VMI Cadet. April 27, 1942

              MAKE
EVERY
PAY DAY
BOND DAY S b e l j y U t o e t For Victory.
U. S. DEFENSE
BONDS
STAMPS
VOLUME XXXV—Z-778 LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, APRIL 27, 1942 NUMBER 27
Glee Club Trip Met staff
o r I A o* Holds Annual Successtul As Sixty Dinner May 1
Sing At U. S. Bases
Singers Tour
Naval Bases
While Away
The Glee Club returned from
Norfolk on Sunday evening quite
tired, but in very good spirit. This
week-end concluded one of the
most enjoyable trips experienced
by the organization during the past
few years. In all 59 cadets and Ma-jor
Herbert N. Dillard made the
trip. Under the press of wartime
conditions everyone adapted Him-self
to the inconveniences which
arose. The determination to please
had its dividend in a good time.
On Friday morning the group
departed from the Institute at 9:00
A. M. Since it is now impossible to
charter intrastate bus lines, the
Naval Air Station furnished trans-portation.
Two busses were granted
for the trip. Two enlisted men of
the navy acted as very accommo-dating
drivers throughout the jour-ney.
Dinner in Richmond
Enroute to Fortress Monroe for
the Friday evening concert the
group stopped in Richmond for
dinner. Arriving at the Coast Artil-lery
Base at 5:00 P. M. release was
granted until the concert at 8:45
P. M. This time afforded everyone
the opportunity of sightseeing on
the post as well as dinner with
friends. The rigid wartime regula-tions
bar all civilians from govern-ment
bases. The access to many
parts of these posts is restricted.
Following the concert which was
held in the YMCA a pleasant trip
to Norfolk was made on the Wil-loughby
Spit Ferry.
War Comes Home
The ride on the ferry at night
was quite a thrill to some. The har-bor
was quite dark due to harbor
regulations which made the trip
even more exciting than what one
can imagine. A submarine and two
light cruisers with auxiliary ves-sels
were seen in the harbor prior
to nightfall. Camouflaged freighters
and British seamen were in evi-dence
everywhere. The night air
patrols were flying with no lights
while ships rode at anchor com
pletely darkened.
On Saturday two concerts were
held at the Naval Air Station, one
in the afternoon and evening. At
both performances the auditorium
was filled with a very enthusiastic
audience which was very gratify-ing
to everyone in the Glee Club
Ample time was given to inspect
the Naval Air Station with its dif-ferent
types of aircraft. Adequate
facilities were available for the en-tertainment
of the grou£>.
Jobs
Athletic Director for summer
camp for underprivileged boys,
run on military basis. Must be tall
and husky. Location: Lake Dela-ware.
Salary and expenses. A fine
organization.
Attention Richmond under-graduates:
manual labor on mak-ing
ammunition boxes. Richmond
firm offers $20 to $25 per week
(depending on overtime). This is
excellent job for Richmond ca-dets
who can live at home.
Those interested contact Col.
Marr in Engineering Building.
The annual VMI Cadet banquet
wil lbe held in the officer's room
of Crozet Hal lat 7:30 on Friday
evening. There wil lbe the usual
elaborate feast prepared by the
mess hall force.
Following the dinner, keys will be
distributed to all members of the
retiring staff. At this time the 1943
staff will be announced, and the
new staff will officially relieve the
present flrst class staff members of
the paper.
All men who expect to attend the
banquet on Friday night and have
not yet paid their fee to some mem-ber
of the busines sstaff, are request-ed
to pay O. D. Dennis in room 211
as soon as possible.
The banquet this year is expected
to measure up to or even go beyond
those held in previous years.
VMI Commanders Soon to Close
Successful, Syncopated, Season
The Commanders have nearly furnishing the entertainment. The
completed another year of m u s i c a l | Past week-end found the Command-success.
Their popularity has by all
reports grown in wider circles of
schools and gatherings. Among a
few of the places where they have
played this year include Stratford
Hall, University of Virginia, Madi-son
College, Mary Washington,
Farmville S. T. C., DuPont Com-pany
at Waynesboro, Randolph-
Macon and Sweet Briar. No list
would be complete without men-tioning
their recent hit at the Na-tional
Convention of the ASCE at
Rfcanoke in the Hotel Roanoke.
