Number 5
NEWS LETTER
University of Louisville
Law School
December, 1944
We hear from every side that Christmas will be different
this year, that Christmas isn't the same any more .
Yes, that's true to a great extent because of the war-torn
world but we can still have the Christmas feeling 1'inside"
of us. That, no one can take away from us. We can "feel"
the Christmas spirit if we can think of the Christmas
story, we can "feel" the Christmas spirit if we think of
our homes, how Christmas used to be celebrated and how it
probably will be celebrated; we can sing to ourselves, if
necessary, "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World1' and perhaps
that will give us the Joy of Christmas and we can say
to ourselves that which the angels sang, "GLORY TO GOD IN
THE HIGHEST, and on Earth, PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN."
Yes, Christmas will not be like it used to be, but
still, may we, no matter where we are -- at home, at sea,
on the battle front - pray that when Christmas Day arrives
that we can "feel" anew the spirit of Christmas and even
above the flash of shell and bomb, and above the din of
battle, may we hear the song the angels sang, "PEACE ON
EARTH, GOOD WILL TOWARD "MEN . "
May I take advantage of this opportunity to extend
to each of you, wherever you are, the Season's Greetings
and to wish for each of you all the happiness that you so
richly deserve. Whether you are on the sea, · in the air, .
or in a foxhole, may the Spirit of Christmas, which has
been a source of inspiration and encouragement to mankind
throughout the years, visit and be with you . May it bring
to you a message of inspiration and encouragement to finish
the unfinished tasks that lie before you, and all of
us, .to bring peace on this earth for our children, our
childrens' ch:ldren, and mankind throughout the ages to
come. A. c. Russell.
· ·2-
We were sorry to hear about the death of
the mother of Mrs. Lett. To Mrs. Lott
goes out our deepest sympathy.
Mr. King writes c ''The Japs have got in
the hab~t of visiting us recently. Although
they have so far done little
dama ge to either material or personnel
the y certainly can ruin a good nights rest.
My tent mate and I are very proud of our
foxhole believing it to be one of the
better ones in the Pacific. We even have
a stock of "K" rations, coke, cigarettes.
We have a matt·ress in the bottom and one
ni ght during a false alarm I got bored, ·,·;
went to sleep and slept until morning·."
~LASS OF 1940:
"winky" Winkenhofer on pa. ssing thru
Louisville had just enou gh time on Oct.
25th to call Mr. Russell by phone and
tell him "hello" and send greetings to
the Law School.
CLASS OF 1941:
Jimmy Menefee has certairtly been fortunate
in receiving so many furloughs. Yes
he was home in September. It was nice to
run into Jimmy and Marvin Snyder one day
in town.
CLASS OF 1942:
Carl Henry was glad to hear, too, of
Walter Chyle's safety. Carl says that he
is"always anxious to hear about 11 our boys"
e specia.lly those in the service• It was
great news to learn Walter is safe. He
has done his part and his mind shouTid be
free on the. t score."' Carl is now workin g
in and around Cincinnati, Ohio, ·
It's John Cechini writing us again that on
July l, 1~44 he reported to a Con t ract
Termin a t ion School. · On July 28 he was sent
to Wri ght Field (Dayton, Ohio), the headquarters
of the entire Readjustment Program.
He say s that he enjoys his work. The size
and imp ortance of the undertaking staggers
the i ma gination. · "I was most upset to
l e arn of Shad Boaz. · I hope the report
prov es erroneous. 11 John still stibks to
his c o nvictions. Remember the ar guments
he used to have before he left about
marry ing in time of war. · He sa y s, "I'm
still"foot-loose 'n fancy free".
I firmly believe that when this is all
over is the time to get marri&ti and
not before."
Henry Denzer (The Brain) is doing
nicely now in the Ey. Home Life Bldg.
practising law.
We were surprised and delighted with a
visit from Robert Schroader. We almost
had to take a second look to make sure
it wa s Bob, be ca. use he he. s gained
considerable weight (that middle age
spread, perhaps?), He declares that
he is working hard especially when it
comes to making out 20 copies at one
time of forms for the govornnont.
