Class _Hj&_3J___ Book. F 4 S^ Copyright N^ COESJIGHT DEPOSm ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL IN THE WAR r^ I*-'" ^^jgigai o o 5 to s I O o o o o . X ; to ' P4 i - -CAi^^ifcjfg SAINT GEORGE'S SCHOOL IN THE WAR Sapientia utiiusque vitae lumen PRINTED FOR THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF SAINT George's school 1920 Copyright, 1920, by The St. George's School Alumni dissociation A^ D. B. Ufidike, The JUerrymount f^ess, Boston Jul 19 1^20 ©G!,A5707?4 IN HONOREM SANCTI GEORGII SOCIORUMQUE EIUS AD LIBERANDUM MUNDUM CONSECRATORUM COISITEI^'S FOREWORD xi PRAYER FOR THE ALUMNI IN SERVICE J. B. D. xiii WAR DAYS AT THE SCHOOL S. P. C. 3 DEDICATORY LINES L. B. '05 13 THE SIXTEEN DEAD 15 GARDNER HENRY FULLER W. F. 15 HAROLD CHANDLER KIMBALL A. S. R. 18 RONALD WOOD HOSKIER H. F. P. 20 HENRY BREWSTER PALMER A. S. R. 27 WILLIAM SMITH ELY H. F. P. 30 RICHARD CUTTS FAIRFIELD B. P. '17 34 CALDWELL COLT ROBINSON A. S. R. 37 WELLS BRADLEY CUMINGS H. F. P. 39 TOLMAN DOUGLAS WHEELER A. S. R. 42 PHILIP NEWBOLD RHINELANDER A. S. R. 44 WILLIAM BOULTON DIXON S. P. C. 49 MARQUAND WARD A. N. P. 52 ALEXANDER RODGERS, JR. R, H, N. 56 EDWARD BARRY WALL R. H. N. 59 GALBRAITH WARD A. N. P. 65 NORMAN JESSE MERRILL R. H. N. 69 THE WAR RECORDS 73 CONCLUSION 161 INDEX 165 COVER design: C. M. p. '05 ILLUST%4TI01SiS Memorial School House for St. George's School Frontispiece ^ The School Battalion Facing p.age 3 V Processional Cross (Obverse) ../ Processional Cross (Reverse) J Gardner Henry Fuller is/ Harold Chandler Kiynball 18>/ Ronald Wood Hoskier 20 V^ Henri/ Brewster Palmer 2r/ William Smith Ely 30 V^ Richard Cutts Fairjield 34 v^ Caldwell Colt Robinson 37V Wells Bradley Cumings 39>^ Tolman Douglas Wheeler 42/ Philip Newbold Rhinelander 44V^ William Boulton Dixon 49/ Marquand Ward 52 v' Alexander Rodgers^ Jr. 56^ Edward Barry Wall 59V^ Galbraith Ward 65/ Norman Jesse Men-ill 69 V^ [ix 1 FOREWCTKB IONG before the United States entered the war, many of -/ the old boys of St. George's School, true to their train- ing of "learning to succour the oppressed," had taken ac- tive part in the struggle. Ambulance and camion service and active service with the Lafayette Escadrille, and with the French, British, and Canadian armies called to them, and even before the middle of April, 1917, three old boys had died. As soon as America went into the war the St. George's boys answered the challenge, and soon news be- gan to come of the boys who had offered themselves in ever increasing numbers until over eighty per cent of the entire Alumni body was enrolled. Such a record of loyalty to duty deserves a permanent form, in order that future generations of St. George's boys may know what their older brothers did. The task of preparing such a record has been no easy one, but it has been one of intense interest and pleasure. The work of collecting the material for this book has taken the greater part of eight months. Too much recognition of their assistance cannot possibly be given to the large pro- portion of the men in service who replied promptly to the requests for information. The records of a few men have been hard to get. After persistent effort, however, the re- ports were all sent in, the results tabulated and submitted for correction and approval. Every care has been taken to make these records accurate, and, as far as possible, com- plete. One record is incomplete and one is missing, both due to inability to secure any information. Any other omis- sions are due to the same cause. This work could never have been done without the en- couragement and assistance of the Faculty and the Alumni. FOREWORD It is impossible to mention personally every one who has helped in the preparation of the book. Special appreciation is, however, due for assistance in writing portions of the book to Mr. Cabot, Mr. Nevins, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Peaslee, Mr. Fuller, Leonard Bacon, '05, and Bryant Prescott, '17; for assistance in collecting the records to L. S. Landreth, Jr., '10, S. LeR. French, '12, A. G. Mcllwaine, II, '14, and O. Prescott, Jr., '16; and for making the cover design to Charles Matlack Price, '05. To Miss Sheldon thanks are due for her untiring assistance in consulting the school files and in verifying data. Herbert French Preston Newport^ R. I. January 5, 1920 Cxii] TRATER FOR THE GRADUATES OF ST. GEORGE's SCHOOL IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY WE pfaJ/ especially for those Thy sons who have gone forth Jrom this School^ and who in this day of war and tumult are offering their lives in battle that right and justice may still live. Fortify their hearts., and strengthen their hands; keep them brave and steadfast. May they fight to bring victory to our arms and honour to our name. In encircling dangers., and amid scenes of death., keep them., O Lord of Hosts., rue beseech Thee., for only in Thee can they be safe. If they are xvounded or prisoners., comfort them with Thy presence., and in Thy good time bring them again to their homes. Or., if it is Thy holy xuill that they do not return., but that they give life itself then bless them., Lord of Glory., in their deaths., and unite them forever with Thee. And for those of our number rvho have fallen., we pray that Thy perpetual light may shine upon them., and that they may be counted ■worthy to see Thy face., through the great Captain of our Salvation., Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL IN THE WAR PFAR DATS AT THE SCHOOL IT is a common saying that a school is known by the kind of boys it graduates. It is not, however, always easy to characterize the graduates of a school, for, after leav- ing school and college, they scatter over the country, and render the gathering of exact data impossible. Especially is this true of the newer schools, whose graduates, for the most part, have not established themselves in business or the professions. The question, therefore, as to the sort of boys that come from this or that school must ordinarily wait many years for an answer. Great faith is required of every educator of youth. He watches with anxious care the halting progress of the boys committed to his trust, and hopes and prays that they may overcome the temptations of boyhood and develop into Chris- tian men. Often his hopes are seemingly unanswered, and he must wait long, patient years before his work bears fruit. When visible expression is given of the ideals learned at school, the teacher may well rejoice that his work has not been in vain. But the Great War has furnished an opportunity not given in ordinary times for the youth of this country to show their true mettle. The response to the call to serve will ever remain one of the glorious pages of American history. And nowhere has that response been more spontaneous and immediate than among the graduates of our preparatory schools and colleges. Once the opportunity of service, of leading others to defend their ideals of liberty, had offered itself, all other considerations vanished, and boys who had never before thought of war gave themselves a willing sacrifice to the cause of freedom. From this School alone two hundred and eighty-nine ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL former boys, or eighty per cent of the total body of alumni, were in some form of national war service. Of these, one hundred and forty-four went overseas, while the others were still in training or in service at home when the armistice was signed. Of these men fifteen will never return, and it is to them that the following pages are dedicated. These laid the -world away; poured out the red Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to he Of work andjoy^ and that unhoped serene^ That men call age; and those tvho -would have been^ Their sons^ they gave^ their immortality. Before, however, the individual war records of the former boys of St. George's School are given, it may not be amiss to tell briefly the part the boys at School, too young to serve, played during the four and a half years of war. In September, 1914, the war looked far away to Ameri- can eyes, and the great questions at issue were not imme- diately recognized as our concern. Our country was slow to be aroused, not actually declaring war until the spring of 1917. In the winter of 1914 and the early months of 1915, St. George's School formed a Battalion of Infantry, and was thus one of the first private Boarding Schools to see the wisdom of preparing in earnest for the great conflict. The idea of forming this Battalion sprang from the boys them- selves, and service in it was from the start voluntary, re- maining so until 1918, when the School required all boys, physically fit, to take part in the drill. The first year seventy boys joined, and, after that, practically the whole School. The Battalion had the good fortune, from the beginning, to be trained by officers detailed to instruct it, through the courtesy of the Commanding Officer of Narragansett Bay C 4 ] IN THE WAR at Fort Adams, — a fact which accounted in large measure for the continuous success of the Battalion. The Cadets were given their first instruction by Lieu- tenant C. A. Phelan, U. S. A., a graduate of West Point. Lieutenant Phelan was able from the beginning to inspire the boys with respect for the colours. To his tact and skill in managing the boys must be attributed much of the suc- cess which the Battalion later won. At first the drill con- sisted in executing the fundamental movements and in mastering the first duties of a soldier. Later, after one hun- dred Krag rifles had been received from the Government, two companies, clad in khaki, were formed and the Manual of Arms was learned. In the autumn of 1915, T. Wal- lace Orr was commissioned Major. Company and Battalion Drill was held out of doors, and, in the spring. Extended Order was developed with practice marches and manoeu- vres in the surrounding country. Target practice was begun on a two hundred yard range constructed among the dunes on Second Beach. A short indoor range was also set up in the Old Gynmasium. Just before Prize Day, 1916, the Bat- talion was presented with a beautiful set of colours by Mrs. Reginald Norman. In 1916, Lieutenant Phelan was called away to West Point, and Major A. G. Clark, U. S. C. A. C, a veteran of the Spanish War, who had seen service in the Philippines, took charge of the Battalion, with T. Wallace Orr again as Cadet Major. Under Major Clark's strict but kindly hand- ling of the cadets, the efficiency of the Battalion greatly in- creased; but Major Clark had to leave in the spring of 1917, and Captain D. H. Kane, U. S. R., kindly volunteered his services for the rest of that year. Under him. Extended Order was further developed. At the entrance of the United States into the War, In- C 5 -] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL tensive Drill was begun by a special Company of older boys, who devoted eight hours a week to drilling. By this time, every boy in school who was physically able to drill was a member of the Battalion. In 1917, Captain William Sackville, U. S. C A. C, took charge of the Battalion with Richmond Keith Kane as the School Major. The Battalion had now become so proficient that the boys were able to take charge of it themselves in the absence of their Military Instructor. Close Order Drill, the Manual of Arms, Gallery Practice, Signalling, Bayonet Practice, and Extended Order continued throughout the winter. Competition was stimulated in different ways, and every opportunity was seized to develop initiative in the non-commissioned officers. At the opening of the fall term, in 1918, Captain P. E. Hurlburt, U. S. C. A. C, became instructor with Morris Duane as School Major. Several changes were made in the manner of appointing commissioned and non-commissioned officers: written examinations were required for advance- ment, in addition to the previous oral examinations, A small drum and bugle corps was organized to help the Battalion in Close Order work and in practice parades. A new short rifle range was constructed on Crocker Field, where many good records were made. Bayonet Drill, as taught in the British and American Armies, was taken up intensively, and a higher degree of efficiency was reached than before. From 1917 to the present time, setting-up exercises have been performed by the Battalion before breakfast out of doors. Only rain and snow have driven the Battalion under cover. At the signing of the Armistice, the St. George's School Battalion did not lay down its arms. One of the first schools to start drill, it was the last to abolish it. Throughout the I 6 3 IJV THE WAR winter and spring of 1919, the regular work of the Battal- ion went on. Not until the final parade on Crocker Field on June 23 was the Battalion formally disbanded. All honour to the loyal and patriotic spirit of these boys who kept up their interest through thick and thin and, quite unperturbed at the action of other schools, laid down their arms only when the signing of the treaty of peace had become a foregone conclusion. That their good work was recognized by others than the School has been shown by the many eulogies paid the Battalion by those who saw it parade in Newport, on Decoration Day, and at the Welcome Home to Admiral Sims, and, also, by the high officers of the Army and Navy and the Governor of the State, before whom the Cadets passed in review on different Prize Days. This Mihtary Drill, extending over a period of more than four years, was part of the preparation of the boys at School. It helped keep the fires burning at home, and it enabled many a young graduate to claim his commission ahead of the boy who had had no previous drill. As the war advanced, and the call came from our Allies for ever increasing quantities of food, the School turned its hand to farming, and by the time our country was itself at war, ten acres of the School grounds were plowed up and planted to corn, beans, and potatoes. In the summer and autumn of 1917, volunteers among the boys were called for to work the fields and harvest the crops. Forty boys re- sponded to the call, and these were divided into groups, each group working for two weeks. The boys not only performed the