VMI Cadet. November 28, 1949

              S l i c l t l l i j l C u k t
T H E V . M . I . CADET, L E X I N G T O N , V I R G I N I A , MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1945)
Lnboshutz and Nemenoff, famous duo-pianists who will give a con-cert
in '94 Hall on Saturday, Dec. 3rd at 8 p.m. under the auspices
of the Rockbridge Concert-Theater Series. No tickets will be sold at
the door, but each cadet whoh is a subscriber to the series is invited
to bring a date to this concert free of charge.
Keydet Clubs
Plan Parties
Over Holidays
Like many of the clubs here at
the Institute the Ambassador Club
has not made any definite plans for
a Christmas party. Since the Am-bassador
Club is composed of cadets
from the Washington, D. C. metro-politan
area, it may combine with
the Northern Virginia Club to
celebrate the holidays.
Parties, get-to-gethers, and just
generally having a good time are
all included in the Texas Club's
activities for the holidays.
Already the club has had a big
banquet last Saturday night in Lex-ington
before the dance. The guest
speaker at the banquet was Col.
B. S. Carroll.
While in the big state the club
has two separate parties planned.
One will be in Dallas for all those
in that vicinity and one in Houston
for members living there. Neither
of the parties have definite plans,
but it is assured that both will be
a success. There will also be sev-eral
other small gatherings held.
The Newman Club has several
Christmas activities also planned
before the holidays begin. They
(Continued on Page 4)
Washington and Lee Students Relate
Impressions Of Institute To Reporters
In various and sundry wanderings |
about the W&L campus and fratern-ity
houses connected with said in-stitution,
it was found that the myth
of the VMI-W&L rivalry is still
considered a myth. From freshman
to senior and fraternity man to
non-fraternity man this seemed to
be the consensus of opinion. It was
also noted that the VMI Corps
parade over W&L's anniversary
made quite a good impression on
said Minks. However, let's allow
a fair cross-section of W&L students
to speak for themselves:
Tex St. Clair: VMI is a fine
school. It's rough on freshmen. I
Ray Sanchez: I do not like the
rat system, and think it does more
harm than good in some cases. I
have seen one parade at VMI. Cap-tain
Nichols, Captain Miller are
two of the men I have known at
VMI. Most girls knock themselves
out to get to go to a VMI dance.
I never gave VMI too much thought.
W&L is tougher scholastically than
VMI. VMI can't be too tough be-cause
the cadets don't have any
time to study. Even if the
system was changed, the cadets
wouldn't make the grades, in cer-tain
cases anyway. Changing the
system would break the spirit of
don't feel I'd be cut out for the | VMI, and the very principle of the
military myself. i school.
Eugene Anderson: I think VMI is
a good school, and I haven't ever
missed a j^jade (especially when
Tuck is there). The Rat system
sounds too rough and inhuman. The
best thing about the school is its
spirit, which does good for all con-cerned,
and is the main cause for
Jack Crowder: The VMI bunch
is a good one, but I don't know
many. I admire them for putting
aip with as much as they do.
Dick Hynson: My cousin went
there. Most of the boys enjoy go-
I ing over to VMI to see the parades,
there. A lot of us envy the VMI
sets (dances). Really more of a i t h e corPs sti11 existing. The bad
•sport than a rivalry between the ; t h i n g a b o u t t h e c a d e t s is t h e tyPe
two schools as there are no rules
here and strict rules at VMI (mili-tarism.)
Henry Jones: VMI has a lot of
good spirit. They go through a
lot of hazing.
Bob Johnson: I know a couple
of boys whom I had gone to school
with earlier, who went to VMI.
I never gave any thought to the
rivalry.
Hugh Francis: I like the parades,
and think a lot of the school. I ad-mire
the students who go to a
place like VMI and putting up with
the lack of freedom they have to
be confronted with.
Tom Jacobs: I saw the reviews
and parades last spring. They all
| looked very good. The VMI cadets
i are a great bunch, and are very
I friendly. AU I hear is the one-sided
I views about the rat system and
I its bad points, so therefore I would
I rather not express my opinion. I
f do believe there should be more
• intermixing, such as dances and
Rother social events.
I Dick Baker: I don't want to ex-press
myself, but think it is a good
•question. f
John MoDorgh: I like the cadet
ystem, but think the rat line is
lot of baloney. I do not see why
ne human being has to take that
ind of treatment from another.
