CLASS OF '40 - ARCHIVES PAGE!!

INDEX

End of Year 2005
Class Notes Jan/Feb '04 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes May/June '03 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes March/April '03 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes January/February '03 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes November/December '02 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes September/October '02 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes July/August '02 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes May/June '02 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes March/April '02 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes January/February '02 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes November/December '01 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes September/October '01 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes July/August '01 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes May/June '01 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes March/April '01 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes January/February '01 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes September/October '00 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes July/August '00 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes May/June '00 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes March/April '00 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes January/February '00 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes November/December '99 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes September/October '99 ASSEMBLY
Class Notes July/August '99 ASSEMBLY
Class of 1940 Bibliography
Class of 1940 Bibliography Suppliment
Class of 1940 Historical Notes
Recognizing Morris L. Shoss by Danny Briggs - 7 Sep 98
To Hell and Back by John M. Wright, Jr., LTC, USA Retired - 12 Sep 98
Class of '40 Joins Internet - 10 Dec 97
October Roundup - 9 Oct 97
Sad News (Elizabeth Balthis) - 1 Oct 97
Denno Drives First Section History - 3 Oct 97
Dyke's Naval Intelligence - 30 Sep 97
When I Was a Cadet - 22 Sep 97
Webfoot Prints - 14 Sep 97
Webmaster Announcement - 14 Aug 97
Old Grad Learns New Cadet Language - 17 Sep 97
Jenks Floyd Honors - 4 Sep 97
Bob Williams Joins Net From Texas - 26 Aug 97

Today's San Antonio Express carried an article about the reunion of the survivors of the torpedoing of a Japanese POW ship on this day in 1944. The organizer of this reunion was 1940's own Morry Shoss. The article noted his heroic actions that resulted in the award of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star for Valor. He also earned two Purple Hearts and a second BSM before the war was over. His AA battalion shot down several Japanese planes during the defense of Bataan. After the prison ship sank, Morry swam to a nearby island (7 Sept 44), and was assisted by Philippine guerrillas. Later, after campaigning with them, he was finally picked up by a U.S Submarine. He is truly one of the heroes of WWII.

Morris L.Shoss was born in Texas, 10 April 1915. In G Co as a cadet, he roomed with Art Barry. His first assignment after graduation was with the 91 Coast Artillery Battalion, Phillipine Scouts, from 1941 to 1941.

After the war, he enjoyed a distinguished active duty career until retirement in 1970 (JSCM, LM).

Thereafter, for eleven years until a second retirement in 1981, he was on the staff and ffaculty of San Antonio College.

Bob Williams suggested that I tell the Class where a copy of my book, "Captured on Corregidor," may be obtained. The publisher hates book dealers and has refused to sell the book through dealers. It can only be gotten from the publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers; Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. Phone orders: 1-800-253-2187. The price is $24.95.

I wrote the book while I was in the hospital after returning to the U.S. after WW II. Finished it in March 1946, while the facts were all still fresh in my mind. I sent it to several of the larger publishers under the title, "To Hell and Back." They all said it was the best book of its type they had read, but it was too late -- they had already bought all the market would bear. A few months later, Audie Murphy's book appeared, published by one of the publishers who liked my book, especially the title. I was told to put the manuscript away for ten years when there would be a renewed interest. Then came Korea. Put it away again. Then came Vietnam. Put it away again. The book was finally published in 1988. The publisher gave it the title, "Captured on Corregidor," with a sub-title, "Diary of an American P.O.W. in World War II."

At least, I can swear that it is true and factual -- and no sex.

For Bob Williams: I'm sure you didn't want me to write a book about the book. Usually, I don't talk that much...

We should add that General Wright after the war enjoyed a long and distinguished Army career until he retired in 1972. Thereafter, from 1974 to 1982, he was program director, Boy Scouts of America.

His grueling WWII experience was followed by service in Korea (1953-54). He did two tours in Viet Nam: with First Air Cavalry Division (65-66) as ADC; and with 101st Airborne Division (1969-70) as Commanding General.

His final assignment (1970-72) was Comptroller of the Army.

Altogether, Jack's decorations include the following: two Silver Stars, three Bronze Star Medals, two Purple Hearts, the Legion of Merit, three Distinguished Service Medals, Distinguished Flying Cross, 60 Air Medals, and the Combat Infantry Badge.

He also found time during the years to earn graduate degrees at the University of Southern California and George Washington University.