We we re sorry to hear about George
Heffner's son who W£, s taken with
infantile paralysis. We are g lad to
report that he is recovering and may
be able to go back to school after
Christmas.
Al Kriegert Tom Hennessy asked about
you in his last letter to me. Why
don't ·you drop us a line and tell us
what you are doing?
CLASS OF 1943:
Russell Smith was in October 6, to tell
us 11Hello" and "Good bye" since he
t hou ght he'd be seeing the wide open
spaces soon.
George Howard wrote me in Se ptember that
he expe cted and ho ped to g et his win gs
~nd bars by Christmas time. He says,
"Keep your fin gers crossed for. me,Pearl".
We'll be looking for you some time soon.
Our Seabee, Dick Logan writes that
"I certainly was mi ghty sorry to hear
that Shad was missing. Le t me know if
you have any good news concerning him.
I work long hours from seven-thirty in
the morning until five in the afternoon,
and hence, have little time for
any recreation or exercise. The rainy
season hasn't started yet but it is
just around the corner and already I
have sat thru couple of movies with my
Poncho on so that I wouldn't get wet.
. ,
-3-
Never did I ever dream I would sit out in
the rain just to see a movie but I do it
now and think it's a treat. About the
only other recreation is mail f~om home or
going"'to Honolull and having your picture
taken with the Hula girls. I don't go in
for tha. t sort of' thin!S, na.tul'a.lly. n
We understand that .Jim Henry has s~t up a.n
office in the Ky. Home Lif~ Bldg. and that
his wife is his Secretary. Good success
to yo u, Jim.
Steve McCoy is now working in the Law
department of sea:gra.ms.
CLASS OF 1944:
G. B. Johnson, our politician, wa.s in
Louisville for several weeks helping to
put Barkley and Roosevelt back in office.
He is now back in Washington and he says
that he is looking forward to a. very en•
joya.ble Fall and Winter.
Charles Isenberg is now with the firm,
of Guy Shearer in the Republic Bldg.
It certainly was good to see Ernie
Woodward Nov.24th, for he looked so well
and rested.
Suprises never cease around the Law
School. One day, in walked John Goehring .
Yes, it had been almost 3 years since we
had seen him, but though he too has
gotten heavier, he is still that Johnny
the. t we knew~
From the newspaper of Nov .20, it states
that Charles R. Hough is a. newly commissioned
navigator from San Marcos Army
Field, Texas.
"The Bra.inn told us that Stanley Conrad
is now the fond "Pa.pli 11 of e. baby boy,
Congra. tulations1
Ralph Kessinger has been down in Greensboro,
North Carolina. training in
chemical warfare .
Ed Cohen writes , "Sorry to read that Shad
is missing , Do hope for the best. This
business of war is mean and hard. There
is no g etting around it. The Germans
are still fighting a.s you know and I suppose
that no one can give you any good
estimate of how long it will take or how
many lives will be sacrificed. Just
figure that everything has an end some
day, eh? Holland is a clean prosperous
country compared to France. Seeing new
countries is quite an experience I suppose,
but one soon enpugh gets used to
it and wants to get back home."
Vie're hoping you will all be back soon
and will be back in Law School. I~
sure I won't know row to act when we
have as many as 50 students or more in
school, once again.
Phil Muldoon writes from the Third Army
of General Patton that uit came as
quite a shock to me to hear that Shad
Boaz was missing in action. We played
Freshman baseball team together and I
t ·hought a great deal of him. I'm still
in the same work with the Air Forces.
I've found the French suffering from
many depri ve.tionse The people are quite
happy to have us here and show their
gratitude well." A card from Phil today
tells me that he just had a visit with
his brother and that they took a trip
to Luxembourg.
Jane Hammill is back in Louisville a gain.
It was good to see her and have a visit
with her.
