VMI Cadet. May 15, 1950

              Special
on page 4
VOLUME XL l l l i y t Cab ct Russia's
Zone Defense
THE V.M.I. C ADET, LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, MAY 15, 1950 NUMBER 29 Clajss of 1953 Becomes Official Tonight
ROTC Units
To Hold
Open House
Saturday
Armed Forces Day
To Be Celebrated
In Little Pentagon
Marking the first celebration ol
Armed Forces Day in the history
of our country, Saturday, May 20,
1950 has been set aside by the
President of the United States as
the one day of the year for all
loyal citizens to pay tribute to the
vital services rendered to our
country in war and peace, by mem-bers
of the United States Army,
Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard,
and Marine Corps. In carrying out
the local observance of Armed
Forces Day in Lexington, Lt. Col.
Skidmore N. Garrett, USAF, Pro-fessor
of Air Science and Tactics
and Senior Project Officer for the
celebration of Armed Forces Day
in the Lexington area cordially in-vites
the citizens of Lexington,
Virginia and neighboring commun-ities
to visit the VMI Military
Science Department buildings
(Formerly the old VMI Cavalry
Stables) located adjacent to U. S.
Highway No. 1 on the North side
of the VMI football stadium. These
buildings have been made available
by the Superintendent of VMI to
facilitate the observance of Armed
Forces Day in Lexington.
"Open House" to be Held
In order to acquaint the public
with the present mission of the
United States Armed Forces, sta-tioned
in Lexington "Open House"
will be held at the VMI Military
Science buildings between the hours
of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. in-clusive
on Saturday, May 20, 1950.
At this time and place the various
types of Infantry, Armored Caval-ry,
Field Artillery and United
States Air Force weapons and
equipment currently being used
to instruct VMI ROTC Cadets will
be displayed for inspection by the
public. Also at the same time,
all classrooms, offices, supply rooms,
motor sheds, and other facilities
of the VMI Military Science De-partment
will be open for visits
and inspection by the public.
In addition to "Open House" at
the VMI Military Science Buildings,
a weapons display in the town of
Lexington is planned for Armed
Forces Day.
Civils Inspect
Foundry, Shop!
In Lynchburg
BT BOB MOSS
Second class civil engineers took
their annual field trip to Lynch-burg
last Tuesday, May 9, for the
purpose of visiting foundries and
machine shops in and around the
Lynchburg area. The civils were
guests for the day of Mr. McWane,
assistant to the presdent of the
Lynchburg Foundry Company.
After an early breakfast in the
mess hall at 6:15, the civils boarded
special busses for the trip to Lynch-burg
and arrived about 8:30 at
the Lynchburg Foundry. Before
changing into coveralls for the in-spection
trip through the foundry,
pictures of the five civil sections
were taken outside of the foundry
by a company photographer for
the foundries' magazine titled
"The Iron Worker." Throughout the
day more pictures of the cadets
were taken by this same photog-rapher
as the cadets observed the
different phases of producing iron
castings.
At the conclusion of the morning
inspection trip through the Lynch-burg
Foundry and the Glamorgan
Pipe Company, the CES had lunch
as guests of the Lynchburg Foun-
(Continued on Page 1)
'Ken9 Runquist
To Leave VMI
To Earn Ed.E.
BY H. L. RAWLINS
""This"next fall the Pre-Med De-partment
and the Physical Educa-tion
Department will be without
the services of Kenneth C. Run-quist.
who has been at VMI for the
last three years. Coach or "Ken" as
he is often called by the members
of the swimming team, is leaving
in June to attend the Teachers'
College Division of Columbia Uni-versity.
There he will obtain an
Ed. D. in Education. Then, if his
plans materialize, he might be able
to return to VMI.
"Ken" obtained his B.S. degree in
1943 at Springfield College in
Springfield, Mass., the town where
he was reared. He then went into
the Navy for three years of which
18 months were spent overseas in
the Mediterranean area. He was in
the 8th Amphibious Force and took
part in three landings. When dis-charged,
Ken held the rank of
lieutenant junior grade, but now is
a lieutenant senior grade in lhe
Reserves.
After being discharged he went
back to Springfield College and ob-tained
his M. Ed. in 1947.