These programs attest their merit.
The approaching May Day cere-monies
at Sweet Briar and Madison
will be highlighted by the orchestra
Clerk Competition
Result Announced
In Near Future
Within the next week or so, Col-onel
Fray and Cadet Poos, the pres-ent
commandant's clerk, will choose
from among the six second class-men
now being auditioned for the
job, the new commandant's clerk
for 1942-43. Hie six second class-men
who submitted permits for the
position are: W. E. Bell, L. L. Estes,
G. L. Jacks, H. L. Smith and R. M.
Youell.
At present each of the applicants
is being examined. From the suc-cess
of these try-outs a non partial
selection shall be made. However,
Cadet Poos stated that due to the
number of men being tested, it will
be a difficult duty to try and select
the most suitable cadet for the posi-tion.
Soon after the naming of the new
clerk, he shall assume the duties of
his office. It is generally believed
that the commandan't clerk must do
all the office work including the
typing of the daily delinquency
sheet. This is not so. The only lab-orious
work involved U the com-pilation
and typing of the monthly
excess demerits sheets. The other
work in the office involves the mak-ing
up of the penalty tour sheets
and the confinement lists. Perhaps
the best part of the job is that the
clerk does not attend company for-mation*
drills, or parades. He U
e+ctue^ifrpni uu^chUig to and from
the mess h*ll, jwd.c^u come <*nd go
•t he iPiww, job. although it
sounds like an easy one is not; it re-quires
a lot of time and work.
Lt. F. H. Barksdale
Assistant PMS&T
Gets Promotion
Second Lieutenant F. H. Barks-dale,
Assistant Professor of Military
Science and Tactics, has been pro-moted
to the rank of First Lieu-tenant.
He graduated from the In-stitute
in 1940, as a Lieutenant in
"C" Company, was a member of the
Hop Committee, and member of
Horseshow Team, was Assistant
manager of football. Lieutenant
Barksdale attended the Basic Horse
and Mechanization Course at, the
U. S. Cavalry School, and came to
the Institute in 1941 as an Instruc-tor
in Military Science.
Lt. Tabb Promoted
Second Lieutenant J. M. Tabb,
Assistant Professor of Military Sci-ence
and Tactics, has been promot-ed
to the rank of First Lieutenant.
He graduated from the Institute in
1939, as a Lieutenant in "F" Com-pany,
was a member of the Hop
Committee, and Captain of the Polo
Team. Lieutenant Tabb came to the
Institute in 1940 as an Instructor
in Military Science.
ers at the University of West Vir-ginia
in Morgantown. This engage-ment
is one of many out-of-state
offers.
Two of the present first class
members have terminated their af-filiations
with the band. These va-cancies
are being filled by Jim In-gles
and Elon Anthony. They are
both members of the brass section.
The organization includes 13 men
with Jules Atkins as director and
the vocals in the capable hands of
Bosh Pritchard
For the flrst time in the history of
the orchestra the organization has
its own business manager, Bill Win-ter.
The- idea of this office will
facilitate direct contact with the
outfit in planning future programs.
The only impending disaster facing
the group is the threatened gas
shortage, but aside from that there
is every indication, of a bigger and
more successful year ahead.
First Classmen
Visit Paper Mill
On Chemists' Trip
Last Wednesday afternoon, mem-bers
of the flrst class regular chem-istry
sections were conducted on a
tour through the Columbian Paper
Mill Company in Buena Vista. The
tour, under the leadership of Mr.
Thomas, is one of several which
will be made this spring, as part of
the course in Industrial Chemistry
which the flrst class is now taking.
Next week, a visit to a rayon planf,
in Covington has been arranged.
Many different types of paper are
manufactured in the Buena Vista
Plant including wrapping, station-ery,
tablet and paper cup. This
plant carries out the entire process
of paper making from the chipping
of the pulp wood to the cutting of
the final products into sheets. One
of the most interesting processes
observed by the cadets was the di-gestion
of the pulp. Chipped pulp
was treated for six hours in caustic
soda solution contained by two di-gesters
which were 40 feet in height
This is part of a complex process
by which logs are made into paper.
A soda paper as differentiated from
the sulphite type of paper is pro-duced.
lhe pulp is made from logs,
and a small amount of west coast
"sulfite" pulp is used during the
course of the process. "
The cadets were impressed with
the cleanliness and efficiency that
they encountered in the plant.
