Last Week in SigEp Patriot History, VOL 4/14, 24 FEB – 02 MAR

“If all the world were just, there would be no need of valor.” ~ Plutarch, Greek Biographer and Author

Brothers,

Yes, the dates are right and this is only the 4th edition of “This Week In SigEp Patriots History” for 2014. Since late January, I have been very busy with military training. This is offered to provide some perspective. It is not an excuse, as research and meetings with SigEp Patriots continue in order to learn about every Brother who serves/served, and I strive to do better in the future.

NH Alpha Brother
Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel

02 MAR 1904

World War II Veteran and NH Alpha Brother Captain Theodor S. Geisel, U.S. Army – a man who would affect millions around the world – was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on this date.

28 FEB 1919

On this date, U.S. Marine Corps World War I Veteran and NE Alpha Brother Frank Dewey Carman was discharged from military service.

24 FEB 1941

Colorado Delta Brother Otto Eastlond, Jr., Class of 1934, entered in to service in the U.S. Army on this date.

25 FEB 1941

On this date, Vermont Beta Brother George R. Davis, Class of 1940, entered in to service in the U.S. Army as an Infantry Officer, and would serve more than five years during World War II.

26 FEB 1942

World War II Veteran and OK Alpha Brother Lieutenant Foster L. Walker, U.S. Army Air Corps died in an airplane crash near Randolph Field, Texas on this date.

Respect can be paid to Brother Walker at Mission Burial Park South, San Antonio, TX.

02 MAR 1942

TX Alpha Brother Sutton Reid III joined the U.S. Army on this date.

01 MAR 1944

On this date, after completing high school, Karl A. Christ enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Following his discharge at the end of the war, World War II Veteran Yeoman Third Class Christ enrolled at University of Kentucky, brought his leadership to SigEp, and graduated in 1950.

02 MAR 1944

World War II Veteran and Montana Alpha Brother Private Walton H. Petsch, U.S. Army was discharged from service with the Army Combat Engineers on this date after injuries received in training.

01 MAR 1945

On this date, World War II Veteran and AL Beta Brother Private Frank J. Uricchio, U.S. Marine Corps made the ultimate sacrifice when he was killed in action while serving with Charlie Company, 24th Marine Regiment during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Unfortunately, an extensive search did not reveal additional information about Brother Uricchio, but the SigEp Patriots Project hopes you will contact us if you have such information so that we can honor & remember Frank and his sacrifice.

Respect can be paid to Brother Uricchio at Calvary Cemetery, Paterson, NJ.

Last Week in SigEp Patriot History, 24 - 30 OCT

In this “Last Week” edition:
- A World War I Ace’s activity over France
- Birth of the internet by SigEp Citation recipient
- Death of World War II Veteran and Congressman
- A Brother who made the ultimate sacrifice
- Two more SigEp Patriots passed away this week
- A Brother safely returns from a successful Afghanistan deployment
- The SigEp Patriots Project and the official Facebook group continues to grow

28 & 29 OCT 1918
World War I Veteran and Ace NY Beta Brother Major James Armand Meissner, U.S. Army Air Service had his seventh and eighth (final) aerial kills over Bantheville and Buzancy, France, respectively.

26 OCT 1922
U.S. Army World War II Veteran OH Gamma Brother Robert W. Bishop was born on this date in Cleveland, Ohio.

26 OCT 1936
On this date, MI Alpha Brother First Lieutenant George Henry Cress, U.S. Army was born.

25 OCT 1964
Operation DESERT STORM Veteran MO Lambda Brother Jay Scott Danner, U.S. Air National Guard (Missouri) was born on this date in Maryville, Missouri.

29 OCT 1969
On this date the internet was born when U.S. Navy World War II Veteran and SigEp Citation Recipient OR Alpha Brother Dr. Doug Engelbart’s ARPANET (the precursor to the internet) computer at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) received the first message sent between two nodes. The message, sent from the SDS Sigma 7 computer at UCLA to SRI's SDS 940 computer, was supposed to consist of the word "log", followed by Engelbart's reply of "in", thus spelling the word "log-in". The computer at UCLA crashed after sending only two characters — "lo" — but those letters were instantaneously received at 10:30 PM local time on 29 OCT 1969 at Engelbart's SRI laboratory, making it arguably the birthplace of the internet.

26 OCT 1997
World War II Veteran, FL State Representative, U.S. Congressman and FL Alpha Brother Captain Donald Ray Matthews, U.S. Army died on this date in Gainesville, Florida. Born in Micanopy, FL on 03 OCT 1907, Brother Matthews was a school teacher, principal and member of the Florida state house of representatives before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Discharged at the rank of Captain, Don served as an alternate delegate from Florida to the Democratic National Convention in 1952, and went on represent the Florida 8th District in the U.S. Congress from 1953-67. Respect can be paid to Brother Matthews at the Hawthorne Cemetery, Hawthorne, FL.

This Week in SigEp Patriot History, 01 – 07 AUG

"It is only the dead who have seen the end of war." ~ Plato

05 AUG 1917
World War I Veteran / OH Gamma Brother / Captain Robert Lester Tavenner, U.S. Army (Ohio State University, 1908) was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and Infantry Officer on this date, and went on to serve in France and Belgium during WWI. At OSU, Brother Tavenner was Junior Class President and Captain of the Company of Cadets.

01 AUG 1918
On this date, World War I Veteran and Ace / NY Beta Brother / Major James Armand Meissner, U.S. Army Air Corps had his fifth air victory while a member of the 147th Aero Squadron while flying a SPAD XIII over Fère-en-Tardenois, France northeast of Paris.