major part of the work of caring for the farm with their own hands, but paid for their board and lodging at the School at cost. Masters, also, gladly gave their services in supervising the work, with Mr. Wheeler as General Super- intendent. The value of the crops raised was $1065 and the C 7 D ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL expense of operating was $899, leaving a profit of $166, which was presented to the Red Cross. The experiment was so successful, that it was repeated the following summer on a larger scale, although fewer boys were available as farmers, — a falling-off due to the demand of other trades on boy labor, and not to any unwillingness on the part of the boys to give part of their long summer holiday to relieving the food shortage. As Military Drill interfered considerably with organized athletics, so did the plowing up of our front lawns put a stop to all golf. During the winter months, it was harder for the boys to help their country in specific ways. In 1917 and 1918, special classes were held in First Aid, Radio Teleg- raphy, and Military Map Drawing, and, throughout the war, lectures, often illustrated, were given by distinguished speakers to keep the boys better informed as to its course. At Christmas, 1917, over one hundred soldier's kit bags were made. During the afternoons, many thousand band- ages were rolled, and the front hall and Miss Diman's room were converted into temporary work-shops with rolling ma- chines fastened to each table, where keen rivalry went on to see who could roll most. In the meantime several Masters had left school to join the colours. Mr. Cyril B. Judge enlisted in the Navy in 19 17, and was commissioned Lieutenant in 1918 ; Mr. Norman J. Merrill joined the Army in the autumn of 1917, was com- missioned Second Lieutenant a little later, and died as a result of overwork at the Fort Wayne Military Hospital in Michigan ; Mr. Thomas R. Pennypacker joined the Navy in the summer of 1918, receiving his commission in the autumn ; Mr. Charles C. Earle, Jr., was commissioned Lieu- tenant in the Navy in the summer of 1918 ; Mr. William H. Drury also joined the Navy in 1918 as Ensign, remain- [8 : IJV THE WAR ing away from school a full year. Mr. Diman, who had already resigned his position as Head Master in 1917, threw himself actively into Red Cross work, at first in this country and later in England. As it was practically impossible to replace all these men, the Sixth Form offered their services to help in teaching the younger boys. They were paid a certain sum per hour, and gave the money they earned, $400, as their contribution to the Red Cross. Thus they not only helped the School out of a difficulty in a great emer- gency, but also made a substantial contribution to the Red Cross. Every member of the Sixth Form took part in some useful work that had regularly been done by one of the Masters. For the most part, and outwardly at least, the School went on much as usual. There were little self-denials : sugar was rationed for a time, and the novel sensation was experienced of eating molasses or karo on cereals. The Pie-house, dur- ing the period of the greatest food shortage, became unfash- ionable, and the pennies that ordinarily went into Mrs. Whitman's coffers went instead to the Red Cross. Throughout the War, the boys responded liberally to all appeals for money. Thus $2850 was given tothe Y.M. C.A., $3046.55 to the United War Funds drive, $200 was pre- sented to Mme. Huard, $332 and boxes of clothing to the Duryea Relief, several hundred dollars were given from time to time to the Red Cross as proceeds from the annual School Flay, and contributions were made to the Belgian Children's Tin Box Fund. In addition to these and other gifts, thrift was encour- aged through the purchase of many thousands of dollars of Government Bonds, and of Thrift and War Savings Stamps. A contribution of $750 was made, chiefiy by the boys [ 9 3 ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL themselves, to equip and send a motor ambulance to be used by the Norton-HarjesAmbulance Corps in France. The plate that was put by request on the motor has come back to the School and is now one of our precious possessions. It bears the following inscription : Presented by the Boys and Friends of St. George's School., Newport., R. /., U. S. A. In Memory and in Honour of its Graduates At the Front Mr. Richard Norton, who has since died, wrote, under date of November 1, 1917, that the motor given by St. George's School had been working with Section 7 for three months. Later, the Red Cross took over the Section and with it the St. George's Car. On perusing the following pages, and in contrast with the heroic sacrifices of their comrades at the front, the part the boys at School played seems little enough. They would gladly have done more, had they known how. The will was not lacking. In fact, it was hard to restrain the over-eager zeal of the older boys to give up their studies and run off to enlist as Ambulance Drivers or Red Cross Workers. The follow- ing example shows the spirit that animated them all. The boy in question was only eighteen years old, but so determined was he to reach the Front that, hardly waiting to receive his Diploma and unknown to his family, he succeeded in board- ing a transport and arrived in France only to find that, on account of his youth, he could not be accepted in any branch of the American service. He therefore enlisted as an Ambu- lance Driver in the Wynne-Bevan Ambulance Corps then operating in Italy. His heart's desire was fulfilled. In a few weeks after leaving here, he was hurrying to the rescue of the victims of bombs dropped from a hostile airplane on the r L r lo ] IJV THE WAR little town of Mestre in Italy. He and his comrade arrived while the bombs were still falling, and they were both killed together as they were in the very act of succouring the wounded. Richard Cutts Fairfield was the first and youngest American soldier in Italy to give his life in the Great War. The Italian Government was prompt to recognize this un- usual act of heroism by conferring on him posthumously the silver medal of valour. No account of the part the School played in the War would be complete without mentioning the Memorial Build- ing which is to be raised to the everlasting honour of these boys who fought and died that Freedom might en- dure. Soon after the Armistice was signed, a Memorial Fund was started by the friends, parents, and alumni of the School to erect a memorial building to these boys — a monument that should forever recall their service in the war. It was decided that this building should take the form of a school- house. As this was the place where the life of the School centred, and where all the boys gathered morning, noon, and night, they would thus be ever reminded anew of the part their older brothers played in this their country's hour of need, and would derive constant inspiration from daily assembling within these w^alls. The frontispiece of this book shows the plan of the Me- morial School House. It was drawn by Messrs. McKim, Mead and White, and will stand facing the north play fields where the Squash Courts now are. On the south side of the building will be a spacious Memorial Vestibule containing the memorial tablets. Here, too, will be hung the Roll of Honour, beaudfully illuminated on parchment, designed and executed by Miss Violet Oakley, and presented to the School by Dr. George Woodward. On the walls of this vestibule c 11 ] Sr. GEORGE'S SCHOOL might also appropriately find a place the inscription on the Processional Cross presented to the School by Mr. Peaslee : In honorem Sancti Georgii sociorumque ejus ad liberandum mundum consecratonim. L 12 J Tou who are passing by^a moment halt! These for their country penshed. They are gone. If you have faith in courage without fault., Consider., and march on ! THE SIXTEEN DEAD GARDNER HENRY FULLER GARDNER Henry Fuller, son of Rev. Wilfrid Fuller of St. Chad's Rectory, Lichfield, England, and grandson of Mrs. Gardner B. Perry of Newport, was one of the St. George's Scholars from 1903 to 1907. He then ceased to take what was becoming an annual voyage across the At- lantic each way, and he entered the grammar school near his home in England. In 191 1, after the death of his grand- mother, he commenced preparation for fulfilling his desire of entering the British army, going to study with tutors, first in Kent and then at Southsea. He passed into the Royal MiHtary College at Sandhurst early in 1912, when he was only nineteen years of age. There he obtained good marks for his work, and for gymnastic skill he was chosen with two other cadets to represent the College in a tournament against the Military Academy at Woolwich. He took, in passing out, a place sufiiciently high to enable him to enter the Army Ser- vice Corps in 1913; and therein he served at Woolwich, Aldershot, and Portsmouth. Thence he went to France in the first month of the war, and was one of the officers of the 9th Brigade Divisional Train, charged with the duty of supplying that brigade with all necessaries. His first experience was the retreat from Mons. In this, as was the case with many others, he had exciting adven- tures. "At one place," he records, "we were nearly forgotten. The Colonel moved without orders just as the German shells began bursting in our rear. We were then on the flank, and for some time were within three miles of a large force of German Cavalry, though none of us except the Colonel knew C IS ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL anything about it. We learned afterwards that we were within an ace of being captured and were reported as lost." The military work of this soldier, although it may not provide so heroic a story as that of one in the front line of fire, was of peculiar difficulty and hazard for these reasons. All the soldiers in those early weeks of the war were fight- ing up and down in open country, and these rapid move- ments gave the A. S. C. officers much difficulty in carrying out the delivery of supplies, as well during the retreat from Mons as in the advance to the Aisne, and also in the early battle around the Ypres salient This young officer served in all these fields of battle, and was often in sole command of the men, horses, and \vagons forming the supply section for about five thousand troops, who looked to him for their food. Only once, it is noted in his journal, did he fail to bring to them their "daily bread," and this was because of a sud- den advance they had been called upon to make whilst he had been misled as to his road in a strange district and on a dark night. We can understand the difficulties of transport work in the early weeks of the war. Horses and wagons can move only at a moderate pace, and there are many diffi- culties in turning them if a wrong road has been taken, which may easily happen in finding troops during their un- certain movements in battle. The roads were often narrow and flanked by a deep ditch, sometimes ending in a "cul- de-sac," and then might arise the great difficulty of run- ning down each member of the train. At times perils from enemy aeroplanes overhead were so great that the train could move only at night, as in the day it had to be hidden from sight. As for actual fighting, the men of the A. S. C. were not properly trained as riflemen, the rule being to pro- vide other protection for this section of men and supplies. But the journal of this soldier records that a party of Ger- c 16 : J::/A7crc/n^.f~^ytefvrt-/ ^^iM^ IJV THE TFAR mans emerging from a wood to seize what appeared to be undefended booty were scattered by the mere pointing of rifles. These experiences, however, endured through the cold and wet season in the late autumn of 1914 in France, began to tell upon this soldier. For, as those who knew him in his school days could testify, he was not of a robust constitu- tion. It is not known if the disease from which he died was contracted in France or later in England, where it was at that time prevalent. Fuller was invalided first to Osborne in the Isle of Wight, and then to his home in the month of December. After a rest and treatment he resumed duties at the end of January at Woolwich. Throughout the fol- lowing month he could not have been well, though no seri- ous complaint was made by him. At his own request he was placed in command of about two hundred men to conduct them from their depot to Matlock in Derbyshire. He must have suffered greatly, for, the journey ended, he was stricken at the hotel with what was found to be a malignant disease, and in two days passed from his earthly warfare. His father, who has prepared this record, expresses his gratitude to the friends his son made in St. George's School for their kind- ness to him and for their remembrance of him. C 17 1 HAROLD CHANDLER KIMBALL MANY of the older graduates will remember Harold Kimball as associated with a national holiday, for, with characteristic generosity, he always shared with the whole school the gifts which came for his birthday celebra- tion on February twenty-second. All M^ho knew him were not surprised to learn that he enlisted early in the defence of freedom and gave his all with the quiet courage which makes the name of Arras a proud memory for all of English blood. Born in Rochester, N. Y., in 1891, Kimball entered St. George's in 1903, and graduated in 1907. The year follow- ing his graduation from St. George's he spent at the Uni- versity of Rochester, from which he entered Harvard as a member of the class of 1912. He left college before receiving his degree and went into business with the Ingee Machine Company of Rochester. After his marriage to Miss Irene Agnew in London, England, in June, 1914, he took up rail- roading at Los Angeles, Cal. Soon the appeal of the war reached him, and he enlisted at Montreal, P. Q., on April 5, 1916, with the 178th Battalion of Canadian Infantry. On August 11 of the same year he was transferred to the 117th Battalion, which proceeded overseas three days later. Another transfer came in December, 1916, when he joined the 24th Battalion, with which he fought during the terrific cam- paign following. He was killed in action