Class Note 1943

It was the summer of 1942, and our senior year was a conflict of anxiety and uncertainty. Nobody in our class knew what exactly the future held. Where would we be in 12 months, or 24, or 36? Classes were attended and we studied with desperate emotions. It was rumored early on that no prof would flunk a ’43. Our 1943 Aegis shows 411 graduates—91 percent headed for the military; in the armed forces for the duration of war, plus six months. We graduated—with no families, with no pomp and circumstance—in a farewell dinner in Thayer Hall on December 12, 1942. Three days later I was in the Army, waiting to report to Camp Savage, the Army’s Military Intelligence Service language school, located 15 miles outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I was one of about 200 Niseis (second-generation Americans of Japanese ancestry). Ten Niseis were part of every U.S. and Allied infantry division in the Pacific, China, Burma, and India theaters of operation. We were the Japanese language experts.

And who will ever forget those Sunday night jam sessions during that summer of 1942? Hundreds of students, townspeople, professors and their families, and hundreds of Navy midshipmen learning to become ensigns in 90 days all sat in makeshift chairs or on the lawn in front of Robinson Hall. Hanover High School girls sang their best renditions of Judy Garland, Bea Wain, Betty Hutton, and Frances Langford. And the high school boys chimed in with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Oh, what fun it was! Even celebrated professors undid their ties from button-down collars and surprised everyone with their vocal talents and dance moves.

These shows, led by Waldo “Doc” Fielding, were a gigantic and much-needed respite and diversion. During that summer of ’42, with its accelerated classes so we could join the war effort, Doc Fielding brought a crescendo of plaudits to that small village of Hanover. He brought us together like a pair of cymbals. The ’43 musicians included Derek van Quackenbush on saxophone, Chick Webb and Eugene Roitman on bass fiddle, Dacy Stevens and Leon Chapman on trumpets. Those five, with other Green Collegians and Barbary Coast performers, made us forget the battles we were losing on all fronts during those difficult war-torn days.

Sad News Department: Hanover records indicate the passing of Henry C. Peck on April 4 in Pasadena, California, and Robert I. Lappin on April 3, probably in Swampscott, Massachusetts. Our class sends heartfelt condolences to their families.

George Shimizu, 2140 Sepulveda Ave., Milpitas, CA 95035-6142; (408) 930-2488; marymariko@comcast.net