FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1945
Ex-PT Skipper,
Upholds Small
Representing the smaller ships
of the Navy, we have on the
faculty Lt. John F. Ganong, late
of motor torpedo boat squadron
•'Lieutenant Ganong, a 1939 grad
uate in government from Wash
ington and Lee University, ' Va.,
didn't have such• a large step to
mike when he joined the Navy
in July, 1942. 'Already he had
shipped as a junior deck officer
on the passenger liner President
Coolidge, American President
Line, to the Orient.
'He had also been employed as
supervisor of shipbuilding at San
Francisco where he helped corn:
pile damage control data for and
to outfit 24 destroyers and 2 yard
oilers. One of these destroyers,
the USS Laffey, later received the
presidential citation after going
down with guns firing across the
bow of a Jap ,battlesh:p.
• The lieutenant received his
commission as an ensign and re
ported to Northwestern for train
ing. From there he went to Mel
ville, B. I. for a two month course
in PT operation. Squadron 18
was formed in New York from
seven 80 foot Elco's and Sour
smaller (70 foot) Scott-Paine's of
British design. The latter had to
be refitted as American ships.
Squadron Commissioned
-Finally in March, 194 1 3, the
squadron was commissioned and
left for a two week shakedown
run to Panama. There for three
months or more they operated on
.the. Pacific, side of the Canal in
training formations. 'Dry runs' in
which no torpedoes were fired
were made on ships just leaving
the Canal. Lieutenant Ganong says
that they were never able to, score
hits on the fast-turning converted
cruiser-carriers no matter how far
they bored in. .
After these months of practice
night operations, radar swecfps,
Maneuvers; and dummy runs, 'five
ships of the squadrbn were loaded
on the Standard Oil tanker Man
hattan and shipped- to Australia
with their crews. Lieutenant Gan
ong and his ship were unloaded
at Brisbane. The last lap of the
trip from Australia to Dana Kopa,
New Guinea, was done in a tow
behind a liberty ship.
That, according to the lieuten
ant, was the roughest trip they
had with all hands seasick. From
then on the squadron patrolled
up and down the 'Coast of New
Guinea and • around North and
South New Britain. They never
got a shot at major Jap fleet units,
but they did barge-busting work
in their area.
The lieutenant's boat is credited
With five barges and one plane
shared with the squadron. Al
though subjiect to frequent air
attacks, they never sighted , a sub
all the time they operated in the
Pacific. Squadron.lB made many
shore bombardments where they
just ran in and plastered coastal
positibns indiscriminately. Return
fire caused five 'shrapnel wounds
among the crew.
Close Call
One night patrol almost ended
in disaster when a Liberator, mis
taking the US craft for an enemy,
made a sneak run and planted a
bomb 30 yards from the ship. On
the second run contact was made
by hurried use of emergency rec
ognition flare signals.
In late 1044, the lieutenant was
invalided to the States with mal
aria. After recovery he taught at
the PT school in !Rhode Island
and instructed for a while at the
pre-midshipman school in Asbury
Park, N. J.
February of 11945 sound Lieu-
• State College's
Specialty
Take Home a Box of
Mrs. Stern's .
Fancy Cookies
They are on sale at
Schlow's Quality Shop
and at
Kalin's Dress Shop
Price of the Gift Box
Lt. Ganong,
ship Honor
tenant Ganong at firefighting and
damage •control schools in Philo
delphia..From there
_he went to
the 'Reserve Midshipman School
in Chicago. In August this year
he was transferred to State.
LT. JOHN F. GANONG
Summer Roster
Tops Colleges
With a student body totalling
3882, the College had . the largest
summer enrollment in the state,
according to a report received by
'tile. Registrar's office from the
State Department of Public In
struction.
. Of this number 1054 were
rolled in main summer session,
235 in intersession,
.1100 in sum
mer session, and 167 in post ses
sion. The number of men at in
tersession w.as 73, summer session,
247, and post session 61, while
NNiomen at the three sessions to
talled, respectively, 162, 853, and
106.
• !Rivalling Penn State with large
enrollments were the University
of Pittsburgh with 3618, Temple
with 2274, and the University
of Pennsylvania with 1863. In ac-
celerated semester enrollment the
College ranked. first with a total
of 2192, while the University of
Pennsylvania placed second with
940. The University of Pittsburgh
had the largest main summer ses
sion enrollment, 2494. According
to the report, Temple ranked sec
ond in summer session attend
ance with 1357, Villanova third
with 1105, and the College fourth
with 1054.
The following statistics for the
three summer sessions were re
leased by William S. Hoffman,
registrar:
Intersession only: men, 26, wo
men, 90, total, 116.
Summer session only: men, 185,
women, 737, total, 1038.
Post session only: men, 26,
Mil* Announcing .
a balmy, beckoning bundle
of
hilarious fun
BLITHE SPIRIT
presented by
The Penn State Players ,
Oct. 5 & 6 Schwab Aud.
7:30 D. m. 60c incl. tax
pyrSID :1 w im:va
Calendar
TODAY
Pep Rally, Recreation Hall, 3 to
7:15 p. m.