at the taking of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. A very striking feature of the war has been the large number of men of quiet disposition and retiring nature, as far as most people observed them, who volunteered early for the most dangerous service. That Harold Kimball was among these was not surprising. The quiet persistence and C 18 ] ^Ji^iyf'cyid^ (SA/7in^dle^^..yitryilmli IJV THE WAR first-class mind which characterized him at St. George's united to make him seek service w^here it was hardest and where danger was greatest. It is a matter of regret that we have so few details of his mihtary service, but the fact of his enlistment over a year before our country declared war and the knowledge he must have had of the terrific casual- ties of so many Canadian regiments are witness to a spirit of quiet resolve to serve, no matter what the cost. Perhaps he heard at Vimy Ridge the cry which has rung in the ears of so many a soldier in Flanders : Once more into the breach^ dear friends^ once more; Or close the -wall up -with our English dead! In peace^ there '5 nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility But when the blast of rvar bloivs in our ears^ Be copy now to men of grosser blood And teach them ho-w to -war! The many graduates who served their country so fully and gladly when the call of duty came must feel especial pride as they think of those who, like Harold Kimball, had "taught them how to war." C 19 ] RONALD WOOD HOSKIER THE United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. Before America went into the war, we watched the struggle from a distance, helped in some degree to allevi- ate the misery and sorrow, and tried to understand w hat the agony and suffering meant — what it meant for the people of England, France, and Belgium to send forth their clean and strong young men only to have them perish in the conflict. A few days later, on April 23, came our own St. George's Day, a day beloved by every St. George's boy. Henceforth St. George's Day will have a deeper meaning for all of us, for on that day we first began to understand the sorrows of the war, when we at school learned that a St. George's boy who had "kept himself unspotted from the world and learned to succour the oppressed" had died for a mighty cause. Ronald Wood Hoskier was born on March 21, 1896, in South Orange, N. J., the son of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Hos- kier. He entered St. George's in September, 1909, with the class of 1914. During his career of four years at St. George's he occupied a very prominent place in the school life. Quiet, reserved, a creditable athlete and a brilliant student, he stands out in the memories of the School as a noble boy and a loyal friend. Ronald left school at the end of his Third Form and spent a year with his family in Europe of which five months were passed in Rome. An incident which happened during that year shows his devotion to the School. He was an enthusi- astic mountain chmber,and during the year he climbed sev- eral peaks in the Alps. While he was climbing the Aiguilles Rouges near Chamonix the guide suggested doing a vir- gin peak. The attempt succeeded, and Ronald had the priv- ilege of giving the peak a name. The guides suggested that C 2o ;] IJV THE WAR he call the peak after himself. But he would have none of it, and the name which the peak now bears is "Pic St. Georges." The love of nature and of the outdoor world was strong in Ronald, and the memories of the months spent among the Alps gave colour to many of the stories and poems which he afterwards wrote for the Dragon. Ronald returned to school in 1912, and there followed two years of physical, mental, and moral growth. During those years the school was better for his presence, and dur- ing those years, too, friendships were formed which even death cannot change. The last year was the best and full- est, and Ronald had a chance as Editor-in-Chief of the Dragon and as a Prefect to leave behind him a never-end- ing influence on the School. Immediately after graduation Ronald sailed for Europe, and almost at once came the war, and the question at once arose as to what he ought to do. Training, inheritance, and desire all urged him to go in at once. A hard period of questionings and doubts ended in his decision to return to America in September, 1914, and to enter Harvard with the class of 1918. It was a hard time, and there was no doubt as to what his final decision would be. To stay safely at home while justice, truth, and right were at stake, and Eng- land and France were fighting for their existence, was im- possible for him. Fortunately for us all, the decision was put off for a year and a half, and during that time he had a chance to make as strong a place for himself at Harvard as he had previously made at School. He took up fencing and was on the Harvard team. It was a period, also, of greater development in every way, and our hopes for a big and noble future became a certainty. [The university has since awarded him his B.A., '"''qui studiis relictis pro Patriae libertate mortem oppetiit.''''^ C 21 1 ST. GE OBOE'S SCHOOL During the winter of his Sophomore year the decision was made, and in February, 1916, Ronald gave up every- thing and sailed for France, to do his part in the mighty struggle. He enlisted at once in the Lafayette Escadrille, and began his period of training at Dijon on May 10. The record of his last year may best be given here in the words of his father. " He never had an accident during his training, and was a most careful and successful pilot. He led his class every- where by ten to fourteen days, and then had to wait for the rest to finish, a most trying situation to be thus held back. His father and mother spent his twenty-first birthday with him, March 21, 1917, at Ravenel near St. Just-en-Chaus- see, just before the Escadrille moved forward to quarters at Ham. His mother last saw him alive on 20th April, 1917, when he came to Paris on a mission, and flew a new ma- chine back from Le Bourget to Ham. He had a presenti- ment on the 21st of March that the end could not be far off" if he did his whole duty, and he gave his father certain instructions at their meeting on that date, in case of his death. Ronald by his example was, let us hope, a beacon to some of his associates, and it was touching to see those to whom he had lent money striving to make amends by set- ting everything in order concerning the place of sepulture at their expense. Speaking of money, his father wishes to state that notwithstanding the poor food in the French mess, the expense necessary to supplement this, and all other incidental expenses, he managed to save half of the small allowance which he received of 500 francs a month, and this in the face of every possible temptation to spend and to gamble. So wide-reaching can be the example in the world of a St. George's boy. " One touching incident must be recorded. Before sailing C 29 ^ IJV THE WAR in February, 1916, he went through the old home, then closed and very cold (it had been shut up since June, 1914). He had his hat on, but before entering his mother's room he uncovered himself as if entering a church or moving on to holy ground. The old attendant who accompanied him pro- tested, but he waived her aside, 'I could not think of en- tering Mother's room with my hat on.' "When he flew to his death on 23rd April, 1917, he was out for the last time on an unsatisfactory machine, a Mo- rane Parasol two-seater. It was not strong enough for scout- ing and manoeuvring, and was to be abandoned. He who always prided himself on keeping in touch with his fellow- scouts got separated in some thick, white^ woolly clouds, an ideal condition for the grouped and waiting Boches, and found himself in presence of three enemy machines. He circled once, but finding no friends, attacked the three Boches. Something went wrong, we don't know what : per- haps a cable was shattered ; perhaps he was struck in the head at once ; at any rate, his own machine gun belt had been emptied and that of his mitrailleur nearly so. The ma- chine fell from 8000 feet just inside the French lines. The bodies were recovered only at nightfall by the usual devo- tion of his fellow^-members, as the enemy bombarded the spot all day. They are buried at Ham. "The name of his mitrailleur deserves to go on record here. It is Jean Dressy, born near Montbrison, of humble parents, in 1889, and therefore then in his 28th year. He was a practising, earnest Christian, a devoted fellow, who had in the early days of the war rescued under fire his wounded officer. Lieutenant de Laage de Meux. Lieutenant de Laage de Meux was the second in command, and Mrs. Hoskier says she will never forget his courtesy and the look of unutterable sympathy and grief on his face as he met Ron- [ 23 H ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL aid's parents at Compiegne on 25th April, to drive to Ham for that saddest of all days for them, when they laid Ronald to rest, — that gallant Christian gentleman, M'ho had never caused them one moment's care or anxiety during his twenty-one years on earth. He lay in his poor, thin, pine coffin, dressed as he fell, the features not too much marred, a type of those devoted heroes of whom 'the world was not worthy,' and who were falling daily in order that the Boche's fell purpose might be foiled. Alas, Lieutenant de La age also fell soon after, and is buried seven graves fur- ther on in line with Ronald's tomb, where he stood as a mourner just three weeks previously. Another Christian gentleman and soldier, grave beyond his years. "Ronald fell on St. George's Day. He could not do more. It was fate. Graduated on the 13th day of June, 1914, bre- veted on the 13th day of August, 1916, and joining the Es- cadrille on the 13th day of December, 1916, there seems to have been a fateful irony in these dates ; and he passed away on the 23rd of April, 1917, at high noon." It is fitting, in closing this all too imperfect tribute, to quote two passages — one froin the funeral oration pro- nounced by Captain Thenault, Commanding Officer of the Escadrille, "C'etait une nature droite, une ^me intelligente, eprise d'ideal et de beaute" — the other from the citation of General Franchet d'Esperey, when conferring the Croix de Guerre with palm: "Citoyen Americain, engage au service de la France. Veritable &me d'elite pour sa bravoure et son esprit de sacrifice. Est tombe le 23 Avril, apres une heroique defense, dans un combat contre trois appareils ennemis." [ 24 ] /A' THE WAR DiscouRs Prononc^ par le C^^ Thenault le 25 Avril, IQl? Madame, Messieurs, Les deuils se suivent avec rapidite, et a quelques jours de distance nous voila reunis de nouveau aupres de ces tombes. Le coup qui vient de nous frapper est particulierement cruel. Avant hier, dans la lutte sans tr^ve contre I'ennemi implacable, sent tombes le cava- lier Dressy et le sergent Hoskier. Le Sergent Ronald Hoskier, ne a South Orange New Jersey, etait age de 21 ans. Eleve par sa famille dans de saines traditions, c'etait une nature droite, une ame intelligente, eprise d'ideal et de beaute. II vene- rait sa Mere, devant la douleur de qui nous nous inclinons respectueuse- ment et qui, soyez en sure, Madame, est son seul regret. II devait aimer la Justice, la Liberte, la France assaillie par les barbares, et, libre Enfant d'un Pays encore neutre mais dont les sentiments com- mengaient a fremir, I'annee derniere il s'engageait sous nos Drapeaux. II suivait I'exemple de son pere, venu malgre son age apporter son con- cours actif au corjjs des ambulanciers americains et que Verdun vit sous ses mui^ au coure de la ruee terrible. Hoskier avait de qui tenir et bien souvent il nous le montra. Pilote adroit et intrepide, il fit ses premieres armes sur la Somme. II fut vite confirme et ses premieres batailles furent des succes. II rapportait de plus des renseignements interessants, dont le commandementadmirait la precision et le bon sens, et qui furent tr^s goutfe pendant la derniere avance. Avant hier il sortait avec son camarade Dressy. Le pilote savait ce que valait le mitrailleur, et le mitrailleur savait que le pilote I'emm^nerait droit au combat. lis volaient avec deuxcamarades, quand ils rencontrerent une force superieure. Fuir eut peut-etre et6 prudent, mais des soldats comme Hoskier a I'ame ardente, peuvent-ils une seconde penser §. fuir ! lis se lancerent dans la melee, les mitrailleuses crepiterent, chantant leur cruelle et rageuse chanson, et, pendant que des camarades retenaient deux adversaires, on vit la machine d' Hoskier en prise avec trois autres, atteinte dans un de ses cables essentiels, tourbillonner et venir s'abattre dans nos lignes, un peu au Sud de Saint-Quentin. On releva pieusement les corps du Fi-angais et de I'Americain unisj usque dans la mort, et mieux que tous les mots du monde, de tels faits symbolisent 1' union des Deux Grands Pays, lies maintenant jusqu'a la fin victorieuse. C 25 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL Madame, votre tristesse est immense, et nous comprenons la douleur du coeur d'une Mere. Rien ne peut la consoler, aucune parole, mais nous vous promettons, Madame, da conserver toujours la memoire du Sergent Hoskier. Lui, un soldat, savait par I'exemple quotidien les risques de la vie qu'il avait choisie, mais, suivant son droit chemin, rien ne I'aurait fait devier. Hier, la-haut, il fut content de voir qu'un de ses camarades I'avait venge. Cavalier Dressy, sergent Hoskier, votre mort est un exemple, je vous salue respectueusement, et au Nom de tous vos Camarades, je vous adresse im dernier Adieu. C 20 ] .