One of his sons, Rick (Richard K), graduated USMA in 1968, and has also had a notable Army career.

General Wright gave a clue as to his motivation when he recalled those 3 1/2 years as POW: It was... "the best thing that ever happened to me, since from that experience came an appreciation of life and people that, otherwise, I would never have gotten." ( Class of 1940 Howitzer, 25th Anniversary, 1965, p. 135).

For such a remarkable career--from hell and back, indeed-- Jack Wright is recognized and admired by classmates and West Pointers of all generations.

10 December 1997-Activated in August 1997, the "USMA 1940 Home Page" at <http://www.aogusma.org/class/1940>; started with 20 of a possible 209 living classmates. Now approaching 40 subscribers, the goal is "Forty Forward" to an even better number by 2001.

E-mail exchange among '40 classmates has been intense from the beginning when class historian Bryce Denno suggested "Life Begins With Forty" as the class motto. Others have been discussed, such as "Old but Bold" and "Forward-Forty."

Class web sites on the Internet are accessible via the main AOG address at <http://www.aogusma.org> or via the allied address of WP-ORG at <http://west-point.org>.

A webmaster moderates his class web site. A message written to the class address goes instantly to the entire membership and gets "archived" as well in an e-mail library. (One-on-one mail still can be accomplished, however).

Fifty-two class web pages are accessible on the Internet. The AOG sponsors 19, while 33 are under WP-ORG.

Tony Ferraiuolo at West Point provides liaison support for the AOG Class web sites. Expeditus ('ditus) Bolanos '90, and Bill Welter, '55, are top managers of WP-ORG.

WP-ORG is a flourishing unofficial network using donated server hardware located in Houston and Seattle. Started by Bolanos in 1995, WP-ORG also serves other web sites in the extended West Point community, including the West Point Forum, West Point Societies, parents of cadets, and more. The total membership is close to 10,000, about 15 % of whom are parents of cadets.

The West Point Forum, notably, is of major interest to more than 500 graduates who subscribe. Dempsey Darrow, ''75, is the "Ringmaster" for this lively activity. Darrow's address is <wp-forum-owner@west-point.org>.

Class of '40 Webmaster Steve Morrissey is an advocate of interactive e-mail exchange among classmates and other grads. "I was recently pleased to receive supportive comment from younger moderators from '48, '55, '65, '73, and '90. I was also amazed to receive mail from the Corps itself, from a cadet who happened to to stop by the 1940 web site. Everyone gets the word these days."

"Thus, the Class of 1940, unlike MacArthur's old soldiers, still seeks to play a role into the next century." *** NOTE: This text was submitted for publication in the January ASSEMBLY. In the editing process, however, a number of paragraphs have been modified and some omitted entirely, including the final paragraphs. My original 355 words have been reduced to about 125. However, the main purpose will be served, which is to proclaim 1940 being alive and well on the Internet.--Web

Ed Verner wins CCM (Computer Communications Medal) for naming nine class members in the San Antonio area: Bart Barton, Danny Briggs, Pete Kramer, Les Schockner, Maury Shoss, Ed Verner, Marjorie Colligan, Nancy Francisco, and Mary Lee Stewart. The E-Mail Library (LINK) includes the names of Briggs, Verner, and Francisco.

From Fort Worth, Bob Williams provides exemplary model of personal reporting.

Frank Sullivan and Dick Kent , Scribe and ex-Scribe, continue good Forty input-output. We hope to get George Mayo back aboard soon.

Such sitreps are what we need from all other regions. We have yet to hear from Californians Ed Hoover and Hank Adams on the List, and from Arizonan John Burfening.

From the Washington, DC area, we can expect excellent reporting by Kerm Dyke. In a recent message (See E-mail Library)(LINK) entitled "Free At Last," he transmitted classified information of great interest if you know how to decrypt the machine code. We offer space here for Kerm to give us necessary instruction. Kerm's experiment, nevertheless, suggests all kinds of things we can do as we improve our knowledge: ie. sending messages containing audio, photos, etc. Any ideas?

Now back in Pensacola ( at Azalea Trace, a retirement community ), Webfoot is changing his browser from Netscape to Microsoft Internet Explorer that comes packaged with Compuserve, so there's a learning-lag here. Most annoying experience so far is SLOW accessability of the various pages integral to our Web site. For instance, it now takes me FOREVER to get into our E-mail Library. Will try to improve this situation with AOG help.