Human beings weren't made for
that sort of thing. The longer a
cadet stays at VMI, the more he
becomes wrapped up in the tradi-tion
of the school and the more
he becomes aloof. Some of the
cadets are polite, but a lot have
an entirely different attitude and
are hard to tell about. The parades
at VMI are beautiful and I think
perhaps some of the cadets them-selves
enjoy them. The biggest ob-
. Jection is the too infrequent chan-ges
to obtain leave and get out of
the Institute.
will do the same thing. It destroys
their personal initiative a little
but after it is all over they are
proud of the fact that they made
it through. All of the cadets know
it takes a lot to make it. The out-siders
don't know much, and all
their opinions are formed by hear-say
the rivalry propaganda and
there is no evidence of ill feeling
at all. VMI is a damn good school
and rates high academically. I
wouldn't like to have four more
years but in complete accord with
policy. I know Johnny Lane, Rudy
White. I know a dozen boys from
Johnny's section.
John Joyce: I met some awful
YMI Glee Club
Record Album
To Come Soon
BY R. L. DALRYMPLE
One of the most outstanding
features of the record album to
be placed on sale in Barracks soon
by the Glee Club is an entirely
new arrangement of the VMI
Spirit. This arrangement features I
choral introduction followed by
double rendition of the chorus, I
first in unison and then in har- J
mony. All those who have heard
the record feel that it will be I
considered the finest record of our
school song in existence.
There are a few interesting side- [
lights to the recording of this
record. It was not made under
what might be termed completely
favorable conditions, as the re-cording
of the Spirit was one of
the first on the schedule at the
Glee Club recording session at
the RCA Victor studios in New
York City. Virtually everyone had
been studying New York night
life the evening before, and, as
one cadet was prompted to re-mark,
"the over-hang was some-thing
awful." Add to this the fact
that the new arrangement has
some rather difficult chords, and
you can imagine the difficulty en-countered
in making a good record.
After numerous tries, two record-ings
were chosen, and, thanks to
the miracle of modern tape-re-cording,
parts of each were com-bined
to make one acceptable
record.
Samples to be Played
Before very long, now, the cadets
will have an opportunity to hear
the Glee Club records. Samples
are due to arrive very soon, and
arrangements have been made to
play them on the various local
disc-jockey programs and in bar-racks.
The manufacturer has set
the tenth of December as an ap-proximate
date of arrival of the
albums themselves, and they will
Dischinger To Deliver
50-A Valedictory Speech
At January Graduation
Popular Band
Record Crowd
Feature Hops
BY MACK BLACKWELL, Jr.
The "Favorites of Millions,'
Glen Gray and the Casa Loma
Orchestra, were this weekend, one
of the most successful dance bands
ever to play a VMI Hop if one
uses as a standard the tremendous
number of people who attended
the hops and the enthusiastic re-ception
given the band by the
dancers. The exquisite decorations
of the gym, the beautiful figure
presented by the class of 1951, and
the very danceable music of Glen (
Gray's orchestra combined to make
what was held to be one of the
most pleasing weekends at the In-stitute
in recent years.
Music Weil-Timed
It seemed as if Glen Gray was
using a crystal ball to select the
music he played. Just at the
moment everyone wanted to \valtz,
he would play a waltz medley.
When the dancers felt the urge to
rumba, a rumba would be thc
next selection. But, far and above
the other selections, were the many
smooth ballads featured by the
Casa Loma musicians. In an inter-view
Saturday night, Mr. Gray
said, "I'm trying to play the kind
of music people can not only dance
to, but listen to, also. You might
H. C. DISCHINGER
be distributed to those who have cal1 i l "Hotel Music." Well, what-ordered
them as soon after their e v e r t y p c of music Mr. Gray pre-arrival
as possible. * ~
The recording session in itself
was a new experience for most
of the members of the Club. AJ
though many records have been
sents, it's obviously very popular
at VMI—the enthusiastic reception
given him is proof enough.
Top-Flight Musicians Spark Band
Much of the success of the Casa
nice guys at VMI. I almost went , m a d e b y t h e c , u b b e f o r 6 i b o t h at | L o m a o r c h e s t r a h i n g e s o n t h e f a ct
of things going on after finals. Three
ash cans of bottles from one house
is a sign of a total mess. I know
a few VMI boys and I think they
are swell fellows. Cadets are less
friendly on their own campus
Bill Bailey: VMI is a fine school
and I like it a lot. As I went to
a military prep school. I suppose
that is the main reason. The parades
display the reason for drill periods
in the afternoons and the result of
same. The rat system has a pur-pose,
but it is getting outdated and
modified too much. I know two or
three boys from Greenbrier Mili-tary
School who have told me of
the rat system at present, and what
they think about it.