In the same year Herb Patchin
wrote to Dr. Esslinger who is head
of the Department of Education at
Springfield College, asking him to
recommend someone to replace
Ralph Casey in the Physical Ed-ucation
Department. Ken was lhe
one recommended and in the fall
of 1947 he joined the faculty of
VMI.
Ken has coached the swimming
team and taught swimming all
three of his years at VMI, but in
adition to that, he taught gym-nastics
at W&L his second year and
has taught biology this last year
here.
The swimming team thinks high-ly
of Ken and has improved stead-ily
under him. During Ken's first
year the team won 3, lost 3 meets;
during his second year it won 4,
lost 3. This year the team won 6,
lost 1 and took second place in
the conference meet. They hsve
had to improve a great deal to
Blackwell And Hawthorne
Co-leaders Of Commanders
Ash Harrison and Tommy Kirk,
the present co-leaders of the Com-manders,
announced Wednesday
night that next year the dance band
will again have co-leaders. Mack
Blackwell, trumpeter from Saltville,
Virginia, and Gene Hawthorne, alto
sax star from Keysville, Virginia,
will share the lime light fifty-fifty.
Next year will mark the fourth
with the Commanders for Black-well,
a Brother Rat of 1951, and ihe
fifth for Hawthorne, a Brother Rat
of 1950B. Hawthorne has played
first sax with the dance band for
four years; this fact itself speaks
for the musical ability of Mr.
Hawthorne. Gene has also been ac-tive
in sports, being a member of
this year's varsity golf team. He is
a major in liberal arts and is now
completing his Second Class 2-B
term.
Mack Blackwell has been with
the dance band since his Rat year,
and has been featured as the jazz
trumpet soloist since his first sen-sational
appearance with the Com-manders
in 1947. In addition to
the dance band, Mack is the first
solo trumpet for the Regimental
Band and Music Editor for the
Cadet. Next year will mark his
keep up with the improving con-ference.
Ken who met his wife, a Navy
nurse, while he was in the Navy,
was married in January, 1946. Now
he has two little boys, one that
can swim and one that can't. The
one that can't is only 15 months
old, but Ken says that it was a
great disappointment to him that
they both were not able to swim
when they were born. He blames
it on their mother.
Ken regrets that he has to leave
VMI, but he has no choice if he
wants to be able to use the G. I.
Bill to get his Ed. D. Al Conyne
also from Springfield College, will
take his place. Al Conyne re-ceived
his M. Ed. in 1948. He was
captain of the Springfield swim-ming
team in 1946. Ken has kno vn
him for about 10 years and is cer-tain
that he will be an asset to the
Physical Education Department.
Summer Camp Furlough
Summer camp is the main thought
of all second classmen as summer
furlough Is just a month off. Within
a few days after leaving VMI, all
men who are going to camp will
report to their respective camps to
spend six weeks getting practical
experience w h i c h will prepare
them to be officers in either the
Army or Air Force.
The men In Air ROTC are going
to camps in Virginia and Ohio.
Cadets in Air Administration and
supply will go to Langley Air Force
Base, Virginia, on June 18 and will
remain there until July 30. Those
cadets in Air Installation will be
sent to Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, Ohio, from June 25 until
August 5. Cadets at these camps
will follow nearly the same sched-ule,
only, of course, the courses will
be different. At each camp there
will be a four day bivouac. Each
man will serve as mess attendant
at least one day during his six
weeks stay at the camp and every
cadet will be encouraged to par-ticipate
in aerial Sights.
Fort Knox, Kentucky, is the camp
chosen for the Armored Cavalry
this summer. The camp will start
June 17 and last for six weeks.
This camp will include range Oring
with small arms, tank gunnery,
field tactics, and physical education.
(This schedule, however, will not
be followed by the tank gunnery
group). The six weeks will include
ample time for recreation that will
be enjoyable as well as profitable.
The summer camp will be com-posed
of many ROTC groups which
will come from the eastern states.
The Infantry camp will be Fort
Meade. At this camp, and at the
other camps there will be several
VMI officers and noncommissioned
officers. The camps will be a major
step in the attainment of commis-sions
in both the reserve and reg-ular
Army.
