A 1962 Pennsylvania Military College graduate has written an article, “Preventing airport security from going to the birds,” that is being widely published. Glen Winn, a former Secret Service agent, is president of Condor-AvSec Inc., a consulting firm. His article is being featured in Government Security News, and will run in Aviation Week and TSA Security News.
Posts Tagged ‘Pennsylvania Military College’
PMC Grad Pens Article on Aviation Security
January 24, 2013In Search of…Eisenhower Video of PMC Visit
December 12, 2012For the spring issue of Widener Magazine, I am working on a story about President Eisenhower’s 1963 visit to Pennsylvania Military College. May 31 will mark fifty years since he reviewed the cadets, presented military awards, and became the first honorary captain named in the long history of PMC.
If anyone has video of that day, please contact me by commenting on this post, e-mailing me at jsstarnes@widener.edu, or calling 610-499-4246. (There is a video on Youtube.com of Eisenhower and the parade on Memorial Field, but we are hoping to find additional video footage since there were numerous cameras rolling). I also am interested in photographs and stories from alumni and others who were there that day. – Sam Starnes, Editor
Remembering PMC’s Fallen Vietnam Veterans
November 7, 2012Who were the alumni from PMC who were killed in Vietnam? With Widener’s Veterans Day Remembrance Ceremony scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday in front of Old Main, I thought it would be appropriate to pay tribute to the nine graduates of Pennsylvania Military College and one from Penn Morton College who did not return.
All ten are included on the web site of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), the nonprofit organization authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1980 to build a national memorial dedicated to all who served with the U.S. armed forces in the Vietnam War.
Listed below are their names and the year they graduated. Click on the name to see their listing on the VVMF page. Seven of the alumni have photos on the VVMF site, but three do not. I have included photos below of the alumni not pictured on the VVMF page – for those without photos on this page, click on the name below to see their photos on the VVMF page. Also, please note that I submitted the photos below to the VVMF site, and expect that they will be posted soon. – Sam Starnes, Editor
James Johnson Jr. ’69 (Penn Morton College)
William J. “Buddy” Stephenson ’63
Ahlum ’66
Monahan ’62
Stephenson ’63
Underage World War II Hero Mystery Solved
January 19, 2012
Almost two years ago while researching stories about Widener and the military, I put up a post on this blog seeking information about DeSales A. Glover entitled “Search for Underage War Hero.” Glover had been a student at Pennsylvania Military Prep School — the high school component of Widener predecessor Pennsylvania Military College — from 1945-1947. He studied at the school after the Army discovered that the gunner who had served for two years and had flown missions over Europe had enlisted at fourteen years old. Other than a later reference to his serving in Korea in 1951, I could find nothing. I had just about given up hope of finding out what happened to him later in life.
But as luck would have it, the combination of that blog post and a high school project of Glover’s grandson solved the mystery. Peter DeSales Lynch, Glover’s 16-year-old grandson in Syracuse, N.Y., found my blog post while working on genealogy research for a class. His mother and his aunt — both Glover’s daughters — contacted me.
Here’s the short version of the missing story: He changed his name to Allen De Sailles Glover in 1957, making it difficult to for me locate him (an earlier name change may have to do with his underage enlistment). According to his daughters, Lynn Lynch and Carrie Paskowksi, he reenlisted shortly after World War II and served more than 20 years in the Air Force, including serving in Vietnam. He retired as a master sergeant in the late 1960s at the age of 40 and worked in packaging and management for Del Monte Foods in Northern California and then for Anheuser-Busch, relocating with the company to Upstate New York in 1982.
He retired in the early 1990s and he and his wife, Linda, moved to Foley, Ala., near Pensacola, Fla., in large part because he liked to be near military bases. He died of colon cancer in 1998 at the age of 70, succumbing very soon after the diagnosis. His widow, fifteen years younger, still lives in Alabama. His daughters said he rarely talked about his war experience, except to proudly show where he had taken flak in his arm. He also sometimes mentioned that he had been in the same flight school class as movie star Clark Gable. They recalled him as a very hard worker who loved jazz and big band music, the Pittsburgh Steelers (he was a native of Pittsburgh), and the Air Force, often taking his two daughters and son onto bases and to air shows.
His sister, Rhoda (Glover) Hamilton, is still alive and lives in Robertsdale, Ala., about 20 miles from Foley. She moved from Florida to Alabama a number of years ago and was able to reconnect with her brother.
You can look for more about him in forthcoming issue of Widener Magazine, most likely in the fall 2012 issue. – Sam Starnes, Editor
An Online View of Campus During World War II
September 8, 2011
Pennsylvania Military College, as Widener was known, served a very significant role during World War II. PMC created an accelerated course of study that allowed cadets to finish their coursework early in order to serve in the war, and later the campus hosted a site for the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) that prepared outstanding students from colleges across the country to be Army officers.
An online exhibit, PMC During World War II, is now available via the Digital Collections of the Widener University Archives and features a variety of photographs, correspondence and other documentation. Recently completed by Jill Borin, an assistant archivist in the Wolfgram Library, and Widener junior Charlotte Kirby, the exhibit also includes a scrapbook titled “Cadets in Active Duty” that tracks the experience of many PMC alumni in the war. Many PMC alumni served in Europe and the Pacific, and 39 died in the cause.
If you want to learn more about the Widener University Archives, you are invited to attend the presentation, “PMC Goes Electronic — Exploring the Digital Archives” by Jan Alexander, an archivist in the Wolfgram Library, at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30 on Homecoming weekend. For details of more Homecoming/Family Weekend events, see the schedule on the alumni page.
