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Volume CXXXII, Number 10 |
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A dark road to a terrible war
KID WONGSRICHANALAI
STAFF WRITER
With the gathering storm clouds of another world war far in the distance the members of the Class of 1941 returned to Bowdoin College after a refreshing summer, ready to begin their second year in the fall of 1938. The campus they returned to was quite a different one from the one they had left. Among the additions to Bowdoin's campus were the new statue of a polar bear in front of Sargent Gymnasium and the new sound system in Moulton Union. In his opening address, President Sills noted simply, "the College has never been in better shape to do good work." A much more interesting addition for the new academic year came in the form of the Class of 1942. One hundred and seventy six members of the new class descended upon the campus that fall. As the freshmen moved into their brick dorms and tried to make sense of college life, a freak weather system struck New England and caused major flooding and hurricane conditions all along the east coast.
Bowdoin seems to have survived major damage as it got on with its 137th year. Indeed, little seemed to change in the way of traditions. On the football field, Adam Walsh and his Polar Bears were still at the top of their game. The Polar Bears "trounced" Massachusetts State, 32-0, in the first game, went on to crush Wesleyan 27-13 a week later, and then beat Williams 14-0. Then, however, a crippling defeat at the hands of Bates (21-0) led the team to halt and regroup. The campus was stunned at the defeat and a new battle cry was heard among the pines and fraternity houses. Wrote the Bowdoin Orient:
Snapping out of its lethargy as if struck by a thunderbolt, the Bowdoin campus once more rises in a spirited backing of the gridmen. Dazed by the suddenness and unexpectedness of last week's defeat at the hands of the Bates Bobcats, the entire Student Body is rapidly working itself into a pitch of feverish excitement for the approaching Maine-Bowdoin football classic which will be held next week end on Whittier Field.
A gigantic rally was planned and staged. Students, faculty, administrators, staff, and alumni joined Brunswick townspeople in a frenzy of football mania. The game against the University of Maine was the largest of the year. In the past Bowdoin had won a mere 15 out of the 40 games played against Maine. A torchlight parade was planned, and along Maine Street Bowdoin men from different generations marched, made noise, lighted flares and heard speeches from such notable guests as Governor Lewis O. Barrows (himself a U. of Maine graduate).
The day of the great showdown came as crowds of both teams met at Whittier Field, prepared for a grand show. The Polar Bears were ready, having been inspired by the outpouring of support from Bowdoin men, past and present. On the field were men like Benny Karsokas '39, Hank Bonzagni '41, and a handsome, friendly young man from Methuen, Massachusetts by the name of Andrew Allison Haldane '41. Tall, with short, dark-brown hair, and a heavy jaw that had the tendency to push his lips into a proud smile, Haldane would rise to become the captain of the football team his senior year while also serving as the President of the Student Council. A graduate of Methuen High School and Bridgton Academy, he would also be voted the most popular man in his class during spring of his junior year. After Bowdoin, he returned to help coach the freshman football team and then went on to become a Marine officer. The skills that Haldane would use on the field of battle he partially learned at Bowdoin. Called "Handy-Andy" by the Orient he was responsible for a large number of Polar Bear scores. On this field, on this day, against Bowdoin's rival, he was on the field again. A leader and a determined soldier, Haldane must have felt both nervous and thrilled when the crowds roared with chants of "Bowdoin, Bowdoin, Bowdoin!" As songs began to fill the air and as the clapping rose to a pitch, the ball was thrown forward; moving bodies began to get in position. A thousand things happened on the field and, as the ball fell forwards, out of the sky towards the opening arms of a player, there were even more movements, actions. Confusion, disorder, pressure, heat-all these elements blended into one. Andy Haldane loved that feeling and as the ball headed towards him, he did what was in his nature to always do-he headed for where the action was hottest.
At the end of the day, victory was Bowdoin's. The ten thousand in attendance got the "thrill-packed" game they asked for, the Polar Bears proved themselves yet again and the final score of 13-6 made Bowdoin's defeat earlier that year a mere memory. News of this great victory was reported in the Bowdoin Orient on November 9, 1938. That same night, across the Atlantic Ocean in Germany, a country slowly being consumed by a dark hatred as old as time itself, there was terror. Nazi troopers, along with secret police, the Gestapo, and other anti-Semitic elements, began a night of burning and looting Jewish homes and businesses. Almost one hundred Jews were murdered, and thousands more were sent to concentration camps. Along the dark corridors and passages of the German nation men with guns broke into homes, harassed civilians, and did the bidding of their führer. This was November 9th, 1938, the Night of the Broken Glass - Kristallnacht.
Events in Germany did not go unnoticed by the world community, and members of Bowdoin College watched in horror as the persecution of Jews continued. President Sills commented that "At times it seems that some accounts must be exaggerated, yet all testimony shows that there has not been such cruel treatment of so many people since the Middle Ages." In the middle of November the College supported a lecture by Dr. Kirby Page, who spoke on the problems that faced the world. Page gave some of his views concerning possible peaceful solutions and cautioned that another war would result in the destruction of humanity. While President Sills probably agreed with many of Page's points, his view was less pessimistic and more focused on the present.
