VMI Cadet. December 17, 1951

              MERRY
CHRISTMAS jteMjytogt HAPPY
NEW YEAR
VOLUME XLII VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, DECEMBER 17, 1951 NUMBER 13
I M W W M I W W W I I I W ^ ^
Christmas Message
To The Corps of Cadets:
8 December 1951
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of
you!
The time has arrived for a break in your intensive
study and training. Have a good time at home with your
families. Many of our recent graduates are having a
rough time in Korea. I hope they may soon have it easier
and that you will not have to undergo that hardship.
The only way to avoid it is for us to train and arm to
the point were our country is highly respected. So en-joy
this holiday and come back with renewed determi-nation
to be as efficient a citizen and soldier as you are
capable of being.
Be careful going home and returning.
R. J. MARSHALL,
Superintendent
A LETTER TO SANTA
Walking back down Letcher i fit the purpose nicely.
Avenue last week after seeing the willy Gilly wants a pin for best
Hollywood version of life in a ] instructed O.D., and while you're
Large Chorus
Sings 'Messiah9
In Lexington
Sunday afternoon at the Pres-byterian
Church Handel's "Mes-siah"
was given by a chorus of 130
voices with two soloists. Helen
Wood of Lynchburg, a student of
Giuseppe Beghetti, who taught
Helen Traubel and Marian Ander-son,
was the soprano soloist. She
has had a wide experience in
opera, concert, oratorio, and radio,
making her opera debut in New
York in 1950. Mrs. Wood has ap-peared
with this group for the
past few years, and during this
fall she has been featured as the
soloist in concerts sponsored by
the Williamsburg Restoration.
Col. F. H. Barksdale, the execu-tive
officer at VMI, was the tenor
soloist. He has been active in
music in Lexington for many
years. The chorus was composed of
church choirs of Lexington and the
glee clubs of Washington and Lee
and the Lexington High School.
The. organist was Theodore
Henzel. A native of Pennsylvania,
Mr. Henzel is a newcomer to Lex-ington.
He studied at the Phila-delphia
Musical Academy, later re-ceiving
his degree of Bachelor of
Music from Westminster Choir
at Princeton, New Jersey. Mr.
Henzel is now the music director
at the Court Street Methodist
Church in Lynchburg.
There was a large crowd in at-tendance
and the program was
broadcast over WREL.
Commanders Will
Play for Corps In
Concert Tuesday
Tomorrow night promises to be
an eventful one in the realm of
entertainment with the Glee Club
concert and the VMI-Maryland
basketball game providing two
parts of a varied program for the
corps and visitors. Another event
has been planned for the hour be-tween
nine and ten o'clock prior
to the Glee Club concert. This is
the program to be given by the
VMI Commanders.
Under the direction of Teddy
Benson, the VMI dance band has
scheduled a program of Christmas
songs mixed with several popular
and novelty numbers. Among the
list of songs are: "I'm Dreaming
of a White Christmas," "Blue
Christmas," "I'll Be Home for
Christmas," and Glenn Miller's ar-rangement
of "Jingle Bells." Vo-cals
will be performed by Joe Car-ney,
and Benson has anonunced
that the band may play a number
with "Little John" Knapp dancing
the Charleston. On the popular
side of the ledger will be another
(Continued On Page 2)
Eighty Members
Of Cadre Leave
Early on Furlough
Approximately 80 members of
the new gadet cadre, who reported
five days early in the beginning of
the Fall term to aid in the train-ing
of the new cadets, left the
Institute at Dinner Roll Call on
Saturday to begin Christmas Fur-lough.
This extra five days of
vacation was allotted by the Super-intendent
in order to compensate
for those days lost due to their
early return in the Fall.
On September the fourth a
Cadre of cadet officers returned
to the Insitute to take charge of
the year's crop of rats. The "New
Cadets" seemed to require a com-plete
change in clothing, a matter
of donning the "tailored" coveralls
and discarding the "civies." The
first few days were devoted to
clothing these men in coveralls
and outfitting them with the es-sentials
of military life.
Since the essentials didn't work
by themselves, it was necessary
to "drill" a few hours to acquaint
the men with their new posse-sions.