A modem faster than 14000 will help, I know, and must upgrade soon. End shop talk. (Web)

Charlie Balthis' wife, Elizabeth, passed away on September 10, 1997, in Atlanta.. She was buried at Arlington Memorial Park on September 16th. Chas plans to sell his house in Atlanta, move to Colorado. He will live there with his son. The new address will be: % Dr. Vernon Balthis, 1103 Winslow Circle, Longmont, CO, 80501.

Coronado, CA--3 Oct. 1997. Class Historian Bryce Denno continues his campaign launched last May to promote what he calls "writings" for archiving in the West Point Library. Memoirs of 1940 grads, our West Point days and war stories, short or long, informal or formal, are highly valued and widely read by "fans of Forty."

Bryce reports in our own E-Mail Library.";Four classmates and one widow have sent ' writings.' They are: Walt Winton, Shag Shagrin, Sam Goodwin, Mrs. William Marling, and Bryce Denno.

"I remind all classmates that you need not to have written the Great American Novel and your writings need not to have been published. The Academy welcomes all writings by its graduates which will be of interest to your descendants as well as others."

In response to query by Webfoot concerning Class data, Bryce said: "Almost all the stats you mentioned in your letter, KIA and WIA in WWII, number of generals, etc. have been provided the class by Tony Wermuth's extensive survey, "Forty Plus Forty". You'll recall that this was published on our 40th anniversary. "

Concerning "famous classmates," Bryce also pointed out that the exploits of our Class in WWII and in later peacetime careers are difficult to assess, because so many individuals in the Forty family have contributed. He reminds us, in effect, that 1940's place in USMA annals does not depend on any one hero any more than does the Class of 1903 or 1915.

We may fondly wonder what Bryce himself contributed to the West Point Library. Scan the following words: "Although I was born and raised in the borough of Queens, I always considered Brooklyn a sister borough because both were in Long Island. The 16th Infantry was once known as "New York's own" because of its long residence in Fort Jay, Governor's Island. Its song remains "Sidewalks of New York".

So what happens? Bryce goes via B Co USCC to the 16th Infantry Regiment of the Big Red One, renders outstanding and distinguished service. Then he retires to California.

A tough kid from Queens ends up in California? Near a Navy Base? Bryce will ahve to explain that. himself.

Meantime, another B Co file, Kerm Dyke, had delivered himself to the Army Air Corps (read USAF) and retired to Maryland on the shores of Chesapeake Bay.

What was it about old B Co?--(Web)

Fort Lusby, Md--30 Sept 97. Kerm Dyke assisted by Henry Miley has been the leading contributor to Forty's return to active duty in the New Age. You can read his detailed reports in our "E-Mail Library."

To digress a moment: you may have had some difficulties using our "E-Mail Library." First, depending on your modem speed as well as delays inherent in the system, slow retrievals may have been your experience. Second, unlike this text done at AOG, your original message may appear broken up in a disconcerting way due to nasty formatting gremlins.. Nevertheless, we all enjoy our "mass mailings," and the more mail we generate, the better. (Except that Webfoot must keep his "Genes" from polluting the Net).

Bringing Kerm Dyke front and center here serves the purpose of illustrating what makes "news" for us.

Note that Kerm's geographical location is a critical element. In southern Maryland, near the Patuxent Naval Air Station, he is in position to surveil the 385 acre Navy farm where their milk cows are kept. The poor Navy goats live there too. Kerm suggests that "if they run out of goat mascots, they could switch to cows." In efffect, he implies that it would be a win-win for us in that case because a Mule can always overpower a Cow. (No disrespect to our Cadets, Second Class).

By offering news of Henry Miley's existence, Kerm also shows how any one of us ("we few") can likewise pass the word on classmates too poor to have computers, even though Henry's retired pay really should enable him.

Dyke-Miley are also close enough to the Washington Post to keep track of all dastardly media attacks on the military services. The reference to Admiral Johnson and the Navy's situation, often exaggerated by Navy's visibility so close to Washington, reminds us that we are relatively well off at West Point and in our far-flung ARMY dugouts world-wide. For instance, Bryce Denno holds down an OP on the California coast and we expect to hear from him since he is Class Historian. More on Bryce in forthcoming "news."