^enjtf ^^^re t4>cih f- ^^i //. HENRY BREWSTER PALMER God give us bases to guard or beleaguer. Games to filay out, whether earnest or fun. Fights for the fearless, and goals for the eager, Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on. EKING back to the years when Henry Palmer was at St. George's, everyone who knew him here will see vividly the small but agile figure of a boy battling calmly and suc- cessfully for his school on the athletic field. Quiet determi- nation and unruffled control made him a rock of strength to his fellows then and prepared him well for final victory on a greater field. So much of the school's early athletic his- tory is bound up in his name that a picture of him always includes the easy swing with which he gathered in hard- hit balls as shortstop or, as a quarterback, directed the foot- ball team in many a contest. "When you look back, and for- getfully wonder what you were like in your work and your play" might apply to Henry as he thought of his school- boy days, but not to his mates and other friends. They caught even then some glimpse of the man who quietly volunteered for service wherever needed. Strangers may wonder whose is the face that appears on so many team pictures in the Old School and whose name is on so many tablets in Auchincloss, but old masters and boys will think of the man who came to rest after a glorious career as a soldier because he here had shown in early days that he knew how to fight. Henry Brewster Palmer was born in Rochester, N. Y., December 25, 1887. After attending the Lewis School and Bradstreets' Preparatory School, he entered St. George's in the fall of 1903. During the three years up to his gradua- tion in 1906 Henry did creditable work as a student and C 27 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL starred as an athlete. His all round ability made him a member of teams representing the school in football, base- ball, tennis, and hockey. At Harvard he also played on his Freshman and on the Harvard Second baseball teams. As an agreeable companion and friend he was recognized through his election to several clubs, such as the Harvard Polo, D. K. K, Hasty Pudding, and Delphic Clubs. He grad- uated from Harvard in 1910 and, after six months of travel abroad, entered the bond business in New York City. In 1912 he took up the bond business in San Francisco, but returned to New York two years later. The appeal of ser- vice in the War proved irresistible to him in 1916, so that on June 25 of that year he entered the American Ambulance Service in France for a period of seven months ; on the com- pletion of this period he re-enlisted for six months. With Section 3 of the American Ambulance he was transferred on October 1, 1916, to Greece, where he drove the Harvard 1910 class ambulance. The short military account given in the following extract from a diploma of the French Gov- ernment tells a story of which the details must have meant much of courage and devotion : "Well before the entrance of the United States into the War, he was of the campaign in Lorraine, Verdun, and with the Army of the Orient, serving as ambulance driver in American Sanitary Section, No. 3. He has been cited to the Order of the Brigade by the General Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in the Orient." He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for courageous action in removing wounded in the region of Monastir between October, 1916, and De- cember, 1916. So soon as he could enter a fighting branch of war ser- vice, he joined the French Aviation Service on June 7, 1917. Having completed his training, he received his military bre- C 28 ] IJV THE WAR vet September 30, 19 17, as a member of the Lafayette Esca- drille. Henry's service as aviator was short, however, for he was taken ill with pneumonia and died on November 12, 1917. He was buried at Pau, France, with the highest mili- tary honours. A letter accompanying the award of a decoration by the French Ministry of War to Henry Palmer tells the story effectively : "Through my suggestion the President of Air War Min- istry has decided to bestow a decoration upon the four high officers and the 214 pilots of the Lafayette Flying Corps, who in the name of their people fought so gallantly in the French lines and took such a wonderful part in our perils and our glories. This token consists of a blue ribbon adorned with stars bordered with the French and American colors in relief of a Sioux head in silver which the first Lafayette Escadrille carried so gloriously over our battlefield. "It gives me the greatest pleasure to present you with this decoration of honor which shall bear witness of the high esteem of the aviation corps and the French nation whom vou have served so well." C 29 ] WILLIAM SMITH ELY WILLIAM Smith Ely, the fifth St. George's boy to die in the war, was killed in England on January 2, 1918, while in training for the aviation service. Ely was born in Rochester, N. Y., on November 18, 1895, the only child of Dr. and Mrs. William S. Ely. In Septem- ber, 1909, he entered St. George's School in the Third Form, and after four years graduated in 1913. Wilham was a quiet, reserved boy, not taking a prominent part in athletics, but standing high in his scholastic work. He took many honours on Prize Days, receiving, while he was at St. George's, prizes in Mathematics, Latin, and Greek, and in his Fifth Form year winning the Binney Cup for the high- est scholarship in the Fifth and Sixth Forms. The books presented to him have since been given to the School by his mother, and now occupy an honoured place in the Library. He was deeply respected by the facult}^ and beloved by his many warm friends, particularly in his own form. After leaving school Ely entered Harvard, graduating in three years, but maintaining his connection with the Class of 1917. While in college he was very popular with a large group of friends, among them his own classmates from school. During his first year at college he rowed on the Freshman crew which defeated Yale, but he was prevented by an injury from continuing what promised to be a bril- liant career as an oarsman. While at Harvard he was a member of the Dickey, the Iroquois, the Spee, and the Hasty Pudding Clubs. Ely had intended to follow his father's profession and had planned to enter the Harvard Medical School, but, upon the entrance of the United States into the war, he gave up his plans and enlisted in the aviation corps. He [so 3 66^^^4«?3^^/t/ Q^/^*/i^4/ (3w IJV THE WAR was at once ordered to the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology Ground School, where he remained until July, 1917. Upon completing his course there he was ordered to pro- ceed to Europe for further instruction, and sailed from New York on July 21, 1917. Letters from France were very strictly censored, and unfortunately little is known of the details of his work and training in Europe. In a letter written to his mother he gives a short account of his work as follows: "Our mail service is decidedly lame — I got no letters at all from you for over two weeks and then got four in a bunch. "Of course I couldn't tell you where we were when I wrote you those letters en route, but I suppose there is no harm now in saying that we were waiting off Halifax. It was there we had the boat races between the aviators and the engineers. Naturally we got no official reason for our hold up, which lasted five days, but we were probably waiting for our escort of destroyers. At any rate, when we were two days out we were met by six long low rakish destroyers, which appeared suddenly over the rim of the ocean and convoyed our five ships safely to port on this side. "Ten of us have been on duty at headquarters in Paris. We have to work very hard, but that is what we are here for and the work is very interesting. When we do have any time to ourselves we usually go sightseeing. I do not re- member much of what I saw when I was here before, — too young, I suppose, but now and then I find a familiar object. "Just now I am at the above 'somewhere' on a motor trip through southern France, — on business of course. I am with Lieut. Thaw, U. S. A., brother of the famous avi- ator, William Thaw. We have a staff car with a spread eagle on it and a military chauffeur who always drives at seventy or eighty miles an hour. . . . C 31 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL "We are evidently some of the first American soldiers to appear in this part of France, and we are the cause of great excitement wherever we go. Crowds gather around to watch us, and it is a bit thrilling but also quite touching to see what confidence and hope the peasants and the people in these little French towns have in America. We often hear the women calling their children to come and see the 'Americans who have come to save France.' "I little thought that I should ever be paid to take an automobile trip through the most beautiful part of France. But though it may sound like a pleasure trip, we are work- ing very hard. Three days last week we worked from half past six in the morning until after one the next morning, and, though to-day is Sunday, hard labor is the rule just the same. "I had my first real flight a few days ago, and the sen- sation is wonderful. You have no feeling of danger at all and no sense of forward motion until you look at the ground and see how fast you are moving. The pilot who took me up is one of the most expert in France and he did all sorts of stunts in the air. We have visited all the flying schools in this part of the country and have studied the methods of instruction. We have met a good many French officers, — bully chaps they are, too. Every one is heartily sick of the war, and small blame to them, but we are impressed with their grim determination to stick it out until they 'beat the Boche.' "... Soon after his arrival in France he was stationed, as we see by the letter, at Aviation Headquarters in Paris, and he received his commission as First Lieutenant in September, 1917. Later he was sent to England for special training to become a leader of a squadron. In England he was stationed at Northolt and at Port Meadow, Oxford. C 32 3 IJV THE WAR On the afternoon of January 2, after he had finished his day's work, Ely was invited to go up as a passenger with an English instructor, a pilot who was considered an expert flyer. What happened is not known exactly, but the report of the inquest states that "by an error of judgment the pilot stalled the engine in turning when about three hun- dred feet in the air." The machine crashed to the ground and both pilot and passenger were instantly killed. They are buried in Oxford. Death while fighting in a mighty charge is a glorious thing. The splendour of the achievement and the greatness of character and purpose of the man give to sorrow a for- getfulness of self which softens grief and leads the mind to a new and higher sense of proportions and values. The tragedy of sorrow is more keenly felt when a man, fit and ready for a large part in the struggle, meets his death by deplorable accident. But the character and purpose are the same, and the man who is denied the larger action deserves equal honour and even greater tenderness. C 33 J RICHARD CUTTS FAIRFIELD DURING the war and after, we have spoken with reverence of the dead, the honoured dead, that silent army whose service on this earth is complete and perfect in their supreme sacrifice. We have spoken and thought of them, but their numbers have defied true comprehension of their loss. It is only when one we know is swept away in the maelstrom that understanding rushes over us. Then we must accept the after life as a fact or "go sorrowing all our days." Especially are we impressed with the certainty of survival when one in the full vigour of youth suddenly vanishes from among us. Those who knew Dick Fairfield, I am sure, can only think of him as alive and happy somewhere. Richard Cutts Fairfield was born February 20, 1899. When he entered the Third Form at St.George's he was four- teen. In a very few weeks he must have known every fellow in school, and in that time he had become universally liked. Dick could get on with anybody, for he had an inexhaustible supply of good nature and was always full of fun. His many activities during the four years at school show his versa- tility. Athletics he found more interesting than studies, but he kept up in his work. In foot-ball and basket-ball he played on the club teams, agility making up for a rather slight build. His tennis placed him on the team in 1914 and made him captain in 1916. On the ice he was a good hockey player. His interest and ability in military drill earned him the rank of lieutenant. During three out of his four years he sang in the choir. Studies must have sometimes seemed to him very dry, for he found constant application no easy task. That he passed examinations for college and before graduating won a prize in Greek is the proof of real progress in academic work. c 34 ;] IJV THE WAR These things the records show. Yet there is much that is only written on the book of hfe. The real strife, the fight to master individual faults, which each one of us must sustain alone, of that we can only gather faint intimations. Dick had the faults which an impetuous nature shows in youth, rest- lessness and occasional misdirected effort. But his insatiable desire to be doing things was the sign that he possessed that energy which, when coupled with the right education, al- ways finds the path to achievement. The years slipped silently by until graduation was at hand. Impending separation awakens us to a sudden valuation of the friendship we have formerly taken for granted. Dick's sunny smile and cheery salutation had endeared him to every one, even to those who did not know him well. Light-hearted as he was, he had a serious side little appreciated because little seen, yet soon to be manifested gloriously to all the world. He had intended to enter Harvard in the fall. Summer came and went. The war was making Americans anxious, discontented. Student life, particularly, seemed flat and profit- less while men were fighting and dying. With characteristic impetuosity Dick suddenly decided to throw up college, to go abroad, to help somehow where help was so much needed. He was only eighteen. Fearing he might be considered too young, he secretly got passage for England, where he landed in September. There he immediately joined the Wynne- Bevan Ambulance Corps and was soon on his vi^ay to Italy. The Wynne-Bevan Ambulance Corps was a private organ- ization at that time stationed on the Venetian Plain to carry Italian wounded. There was work, hard work, to be done, with winter coming on, with the Italians disheartened by the re- treat into which they had been betrayed, with