From the nucleus of the
few officers of the cadre was soon
formed a battlion of rats who
with a few exceptions were ready
moving firetrap, or let's go Armor,
I chanced to see a letter lying on
the sidewalk. Being a good news-man
I picked it up and looked
at the address . To my pleasant
surprise it was addressed to "Santa
Claus, The North Pole." Just for
curiosity I opened it up and found
it was from a little boy about eight
years old.
The first part of the letter was
what one would expect from a
progressive youngester of today, he
wanted an Elite Atom Smasher so
he could blow up the school house,
a pet cobra, Ava Gardner, and
a few other odds and ends. But
then I came to a few paragraphs
that amazed even a four year vete-ran
of Marshall's Moron Manna.
It read: "You know, Santa, al-though
everyone tells me I'm not
very bright, I want to go to VMI
when I get old enough; and so
I'd like you to answer a few of
the boys' wishes there. I've heard
them and some of their officers
wishing for thing; I thought may
be you could help them.
To begin with, Poo Berke wants
a new type of stripes to show
that he's Battalion S-3 and not
just any old second lieutenant.
I think because of the nature of
his job, a couple of phallic sym-bols
under three stripes would
at it, Hose Nose Moore would
like one too. Both these boys are
very popular because of their de-votion
to duty, so it would be nice
to do something to (I mean for)
them.
Bill Myers wants a pet elephant
so he won't feel so self conscious,
and Jimmy Sartor wants some
webbing for his feet. Red Ger-detz
wants a punching bag, and
Scurvy Patton could use a new
T-shirt.
Col. Barksdale would like new
disapproved stamp to replace his
old one. It's been used so many
times this year that every now
and then the "dis" doesn't show.
Major Dobyns could use a pair of
felt shoes and a black light flash-light.
Most everyone in the corps
want the Commandant to get
a set of stars so he can stop work-ing
for them, and they also want
a griddle, at least they said some-thing
about wanting to fry pan-cakes,
I think.
There was one last request,
that maybe you'll understand. I
never heard of one before, but if
you've got any spare Ollies
around, Santa, that's what the
corps really wants."
Sonny, I can only add A-men! !
Christmas Letter to The Corps
You stand on the threshold of the Christmas sea-son
with all its joys and holiday festivities.
Remember these blessings are yours because some
nineteen hundred years ago a man in Palestine took a
stand for what he believed was right.
Because of what that man stood for, much of the
entire world today recognizes Christmas as a time not
only for joyous celebration, but a time of re-dedication
to the Better Values in Life. Everywhere we look there
\ is at once apparent the need for men who set their
f standards high and live up to them.
; It is my hope that in these troubled times each man
\ in the Corps will use a part of his Christmas furlough
( to ponder what he can do during 1952 to make a better
j contribution to his friends, his school and his country,
) and return in January not only with pleasant memories
\ of the Yuletide, but also a firm resolve for an ever-improving
performance in the New Year.
If this be done by every man, VMI in 1952 will show
to both her friends and her critics the Finest Corps of
them all.
May each of you have a wonderful Christmas Holi-day.
FRANK R. PANCAKE,
Colonel, USAF
Commandant of Cadets.
Glee Club's Christmas Concert
Features Carols by Octet, Solos
By Witt, Long, Moise and Miller
The annual Christmas carol
program of the VMI Glee Club
will presented at 10 o'clock on
the night of Tuesday, 18 December.
Including renditions by soloists,
a quartet, and the entire club;
the event will last approximately
45 minutes and will be attended
by the families and guests of
cadets as well as Institute officers
and citizens of Lexington.
Wearing overcoats with turned-back
capes, the club will stand on
a platform located in the North-east
corner of the court-yard.
Guests will be seated on the first
stoop while cadets will be situated
on all stoops facing the singers.
A group of eight "Carolers"
for entrance into old cadet com-' com® !n t h r o u g h Washington
Arch and sing a group of seasonal
ballads with a groups of decorated
windows on the first stoop as a
panies on their return from sum-mer
furlough on September the
tenth.
The Superintendent issued the
following commendation to the
men of the cadre.
