturday evening affairs.
The Hop Committee felt that the
"gloom season" from Mid-Winters
until Eastl^r dancjes should be
broken up by another dance. In
addition, there is always the dif-ficulty
of getting a rj^ime band or
personality whose schedule coin
cides with the weekends available
for social functions at the Institute.
On February tenth. Bo Diddley
will be featured in three forty
minute sets and the Chevies, a
dance combo from Roanoke, will
play between the sets. Tables will
be set up on the main floor and
^(iround the track cajb^iret '^tyle. The
dance will be at the regular hours,
9-12 p.m.,
The time for the hop in April
has not yet been set.
This year's Mid Winter Hop will
t>e an ?3p;^ally pleasant change
from the sustained academic effort
of the next several weeks.
Corps Shines In Parade
Richmond Inaugurates
Governor Harrison
William Maurer, Class of '61 is
presently working as special as-sistant
to the vice president of the
George C. Marshall Research
Center..
Maurer^ To Be
At Marshall Center
William Maurer, Class of 1961, is
presently working with the George
C. Marshall Research Center here
at VMI. As special assistant to the
foundation he is responsible for
running the office for tihe execu-tive
vice president, Mr. Joseph D.
Neikifk.
Maurer started working with the
foundation shortly before Christ-mas
and will stay until early in
March, when he will go into the
Army for a two year tour of duty.
At the present time the Marshall
Research Center is primarily con-cerned
with the raising of fundis;
Maurer is spending most of his
time in this respect. He is also
handling press releases and the
publishing of various newsletters
and other items.
Maurer, who graduated with a
degree in history, took part in a
great many activities during his
cadetship. He was a member of the
varsity rifle team and co^captain
of the soccer club. He was also a
member of the Armed Forces Club,
executive vice-president oi the In-ternational
Relations Club, presi-dent
of the Lutheran Club, vice-presideht
of the Religious Council,
and a contributing editor on 'Hie
Cadet.
By Bill Crisp and John Cockey
On Saturday, 13 January, the
VMI Corps departed at sixKfifteen
in the morning to participate in the
inaugural parade in Riohmiond for
Govemor-'Elect Albertis S. Harri-son.
Assembly for BRC on Satur-day
morning was at five a.m. and
the Corps proceeded by bus to
Richmondj stopping at the George
Wythe High School, near the city
limits, to get into parade dress.
From the high school, the buses
assembled on Madison Street be-tween
Main and Franklin Streets.
Companies formed in company
mass formation in the assembly
area. The Corps was led by the
Regimetal Staff and Band.
The Corps entered Caipitol Square
from Grace Street, and passed by
the reviewing stand on the south
portico of the Capitol building
where all units executed an "eyes
left". After passing in review, the
Corps proceeded to Seventh Street
and on to the Richmond Gray's
Armory. A light lunch was served
on the armory floor.
At approximately 2:15 p.m. buses
left Richmond and returned to Lex-ington
in time for supper at 6:30
p.m. Some cadets attended the
VMI-University of Richmond bas-ketball
game at the Richmond
Arena. The Rat game started at
6:15. Buses left the arena for Lex-ington
upon the completion of the
varsity game.
their wives. Behind these two cars,
in this order, came Stephens and
Godwin, their wives. Gray and
Button and their wives.
They traveled up Fifth Street to
Grace Street west on Grace to Belvi-dere
Street, south on Belvidere to
Franklin Street and east on Frank-lin
past the assembled parade units.
When the inaugural party had
reached the south portice and had
be^n seated, the invocation was
pronounced by the Rev. T. Watkins
Taylor, rector of St. Andrews Epis-copal
Church. At this time the new
state officers were sworn in with
a 19-gun salute following Harri-son's
oath taking. Governor Harri-son's
speech lasted fifteen minutes,
only two minutes longer than he
had estimated it would. The thirty-four
unit parade then marched by
in review after almost being for-gotten
by House Speaker E. Black-burn
Moore. The benediction was
pronounced by the Rt. Rev. Wil-liam
A. Brown of Portsmouth, re-tired
Bishop of the Diocese o£
Southern Virginia.
A public reception, held in tlie
Rotunda of the Capitol from 4-6
p.m., ended the day's official in-augural
events.
At 12:30 p.m. on 13 January, the
reins of the Virginia Government
changed hands when Chief Justice
John W. Eggleston of the Virginia
Supreme Court of Appeals admin-istered
the oath of office to Gov-ernor-
Elect Albertis S. Harrison,
Jr. Preceeding Harrison's being
sworn in were Attorney General-
Elect Robert Y Button who was
sworn in by Justice Archibald C.
Bushamam and Lieutenant Gover-nor-
Elect Mills G. Godwin Jr. who
had the oath administered to him
by Justice Lawrence W. I'Ansoh.
The morning was crammed full
of activity as Richmond was des-cended
on by parade units from all
parts of the state. At 10:15, in the
morning, these units formed along
FfSnklin St. from Belvidere St. to
Fifth St.
The legislature convened at 11:00
and.. 15 minutes later the Senate
moved over to meet in joint ses-sion
with the House of Delegates.
At 11:30 the joint session of the
legislature received the former
governors of Virginia, congressmen,
members of the judiciary, the
Mayor of Richmond, and other
dignitaries for the formal cere-monies
starting at noon.
Meanwhile at 11:00 a 21-member
ber inaugural committee escorted
Governor Almond from the Execu-tive
Mansion to the John Marshall
Hotel where he met Lieutenant
Governor A. E. S. Stephens and
Attorney General Frederick T. Gray
and their wives. /
From the hotel, the party, accom-panied
by a military escort, rode
past the assembled parade units.
In the lead car was Governor Al-mond
and Governor-Elect Harri-son
followed in a separate car by
Library Accepts
Civil War Volumes
Preston Library was indeed for-tunate
to receive two outstanding
gifts this year. The first came in
the form of a photostatic collection
of some one hundred and thirty-two
letters and documents con-cerning
with the life of Stonewall
Jackson. The gift also included
sixty-eight letters of Mrs. Jackson,
and twenty-one other documents.
This contribution, presented by the
Stonewall Jackson Memorial on Jan-uary
3, will make a valuable addi-tion
to the library.
The second gift was a complete
one hundred and thirty-one volume
set of The War of Rebellion: A
Compilation of Official Records of
the Union and Confederate Armies.
These volumes, which are consider-ed
among the most important books
written about the Civil War, were
presented by Mr. Laureus M.
Hamilton of Washington, D.C., in
honor of Lemuel Cornick Shep-herd,
Jr., General, United States
Marine Corps, Class of 1917.
There has been a marked growth
in the library in the past year. Over
2,750 books were added to th«
(Continued on Page 3)
Notice.
THE CADET wishes to notify
subscribers tliat this is the
first issue published since
December 15. The next issue
will be published on February