Burlyn Pike writes from England: "After
17 months of Texas sunshine, I find
English mists and fogs a change to say
the lea. st • I was glad to get the news
of my passing the bar before I cane oval" ..
seas--it took quite a load off my mind,
I may ~ t a. chance to sit in on · an
English trial--their court system is
quite complicated and the local people
can't tell you much about it." In a
previous card while Burlyn was still in
Texas he- wrote "Your story about Shad
Boa.z sort of makes you think seriously
about what one can do to keep this sort
of thing from ever happening again.
Here's hoping he is his same old indomitable
self and turns up somewhere."
It was good to have a. visit with ~
Stiles while he was home on furlough.
John has been learning how to be a.
mechanic on B-29s.
Jack Reid was home on leave just a.s the
last issue of "News Letter" came out.
He looked well and a.ccor~~~g to a write-
-4·up
in the Courier he was mighty interested
in the hula d~ncers of the South Pacific.
The girls~ neither petty nor pretty, wore
matted skirts which did no~hing for their
heavy set figures, but they have beautiful
almond shaped eyes and expressive hunds
and arms, as the men finally observed,
Elmer Hume was home the last of October
quite shaken up from an experience he had
off the southern French coast in the invasion
in August. His P-T boat hit a
mine. We hope his visit home gave him
the rest that he so badly needed.
It has been so long since we have heard
from Tom Hennessy that I am going to copy
most of the letter that he wrote to me
written on October 9, 1944: "I received
the September Edition of your little news
letter a nd entirely crammed it in after
reading it five time by candle-light
last ni ght. I had learned several weeks
ago by the return of one of my letters
and late r contacting his brother that
Shad had failed to make a. safe journey.
It came as a great shock to me to learn
of his fate. We had met in London a few
weeks before the invasion and spent eleven
hours talking about the old school and
the boys, and sicussing our future p lans.
He brought along the second issue he had
received of the Law School News and we went
thru it laughing over first one and then
another of the things that came up in
school. Re memberin g most of all the nightly
non Law Confe rences in the lounge and
the card gam e s i n the lounge with on e e ye
on . the game and the other pealed for the
De a n. A few short days before the invasion
Shad came to see me at one of the
Southe rn England ports. We we re just toget
he r long e nuf to say hello and goodby
and wish each othe r lots of luck. I know
the point along which he went in well and
things we re really rough for quite a while,
Shad planned an'd thought continuously about
h is a nd G.B. Johnson's coming partnership
in La w practice • I shal.l alway·s miss him.
I've been in these parts for a long
t i me now, and with the exce ption of a f ew
hair r a i s ing i n cide nts have mad e it o.k.
Things ge t rough but one always has the
c onsola tion that this thing can't l a st
foreve r. Ha 1 ha.
After being in the dark for 3 years
it was sure good to get some news a bout
the rest of the boys. I haven't heard
from Bill Bennett in several months but
last March he was stationed at the New
Orleans Naval Air Station. Was sure
glad to hear that Walter Chyle was able
to get out of his little misfortune.with
no injuries, and ~I have hoped that I
might be able to see him soon. I find
that Ben Morris has been in these parts
for awhile and I would have looked him
up had I known he was so close by. With
Dean Lott and Mr. Dobie both stationed
in Washington I think we can well brag
that we have something like a General
Staff for the School of Law operating
there. Ha,ha. It was good to hear that
the y were in such important assignments.
Give my regards to all the boys, and I
hope to be se eing you in the old library
soon as I hope to return to the states
soon after 16 months in these parts--
if nothing ha.ppel']).s •"
Jumbo Moore write s, "Pearl, it was quite
a , shock to learn of Shad's misfortune,
but as it is not definite, we all can
take comfort in the hope that the old
boy will turn up sooner or later as
chipper as ever. As for Walt Chyle, his
run of luck certainly struck a snag,
didn't it~ But Pearl, tell him for me
and all the others that his "visit" is
due to be very short, and I wouldn't be
a bit suprised if one of his "Legal
Ea gles" pre sents the Hab e as Corpus writ.