R. Heberton “Heb” Butler: A Loyal Pennsylvania Military College Alumnus and Widener Supporter
July 20, 2011
1949 class picture
Tom Brokaw called them “The Greatest Generation,” those men and women who struggled through the Great Depression, served their country in World War II, and went home to build a stronger, better nation. Robert Heberton “Heb” Butler was one of that generation’s finest examples.
Butler, a 1949 graduate of Pennsylvania Military College and one of the first wave of veterans to earn their degrees on the GI Bill, died on July 18. He was 87.
Heb, as he was known to his friends, was a regular at Widener University events. From Alumni Weekend to Veteran’s Day ceremonies, Heb and his good friend Big Fred Shahadi were always ready with a smile and a story.
Not only did Heb attend events, he helped organize them, and he served the university in so many other capacities. He served as president of the Widener-PMC Alumni Association from 1987 to 1990, and during that time represented the association on the Widener Board of Trustees. He also served as a class reunion volunteer, chairman of the President’s Council’s Bullock Society Committee, and a member of the PMC Museum Committee. In 1995, Heb received the Alumni Service Award from the university, and received a Lifetime Volunteer Award in 2008.
2010
During World War II, Heb helped supply fuel to General Patton’s troops, and he celebrated victory over Nazi Germany with the throng of revelers on the Champs Elysees in Paris on V-E Day in My 1945. A year later, he was home in Swarthmore lugging a 150-pound box of tools for a mechanic.
“I figured there has to be a better way,” Butler told Widener Magazine in 2010. “I really didn’t have a burning desire to go to college when I got out of high school. We were working on coming out of the Depression, and there wasn’t a lot of money in the household. College really wasn’t talked about.”
The GI Bill gave Heb the opportunity to attend PMC, and Heb returned that contribution to his community and to Widener in more ways than can be measured. We are better nation and university because of him.
–Dan Hanson ’97, Director of Public Relations
Looking Back to the Boardwalk Bowl
June 22, 2011
I’ve been busy this week finishing up stories for the fall issue of Widener Magazine that will be due out in October, and thought I’d share one of the photographs that will go with a story about the history of athletics on campus dating back to when baseball started way back in 1866. Above is a shot of the Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City from 1967, Pennsylvania Military College’s last game of that season (click on image to enlarge).
In 1934, PMC played one of the earliest indoor football games on record in Convention Hall in Atlantic City, now known as Boardwalk Hall, the arch-roofed arena famous for being home to Miss America pageants until 2004. The football team played six more games in Atlantic City in the thirties.
After a hiatus, PMC returned to Atlantic City in 1961 to play the Merchant Marine Academy, more commonly referred to as Kings Point for its location in New York state. “Beat Kings Point,” became the mantra on campus. PMC played a game annually in Atlantic City until 1970.
After that, there was only one more game in Atlantic City, that in 1973 when Widener beat Fordham 49-20 in the last game of the season. It also was Billy “White Shoes” Johnson’s final game in a Widener uniform before he went on to stardom in the NFL.
You can see scores of the games online in the Widener Football media guide. There also are oral histories with PMC alumni talking about the game accessible on the PMC Museum web page.
–Sam Starnes, Editor
Online PMC Archives Demonstration This Friday
April 12, 2011
I’ve blogged before about the history of Pennsylvania Military College and Widener that is accessible online via the Wolfgram Memorial Library’s Digital Collections. If you haven’t checked it out, you are missing a free treasure trove of stories and photos.
This Friday at 2 p.m. in the library, university archivists Jill Borin and Jan Alexander will lead a demonstration of the PMC materials that can be found with only a few keystrokes. They will show you how to explore online exhibits of yearbooks, issues of The Dome, and photographs of campus. You can print out and save your favorites while here, and learn how to search and print more when you get home. (Computer experience helpful but not necessary)
“There will be lots of time for hands on searching for references to you and your classmates in yearbooks, newspapers, and for searching on any other topic of interest to you,” Alexander said. “You will leave with detailed handouts to guide you through the searching process once home.”
The 2 p.m. session follows the PMC Alumni Chapter Kickoff in the PMC Museum at noon. To register for these events and any of the other alumni festivities this weekend — including the kick off rally for Taking the Lead – The Campaign for Widener — visit the Alumni Weekend registration page by clicking here.
–Sam Starnes, Editor
Widener Work Underway on the Old and New
March 15, 2011
While work is moving along rapidly on the new academic building on Widener University’s Main Campus, the portico is being rebuilt on one of its oldest buildings.
Hyatt Hall, adjacent to the new academic building, was built in the late 1860s and acquired by Pennsylvania Military College in 1917. It served as the home of the Pennsylvania Military Preparatory School until the school’s closing in 1956. Hyatt Hall later housed the Department of Education, and after renovations in 1999, the hall still provides the home for the university’s Center for Education. Click here to see a photo of the building in 1890 from the Delaware Historical Society and here for the Hyatt family history.
The photo above is from 10:15 a.m. today, and you can follow progress on the new academic building that will house the School of Nursing and the Oskin Leadership Institute via a live web camera.
Famous Alumnus Henry Clay Robinett Featured in Civil War Society Magazine
February 28, 2011
A piece written by Pennsylvania Military College alumnus Bill Speer ’72 for the current issue of North & South (Vol. 12, number 6), the official magazine of the Civil War Society, examines the life and tragic death of Henry Clay Robinett. Speer’s research on Robinett, an 1860 graduate of Delaware Military College (a predecessor to Pennsylvania Military College and Widener), was featured in the January 2010 issue of Postscript.
An adjunct instructor at American Military University, Speer also wrote an in-depth study of Robinett, Broomsticks to Battlefields, available at www.deespublishing.com. He is currently finalizing research on another Delaware Military College alumnus, David Vickers Jr. (1861). Speer blogs about his research at http://broomstickstobattlefield.blogspot.com/.