01 AUG 1920
CA Beta Brother / Ensign Gaylor Goble, U.S. Navy (University of Southern California ’45) was born on this date in Flagstaff, Arizona. Brother Goble attended USC and graduated from USC School of Dentistry in 1945. He was an Ensign in the U.S. Navy aboard the escort aircraft carrier, USS Point Cruz (CVE-119).

06 AUG 1924
WV Beta Brother James Frederick Haught (West Virginia University) was born in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia on this date. Political Graveyard stated his affiliations include the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), organizations with U.S. veterans on their role.

Brother Haught served in the West Virginia State Legislature (1959-60), and as a primary worker for the 1960 Kennedy for President Campaign in West Virginia. In addition, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum contains the transcript of an 18-page interview Brother Haught had with President Kennedy on 13 JUL 1964.

01 AUG 1941
VT Beta Brother / Captain Ronald Harmon Brown, U.S. Army (Middlebury College ’62) was born on this date in Washington, DC. After his military service, Brother Brown served as the 35th Secretary of Commerce.

02 AUG 1994
World War II Veteran / VA Kappa Brother / Major William Pat Jennings, U.S. Army (Virginia Polytechnic Institute ’41) died on this date in Marion, Virginia following an accident in which a tractor he was driving overturned and crushed him. His burial location is unknown.

Following his wartime service in the Europe Theater of Operations with the 29th Infantry as platoon leader, company commander, and operations officer, Brother Jennings was assigned as an instructor in ROTC at the University of Illinois before being discharged in MAY 1946 at the rank of major. William was Smyth County Sheriff from 1948-54 before being elected to the Eighty-fourth and the five succeeding Congresses (03 JAN 1955-03 JAN 1967) as the representative of Virginia’s 9th District.

02 AUG 2006
The nomination of Gulf War and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM Veteran / MO Zeta Brother / General James Terry Conway, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired) (Southeast Missouri State University ’69) to become the 34th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps was confirmed by the Senate on this date.

03 AUG 2007
On this date, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM Veteran / OK Beta Brother / Major Gen Darrell L. Moore, U.S. Marine Corps (University of Oklahoma ’76) completed his assignment as Commanding General, Marine Corps Mobilization Command, Kansas City, Missouri.

05 AUG 2008
VA Pi Brother / Captain Robert May, U.S. Army (Christopher Newport University ’05) retired on this date.

06 AUG 2008
TN Beta Brother Fred Avil Allen III, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (Memphis State University - now University of Memphis) passed away on this date. The location of his interment is unknown.

Fred was always proud to have earned Eagle Scout status and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity in college, serving as treasurer.

02 AUG 2010
A year ago this week, World War II Veteran / VA Epsilon Brother John Howard Lawrence, U.S. Navy (Washington & Lee ’42) died peacefully at the age of 90.

Following graduation, John joined the Navy in AUG 1942, and was present at some of most intense battles of the Pacific Theater of Operations – serving as the Gunnery Officer and later the Executive Officer on the USS LST-84 (a landing ship tank) in the amphibious invasions of Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. He was awarded a Navy Commendation Medal for taking charge of a shipboard fire fighting detail to battle a gasoline fire between three gun batteries on the ship, and he received a Purple Heart Medal for a wound received during a kamikaze attack at the invasion of Saipan. He later served as the Executive Officer of the USS Agenor (ARL-3), a landing craft repair ship.

CONGRATULATIONS!
We missed these great news items in July.

Heartfelt congratulations go out to CA Upsilon Brother Yannis Dracopoulos upon his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.

Brother Dracopoulos is following in the footsteps of his older brother, fellow CA Upsilon Brother / Captain Costas Dracopoulos, U.S. Air Force (California State University – San Bernardino ’05) and like Costas, Yannis will train to become a navigator. Best of luck, Yannis!

It late July, it was announced that congratulations are in order for TX Alpha Brother Robert Hicks, U.S. Navy (University of Texas ’08) on his engagement to Ms. Hadyn Jobe. Brother Hicks served as president of TX Alpha, and earned his commission upon completion of Navy officer candidate school in AUG 2010.

More recently, Robert completed Basic Underwater Demolition Training (BUD/S) for the U.S. Navy SEALs.

Brother Hicks’ wedding is scheduled for 04 SEP at Holman Ranch in Carmel, California.

If you have news, accomplishments or just want to share a story please send an email to sigepswhoserve@gmail.com.

If you are a SigEp Patriot who serves/served in the U.S. military in any capacity – including currently in ROTC – you can join more than 300 of your brothers-in-arms on Facebook by requesting to join the “SigEps Who Serve” group. Not on Facebook? Just drop an email to the address above to join nearly 100 military SigEps on the Yahoo listserve.

In either case, just let us know your basic info – military affiliation and home chapter – and any other information you feel like sharing.

SigEps Who Serve is part of the SigEp Patriots Project (SPP) – an effort to honor Brothers who serve/served our great Nation by recording and maintaining a working history in order to recognize and respect their accomplishments and sacrifices. It is an unofficial effort and no monies are collected or requested. SPP is looking for Brothers – UG or alum – that are interested in being a chapter point of contact for information about military SigEps from their specific chapter. Drop an email to sigepswhoserve@gmail.com for more details.

SPP will be at Conclave, and it will be great to see everyone – especially Brothers that serve/served.

Fraternally and Respectfully,

Ed Jones
Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Navy Reserve
NY Eta ‘96
Founder, SigEp Patriots Project