I had a ve ry close call. I was hit by
flak o~e r Ge rmany, my ship broke in two,
trapping mys e lf, my bombardier and copilot
in the cock pit compartment. The
craft fell some distance a nd then exploded.
I survive d the explosion and
ope ned my chute at approximate ly five
thousand f eet. I landed be tween the
line s in the vicinity of Arnhe im,Germa
ny. After a ver y ticklish hour or
so I wound up in a field dre ssing station
in Holland, went to a hospital in
Brussels and was finally e vacuate d to
my pre se nt locstion, Tota l da ma ge to
my pe rson: one broke n l eg a nd one
crushed knee ; howe ver, I am now a bo ut
completely recovered and expect to b e
back up in that "wild blue yohde r 11 b efore
you ge t this.Afte r coming this far
,.
I wouldn't miss the final e for the world,"
Virginia Cowherd just hea~ from Dick Drye
e. nd he writes 11 It is the greatest pride
that I have for U of L. Law School,keeping
Pvt. Allie Y• Watkins,
Co,A; 9th Amph. Tr. Bn. 3rd Amph,Corps
Fleet Post Office,
San Francisco, California
it up, war or no war, Eow much e asier it Lt. Herb e rt Moor e , 0-792549
will b e to take full enrollment come the Det, of Pati e nts, u.s. Army Hosp.
Peace~ Although its not yet time to evalu- p1£, nt #4149
ate from a personnl sta ndpoint, I f ee l I am A.P.O. 63, Postmaster,
havin g the time of my life thus far. Tho New York, New York
not a fr ee UP:;ent, o. most reasonabl~ o.mount '
of freedom and discre tion is my lot; my work Pvt. Hyman R. Gumer, Co.F,
allows thought and decision; I trave l widely;l6th Inf. A,P.O.l
meet a ll ranks of high a nd low e stute ,some c/o Postmaster
celebritie s. All good backround for the New York, New York
pructic~ of law, which I hope to t uke up
aguin Go d wil-,.ing. I'm just r d cove ring from
an attack of typhus, a patient for 34 dn;>' S•
Feeling quit e well now."
Mr. Russe ll just r e c e ived £• lott0r from
Allie Watk ins. Alli e is now a Priva t e
in the Ma rines and in the Amphibious Corps.
Our Fall Seme ste r begun Nov embe r lst with a
total enrollment of 13 stud ents. Som e of
you might be inte r e sted in knowing our
cu rriculum • Criminal Law, Dome stic Re lations,
Bus ine ss Units I, Sal e s, Lega l Bib,
Taxation I, Cr edit Transactions, Insurance,
Property II. Does it sound familia r?
I have finally s ee n the nee d for putt ing
in addresses in the News Lett e r. So he r e
are u f ew that might be of inter e st to
som e of you :
Lt.(j. g.) Linwood Ke nne r
LST, Flo.l7 Staff
Fl ee t Post Office
New York, New York.
Capt. Edgar Simon, 0863671
Stu. 1 6, ICWATC, A.P.O. 882
Postmo. st e r
NewYork, New York
Lt. Robert G. Davenport,
u.s.s. Henrico,
Fleet Post Office
New York, New York
Sgt. Philip ~~ldoon, 35695406
563rd Sig. AW BTN. Hdq, Co •.
E.P.O. 141 Post Ha ster
New Yo rk, New York
Cpl. Burlyn Pike, 15113775
177 Gen. Hosp.
A.P.O. 204
c/o Postmaste r
New York, New York
S/Sgt. Tom Hennessy, 35483502
Hq. XIX Tactica l Air Command
A.P.O~ 141
Postmaste r
New York, New York
My thanks to Mr. Athol Lee Ta y lor for
our Christmas cover.
A Me rry Christmas to each one of you
and may the New Year bring each one
of us that which we are hoping and
praying for - PEACE.
Pearl Weiler,
taw Librario.n.