2nd Classmen
Attend VPI
Ring Dance
On Friday afternoon after dinner
roll call the eight men whose names
were drawn to attend the Ring-dance
at VPI left Lexington in a
group. These Second classmen, R.
L. Reeves, J. G. Smith, J. A. Ander-son,
J. W. Litton, J. R. Wyatt, M.
F. Forbes, J. A. Demmler, J. G.
Tapley, arrived at VPI around five
o'clock. After being shown the
buildings and other sights of inter-est
around the school, they were
taken to the Visiting Quarters in
the gymnasium. They attended sup-per
Friday night in the school mess
hall, after which they were shown
the remainder of the campus.
Two Figures
There were two separate figures
held Friday night. The flrst was the
Civilian Figure, in which all Junior
civilian students of the school par-ticipated.
The second figure, which
followed the Civilian Figure by
about an hour, is called the Mil-itary
Figure. This was participated
in by all cadets who are Juniors
at VPI. As is the case here at the
Institute, the figures were followed
up by a regular dance lasting until
two o'clock.
Guests Of Juniors
Although their trip, with the ex-ception
of transportation to and
from Blacksburg, was financed by
the Junior Class of VPI, which cor-responds
to the Second Class here
at school, the eight VMI guests were
entertained by the president of the
Sophomore class, Henry Decker,
and the other Sophomore class offi-cers.
These men will be the guests
of the present Third Class Ring
Figure to be held here this Novem-ber.
Music By Thornhill
After sleeping until late Saturday
morning, the VMI men had lunch
at the Faculty Building. This was
followed by a tour of inspection
through the electrical and commu-nication
engineering laboratories
At 4:00 Saturdav afternoon they at-tended
a tea dance. Following sup-per
in the mess hall, they went
Continued on Page 4)
National A. S. C. E. Convention
In Roanoke Sees VMI Delegates
Particating As Members, Hosts
Lexington Is
Tour Center
Of Visitors
Announced
Aviation
Requirements
A man joining the air force be-gins
by a seven and a half month
training period, during which time
he is known as an aviation cadet. If
an officer—such as a graduate of V.
M. I., were to join the air force, he
would keep his status, but at the
same time undergo the discipline
and instruction of an aviation cadet.
There are seven different types of
training offered an aviation cadet.
They are pilot, bombardier, naviga-tor,
armament, communication, en-gineering,
and meteorology training.
Eligibility for all these is about the
same. In some cases, however, the
requirements for a pilot are higher.
An aviation cadet must be be-tween
the ages of 18 and 26 and
must have lived in the United States
for at least ten years. A recently
changed rule allows men to be mar-ried
while training, but they must
provide for their wives and families
at some place other than the bar-racks
for aviation cadets. Upon en-trance
all men must pass a stiff ex-amination
which covers English
grammar, and composition, arith-metic,
algebra, geometry, trigonome-try,
history and physics. Anyone
will be exempted from this examin-ation
who can furnish documentary
evidence of having been graduated
from a college or university. Also
anybody who has completed half the
credits for a college degree will be
exempted.
From a physical standpoint one
must have perfect health, hearing,
and vision. This combined with a
constitution suitable for flying are
(Continued on Page 4)
Church Clubs
Now Waging
Campaign
As the school year at the Virginia
Military Institute draws to a close,
the church clubs are waging an in-tense
campaign to encourage cadets
to lead a more upright life during
the summer months.
The Presbyterian Club, under the
leadership of Cadet Peter Wray, i:
stressing improvement in the lan
guage of cadets in barracks The
members of the Presbyterian Club
feel that with the summer months
approaching, cadets should strive
to better their expression, not only
to gain a sense of well-being, but
particularly so that when meeting
strangers they can feel at ease.
At the last meeting Cadet Wray
spoke on the marriage of flrst class-men
after they are graduated. Mar-riage
should be founded on Chris-tian
beliefs and should be conduct-ed
in a Christian manner.
The Methodist Club is staging a
series of open forum discussions
about various social problems. Some
of the topics are "Capital Punish-ment,"
"Mass Killings," "Pre-desti-nation,"
"Birth Control," and "Mar-riage
in Modern Times." Of partic-ular
interest was the discussion on
the topic, "Is Hitler Damned."