Jack Anderson: The school is
all right. The rat system in my
opinion is no good and I know that
a lot of l}oys would stay at VMI
if it was not in existence. The rat
system places too many regulations
on new cadets, not allowing the
rat to think for himself enough, be-cause
of narrow views. I think the
cadets, all of them, should have
more freedom in and around the
school. VMI is strictly Army mind-ed
now so should let the cadets
make decisions for themselves. Some
of the fellows at the school are
nice regardless of the circumstances.
B.B. Albert: The boys at VMI
are a good bunch of guys and I
like them very much. If Armv
played anybody but VMI they'd
run the score to 90-0. I have to
kill a barrel now so can't say
much.
Dick Carden: The rat system has
its advantages if not carried too
far. The idea of a militarv colleee
is excellent. The rat system should
be carried on but not to the ex-the
Institute and on trips, none of | that every musician in the band
them were made in quite so pro-fessional
a setting as the lavishly
equipped Victor Studios. These
studios, in which are made virtu-ally
all of the RCA Victor popular
records are equipped with the
latest in recording equipment and
designed in such a manner that
the acoustics are almost perfect.
Steinway Concert Grand pianos,
organs, celestes, and all sorts of
heavy orchestral instruments line
the walls, which are of the latest
multi-cylindrical c o n s t r u c t i o n.
Everyone was impressed by the
high degree of professional ef-ficiency
demonstrated by the re-cording
engineers, whose expert-ness
did much to lighten the gruel-ing
five hour session. The Club's
high spirits were shown by spon-taneous
cheering upon the com-pletion
of a good recording, al-though
it must be admitted that
towards the end of the session
there were not a few sighs of re
lief mingling with the cheers.
to a military school myself.
Jim Turk: The rat system is lack-ing
at W&L. It is the best way to
get acquainted with the people at
the school, if not carried too far.
The spirit and the football record
at VMI go together and compose
an impressive record.
Don Peterson: The rat system is
being played up too much. It can't
be as bad as it sounds to be.
Tom Andrews: Although he doesn't
see too much of VMI, he thinks it
is a good school with a good
bunch of boys in it. A lot of good
athletes would go out at VMI if
the rat system were better. The rat
system needs more school spirit in
it, and behind it, to carry on pro-perly.
Then the rats wouldn't hate
it and the school so much.
John Martin: I have nothing
against the school itself other than
it is not a good means of education.
Too much time is spent on the
military life there. The cadets as
a whole are good fellows.
Jim Taylor: The VMI cadets are
a fine bunch of boys, and good party
boys, too. The only thing, they
don't get drunk enough with us.
The rat line in practice now is
a bunch of bull; I went through
one myself. VMI should open up
dances and should get together
with W&L on one good dance per
year. The uniforms are pretty, and
so are the parades.
Tom Moore: I don't know much
about the corps, and am indifferent
about the whole thing.
Mason Robertson: I think VMI
is a good school with some fine
people enrolled there. My own
father went to VMI but I can't see
myself going to a military school
In some respects, a school such as
VMI places a greater sense of res-ponsibility
on the individual.
Henry Stern: I get to go to VMI
about twice a week but haven't
seen too many parades. The Mem-orial
Day parade was very im- his interest in ridnig Captain Gil-pressive
and colorful. One objection liam is helping organize a riding
is that I hardly ever get to see club at VMI now.
a master of his chosen instrument.
No single section of the band could
be pointed out as the "best," but
two musicians could be pointed out
as slightly terrific. They are Mr
"Fats" Daniels on clarinet and Mi
Bill Moore on trumpet. Bill Moore
leads the brass section and "Fats"
heads the reed section. Both eve-nings,
intent listeners stood around
the badstand listening and watch-ing
the Casa Lomians perform in
a style which only their band can
claim. Some of the best-received
arrangements played by Glen Gray
were: "Lucky 'Ol Sun," "Through
a Long and Sleepless Night," "No
Name Jive," and "Clare de Lune."
Mr. Gray's excellent music style
is not recognized at VMI alone. A
certain reliable source says that
he is to play for the W&L "Fancy
Dress" Ball.
Capt. Gilliam
Returns Here
As Instructor
BY JOHN R. TAYLOR, Jr.