"I would like to take this opport-unity
to commend the excellent
work accomplished by you and
members of the New Cadet Cadre
during the period 5 through 10
September 1951, and the subse-quent
period in which the new
cadets were organized as a sepa-rate
battlion."
"The largest entering class in
history of the Institute was pro-cessed
in an efficient and busi-nesslike
manner. The four hun-dred
and three new cadets were
quickly indoctrinated into our com-plex
pattern of barracks life, early
became proficient in close-order
drill, and were outfitted on sche-dule
with the accoutrements
necessary for daily life at V.M.I.
The many phases to be completed
left little time for your personal
relaxation, but not once did you
fail to respond if a project was
required after the usual working
hours.'"
"Because of your unswerving de-votion
to duty and your desire to
do a thorough job, the processing
period passed quickly and smooth-ly
without the usual delays and
changes that are so often incident
to a program of such magnitude."
"With the organization of the
New Cadet Battalion you continu-ed
your good work in a manner
which has resulted in excellent
| (Continued On Page 2)
background. The group will sing
" It Came Upon The Midnight
Clear," "Adeste Trideles," and "O
Come all Ye Faithful." Bob Mod-jeski
will accompany the octet
with his oboe.
Larry Moise, tenor, backed by
the glee club, will sing the solo
part for "O Holy Night", while
Bob Modjeski will provide the
oboe solo for the glee club's pre-sentation
of "Lo, How a 'Ere
Blooming".
Two drinking songs are planned,
one of which will be the
"Glouchestershire Wassail" with a
solo by Dave Howard, bass. A
second song, "The Boar's Head",
will feature a solo by Luke Witt,
tenor. The entire groups will ren-der
"Adoramos Te Christe," a La-tin
carol, and "Good King Wen-siscos,
a seasonal ballad.
The songs to be presented dur-ing
the evening, in order of their
rendition, are: "Deck The Halls,"
"The First Noel," "Wassail,"
"Jingle Bells." "Boar's Head,"
"Gloria Patri," "0 Holy Night,"
"Lo How A Rose 'Ere Blooming,"
"Adoramus Te Christus," "Go Tell
It on the Mountain," "Good King
Wenceslas," "Hark the Herald
Angels Sing," "O Little Town of
Bethlehem," and "Silent Night."
Tyler Miller will sing the solo
part for "Go Tell It on the
Mountain" while "Silent Night"
will feature a solo by Charley
Long. Members of the "carolers"
octet include: Larry Moise, Char-ley
Long, Luke Witt, Dan Diamond-idis,
Bizzy Haraway, Clarence
Brauner, Jim Greer, George St.
John, and Bob Modjeski.
The program this year is to be
simpler than it has been in recent
years because of a belief that the
many scenes and lighting effects
have tended to detract from the
singing itself.
The glee club sang several
carols, including "The First Noel,"
and "Silent Night in the third
stoop sallyport on Sunday night at
Taps. A Christmas concert was
also presented at Southern Semi-nary
on Monday night. Most of the
songs to be contained in tomor-row's
concert were presented.
A Message from The Staff
Of The VMI Cadet
On behalf of the members of the editorial and busi-nes
staffs of the VMI CADET, and the printing staff of
the Rockbridge County News, we wish to take this op-portunity
to wish all of our subscribers a very merry
Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. We
hope that you have enjoyed reading the paper as much
as we have enjoyed bringing it to you, and hope that our
pleasant association with you may continue in times to
come.
8
Frank C. Gorham
Editor in Chief
Wm. A. Thompson
Business Manager
J. Robert Nolley
Managing Editor
D. R. Webb L. A. Finney John R. Taylor John S. Gray
Col. Dolvin, Veteran of Korean
Combat, Addresses First and
Second Classes on Experiences
Third Honor List
Released; Rats Top
Roll with Eighteen
FIRST CLASS
F. J. Aragon, Jr La.
G. H. Carter, Jr Va.
W. L. Cooper Va.
J. L. Finney Pa.
L. A. Finney 111.
W. F. Gilley Va.
S. T. Greer Ala.
B. M. Guttery Ala.
J. P. Hatfield Va.
G. A. Robison Calif.
Minor L. Rogers Va.