At one of the past meetings Dr.
W. Albert Wright gave a talk on the
religions of India." A real belief in
your religion is needed to sacrifice
one's personal senses for your be-lief,"
he said. He concluded his
remarks by saying that it would be
admirable if Christians could have
that same belief.
M. H. Forbes was elected Senior
(Continued on Page 4)
Bridle Path
Constructed
By Tourists
"Body all aching and wracked
with pain—" is the cry of the pen-alty
tour boys when they return
from work on the new bridle path,
or flirtation walk, as suits your
purpose. Instead of walking their
tours they have chosen to take the
hard labor sentence, and now go out
every Wednesday and Saturday
with picks, axes, shovels, and dyna-mite
to build this luxury "for the
Corps. Foreman Ed Fogarty takes
his laborers down the beautiful de-clivity
behind Barracks,- across the
murmuring Nile, through a victory
garden in the lovely vale, across the
tracks of Virginia's Scenic Railway,
the Virginia Creeper, over a style
built by the sweating laborers, up
through the leafy forest, on to the
cliff overlooking North River, which
will probably be named Lovers
Leap as soon as several cadets and
their dates flee the horrors of this
life by jumping off, here the penalty
tour boys sit under a large tree
recuperating from their strenuous
journey from barracks. Later on in
the afternoon they will get to work
to ease their consciences. But, hav-ing
watched the W. P. A. workers
at the riding hall, they go leisurely
to the work in order not to soil
their attire. It is promised that the
walk will be completed by 1945, but
of course that depends on whether
or not the foreman can obtain pri-orities
on the attentions of his
workers. They worked out a very
mice little scheme the other day in
which each worker would lie down
in the path and take a nap; in an
hour someone would come around
and wake them all up, whereupon
they all moved up a few feet and
repeated the process. In this way
they made a very smooth well
beaten path with a minimum of
energy expended.
Truthfully, this flirtation walk,
or lovers lane, will be about com-plete
for Finals, ready to be invaded
by all goo-goo eyed stalwarts and
their dates. Everyone should try it
then—it is said that it is very in-spirational
in some respects. As Na-ture
has not blessed us with any
such obscene thing as a kissing
rock, the Corps will have to rely
on its own ingenuity, and charm.
There will, however, be several
bowers (commonly known as seats)
(Continued On Pag* i)
Horse Show Winners
Above are the four V. M. I. horses and riders that swept the Open Jumpers class
at the Lynchburg Horse Show in City Stadium Friday. They are, left to right, Ran-ger,
ridden by Al Goddin of Richmond, Jack Knife, ridden by Henry Garrett of Au-gusta,
Ga., Girene, ridden by A. R. Potts of Gordonsville and Goucho, ridden by Don
Cameron of Wilmington, N. C.—Courtesy Lynchburg News.
Sixty odd representatives of the
VMI Student Chapter of the Ameri-can
Society of Civili Engineers at-tended
the Spring meeting of the
Society held in Roanoke last Wed-nesday
and Thursday, and acted in
the capacity of hosts for the Student
Chapter Conference.
Cadet J. A. Hughes, President,
VMI Student Chapter, called the
student session to order at 2:00 p. m.
and introduced W. F. Cline, Presi-dent,
VPI Student Chapter, who in-troduced
the flrst speaker, Franklin
P. Turner.
F. P. Turner, Principal Assistant
Engineer, Norfolk and Western
Railway, gave an address of wel-come,
on behalf of the Virginia Sec-tion
and the City of Roanoke. Mr.
Murdich, Vice-President of the na-tional
ASCE gave an address on
the future for young engineers.
Following Vice President's Bur-dich's
address, the annual roll call
of States and Student Chapters was
held, with a three minute address
from one representative of each
student chapter. At this time the
"Man Miles Award" was presented
to the Student Chapter from Texas
A. and M. for having the largest
total of man miles traveled to the
convention. The Texas chapter had
a total exceeding four thousand
man miles.
Commander Liester, CEC, U. S.
N„ addressed the session on the
advantages of the CEC offered the
graduating engineer by the Navy.