Alumnae Tea, Atherton Hall, 3
to 5 p. m.
Alumni Association Executive
Board meeting, 5 p. m.
"Blithe Spirit," Schwab Audi
torium, 7:30 p. m .
Dry Dock, Faculty Night, Sand
wich Shop, 10 to 12 p. m.
Sabbath Eve Services, Hillel
Foundation, 7:30 p. m.
TOMORROW
• Alumni Golf Tournament, golf
course, 8 a. in.
Alumni Council meeting, '9:30
a.m.
Colgate Game, New Beaver
Field, 2 p. m.
"Blithe Spirit", Schwab Audi
torium, 7:30 p. m.
Cider Party, Sandwich Shop, 8 p
m.
Pigskin Prom, Recreation Hall,
9 to p. m.
SUNDAY
Breakfast for all memliers of
AOPi, Mrs. Anderson's home, 123
Sparks Street, 8:45 a. m.
Chapel, Schwab Auditorium, 11
a.. m. •
Riding Show, Riding Club.
Stables, 2:30 p. in.
Russian Club meeting, Hugh
Beaver Room, Old Main, 7:30 p.
MONDAY
PSCA First Semester club meet
ing' 304 Old Main, 7 p. m.
IWA meeting, Armory, 7 p. m.
.Engineer meeting, Armory, 7 p.
m.
WSGA meeting, WSGA room
White Hall, 7: 30 p. m..
TUESDAY
Penn' State Club meeting, 105
Old Main, 7:30 p. m.
Philotes Banquet, Allencrest.
X-G-I club meeting, 405 Old
Main, 7:30 p. m.
First Semester Collegian midi=
date, 8 !Carnegie Hall, 7 p. m.
Campus Center Club meeting, 10
Sparks, 7!30 p. m. •
THURSDAY
IMA meeting, 402 Old Main, 7
p. m.
PSCA Music and Firelight Hour,
Hugh Beaver room, Old Main,
4:30 p. m.
Phys Ed Cards Due
All freshmen and sophomores
taking "Elective Physical Edu
cation must hand in their elec
tive cards at Required Physical
Education Office, 214 Recrea
tion Hall, during next week.
week.
women, 34, total, 60.
Intersession and summer ses
sion: men, 29, women, 46, total
.75.
• Intersession and post' session:
men, 1, women 3, total, 4.
Summer session and post ses
sion: men, 17, women, 46, total
women, 23, total, 40.
63.
All three sessions: men, 17,
"What's A Student Union
Building Without These?"
The students have definite plans
as to what they would like to have
in the proposed Student Union
building in the way of recreation
facilities. Collegian bas received
many suggestions, and it became
apparent that many of the conven
tional
most
of diversion present
on most college campuses of this
size are lacking here.
Practically everyone has men
tioned a swimming pool and all are
in favor of having mixed swim
ming parties. A ballroom that
could be used for all kinds of.
dances was also a favorite sugges
tion, and preferably one that had
a little of the "Collegiate Atmos-
phei e."
"How about a Corner Room style
Snack Bar?" suggested one stu
dent, "a place where we could
spend our sandwich hours."
The "jitterbugs" want to be seg
regated from the "classic lovers,"
and visa-versa, when a music room
is installed. The in-between group
will be content to visit both.
Bowling alleys, a rifle range,
handball courts, ping pong, pool
j and billiard tables were but a few
of the suggestions made by the
sports-minded students.
Of course the rabid bridge and
poker 'players, want a card room
so they'll have a place to play when
they cut classes. It seems that it's
inconvenient for them to go all the
way back to the tiorms.
"If Wisconsin, Cornell and
Northwestern Universities can
serve beer in their student. union
buildings, why can't we?" That cry
came up from many students, in
cluding the daughter of the Po
dunk WCTU. Surprising, isn't it?
Tor .obvious reasons, a big 'fire
place with some soft couches was
SUBSCRIPTION BLANK
FOR FALL SEMESTER, 1945
Enclosed you will find $l.OO in check or cash. Please have THE
COLLEGIAN sent to the following address: (please print.)
Going
Somewhere ?
The Hotel State College Travel
llureau has re-opened and is
• prepared to help you with your
travel requirements.
You may phone 733
for appointments.
PAGE THREE
recommended by the more active
groups. Why? For studying, we
think.
A library containing the current
best sellers would be appreciated
by many. Study rooms were also
suggested. All in all, everyone
thought the building would be an
ideal place for students to gather,
get acquainted, and have fun doing
the same things together. .
Although the suggestions were
many and varied, all were 100 per
cent., in favor of one point. "We
want and need a Student Union
Building on this campus, and the
sooner the better."
Phi Kappa Phi Initiates
Candidates Al Banquet
Phi Kappi Phi, general honor
ary fraternity, will have initiation
ceremonies in the banquet room
of the State College Hotel Tues
day. Dr. Julia M. Haver, chapter
president, announces that Dr. F,
J. Tschan, professor of European
history, will speak on "The Gen
esis Reliefs on the Bernward
Doors."
First hole-in-one of the year on
he Penn State golf course was
.cored by an Army flier home on
orlough.
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