the Austro- German army on the offensive. Ambulance headquarters C 35 3 ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL were about ten miles from the little town of Mestre. On those muddy, narrow roads, with their steep, dangerous gutters, Dick drove four months. It was a three-fold struggle against the weather, disease, and the enemy. All went well until January, 1918. Then hostile planes began a series of raids on Italian towns behind the lines. Treviso, Venice, and Padua suffered some destruction. On January 26, Dick was at a dressing station, having just delivered a load of wounded. News came that Mestre was being bombarded. Fairfield and a companion jumped on a motorcycle and went ahead into Mestre to see if an ambu- lance would be needed. As they stopped in the market-place, deserted by the frightened population, a bomb fell on a house nearby, instantly killing them both. They were buried with all civil and military honours in the little cemetery outside of Mestre, where Americans, English, and Italians gathered to pay tribute to the first Americans killed in Italy. The Mayor pronounced a eulogy. Messages of praise and of condolence were sent by many distinguished persons to the American Consul at Venice. The last honour, official recognition of his bravery, came on February 9, when the Italian military authorities awarded to Richard Fairfield the Medaglia al Valore Militare, to be sent to his family. Yet higher praise there cannot be than the simple message announcing his death : "Killed in the execution of his duty." Let us not grieve for the unfulfilled future of the youngest graduate the School has lost. Can we believe that weapons forged by the hand of man have power to hurt the soul? No ; Dick has earned through service promotion to another world whither in God's good time we too shall go. C 36 ] b^ctldWell^ Gcdi^jyXo^ 'yf^m^ony CALDWELL COLT ROBINSON Qui ante diem p.eriit Sed miles, sed pro fiatria. THE "ante diem" of Newbolt's lines inevitably comes to mind as one thinks of the death of a man who was characterized by abounding youthful fire and generosity. At St. George's, Robinson was a young boy during his stay and impressed all his associates even then with his brilliant mind and exuberant spirits. It is therefore doubly pathetic to think of the fine young life given when it was already blossoming into a noble ardour and self-sacrifice in away that endeared him to all his comrades and followers. Those who knew him best in time of peace easily understand why his eagerness to serve others brought him where danger was greatest. His war record was a consistent progress, which began with attendance at two Plattsburg Camps in the summer of 1916. There he was in turn First Sergeant and Lieuten- ant, ending his training as Battalion Adjutant. After the United States declared war, he accepted appointment July 21, 1917, as provisional Second Lieutenant with rank from July 5, 1917. His appointment was made permanent on the twenty-seventh of the following month. On October 27, 1917, he went overseas, and was on detached duty with the U. S. Army in France from that date. He took part in the actions of the Marines which brought them such fame in the Verdun Sector, and was killed in action on June 6, 1918, in the Bois de Belleau, while attached to Company I of the 6th Regiment, U. S. Marines. His grave is in the National Cemetery, Belleau Wood. In his death he showed the quahties which had made him so beloved wherever he went. On perceiving that his com- c 37 : ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL pany was suffering from the fire from a machine gun nest, Lieutenant Robinson attempted to capture the nest himself. For this noble but fatal effort he won the posthumous award of the Distinguished Service Cross on July 5, How highly Lieutenant Robinson merited the award may be seen from the words appended to the remarks of General Pershing in awarding this high honour: "Killed in action at Chateau- Thierry, June 6th, 1918, he gave the supreme proof of that extraordinary heroism which will serve as an example to hitherto untried troops." No less impressive are the words of one of his men : "He sure deserved his cross and more too. He didn't win it by telling us what to do, but by show- ing us how to do it." His final gallant action came after he had experience of several wounds, and had been gassed more than once. With full knowledge of all that war can offer in the way of hardship and danger. Lieutenant Rob- inson showed by his high conception of duty in the face of the enemy that the descendant of an officer who helped our country gain independence was eager and able to defend it with self-forgetful gallantry. L 38 3 (/mII) !^Dyrtid/ei/ (jiitrvCn^^ WELLS BRADLEY CUMINGS THE early days of 1918 were probably the most excit- ing, the most heavily fraught with interest, hopes, and fears that man has as yet known. The allied armies were waiting to receive the onslaught of the German troops, and the two questions in the minds of every one were — could the allied troops hold and were the American troops ready. We at school were finishing a busy and successful year. The School was imbued with a desire of service. The Sixth Form had completed a year of service to the School and of prep- aration for themselves, and was ready to a boy to go out to play their part. On Prize Day, 1918, while the exercises were being held in Auchincloss Gymnasium, word came of the death of Lieutenant Robinson. The big German offensive was at its height. The American troops were just beginning to make their presence felt, and among them were some one hundred and fifty St. George's boys. Every one felt that, before the opening of another school year, new losses would come to us, and that our own roll of honour would be lengthened — per- haps to a great extent. Almost at once the loss came, and the next St. George's boy to give his life in the great offensive of 19 18 was a mem- ber of the class which, only a few days before, had grad- uated from school. Wells Bradley Cumings, born July 11, 1899, in Brook- line, Massachusetts, was the second son of John Bradley and Florence (Thayer) Cumings. He entered St. George's in September, 1911, and, with the exception of a year, was a member of the School until 1917. During that time he be- came a prominent and influential boy, endearing himself to everyone, boys and masters alike, by the strength and sweet- ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL ness of his character, and by his deep affection and loyalty to his friends. His fineness of temperament revealed itself in a passionate love of music, for which he showed an appre- ciation extraordinary in one so young. He was a brilliant athlete, winning his S. G. in both football and baseball. At the end of his Fifth Form year Wells left school and, by tutoring, entered Princeton with the class of 1921. For a boy of high spirits, eager to do his part in the war, col- lege and university life was irksome, so in February, 1918, he left Princeton and, together with several friends, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. A short period of hard training at Paris Island followed, and in April the regiment of which he was a member, the 6th Marines, sailed for France. The American Expeditionary Forces were at that time gathering. Everything was in confusion, and the men who arrived early in France were forced to endure hardships and privations which later were avoided when the machinery began to move more smoothly. One can feel only increased sorrow when one thinks of a young boy, not yet nineteen years old, leaving his country for the first time, being abso- lutely cut off from all his friends, to be hurled into the mael- strom of the war. Everything seems to have conspired to make Wells' life in France harder, for after he said good-by to his mother in Washington he received only one word from home and never received any pay or any of the money which was sent him. Nothing is more pathetic than the let- ters which came back from him, filled with cheerful cour- age, speaking calmly of the discomforts, and hoping that he might soon have word from home. During those lonesome days Wells' character showed itself in all its sweetness by sharing with his less fortunatecompanions the small amount of money that he had taken with him, for he had given away [40] /A* THE WAR everything when he fell. A few copper coins, a knife, and the memory of a life cheerfully given to his country are blessed proofs of a noble soul. A few weeks after the arrival of the regiment in France came the critical days for the allied forces. The American army was called upon to do its work of stopping the Huns' advance on Paris, and the Second Division was placed in the region of Chateau -Thierry. The "Bois de Belleau" is a name of glorious and tragic memory to the American people, for it was there that the Marines did their heroic work of checking the Huns and turning their advance into k retreat. On June 26, in the early part of a charge, Wells fell mor- tally wounded by a piece of bursting shrapnel. He was car- ried to the rear, where he received every possible attention in dressing station and hospital, but after four days of suffer- ing, borne with heroic courage, he died on June 30. A simple cross marks the place where he now lies beside the other heroes of those terrific but wonderful days. The life of Wells among us has left the memory of a noble boy doing his duty in the simple, natural ways which brought him to the supreme end Math true courage of mind and spirit, for " — in short measures life may perfect be," and to us who loved him this is an inspiration as well as the comfort in our sorrow. C 41 ] TOLMAN DOUGLAS WHEELER " T T E was said to be the bravest man in his regiment, and X X I know there was none braver." So writes a soldier friendofTolman Wheeler, who was fatally wounded at Can- tigny on August 31,1918, and died six days later. The brief comment of a comrade tells the story of military service of an officer to whom gallantry in action was so natural that it was almost sure, in days of heavy fighting, to lead to a fatal end. Lieutenant Wheeler, born at Walton, N. Y., October 2, 1891, was a member of St. George's in the years 1907 and 1908. As a boy he was quiet and rather reserved, so that relatively few had the privilege of knowing him intimately. He took part in sports with zest and showed the quiet cool- ness w^hich characterized him later in the really stern con- test of battle. He entered Harvard, and was graduated as A.B. in 1915. After attending the first Plattsburg Officers' Training Camp in May, 1917, he was commissioned a First Lieu- tenant in Troop F of the Second U. S. Cavalry in Septem- ber, 1917. Some idea of his ability may be gained from an occasional sentence in letters from fellow officers. "Tolman joined me at Fort Ethan Allen. At first I was distant to him, as I don't make friends quickly and I wanted to be a good captain to a new lieutenant in the cavalry service. I contin- ually became more and more friendly. I began to understand him and finally we became close friends. For him I held an admiration for his audacity and courage and above all his faithfulness in carrying out any duty to the letter. I can tell you that at the time he was ordered away from the regiment the Colonel told me that he had developed into one of the best officers in the regiment. Coming to a cavalry outfit from C 42 ] ...j-,,.*'ip: W' ■^jml^^isQ '<';1^|^^^^| \ ^. i'&^fc^nit^ /af^^MB JFSS^nHr *'*«! V r^ ■olki^M^.^' ■^^"'^IP * * ^..Ji^/fn^^^ny^^-ZJcH^/oj uy^xse'ler' IJV THE WAR the infantry and learning to ride the drill well was a difficult task, but he succeeded and developed into a fine cavalry officer." Troop F went overseas in March, 1918. Lieutenant Wheeler took part in the varied service of the troop, becom- ing Battalion Adjutant in August, 1918. As he was carried on the rolls as attached to the regiment, he was sent as a replacement officer to Company H, 127th Infantry, 32nd Division. "I heard from him and his escapes and I knew he would either get home scot free or else be killed. I have talked with men of the 32nd Division. He was held in high esteem there for his courage and good sportsmanship. He led an assault at Cantigny and was wounded several times. He was picked up and taken to Base Hospital No. 3 in Paris, where he died and was buried." For his bravery he was cited as follows: "First Lieut Tolman D.Wheeler (deceased) 127th Infantry (on detached service from 2nd U. S. Cavalry). For gallantry in action near Juvigny, France, 30 August, 1918, in reconnoitering the battalion lines during an attack." To the simple record of Wheeler's service the imagination will readily supply the details characteristic of military life where supreme devotion is present. Those who knew only the boy will understand now more fully the quiet nature which developed its best qualities as the sternest challenges came. For the boys who see his white star in the school service flag the name of Tolman Wheeler will be one more source of pride as succeeding school generations realize their proud inheritance. c 43 ;] PHILIP NEWBOLD RHINELANDER With lokkes crulle as they were laid in firesse And of his stature he ivas of even lengthe; And nvonderlye delyvere and greet of strengthe ; And he had been somtyme in chyvachie In Flaundres, in Artois and Pycardie And born him well. SOMETHING of the bcautj and fair grace of Chaucer's "yo^ig Squier" clings to the memory of the young hero whom masters and graduates will recall as a high-spirited boy at St. George's, where his shining eyes from under curling locks early promised a future full of eager enthusiasm. Philip Newbold Rhinelander was born on August 29, 1895, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas N. Rhinelander. He entered St. George's in October, 1907, and left in his Fourth Form year. As a boy he was of a singularly fine and sensitive nature, so that he was especially missed by those who knew him well when his health made it desirable for him to be transferred to the Thacher School in California. From that school he entered Harvard as a member of the class of 1917. Very early in the war he felt the call of service and