As usual, the Artillery camp will
be conducted at Fort Bragg, in
Fayetteville, North Carolina. Here,
the greater part of the cadets' time
will be occupied with practical and
field work on the 105 and 155 mm
howitzers. Accompanying the VMI
group will be Major Schaaf.
It is estimated that there will be
approximately 130 cadets from
VMI at the summer camps this
year. Some of the cadets, however,
will go to other camps such as
those which specialize ln engineer-ing
and ecience.
fourth successful year with the
Commanders.
Plans for Next Year
When asked about their plans
for next season, the co-leaders did
not have too much to say since they
haven't decided definitely on the
personnel. They both agreed with
the fact that if they can get ihe
sidemen they want, they will pro-duce
a dance band which can re-tain
the high position the Com-manders
have in college dance band
circles.
Vocalist?
Mack Blackwell answered the
question as to a vocalist with, "As
yet, we don't know, but I'd like to
have one with the band." Gene
Hawthorne answered the same ques-tion
with, "I can't say right now;
we'll have to decide on that one
later." Conclusion and prediction:
the Commanders will have next
year, a yet un-named male vocalist.
Two-Sized Band
Mutual agreement will probably
produce a two-sized band much
as the present outfit. That is, there
will be the big band for ballroom
dances and the smaller combo for
country clubs, fraternity houses,
and private parties. This plan has
proven successful in past years; it
is a formula which helps the darice
band fill all types of dance dates.
Personnel for the band will be an-nounced
early next year.
Good Future for Commanders
The Commanders, under its two
new, experienced leaders, will hs ve
a bright future to look forward to
next season. The neighboring
schools, fraternities, and clubs
should keep the band booked prac-tically
every weekend. This year,
the big drawback seemed to be lack
of transportation, but Blackwell
and Hawthorne seem fairly confi-dent
that they can overcome this
obstacle and lead the Commandnrs
to another successful dance season.
The Commanders are well known
throughout the state and have made
frequent appearances at VMI hops
in past years. They have filled en-gagements
at various girls' schools
including Hollins, Sullins, and Rad-ford
Teachers College.
Cadets Hear
Brown, Dodge
In VMI Hall
Today and tonight the Institute
is playing host to Mr. Willard
Brown, a graduate of the class of
1914 and the manager of the Engi-neering
department of the Lamp
Division of General Electric Com-pany.
Mr. Brown will give a demonstra-ted
lecture on the sources of light,
entitled "Developments in Light
Sources." The Corps will form for
the lecture at 1930 Monday night.
Mr. Brown has revisited VMI sev-eral
times before this, and last year
lectured to the Electrical Engineers.
A second lecture is scheduled to
be delivered at noon on Tuesday,
May 16, by Dr. Baynard Dodge,
President Emeritus of the American
University of Beirut in Beirut,
Lebanon. The talk, entitled "The
Future of Western Asia—Oil and
Water or Blood and Tears," is of
general economic and political in-terest.
Dr. Dodge has spent most
of his life teaching in the Near and
Far East. His appearance has been
made possible as a result of a con-tribution
to the Athens College in
Athens, Greece by the VMI faculty.
Last Company Rooms
Scheduled For 2215
Rats First
Under Rules
Now In Effect
Science Hall
Is Planned
For Future
Last week a r c h i t e c t s from
Delano & Aldrich were at VMI
discussing the future Science Hall
which will be built somewhere on
our campus. The building was ori-ginally
planned in 1942. It will
house the Physics Department, and
later with the addition of a large
wing will accomodate the Biology
Department. The architects con-ferred
with Colonel William Couper
VMI Business Executive Officer;
and the heads of the Physics and
Biology Departments. The tenta-tive
location of the building is
just west of the library. As soon
as actual appropriations are re-leased,
the firm of Carneal & John-son
will begin the plans for con-struction.
Tech - VMI Differ Vastly
Many More Privileges At VPI
Virginia Beach
Will See Party
So far not many of the "lo'ial
boys'" clubs around barracks have
gotten on the stick about the parties
that they will throw this summer.
