Class Note 1943
Who came the farthest in our class as a freshman to Dartmouth? Could it be Nobu Mitsui and George Shimizu, both from Tokyo, Japan? No. Two fellows—Cy Brown and Bill Allman—arrived all the way from the Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China. Cy left right after Pearl Harbor to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, later to the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps, and then became a distinguished M.D. in Duluth, Minnesota. As I recall, Bill spent many years in the Middle East and now has an address in Connecticut; he was in financial services.
As freshmen, all ’43s enjoyed (?) meals together in College Hall Commons. The cost: $135 per semester, or $270 for three squares a day (vacations excepted) for the term ending in June 1940. Imagine—three meals for $1 a day! It was great policy because it made making friends so much easier. Early on, Stan Skaug and Ray Wolfe asked me to join them for lunch because our Monday-Wednesday-Friday class ended at lunchtime. I was more than happy and pleased to accept their kind offer.
Upon arriving at Middle Mass, our friend and mentor Larry Durgin ’40 took Nobu and me to get our dark green ’43 beanies, which marked us as easy “bell hops” for other students to unload their cars and move their furniture. Those dreaded words, “Come here, ’43” and “Over here, ’43” really didn’t bother us. It was all in fun and a long-held tradition. I wonder—do they still do this?
Classmates in Middle Mass included Al Crowley, Hal Lindley, Charles Callahan, Paul Weinbrenner, Bill Chilcote, Tom Keeler, Nobu Mitsui, Richard Chadwick, Oakley Curtis, Ed Leene, Smed Ward, George Lowden, George Mason, Warren Dale, Bud Miskell, Walter Howe, Bob Purdy, Jack Jouett, Bill Scholl, John Milburn, Bill Moseley, Phil Harmon, Holden Waterbury—and others to be named later.
I am writing this on April 2—what a date to be remembered forever. It was on April 2, 1943, that California-born Mary Yamamoto and George Shimizu married in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After our ’43 “Last Supper” in Hanover on December 12, 1942, I had volunteered (the Army recruited me in April 1942) into the Army on December 15, 1942, and then married exactly 76 years ago. Mary died in 2000 due to a heart condition.
—George Shimizu, 2642 Saklan Indian Drive, Apt. 2, Walnut Creek, CA 94595