began to prepare himself for it. In August, 1915, he attended the second Plattsburg Camp. As military service was not yet open to Americans, he volunteered as an Ambulance Driver in the American Ambulance Field Service, sailing for France on July 1, 1916. For about six months he served in the Vos- ges, in France, with Ambulance Section 9. Later he joined Section 10, which had its headquarters southwest of Lake Presba, in Eastern Albania, and saw six months more of ser- vice. He returned to Paris in July, 1917. The following ex- cerpt from a letter by Lieutenant Rhinelander's father gives a clear picture of Newbold's military career : " He immediately volunteered for our air service, and be- C 44 ] IN THE WAR gan his training under French instructors at Tours, about August 23rd, 1917, receiving his brevet as a Pilot about October 31st following, and his commission as First Lieu- tenant in the Air Service of the American Army about a month later. From Tours he went to the American camp at Issoudun, where he had further training ; thence to a French camp at Etampes ; thence back to Tours, where he spent about three very active months in the training of artillery observers ; thence to Clermont-Ferrand, for special training in day-bombing ; thence to various camps, and after numer- ous delays, due to the lack of planes, etc., he was assigned to the 20th Aero Squadron, and sent to the front early in September, 1918, where the 20th Squadron, together with the 11th and 96th, were constituted the First Bombardment Group of the First American Army, and took part in the battle of St. Mihiel, and later in the Argonne offensive. The work of the First Bombardment Group in connection with the St. Mihiel offensive was commended in a citation, which included the following : "'l. The work of the 1st Bombardment Group during the battle of St. Mihiel, and in the operations after it, has been such as to bring out the praise and appreciation of all the troops and allied services participating in the operations. This Group, under most difficult conditions, with new equip- ment, and pilots and observers who had recently come up on the front, has shown a devotion to duty and an initiative which has not been exceeded by any troops on the front. '"2. The work of the 1st Bombardment Group has mate- rially aided in hindering hostile concentrations of troops, troop movements along roads, and in sweeping the enemy's pursuit aviation back, thereby making lighter the work of our pursuit aviation along the immediate front. C 45 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL "*3. I desire that all members of the Group be informed of the high regard in which their work is held throughout this Army. Wm. Mitchell, Colonel, A. S. U. S. A. C. A. S., 1st Army:' "During the St. Mihiel offensive and for about a week thereafter, Newbold was assigned, with four other pilots of the squadron, to special reconnaissance duty for head- quarters at a camp at Maulan, to which the rest of the squadron, together with the two other squadrons forming the First Bombardment Group, were ordered just before the beginning of the Argonne offensive. On the first day of the Argonne offensive, September 26, 1918, he took part in his first day -bombing expedition within the German lines. Four groups of eight planes each, one from the 96th, one from the 1 1th, and two from the 20th Squadron, were ordered upon this bombing raid to bomb the town of Dun-sur- Meuse. Plans for rendezvous and mutual support appar- ently miscarried, probably partly owing to low hanging clouds when the formations left the camp in turn. They all accomplished their bombing mission, but did so independ- ently and without support or protection. Newbold's forma- tion was the last to leave the field, and saw nothing of the others. By the time it reached its objective, the German pur- suit planes had evidently been fully warned, and almost im- mediately after the bombs were dropped the formation was overwhelmed by attacks of German planes, which outnum- bered it three to one. This situation was made much more desperate by the fact that the observer in the leading plane was killed almost at the outset of the fight, and fell against the double control in such a way as to prevent the leading pilot from turning home, and to force him to continue for C 46 ] IJV THE WAR more than twenty miles out into German territory, where the greater part of the German air force at that part of the front seems to have been concentrated at the time. The re- sult was that out of the eight planes only three returned, and in one of the three — the leading plane — the observer was killed. "None of the survivors saw Newbold fall, but on Decem- ber 27 last, when I found his grave and that of his ob- server, at the litde village of Murville (northwest of Briey, and some four miles from Audun le Roman, near the Lor- raine border), I learned from French eye-witnesses who had seen the end and had buried him and his observer that his plane appeared over the village at about 1 1 o'clock on the morning of September 26, fighting alone with five Ger- man pursuit planes (Fokkers) at an altitude so low (the French people estimated it as about one-sixth of the normal height of American bombing planes) as to indicate that Newbold's plane must have been seriously disabled. The end, they said, came very quickly. The five German planes were attacking successively from below and behind (their favourite point of attack, where they were least exposed to the American guns), and finally there was an explosion (apparently of the main gasoline tank) of the American plane, which was blown to pieces, the engine and propeller falling at one point (I saw the clearly marked depression in the ground where they fell), and the rest of the plane some 200 or 300 yards away, and the two bodies between the two." From Captain Merian Cooper, one of Lieutenant Rhine- lander's fellow officers in the same squadron, a few facts have been learned about the fight. Captain Cooper himself was shot down, and was lying in a German hospital when a German officer brought to him Newbold's identification c 47 : Sr, GEORGE'S SCHOOL card, with his photograph and signature. "This German officer expressed surprise that Nevvbold should have been alone when he was killed, and said that he had died fight- ing bravely, against odds." Lieutenant Rhinelander was buried by the German officers who found him near his fallen plane. Memorial ser- vices were held in New York and Newport, which several of his old friends at school attended. As they heard the sim- ple recital of the qualities he had developed in his young manhood they perceived that he had early attained the praise due to one far older: He never yet no vileynye ne sayde^ In al his lyfe^ unto no maner -wight. He xvas a verray parjit., gentil knyght. C48 3 (AjytMt^ryi^^^/jy<>€i/lD^ty....^lJu WILLIAM BOULTON DIXON WILLIAM BouLTON DixoN joincd the Second Officers' Training Camp in May, 1917, and was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, on August 24. On November 27 he received his commission as First Lieutenant of Field Ar- tillery in the United States Reserve Corps, and was ordered to Camp Pike, Arkansas, where the 87th Division was in training. After two or three months' duty with a battery, he was appointed to the staff of Brigadier-General Richmond P. Davis of the 62nd Field Artillery Brigade and, a little later, was made his senior aide. On August 27, 1918, Lieutenant Dixon went to France with the 87th Division, but soon after its arrival General Davis and his aide were transferred to the 151st Field Ar- tillery Brigade of the 76th Division. On October 11, General Davis and part of his staff, in- cluding Lieutenant Dixon, who had been made assistant operating officer, left for the front in advance of the bri- gade. On the night of October 17, in the vicinity of Thiau- court, Lieutenant Dixon was killed by a direct hit of an enemy shell while on duty at the post command of a bat- tery of the 340th Field Artillery. He was buried in the United States Cemetery at Thiaucourt. Bo Dixon came to St. George's in the autumn of 1910 and graduated the following June, remaining but one year at the school. It is natural, therefore, that his school career did not stand out as clearly as that of most of his classmates who had been here for several years before their graduation. As a boy Bo was quiet and reserved, limiting his interests chiefly to his books, to tennis, and to baseball, in which sports he excelled. He was popular with his classmates and, through C 49 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL his refined and gentle nature, won the affection and respect of his teachers. On leaving school Bo went to Princeton, and graduated in the class of 1915. While there he was a member of the Ivy Club. From July, 1915, to November, 1915, he was in the em- ploy of the Franklin National Bank in Philadelphia, later be- coming a bond salesman with Irvin & Company, Bankers. Remarried on March 4, 1916, Emily Markoe Thayer, and went to live in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. He had two children, a daughter, Alice Thayer, born November 19, 1916, and a son, Thomas Henry, II, born July 24, 1918. It was from such men as this that the younger officers of our army were largely recruited — men who were often too modest to thrust themselves forward, but who were ready at an instant's summons to respond to the call of duty, whether that duty was easy or hard. Little by little they had been storing up that moral energy and will-power which was to stand them in such good stead at the hour of supreme trial. Bo Dixon made a fine soldier, and in his death fulfilled his highest promise. Beautiful and touching are the words of his superior officer, written to his father shortly after he was killed : "I came here (somewhere in France) with half a dozen staff officers aqd we were distributed along the front at various places not far separated. There was considerable bombardment the night Bo was killed, — he, a lieutenant and a corporal were killed instantly by a 77 shell, the only one which came anywhere near his station, one other fell about 100 metres from a station of another of our party and about half an hour after I left. "We buried Bo just at sunset on the top of a beautiful C 50 ] IN THE WAR hill — the sun was setting and almost a full moon just up, an enemy airplane flew over very low and a terrific bom- bardment of two squadrons of planes by our anti-aircraft guns constituted the volley as we laid the dear fellow to rest. . . . He had the military instinct and the military idea and would have made his mark had opportunity arisen. "He was so keen to be at the front and only the day before we had gone together to the advanced line to take a look, and his whole soul was in the righteousness of our cause. Bombardment more or less was going on all the time, but it did not seem to us that there was much real danger ; how- ever, his death was not due in any way to unnecessary or careless exposure — it was simply one of these things which sometimes happen. I have lost a fine soldier, and you a fine son and soldier." c 51 : MARQUAND WARD MARquAND Ward, son of the Honourable Henry Gal- braith and Mabel (Marquand) Ward, was born in New York, December 9, 1894. He entered St. George's School in October, 1907, as a member of the Second Form, and graduated in 1912. After a year of travel and study he entered Princeton University, but owing to ill health was unable to complete his course with the class of 19 17. He was enlisted January 5, 19 18, trained at Camp Dix,went overseas with the 78th Division as a private in the 312th Infantry, and was killed in action at Talma Farm, October 18, 1918. Three lines from "The Quest of the Sangraal" by the Vicar of Morwenstowe well describe the spirit of such soldiers : High hearted men : the purpose and the theme Smote the Jine chord that thrills the Warrior'' s Soul With touch and impulse for a Deed of Fame. Marquand, like his brother, brought this sense of high honour to the school. It never failed them. To the last they made us proud with the brave fulfilment of their promise. Mar- quand's most outstanding characteristics were a beautiful friendliness which made him a universal favourite, and a high chivalrous nature which made it impossible for him to seek companionship through any lowering of his standards. But so great was his geniality, so ready his appreciation of the best in others, that his high ideals never repelled those of whom he could not approve. He made the fine way win- some. Through school and college religion was for him a valued and genuine experience which he helped others to understand. By inheritance of a rich nature and by intimacy with fine thoughts and beautiful things, the "fine chord" of his life made such music for all who knew him that he was [52 ] rAt^M'Wl /^ CvCa^rvl' /JV THE WAR a gay companion for his contemporaries and an intelligent sharer of the thoughts of older men. We looked for him to do so much among "high hearted men," his fellows, through years of service, but the much was done in little time. Just as the work seemed only beginning. The strife xoas der^ the battle done^ The victory of life ivas xvon^ The song of triumph was begun. Alleluia ! The story of that victory is recorded in the official citation and in a personal letter from a comrade. "Private Marquand Ward, Co. C, 312th Infantry, before meeting death in action at Talma Farm the 18th October, 1918, manifested a signal courage and fearlessness, advanc- ing in the face of a murderous machine gun fire, displaying to his comrades an example of disdain of danger and of in- itiative in attack, reaching and falling at the nearest point to the enemy attained by his company that day." Thus far the citation. An abstract of the letter follows. "Marquand was in C Company, in a platoon led by Lieutenant Albritton. Our battalion was ordered to cross the Aire River and connect between the French Division on our left and the remainder of our own division on our right. We were the extreme left flank of the First Army, and our regiment was at the time attacking Grand-Pre. There were almost three quarters of a mile between Grand- Pre and