The few that have made up their
minds—or nearly so—are the Tide-water
Club, the Lynchburg Club,
and the Southwest Virginia Club
Down at the Beach, the boys from
Tidewater are going to have a
brawl right after we shed our last
tears of parting from this venerable
institution. No definite place has
been decided upon, but among
others the "Sand Box" has been
suggested. No definite place can be
picked until the number of people
who will be there has been fix.fd,
so everyone who is going down to
the Beach to drown his sorrows
in something other than the Atlantic
go on down to 211 and tell Dashiell.
The second or third week of
August (as soon as summer camp
is over) Norton, Virginia will be
the scene of another "typical" party
for the Southwestern Virginia boys.
The place is the country club, prob-ably
because the large, rolling
greens will permit much early
morning sleeping.
Two nights after the last party
here the mountains will again ring
with loud cries and songs, lhe
Lynchburg Club is throwing a hay-ride.
Naturally this is only the be-ginning
of a perpetual paity
throughout the summer, and any-one
is invited.
All the other clubs say that ihe
summer is going to be one big party
from beginning to end, but none
have said where it is going to start,
or when.
A recent note on the bulletin
board: "Anyone planning to be in
Mexico City during the summer
notify Dalrymple for a keg of beer
and a good time."
This is the fourth in a series
of articles by the VMI Cadet to
keep thc corps informed of thc
nature of other military schools.
The earlier articles were on West
Point, The Citadel, and Annap-olis.
BY J. W. CLAWSON
Those actually expecting an in-stitution
'far above the hills of
Blacksburg, in a field of rye' will
be amazed and impressed by the
I bustle on the expansive yet crowd-
: ed grounds of the Virginia Poly-technic
Institute at Blacksburg, Vir-ginia,
whose academic plant is val-ued
at some twenty million dollars.
The arch rival of the Institute
on the field of sports is a combi-nation
civilian co-educational and
military college offering bachelors
degrees in 32 courses, master's
degrees in twenty-six, and Ph. D.
degrees in four. Emphasis, however,
is placed on the three courses of
only at BRC and at Retreat. Th."re
are however, two hours of drill
every week and one parade, weath-er
permitting. They are not re-quired
to march to class and Gurrd
Duty extends only from six in
the morning until eleven at night. • — —— irmn
There is no formation at Ti ch d r i U o n Tuesday and Thursdays,
comparable to the Institute's Men- ( Another revision took shape dir-day
Evening Inspection, nevertNe- , ' n g the present semester, with She
less, rifles are inspected in 1he changes in honor list requiremerts.
BY FRANK C. GORHAM
Amid ringing old yells for every
class now in barracks, the Class
of 1953 was released from the rat
line at 6:20 p.m. today. The great
event, which has been anxiously
awaited on the fourth stoop, took
place this afternoon at the con-clusion
of VMI's traditional New
Market Day Ceremonial Parade.
The Class of 1953 thus became the
first class in VMI history to be re-leased
from the rat line under
the new system which was inaugu-rated
this spring. Prior to this time,
with the exception of last year, the
rat line has ended on the day be-fore
the start of final exercises
Th fourth class .however, will not
receive third class privileges until
next year.
Many changes in regulations pre-ceded
the new system. The first of
these took form two years ago this
spring when members of the corps
were permitted to return individ-ually
from the mess hall instead of
marching back by battalions. This
change was followed a year later
by abandonment of the custom of
marching back from Sunday morn-ing
church formations. Further
privileges came during the current
year with the granting of non-emergency
furlough time to all
classes, and with the excusing of
academic first class privates from
rooms during one of the three rer.u-larly
scheduled inspections e.ich
day.
Juniors are Corporals
Rank in the Corps of Cadets
are held mainly by third and fou'th
year men, who are given the up- „ -
portunity of attending Tech as I ®y__e™' n o changes have been
Under the new honor list require-ments,
rats who met the requi'e-ments
for the old 8.0 furlough wwe
placed on the honor list. Slightly
different changes were made ''or
the second and third classes. S i ne
the present first class is still on ihe
civilian students. This policy
sures promotions being given only
to those interested in the military
system. Sophomores hold the rank
of privates first class, juniors are
corporals and sergeants, and seniors
Engineering, Business Administra-1 h o , d a11 commissioned ranks
tion, and Agriculture. In addition
to the main courses, it is possible
to specialize in any one of ninety-six
branches. Academic grades are
based on the system of A, B, C, D,
E, and F. A grade of E is con-ditional
and F is failing; allowing
four marks between passing and
the maximum grade, similar to the
system now employed by the In-stitute.