This was followed by an address
"Pessimist or Optimist" delivered
by E. M. Hastings, ASCE, Chair-man,
Society's Committee on Stud-ent
Chapters, Chief Engineer, Rich-mond,
Fredericksburg and Potomac
R. R„ and Contact Member VMI
Student Chapter.
Cadet P. C. Cabell made an-nouncements
of evening program
plans and the afternoon session was
adjourned.
The evening program began at
7:00 p. m. with a formal dinner for
members of the Student Chapters
and their dates and members and
guests of the National Society. Dur-ing
the dinner the VMI Command-ers
furnished music, and following
the dinner an address was deliv-ered
by Mr. Princc on Post War
Problems in Industry. Mr. Prince
explained what the future will hold
in store for the American Industry
and engineers and the procedure in
the future, then he discussed the
American way of life. In connec-tion
with Mr. Prince's address slides
prepared by the General Electric
Co. were shown and exhibited to
the guests. The banquet was ad-journed
at 9:30 p. m.
Following the dinner the guests
were entertained by a dance in the
Roanoke Hotel ballroom, with the
music supplied by the VMI Com-manders.
Arrangements ware made
for the visiting representatives, of
the various student chapters to es-cort
a group of young ladies from
Hollins College to the dance.
(Continued On Page 4)
Brigtulier General Francis Mallory Confined
To The Limits Of His Home By Grave Illness
The entire corps, faculty and per-sonnel
of the Institute have been
sorry to hear of the illness of Brig-adier
General Francis Mallory, who
has been confined to his home for
the past three weeks. General Mal-lory's
condition, as reported to the
"Cadet" on Saturday by his friend
and colleague Colonel W. M. Hun-ley,
is not much improved over the
past two weeks.
General Mallory graduated from
V. M. I. in 1889, and was the win-ner
of the Second Honor Jackson-
Hope medal that year. Three years
later he did graduate work at the
University of Chicago, and received
his D.Sc. from John Hopkins Uni-versity
in 189T.
Shortly after the turn of the cen-tury
he became Professor of Phy-sics
here at V. M. I, and from 1804
until very recent years he was sole
keeper of the weather records for
the Institute. General Mallory was
director of the Summer Coaching
School during the years 1922 and
1923. After General Lejeune's acci-dent
in September of 1932, he was
unable to carry out his duties as
superintendent until the following
September. During his absence the
must perforce do much of Bis work
in a dark or darkened room, Col-onel
Mallory has for years been
known as the best disciplinarian
at the Institute—choosing a course
under which he is admired and re-spected
rather than grovelling for
d u t i e s of s u p e r i n t e n d e n t were dis- Popularity. Small in statue, he will
charged by Colonels Mallory and
Pendleton.
In the fourth volume of "One
Hundred Years at V. M. I.," Colonel
William Couper writes that Gen-eral
Mallory is "the patriarch of the
present active faculty at the Insti-tute—
one who in his capacity of
professor of physics has -taught
more cadets than any living soul
who has ever been connected with
the Institute, because the classes
a n much longer now than formerly
and every cadet must study physics.
A gifted and thorough teacher who
in high glee tell his intimates that
he was used as a 'Marker' when he
was a cadet, but thousands of ad-miring
cadets recall him as the
little man with the big backbone."
Since 1940 General Mallory, who
became a Brigadier General dur-ing
that year, has not been an ac-tive
member of the faculty because
of his failing health. He is general-ly
considered one of the most be-loved
and highly respected men on
the post, and it is the sincere desire
of the corps and all his friends that
he will undergo a speedy recovery.
Recommedation&
Turned In For
New Regulations
In a recent General Order, Col-onel
Fray, commandant of cadets
requested members of the corps to
turn in recommendations for new
regulations. The recommendations
are to be submitted in informal
communication.
Those cadets who did turn in
recommendations were asked to con-sider
flrst the following points: Will
the morale of the corps be increased
thereby? Will the discipline of the
corps be adversely affected? WiU
the appearance of the corps, bar-racks,
and conditions inside and out-side
barracks be adversely affected?
In general, will the recommenda-tions
submitted, it executed, be a
good change for VMI and the corps
of cadets?
Colonel Fray has received eight
recommendations to date. Some of
these are very good, according to
Colonel Fray, and he plans to dis-cuss
these changes with the cadets
who submitted them further, before
he passes on them.