Class contacts in other places, REE-port!--(Web)

Anyone wanting to contribute something along the line of WIWAC ("When I was a cadet..."), please do so. It might be old news to some. but I have been informed that later generations, including cadets now at the Academy, are interested in us, the old Guard. As you know, every single one of them has a state-of-the-art personal computer on his desk. And they browze the fifty or more Class WEb pages--including our own.

Some of you also came back later to serve as TACS or in other positions unto the topmost, so you might have additional facts on the evolution of USMA customs and traditions.

Highlands, NC--14 Sept. 1997. The Webmaster of USMA 1940 Home Page feels that his more appropriate by-line is "Webfoot." The "master" part is too authoritarian and presumptuous. And premature, since our E-mail list to date counts only 24 of at least 200 classmates and others who could check in.

You will notice some changes from time to time on our front page. The idea is to attract more repeat visitors. Bob Williams recommends an occasional joke to enliven the scene: like the one about the novice chopper pilot on his first solo who came down hard from 500 feet up. He told Bob, "Sir, I got a little chilly up there, so I turned the fan off. "

Fifty other Classes run their own home pages. We are the second oldest Home Page ('33 being the oldest) and '97, of course is the youngest. Official sponsorship of some pages is by the AOG, operating from West Point. Our page falls in this category.

WP-ORG is an unofficial organization serving the extended West Point community, not only Class pages, but many others: Parents Clubs, for instance, which have been active since 1970. And the West Point Forum, a thriving discussion group of about 500 graduates who converse regularly on all subjects and isssues.

There are many other forums and sites of interest. You might like to take a look and react to all this new "Army way." The URL is http://www.west-point.org.

Total membership in the various WP-ORG networks is almost 7000 to date. Of this number, 85% are graduates, the remainder being parents of cadets.

For the time being, Webfoot will use this "News" page for shoptalk of possible guidance or general interest.--(Web)

The first NEWS story on this rejuvenated Class Web Page is to acknowledge the new WEBMASTER elsewhere identified on the page, and also listed along with about twenty other Class internetnics. I apologize for writing my own press release.

The relevant authority is our Prez, Thad Nosek, aided and abetted by the likes of Washington lobbyists Stew McKenney and Kerm Dyke. Thad is recovering from a recent disturbing TIA . He's OK, however, because he's already back to work planning for another Mini in Hawaii. Why go to Hawaii when we can have a Maxi Reunion right here on the Net every day of the week?

Stew is recovered from his heart surgery and continues to be a prime mover and catalyst of Class conversation.

Note the so-called Email list-server that has been set up for us by on-the-scene AOG computer experts Tony Ferraiuolo and Lucy Anderson.

Let's have some mail and let's get everyone into the act. We all know of Classies who own computers with modems, but they haven't ventured into Space yet that we know of. Even George Mayo, after all these years. And let's hear about others we can rouse up.

Bryce Denno(Historian) and Frank Sullivan(Scribe): please let me know how we can do what we do in mutual support. I don't want this distinguished title of WEBMASTER to go to my head !

An old Grad, unidentified, recently learned that plebes are now addressed as "smacks" or "smackheads" and variations thereof. No longer do they hear the terms "dumbsquat," "doowilley," dumbjohn," or even "Ducrot."

Four options (not three) are now possible for a plebe responding to an upper classman: "Yes, sir," "No, sir," "No excuse, sir," and "I do not understand, sir."

That last one was new to him.

The old Grad, his curiosity whetted, says he will endeavor to acquire further samples of West Point's linguistic evolution. (Web)

4 Sept 97 by Scribe--Lanny Witt reported on recent funeral and burial of Jenks Floyd (Alfred J. Floyd, Col USA Ret) at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. Honorary pallbearers were classmates Dick Cassidy, John O'Keefe, Robbi Norris, and Witt. Lanny gave fitting eulogy to the man who had been his best man in Panama in 1942. Lanny has already written and sent an obit to the AOG in time for the Dec-Jan ASSEMBLY. Jenks was in C Co as a cadet.

Bob Williiams, recovering from serious back surgery, has just joined our Net. He writes: "Thanks for adding my e-mail address to the Class of 40. I look forward to reading news and comments of our classmates. We have no classmates in this immediate area (Fort Worth, Texas) so news through Assembly and now by e-mail is important to us. My back is improving,---the doctor says---but I do not see it. I still cannot walk over about 100 feet without having a lot of pain. Next week they will try acupuncture..."

Bob says that otherwise "Jean and I are in great health and leading very active lives."