Military courses are taught in
Engineering, Artillery, Infantry,
Signal, Ordnance, and Air Force.
However, a smaller percentage of
students are actually enrolled in
the ROTC than at VMI.
The fourteen h u n d r e d and
twenty-five members of the Corps
of Cadets are housed in barracks in
an upper and lower quadrangle and
in several of the four new dormi-tories
recently completed in order
to absorb those students formerly
housed at the nearby Radford Ord-nance
Plant.
More Privileges
While visitors to Blacksburg will
find the general rules and customs
prevalent at all military colleges,
the greater number of privileges
afforded cadets as well as the dif-ferences
in policies and traditions
as compared to those of the In-stitute
will immediately be notired
by even the most casual observer.
Furloughs are available at the rate
of six per year for freshmen, 12
per year for Sophomores, and 18
per year for Juniors. Half of the
allotted leaves are classified as
Special, from Friday DRC to Mon-day
morning BRC, while the regu-lar
furloughs are from Saturday
DRC to Monday BRC. Seniors are
granted 12 Special furloughs each
year and an unlimited number of where they choose.
regular leaves
Less Formations
The Corps now forms regularly
Different Customs
The 'Rat Line' at VPI extends not
only inside but outside barracks,
within a specified area. All ruts
carry matches in their hatbands
for the convenience of upper-classmen
and are required to groet
everyone that they see at all times
The fourth classmen are easily
recognizable by their white web
belts, which are worn with every
uniform. Grey cotton shirts and
straight pants are worn all yi'ar
except while on guard, when at-tending
dances, and on Sundays,
when ducks are worn.
Luxury in Barracks
In barracks, classes are evenly
distributed on all floors. The rooms
hold two and three and are lux-uriously
furnished, according to
Institute standards.
Rugs, overstuffed chairs, indi-vidual
medicine chests, draperies,
pictures hung on walls, and civilian
clothing are permitted in the rooms.
Tech cadets sleep on non-collapsible
metal cots, but they are required to
fold back their mattresses ench
morning.
Cafeteria Style
Food is served to both the civil
and military students in opposite
sides of a huge cafeteria. Since the
hall will not accommodate the en-tire
student body, meals are ser\ed
In shifts. It is a senior privilege,
however, to break into the cafeteria
line. There are no definite table
assigned, but all rats are required
to keep upperclassmen supplied
with water during the course of
the meal. Though they must sit on
the edges of their chairs at atten-tion
as did the Institute Rats, at
Tech, they are allowed to sit any-
Blackaburg 'On Peel'
The campus of VPI Includes the
(Continued on Page S)
announced as yet for the first class
honor list. These changes had be-come
highly desirable when 'he
new grading system was inaugu-rated
in September, 1947, with the
matriculation of the class of 1951.
Under original plans, all classes
were placed on the 6.0 system, but
this was later changed so that all
classes including and following f.he
Class of 1951 would be placed on
the 6.0 system, while all previous
calsses would remain on the 7.5
grading system until graduation
The indications of better things
to come were climaxed on March
6, 1950 when the new system was
announced to the corps. The prin-cipal
feature of the system was the
granting of more weekends to all
classes, including the new non-restrictive
weekends which are not
based on academic work. Other im-portant
features were a change in
class drinking pledge rules; ox-tension
of Saturday night privileges
to the fourth class; and a general
tightening of General Committee
rules pertaining to the administra-tion
of the rat line.
Another change in VMI regula-tions
which was announced at the
same time as the new system, tmt
which has not yet had a chance
to become effective, is the change
in the time of matriculation for
new cadets. Prior to this time, new
cadets have matriculated on the
Monday following the return of
the old cadets. However, starting ln
September, 1950, new cadets will
report five days prior to the return
of the corps. This system breaks an
Institute policy of over 20 yeari
standing. Under this change, all
classes will begin academic work
for the year on the same day.
Sports This Week
SATURDAY
State Golf Tournament at
Hot Springs
Southern Conference Track Meet
at Chapel Hill