the French. The distance was so great that for three days one thin line of men was the only protection over that ground. The Boche knew that and continually swept the area with the most bitter machine gun fire. There was almost no protection save little holes hastily dug, and it was certain death to expose ourselves in daylight. C 53 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL "The connection between two platoons was lost at a crit- ical point where it was perfectly possible for a small body of Germans to come through and with machine guns make our position impossible. Albritton set out to bridge the open space and to place a defensive post of two or three men in such a position as to keep connection between the platoons. He did not order Mike to go with him. He knew it was a dangerous risk, for machine guns were even then making it most hazardous. He asked for two men to go with him and Mike went. The third was a brave little Italian named Napolitan, who was Mike's devoted slave. "They had about three hundred yards to go and had to skirt the nose of a little hill. Just as they came around the hill a machine gun opened directly on them. Albritton was leading with Mike about five yards behind him, and Na- politan the same distance behind Mike. All three fell at once. Mike was pierced by seven or eight bullets and must have died almost instantly. So intense was the fire that Albritton lay there where he fell for eighteen hours before we could get him to safety. Marquand was buried at a little farm about four hundred yards from where he fell, a beautiful little spot. It is called Talma Farm and is his- toric with our Division. He lies there with other heroes who fell in that ghastly ten days of bitter fighting. " Marquand was deeply respected and loved by his com- rades. With a better education than most of them, he was at once their confidant and also their friend. They felt his loss keenly. He died a noble death and did a noble piece of work, did it as though there was nothing else he could do, as brave and heroic a deed as I have ever seen. There's not much to add, for no eulogies can really do him justice nor take away the sorrow we feel, and yet I am sure that you who knew him best cannot help but feel unbounded C 54 ] IJV THE WAR pride in the spirit of his sacrifice. It was not in vain. With- out him and others of his type the events which followed his death could never have happened." C 55 3 ALEXANDER RODGERS, JR. y\LEXANDER RoDGERs, Jr., son of Coloiiel Alexander and jlA. Virginia (Cameron) Rodgers, and brother of James Donald Cameron Rodgers, 1904, was born in Washington,' D. C, on April 23, 1894. He came to school in the au- tumn of 1907 and graduated in 1911. In contrast with the fullness of his later years Alexander Rodgers' life at school was uneventful. Many of the interests common to most boys did not appeal to him mentally or physically. Football, baseball, and the like played little part in the routine of his days. Perhaps if he had been more robust these would have eHcited more attention, but, as it was, he devoted himself almost exclusively to study and reading. He was reticent and reserved, although ready in word. Not many boys understood him, for it was to only a few that his nature could reveal itself at that period. In- ability to throw himself into the common activities of a schoolboy's life tended to keep him apart and throw him back upon himself. It was natural enough, then, that he should find resource in his work and reading. In the nar- rower limits of school life he did not come fully to himself or others, but at Harvard his nature ripened, and his quick understanding, alertness of mind, and keen insight into people and things won him true and sympathetic friend- ships. He was a member of the Institute, the Iroquois, the Spec, and the Hasty Pudding Clubs. His point of view be- came broader, and his judgment milder. He visited school frequently, and was ever talking of its future. At times he would speak of his school days and with unerring analysis count their good. There are graduates whose school career was more spectacular and outwardly more successful, but no one of these has ever exceeded the loyalty and affection C 56 ] IJV THE WAR which Rodgers came to feel for his school. It is one of his triumphs that this is so. It is a manifestation of a deeper side that was the real self, and which was revealed for the last time on the field of battle. He was a soul with depths unknown to many, depths that ever deepened with love of family, friends, school, and country. After graduating from Harvard in 1916, he went to the Harvard Law School, and from there entered the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Meyer, Virginia, in May, 1917. He received his commission as Second Lieutenant in August, and sailed on May 17, 1918. His regiment was at first brigaded with the English, and Rodgers was later detached for training in two different schools for signal officers. In August he was advanced to the rank of First Lieutenant in the 319th Infantry, 80th Division. This division was in reserve at St. Mihiel, but was not in action. Rodgers took part in the attack on the Argonne which began on Sep- tember 25. During this engagement he was gassed, but continued with his men until they were relieved. On Octo- ber 1 7 he was taken to a hospital and died of pneumonia on October 23. He is buried in the cemetery of Brizeaux. The accompanying photograph is an enlargement of a picture taken by a French Corporal after a twenty hours march in the Argonne in September. To Mrs. Rodgers Alexander's Colonel wrote: "I must record the fact that a braver, more loyal, painstaking, honest, upright soldier and patriot than Aleck never lived." On their return to Camp Dix, Rodgers' men bore evidence to his constant care and thought, how he always considered them first, no matter how long or hard the day might have been. One of his sergeants told of Rodgers going into German territory under heavy fire, and said : "I wanted to go with him, but seems like he thought more of my life than he did of his, C 57 3 ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL and he wouldn't let me go. We would do anything for him, because he did all he possibly could for us." He was given these two citations : "For exceptionally conspicuous and meritorious services as Regimental Signal Officer, 319th Infantry A. E. F." "For distinguished and exceptional gallantry at Cunel, France, October 4-12, 1918." Such, then, was the boy and the man — more loyal to the School than most and less loyal than none. [ 58 ] ^4dM>ciyfvl^\_^.<^CyrrM Ccuiyll^ EDWARD BARRY WALL Dear soul. Thy life was Heaven's mirror Rejiecting waves of light and love to help, tcs on our way. BARRY Wall was born on July 28, 1893, the only child of Exlward Barry and Fannie (Mitchell) Wall of Colum- bus, Ohio. Both of his parents died before he was six months old, but the devotion of a grandmother and aunt, as well as of others of his family, created in him the spirit of love and service which proved to be the guiding principle of his life. On entering school in 1906, he immediately threw himself wholeheartedly into the life about him. In his quiet, self- effacing way he unconsciously won the admiration and affec- tion of all. He never made an enemy. Life to him, even in his earliest years, meant friendship and service. As senior prefect his influence was of the quiet, all-pervading kind that went deep into the hearts of his schoolmates, and estab- lished a surer foundation for those who would succeed him. He made no unnecessary issues, but when they came he met them with unswerving determination and frankness. He tried to foresee and prevent trouble rather than wait until trouble matured, and his intentions were never misunder- stood or misconstrued. He was the most loved and the most respected senior prefect that the School has ever known. Underlying all there was a vital, spiritual life that governed all his actions, and made him charitable to all. He was more ready to forgive than to find fault. To him this life was merely an incident in a larger life, and in discounting the dangers of flying he once wrote: "After all, it is the spirit and not the body that counts." On his graduation from Princeton in 1916, he was voted the "finest gentleman" in his class. After graduation from college, Wall went out to China to c 59 : ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL engage in a year's teaching, which was partly scholastic and partly missionary. In this he was unusually successful, and he is still spoken of by the Chinese boys who were in his classes. Shoemaker, 1912, who was in China doing the same kind of work, has said : "I always felt that Barry had a peculiar sympathy for those in trouble or need. Out here among the Chinese, who are very responsive to people who take time to care for them, he left that impression. To those who knew him here, he endeared himself in the same way that he did at home." There were times when he thought of studying for the ministry ; and upon receiving an invitation to become a master at school, he wrote a month before his death: "I wonder when the war is over whether I shall be considered fit for a master. I am more convinced than ever before of the importance of youth, and particularly of Amer- ican youth, and the prospect of being a master appeals to me very much." On the declaration of war, he returned to this country and enlisted in October, 1917. He was sent to the Aeronautical School at Princeton, and from there to Love Field, Texas, from which he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. For a time he was assigned to the Aviation School at Brooks Field, Texas, and on July 1, 1918, he was ordered to Mather Field in California, where he taught advanced flying, acro- batics, and aerial gunnery. He passed his examination for promotion, and was recommended for a First Lieutenant's commission at the time of the declaration of the armistice. The following letter was sent him by Lieutenant-Colonel D. C. Emmons the day before his death: "Because of de- mobilization and early withdrawal from active service, I desire to extend to you an expression of my appreciation of the service which you have rendered your government and this school. Your loyalty and attention to your duty as an : 6o ] IJV THE WAR officer of this post have been most satisfactory to me, and you are to be commended for your zeal in your work and the excellent spirit you have shown in giving your assist- ance to the accomplishment of the purpose for which this Field was established. That the exigencies of the service required the use of your abilities here and, in consequence, your desire for overseas duty was not fulfilled, should not be considered in any way derogatory to you as a soldier or to the aid which you have rendered the government. I am proud to have been your commanding officer." On December 5 Wall had just finished instructing his pupils when he went up for a short flight alone. Another instructor was flying at the time at an altitude of two thou- sand feet, some five hundred above Wall. In a few mo- ments the latter had disappeared, and, fearing an accident, the other instructor descended and found his friend fifteen feet from the broken plane. Death had been instantaneous, and careful investigation threw no light upon the mishap. In the words of one of his fellow-students at Love Field : "Barry Wall was the finest man in camp and the best in the air ; he was kept in this country because of his skill in flying, his ability and patience as a teacher, and his influence over men." He was buried with military honours in Colum- bus, on December 12. The loss of Barry Wall is a loss to the world. Latent powers were reaching their fulfillment. With his charm and his nobility of soul he seemed destined to win men to better ways. Many tributes have been paid his memory, but no words finer than those of the poem written In Memoriam by Lieutenant William A. Adams, Jr., for the paper printed at Mather Field. C 61 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL The poet has not sung a sweeter song Than thou hast lived. -winged knight of chivalry., Thy spirit soars afar In Heaven of eternity ^ Where numbered as a star It gives forever hallowed light Of Love and Truth to guide Some erring friend to God through night Of death and darkness' tide. When world was threatened by the pagan sword And Hate stalked on the battlefield among The nations' countless slain., rvhose bodies., gored And bleeding on the soil of Freedom^ rvrung The hearts of men in pity and in shame, Thy spirit swift responded to the call Of country's honour., and aflame With righteous anger offered all Thy life held dearest in the name Of Liberty. And -when the fall Of Freedom' s frst defeat brought night Of darkness and despair., the light Of faith victorious burned bright In all thy words and deeds and gave New strength to every comrade brave To carry on the fght. He does not die in vain Whose dying deeds attain A victory for truth. The springtime brings the flower We love and cherish; With zvinter comes the povoer Of deatK's relentless hand. IJV THE WAR Nor can we understand The hidden reason For the season Of death and sorrow^ Why Love and Beauty live to wait The coming of the morroiv When they must perish At the call of Fate. Though -what we live to love and cherish We also live to see soon perish., What price can match the evanescent flower Whose fragrant beauty charms the passing hourf We are not certain -whether we admired Or loved thee more. We know that ive aspired To emulate thy character., and came Thereby to realize thy ivorth and claim For thee the honoured place deserved among Thy many friends. The poet has not sung A sweeter song than thou hast lived. As men We say these things in unaffected praise. As men -whose hearts -were touched so deeply when Thy soul departed to the pathless -ways Of distant stars. We loved thee for thy kind And gentle spirit., al-ways first tofnd Sweet ministration for thy friend in need ; For inspired thought that disregarded creed., And race., and sect; for thy unselfishness Of heart., that only knew to give and bless; For courage of soul that brooked no