On November 20, the President, in Chapel, advocated a new foreign policy for the United States. Sills' basic message was that the U.S. should reconsider its tight restrictions on refugees seeking asylum, stating, "No doubt the opening of our doors would involve sacrifice and inconvenience, but it would be mockery if we, a democratic nation, should shut our doors to refugees." From Germany, a Bowdoin voice was heard in the form of James Wallace Blunt, Jr. '40. From Munich, where he was studying away, Blunt wrote to the Orient describing the differences between the German and U.S. educational systems. "I have found," Blunt wrote, "that most of the things that I heard about Germany weren't true." Commenting on the political situation he noted:
Also the people aren't blind in belief in the administration. They, too, see weak points; but, as a whole, they realize that what they have now is better than what they had before. The situation here is very interesting and I don't think we in America know enough about the geography and history of the country to criticize it.
On campus there were plenty of issues to deal with. In the previous academic year Sills had campaigned for less hazing and more acceptance among the college body , aiming his comments at the fraternity system. In this new year, the fraternities struck back. Not wanting to be considered old and obsolete, they tried to regain their stature by helping to put on a Christmas party for hundreds of Brunswick children. Someone, dressed up like Santa Claus, helped distribute prizes, candy, ice cream, and food to the visitors as fraternity members along with the Thorndike Club and other College organizations lended a hand to the successful event. The Orient noted that the Christmas party would, "help convince critical individuals that the fraternity still means what its name implies. The fraternities at Bowdoin as well as the College itself have shown that theirs is a community interest." Wrote James E. Tracy, Jr. '39:
And so, one more step has been taken by Bowdoin to make the town a better friend than she has been previously, a step larger and greater than any of the former, but certainly not the last. Let us hope that the grand efforts toward this end will not be undone by a repetition of the "barbarism and vandalism" which has been only too evident on past "Proc" nights and Rising Days.
Rising Day, however, continued to be a headache for the College this year. A determined group of freshmen from the Class of 1942 barricaded themselves on the top floor of Maine Hall. There, equipped with buckets of water, they held out against attacks by the sophomores for almost one hour. "With the dawn," wrote the Orient, "came peace and cherished memories of the rooms that used to be." Water was the weapon of choice for that year; sophomores retrieved a fire-hose and opened a spray of water on unsuspecting first-years who were exiting the Chapel. Despite this savage assault by the sophomores the freshmen claimed a victory and proclaimed their independence from the tyranny of their older brothers.
That year, in the Baccalaureate Address, President Sills bid farewell to the graduating Class of 1939, warning them that there was a war already being fought. "Mars is in the saddle not only where there is active warfare," he noted, "but in peaceful hills and remote valleys where the sound of the forging of arms comes crashing through." Among other things, Sills was referring to the growing belligerence of the German war machine and the timidity of the Allied leaders. On March 15, 1939 Hitler's troops completely occupied the neighboring country of Czechoslovakia. At the end of September of the previous year, Sudetenland-a part of Czechoslovakia-had been ceded to Germany. This time, Hitler wanted the whole country. He gained the support of the German people themselves through propaganda and swift, decisive action. Jim Blunt '40 wrote from Germany that on his way to school one day he noticed a long time of trucks, tanks and artillery on the roads, headed for Germany's eastern border. With the military in place there was one more move to make. Blunt observed that "every German subjects himself to the Government propaganda machine in two ways every day, since both press and radio are government-owned." With these tools in their hands, the government "filled the radio programs with talk of Germans being under Czechish terrorism," Blunt wrote. Mile by mile, day by day, Hitler and his armies were growing more confident. Kenneth Sills was one of the people who saw this and attempted to warn his graduating class of such a threat:
On solemn occasions such as this it would be well for the oncoming generation to realize the task before them, that of remaking a badly shattered world and of facing the difficulties without yielding to a defeatist attitude. Democracy, in which we all in theory believe, is being harshly assailed by foes from within and by forces from without; both of these are dangerous; both must be resisted. … In the careless, happy go lucky yet altogether busy days of your college life I wonder if you have reflected enough on your American heritage. I wonder if perhaps you have not, like the majority of us, taken too much for granted that the liberty won for us by our fathers will continue on no matter how careless or how indifferent we may be. … You may said, "I cannot do much," but remember the words of Herbert Spencer, "How infinitesimal is the importance of anything I can do, but how infinitely important it is that I should do it." In a world where bitterness and intolerance seem to be increasing I trust you have learned from Bowdoin and from your fellowship at Bowdoin the difference between prejudice and conviction, the necessity of treating every one of God's children as a human being, with the dignity and independence inherent in man. … Along that road you must travel, as indeed along that road the world must travel if the present destructive chaos is ever to end. But be not dismayed. If today men of good will in every nation are crying out. "How long, O Lord, how long?" remember that the things that can be shaken will pass away so that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
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