T. N. Rucker Va.
E. S. Willbarger, Jr Va.
W. M. Zollman, Jr Va.
SECOND CLASS
W. H. Bayliss, Jr. W. Va.
R. A. Cheatham Va.
H. F. Claus, Jr 111.
J. P. Cross, Jr. Va.
F. M. Gonzales P. R.
J. W. Home, III Ga.
W. R. Johnson Va.
T. F. Mariani Md.
C. S. McClosky, Jr Miss.
K. M. Perry Va.
G. W. Sommers, Jr. Va.
R. A. Sovik, Jr N. Y.
H. H. Steinmann Calif.
West Point Graduate
Set Up First Tank
Unit For UN Forces
Last Wednesday afternoon, the
first class military science sections
(both air and ground forces) were
marched to Preston Library for
a lecture by a combat veteran of
the Korean War.
Colonel Welborn G. Dolvin, GSC,
came to VMI by special request
to speak to the first and second
classes on the Korean situation
and on his experiences in Korea.
Colonel Dolvin graduated from
West Point with the Class of 1938
and now at the age of 35, is a full
Colonel. During World War II
he served in Africa and Europe
and shortly after the outbreak of
the Korean War, when it was
apparent that tanks could and
should be used in Korea, was flown
over there specifically to organize
the first tank unit committed to
the fighting, the 89th Tank Battal-ion,
which he commanded. The
last three months of his Korean
tour were spent as Chief of Staff
of the 25th Infantry Division.
His present duty is with the Re-search
and Development Division
of G-4. An Army Officer (Armor
expert), he is entitled to wear the
J. W. Trigg, Jr. Ala. Paratrooper Jump Badge, and while
A. H. Williams, Jr. Va. in Korea he won the Air Medal.
K- L- Y u Mich. | Colonel Dolvin's lecture dealt
THIRD CLASS ] with his experiences and observa-
E. R. Bare Va.1 tions in Korea. He stressed Infan-
J. L. Berry W. Va. try—Armor co-operation and ex-
E. W. Chandler Va. plained how they operated to-
J. P. Diuguid Md. gether. He pointed out that the
D. W. Drennen Ala. Tank—Infantry Team is important
W. F. Dunkelberger Pa. because of the mutual defense
D. J. Dunlap Va. provided—the tanks knock out
R- E* G e e Va. machine guns and other infantry
G. W. Hardy, III La. obstacles while the Infantry takes
J. Kaplan Tenn. care of anti-tank guns, rocket
J. A. Mapp Va.
L. B. Massad Va.
W. W. Miller Va.
J. A. Sanguigni Pa.
FOURTH CLASS
D. M. Barker Va.
J. W. Barlow Va
launchers, and so on.
He told the Military Science
E M Newton TiT MH I s t , u d e n t s of sev E. M. Newton, III Md. eral operations in w h i c h h i s t a s k f involved J . A. S a n u m i / n i Pa I „ „ A . . . mvuiveu,
and went into some detail on the
organization of the task force. It
consisted of two attack groups and
a control group. The attack groups
were identical, each containing one
company of tanks from the 89th
Tank Battalion and one company
of infantry from the 35th Infan-try
Regiment. The control group
consisted of Headquarters, a pla-toon
of Engineers, a Medical De-tachment,
a Tactical Air Control
Party, and so on.
He described an action which
took place in North-West Korea
just 60 miles from the Manchurian
border. (This was the action in
which one of Colonel Dolvin's com-pany
commanders won the Con-continued
On Page 6)
J. R. Brenner
L. J. Cock
L. M. Damiano
R. E. Fitch
E. R. Griffith
C. R. Hare
N. S. Harris
R. T. Hickey
D. W. Hoatson
F. J. Leech
J. D. Massie
J. W. McDowell, Jr.
J. W. Morris, III ...
C. F. Pilley, Jr
J. W. Robertson
Pa.
Va.
Mass.
Conn.
Ga.
N. Y.
Va.
111.
Md.
Va.
Va.
Kan.
Va.
Va.
..Va.
J. A. Trice Va.