compromise., And idealistic conduct., free from ties Of sought reward. Thy life you spoke of to Thy friends., idealism manifest., -was true Exemplified., nor did you deviate C 63 J ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL From speech in deed^ — and hoiv few men translate Their noble dreams into reality ? And novj thy friends ivho loved and honoured thee Pay tribute that this earth may have assigned Its loss and -will with recognition herald Thy merit: a better friend ne'er blessed mankind^ Nor nobler life an undeserving -world. Thou art forever livings Incapable of dyings A distant star defying Death^ and giving Immortal light. The shadoiv of the night Of sorroiv and of tears Is banished by thy star. Shining through the years. From realms afar. In memory forever you belong To us, -who loved thee, — memory divine! No spirit ever sang a srueeter song. Ascending to a grander theme, than thine! C 64 3 GALBRAITH WARD GALBRAiTH Ward, SOU of the Honourable Henry Gal- braith and Mabel (Marquand) Ward, was born in New York, August 9, 1892. He entered St. George's School in October, 1907, as a member of the Third Form, and at the end of his Fifth Form year in 1910 left to complete his preparation for college with a tutor. The following year he entered Princeton University, and graduated in 1915. After spending a year in business in New York he joined the American Field Ambulance in France, and was with them from November 28, 1916, to June 9, 1917. Returning to America for military training, he was for a time at Platts- burg and later at Camp Upton. He went to France with the 77th Division in the spring of 1918, was made corporal in April, and later promoted sergeant in the 306th Infan- try, Company M. After hard service in the Argonne and great exposure, he fell a victim to pneumonia and died at Chateau villain, December 17, 1918. Galbraith came to St. George's bearing the best Ameri- can tradition and inheritance, intellectual, aesthetic, moral, together with that strong but unobtrusive religious sense which gives those great, but still secondary, aspects of character their permanence and value. Though never tak- ing high rank as a scholar, he brought to all his work a seriousness of purpose and a chivalric sense of obligation which made all that he learned count for life. In the de- partment of English, however, he displayed unusual appre- ciation and that industry which comes from genuine in- terest. He read the best books and wrote constantly for the Dragon, his work showing invention, a feeling for style, and the nice choice of words of a literary artist, gifts which he further developed in his university course at Princeton. c 65 : ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL While still in the Fifth Form he was awarded the Logan prize for English, a prize given not only for excellence in composition but even more for mature, intelligent apprecia- tion of literature. Quiet and reserved in manner, he yet won the friendship of many and the respect of all, and by his high example contributed greatly to strengthening all that is best in the school type then in its formative stage. The School owes him that unmeasured debt which is due to char- acter alone. When his career was interrupted by the World War, his sense of duty and service led him to volunteer for work abroad in the ambulance corps. When the shadow of war became a reality for his own country, he returned to enter the army. Training for a time at Plattsburg, he became con- vinced that his best work would not be done as an officer, which conviction he stoutly maintained to the end, though it was not shared by his superiors in the training camp or in active service. They knew the value of his quality in an officer. But he followed his own vision, and would have been more than content to remain a private instead of being pro- moted corporal and sergeant. How well he fulfilled his duty can best be told in the words of Major Freeman, who was his company com- mander at Camp Upton, on the British front, and in the Lorraine sector. "When I became battalion commander," he writes, "Gal- braith was chief of the battalion intelligence and scouting organization, which position he held on the Vesle and the Aisne and all through the Argonne fight, and the fight to the Meuse. Admired and respected by men and officers alike, he was quiet, modest, and unassuming; capable and trustworthy; and utterly fearless. Fear was not a part of him, even when death in battle seemed very, very near. C 66 ] IJV THE WAR "He gave the best that was in him; he gave more, because the terrific strain of the Argonne had completely undermined his health and still he kept on until our work was done, when the doctor ordered him to the hospital where he died. "He was fine and clean, and I'm sorry, very sorry, that he has gone. What can we say about those who have died that peace and liberty might live ? The story of their sac- rifice is far too sacred for me to touch upon ; even though I 've seen many make the most supreme. But in all cases they leave their message: 'This thing must not happen again.' And so we took up their quarrel, and now — we have not broken faith with those who died — and that thing shall not happen again." An instance of his courage is recorded in General Orders No. 24 : "Sergeant Galbraith Ward, Company M (deceased). While leading a detachment through a heavily wooded swamp between Theorgnes and Harricourt, this soldier showed an utter disregard for his own safety in directing and helping the men under him to find shelter and then walked 100 yards through shell fire to the rescue of a soldier of the 304th Regiment who had been severely wounded, bringing him to a place of safety." To this may be added the tribute paid to Galbraith and his brother Marquand by a St. George's master : "The lesson of the lives of these two boys will surely not go unheeded. Their willing sacrifice will stand forth as an inspiring example of patriotic devotion to duty so long as St. George's school shall last. They were gentle and loved the ways of peace. They were not physically very strong. But because they loved righteousness and all that makes life sweet and hated wrong, they revolted against the mon- [ 67 : ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL strous acts and teachings of the Germans and gladly gave their lives for the cause in which they so passionately be- lieved. If we are now to enjoy the fruits of victory, if the conditions for making the world a happier place for all to live in are at hand, we owe it to these our boys who have fought the good fight and in death have won all. Their mon- ument is eternal. It remains for us to prove our right to the sacrifice." : 68 ] ^y.o^T^i^iyf^^ yy€d<>e^\.yyi€ymyCty NORMAN JESSE MERRILL NORMAN Merrill was born in Somerville, Massachu- setts, on November 23, 1890. He was graduated from the Somerville High School in 1908 and from the Berkeley Preparatory in 1910. He then entered Colby College and be- came a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. His inter- ests were many and varied. As an aid to the financial side of his college course, he was manager of two dining clubs con- nected with the college. The Colby Oracle said of him : "Those who have the most to do can always find the time to do the most. No other man in college ever had so many things to do all at the same time." He was president of the Massachusetts Club and a member of the executive coun- cil of the N. E. L A. A. For three years he alternated at half- back and quarter-back on the varsity eleven and was one of the best defensive players that ever represented the col- lege. In addition to his football interests he added track and basketball, and was manager of the former for two years. His life was always very full. He overflowed with enthusi- asm and energy and was held in great esteem by his class- mates. He was on the most friendly terms with the presi- dent, to whom his sincerity made a strong appeal, and this friendship was continued after his graduation in 1914. In the autumn of that year he came to school as Master in Sci- ence and coach of the football and basketball teams. Poor material for an eleven faced him in his first year, but his ability as a coach was proved in the following autumn when he developed a winning team. In the winters he organized basketball more highly than ever before, and through his unusual capacity for organization more boys took part in that game than at any time in the history of the school. Scho- lastically, he taught mathematics and chemistry. L 69 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL Then came October, 1917. The writer recalls very viv- idly the mental struggle that had faced Mr. Merrill in the spring after the outbreak of w^ar. Patriotism and loyalty to the School at a difficult time found him trying to determine whether he should go to an Officers' Training Camp in the summer, or wait until Washington should call him. Devo- tion to his work at school and the belief that at that time the call to arms for teachers was not vitally imperative led him to put aside the chance for military advancement, and so he returned to serve at school until the time when his country should judge that he was needed. This decision was very characteristic. He never thought of himself; he was willing to go when it seemed necessary ; but he was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the School. In the two years that he was here, he gave of himself freely. As a coach he was successful because of his knowledge of the games and also because of his enthusiasm and patience. The boys responded to him readily, and sought him not only as a coach but as a friend. Lights in his room frequently meant that boys were there to ask his advice. He was untiring in every- thing he attempted, and was respected for his kindliness and sincerity. He placed friendship on a very high plane. He left behind him an ideal for devotion and loyalty, and a greater understanding of what true friendship may mean. The details of his military career are published in another part of this book. It is interesting to read in the official state- ment that a breakdown came as a result of overwork. Those who know of his untiring efforts here at school will real- ize that he had taken away with him the same qualities of giving that had characterized his work at St. George's. He wrote frankly of his keen disappointment when the medi- cal examination just before sailing found him unfit for for- eign duty. He refused a discharge, and continued in the ser- 1 70 ] IJV THE WAR vice as an instructor in the S. A. T. C. at the University of Michigan. He was finally forced to enter the hospital at Fort Wayne in January, 1919, and died there of acute nephritis on February 7. The funeral was held in his own home in Somerville, and he was buried with military honours. C 71 -\ WAR %eCORDS JACOB BATES ABBOTT, 1913. Second LieuteJiant^ 112th Infantry^ 28th Division. Officers' Training Camp, Fort Niagara, May 15 -August 15, 1917. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, August 15, 1917. Ordered to 79th Division, Camp Meade. Transferred immediately to 104th Field Signal Brigade, 29th Division, at Anniston, Alabama. Trans- ferred in October to 112th Infantry, 28th Division, at Augusta, Georgia. Assistant Divisional Bayonet Officer, October, 1917- May, 1918. Overseas, May 7, 1918. Chateau-Thierry, July 1 - 18, 1918. Gassed, July 18, 1918, Five months in hospital at Paris and Limoges. Returned, December 31, 1918. Discharged at Camp Dix, January 18, 1919. FRANK EMMONS ALEXANDER, 1915. Hrst Lieutenant^ Air Service.^ R. M. A. Enlisted, June 19, 1917. Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Military Aeronautics, June 19, 1917 - September 18, 1917. Scott Field, Illinois, September 18 - December 23, 1917. Commis- sioned First Lieutenant, December 6, 1917. School of Instructors, Gerstner Field, Louisiana, January 1 - February 1, 1918. Instructor in cross-country flying. Call Field, Texas, February 5 - September 5, 1918. Overseas, September 23, 1918. Third Aviation Instruction Centre, Issoudun, France, October 10, 1918- January 4, 1919. Re- turned, January 13, 1919. Discharged at Garden City, Long Island, January 30, 1919. JOSEPH ALGER, Jr., 1918. Private., Harvard Unit S. A. T. C. Inducted into service, October 19, 1918. Discharged at Cambridge, December 9, 1918. C 73 ] ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL LAWRENCE ALLDERDICE, 1914. Second Lieutenant^ 48th Field Artillery. Yale Battery, R. O. T. C, September, 1917- May, 1918. Enlisted, June, 1918. School of Fire, Fort Sill, June — August, 1918. Com- missioned Second Lieutenant, Field Artillery, National Army, July, 1918. Assigned to 48th Field Artillery, Camp Kearny, California. Transferred from Camp Kearny to the U. S. Government Hospital, Fort Bayard, New Mexico, as a patient, January, 1919. JOHN GOODYEAR ALLEN, 1918. Seaman., Second Class., U. S. Naval Aviation. Enlisted, July 25, 1918. Great Lakes Training Station, July 28 — September 6, 1918. Inactive service. COPLEY AMORY, Jr., 1907. Second Lieutenant., Cavalry. Enlisted, May, 1917. Officers' Training Camp, Plattsburg, May- August, 1917. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, Cavalry, August 15, 1917. Attached to 27th Division at Spartanburg, South Carolina, September- October, 1917. Overseas with War Risk Section, Decem- ber, 1917. Liaison Service, A. E. F., February— April, 1918. Army Machine Gun School, A. E. F., May- June, 1918. 5th Machine Gun Battalion, A. E. F., June — September, 1918. Liaison Officer, Head- quarters 2nd French Colonial Army Corps, September, 1918. Liai- son Officer, Headquarters 69th French Infantry Division, October, 1918. Army School of the Line, A. E. F., October - November, 1918. Attached to American Commission to Negotiate Peace, Jan- uary, 1919. Political Intelligence Work in the Russian Caucasus, February — July, 1919. Demobilized at Camp Dix, August 30, 1919. HENRY RUSSELL AMORY, 1910. Representative of the United States War Trade Board. Stationed at Rio de Janeiro, 1918-1919. Discharged, April 15, 1919. C 74 ] /A* THE WAR WILLIAM POPE ANDERSON, III, 1912. First Lieutenant^ 29th (later designated as the 74