This year Captain B. McC. Gilliam
returned to his alma mater after
an absence of nine years as an in-structor
in the economics depart-ment
and as a tactical officer
Captain Gilliam was born and
raised in Lynchburg, Virginia,
where he attended Virginia Epis-copal
School. After his graduation
there Captain Gilliam entered VMI
in the class of 1940. He was editor
of the Bomb during his flrst class
year. He was liberal artists—there
being no set major then. During
his cadetship Captain Gilliam was
particularly interested in riding, a
hobby he still continues. Due to
Select Popular
Civilian Livil,
Air Force Yet
The Class of 1950-A recently
elected Hugh Charles Dischinger
of Gloucester, Virginia to deliver
their class valedictory address at
the graduation ceremonies, which
will be held on Saturday, January
28. 1950.
Hugh, habitually referred to as
"Dish" by his classmates, spent
one and a half years at the In-stitute
before going into service,
and after he came back, he was in
the corps until June 48, when he
decided to complete the remainder
of his work as a civilian student.
A member of the Brother Rat Class
of 1945, he matriculated in Sep-tember,
1941, two months before
that disastrous December Sunday
that was to affect drastically his
college career.
Made Corporal
As a rat, "Dish" played rat foot-ball,
participated in all intra-murals,
and planned to be an elec-trical
engineer. Also he was "run-ning"
enough to win corporal
stripes his third class year. He
finished his second year first term
before he was called, in one of the
first groups of the Enlisted Re-serve
Corps to be called to active
duty. He left after mid-term, 1943.
After being called to active
duty, "Dish" eventually became a
fighter pilot in the Air Corps, and
attained the rank of captain. After
three years and eight months of
service, including nineteen months
overseas, he was discharged and
returned to the Institute in Feb-fruary
1947. as a third classman
Stein G C Va with the academic class of 1950-A.
Whitehurst W A Va After coming back, he switched his
course from electrical to civil.
Prominent in ASCE
i As a civil engineer, he has been
| active in the ASCE. being elected
assistant secretary his third class
1950-B's Head
Men In Recent
Honor Rating
1. HONOR LIST: The following
cadets comprise the honor list for
the period ending 12 November
1949. having an average of 9.00
or more on all topics of instruction
and conduct records not impaired
by excessive demerits:
First Class, Second Term
Dischinger M C Va
Dresser W C Va
Hamner H D Jr Va
Naschold E T Jr Pa
Quisenberry E L III Va
Ripley J G Va
Shufflebarger C L Va
Va
W Va
Va
First Class, First Term
Brooke R L
Buchanan W J
Burckell T J
Burwell E B Va
Butler J E Va
Coffman G S W Va
Costello F A Jr W Va
Coupland R C Jr DC
Davis C C Pa
Davis J G Va
Eva TV NY
Fisher E Jr Mass
Fleming D W Conn
Flippen J H Jr Va
Galliher C L Jr Tenn
(Continued On Page 2)
year and vice-president in his sec-ond
class year. At the present
time he is the executive officer of
that organization.
As a returned veteran, Hugh has
made a record that helps support
the contention that returned vet-erans
are serious students. He has
won academic stars something
since he returned, which he now
has no opportunity to wear, as a
result of being a civilian student
(Continued On Page 4)
many of my old friends at VMI
because of the restrictions there.
treme. and should be handled by 1 l'ke the new lounge at barracks,
mature men rather than guvs who where a strong sense of comrade-merelv
lose their heads. The rats s^ip is found. As for the rat sys-b—
like hell, but next year thev (Continued On Page 4)
During the war Captain Gilliam
saw duty in the European theater,
for he was in the Intelligence
Branch of the 29th Division for
three years. He entered Berlin with
(Continued on Page 4)
Roanoke Trip
Features Y.P.I.
Tribute At Half
The corps trip to Roanoke on
Thanksgiving Day touched off a
weekend of social events for cadets,
their dates, and parents. The high
point of the trip was. of course, the
"Military Classic of the South" in
which the Big Red Team battled
VPI's Gobblers to a 28-28 tie.
The game had all of the color
for which it is traditionally noted.
The pre-game ceremonies included
regimental reviews by both corps
and ended with a meeting of the
two staffs in the middle of the
field, at which time VMI flrst cap-tain
W. J. Buchanan returned the
pamphlets which had been dropped
over VMI the day before. The
turned back capes added somewhat
to the colorful appearances and
also to the distinction of the cadet
stand on both sides.
Tech Band Good
Tech's main contribution to the
game's attractions were the well-trained
band and the designs
formed with their white hats.
Three formations were made in
this manner, the white hats stand-ing
out against the background of
Continued on Page 2
Curley Powell squeaks over for the tying touchdown in
the closing minutes of Thursday's game to make score
read 28-28 after Keydets had passed and bulled their way
to the Tech six-yard stripe.
(Photo Coartesy of Roanoke World-News)