The Blue Guidon The Newsletter of Andover and the Military
180 Main Street Andover MA 01810-4161
Spring 2015
Over There
Andover & the Great War: the Andover Ambulance Unit
Tell Us Your Story! Andover’s Military History Project is an ongoing effort to document the long history of service to the country by Andover students, faculty, alumni, and the school itself. If you are an alumnus or alumna who would like to contribute to this project by researching and writing, please contact Jenny Savino at jsavino@andover. edu. We would love to hear your story!
It is hard to comprehend today the extent of the war-borne fervor that electrically ran through campus as World War I unfolded. The crisis in Europe was a constant topic of discussion, stirred by frequent speakers brought to campus by principal Dr. Alfred Stearns Class of 1890, and Trustee Henry Stimson Class of 1883. Together, they beat the drum to prepare the student body for what might lie ahead.
The End of the Civil War, 150 Years Ago in a trembling voice. Down went one head after another…and the sobbing continued till we were dismissed—the grief was contagious.” A month later, John Lord Taylor, PA’s Treasurer, recorded the moment Andover learned of Jefferson Davis’s capture. “May 14, 1865, Sabbath: telegram announcing the capture of Jeff Davis.—Great sensation. And, the next day: Holiday—bells ringing, flags waving, songs, processions, rockets, torches and huzzas at night…the Arch Traitor is captured”. The Andover Advertiser reported on the great excitement of May 15: “PA adjourned and the boys formed a procession headed by one of their number ringing a dinner bell, while the whole crowd cheered and shouted... They proceeded to the houses of several gentlemen...and finally called upon the ladies of the female Academy. Here Abbot girls celebrate Union victory atop Smith Hall, May 15, 1865. both schools were in the best possible humor, and The spring of 1865 brought with it, for the first time in a long time, seemed to enjoy themselves highly. The ladies sang patriotic hope: Lincoln’s second inauguration! Richmond’s capture! Lee’s songs and practiced their gymnastic exercises in their costumes surrender! Yet suddenly, in the midst of celebrating Fort Sumter upon the flat roof of ‘Smith Hall.’” regaining the national flag on 14 April, tragedy struck that evening, It is estimated that nearly 700 Andover and Abbot alumni parLincoln had been shot by an assassin...he would die the next day. ticipated in the war in some fashion, including at least 581 in Florence Woodbury, a junior at Abbot Academy, recalled learnuniform.Seventy-seven are known to have died, the equivalent of ing of his death. “Miss McKeen tried to speak but could not, so more than two graduating classes. she handed the paper to Miss Phebe, who read the sad news —Amy J.M. Morris
It was Principal Stearns who proposed the idea of donating a Ford Model T ambulance to the Allies. The school raised the needed $2,250 in the fall of 1914, with $750 coming from faculty, trustees, and students alike. With this vehicle, Phillips Academy became the first preparatory school in America to donate an ambulance to the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps, one of three ambulances the school would provide during the war. Andover’s first ambulance, numbered 127, was assigned to the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris. In a letter to Principal Stearns, Mr. Frank Mason at the hospital wrote, “[Number 127] forms part of the section of ten ambulances which was assigned in December last [1914] to duty with the Allied Army at St. Maurice, on the eastern portion of the firing line, where they have transported thousands of wounded.” Number 127’s first driver was Mr. Eustace Adams of St. Lawrence University. Adams and successive drivers sent letters back to Andover describing the ambulance’s adventures throughout its difficult life as it struggled through the mud, snow, and steep mountains of Alsace Lorraine. In 1917, Number 127 was deemed beyond repair and abandoned, its donor’s brass plate returned to Andover in appreciation of the school’s generosity. But ambulances were not enough—men were needed and Principal Stearns called for volunteers. Twenty-two students, alumni, and faculty members stepped forward to form the Phillips Academy Ambulance Unit, becoming the only preparatory school in America to form a complete unit for volunteer service in the Great War. Frederick Daly Class of 1907, the school’s football coach and assistant to Principal Stearns, volunteered to lead the men, much to Stearns’s pleasure. Fellow faculty member
Alexander Bruce Class of 1911 was second in command. Bruce would die in 1918 as an aviator in the U.S. Army. On April 28, 1917, the New York alumni chapter hosted a reception for the unit at the Harvard Club before the men embarked aboard the French ocean liner La Touraine. Debarking at Bordeaux, Daly learned from American Field Service headquarters that drivers were more needed for trucks than ambulances. After much discussion, 18 volunteers formed a motor truck company under Daly’s command and four went off to join the French Army’s aviation service. Dressed in British uniforms and French helmets, carrying gas masks and rifles from the Franco-Prussian War, they marched through Paris and boarded a train to Dommiers, where they were instructed in driving French five-ton trucks. On June 1, 1917, they headed to the front and hauled tons of supplies both day and night for five months. In October 1917, with the U.S. entering the fight, they were presented with the opportunity to join the Army. Two entered the Transportation Corps, several went home to re-enter Phillips Academy or attend college, and the rest joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps’ aviation section and other branches, including the newly formed U.S. Army Tank Corps. Former truck driver Harold Buckley Class of 1917 became a U.S. Army fighter pilot and Andover’s first ace, earning the Distinguished Service Cross in 1918. Of the 22 Andover Ambulance Unit members, four would die in the war in addition to their second in command, Alexander Bruce Class of 1911. Jack Wright Class of 1917, was the first member killed in aviation training on January 24, 1918; Schuyler Lee Class of 1918, of the famed Lafayette Escadrille was next, killed flying his fighter aircraft over enemy terrain on April 12, 1918; William Taylor Class of 1918, was shot down when jumped by three Fokkers in an aerial melee on September 18, 1918; and George Dresser Class of 1917, was killed in his tank on September 26, 1918. —Charlie Dean ’79
Alumni Profile
Hercules, Mercury, and Blue Sky Sometimes it’s a combination of unrelated events that inspire young people. Such was the case with Jim Donnelly ’82, from Hudson, Ohio whose boyhood attendance at the Cleveland Airshow planted the seed to fly. It was the changing times in America that later linked flying with his growing interest in the military. “I decided that I wanted to serve while a Lower at Andover,” says Donnelly. “This was a great time of patriotism, as the 1980 Olympic hockey team won gold and Ronald Reagan and George Bush were vying to lead the country.” After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1986, Jim became a Naval Aviator and flew the Navy’s largest aircraft—the EC-130Q Hercules and the E-6A/B Mercury. Jim’s squadrons were the command and control linkage to America’s ballistic missile submarines. “We maintained
Donnelly recounts that Phillips Academy played a key role in his development, “Andover provided me with the selfconfidence to overcome many adverse conditions later in life and a liberal arts foundation that allowed me to think critically and solve problems. Andover also taught me to write effectively, an invaluable skill in the eyes of my superior officers.” Still serving after 29 years, Capt. Jim Donnelly is the Director of Naval Air Systems Command’s Avionics, Sensors, and Electronic Warfare Department at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland.
From the Editor It is an honor for the Blue Guidon to share stories of Phillips Academy’s veterans. This edition is quite special. We pick up the second of five articles on Andover’s experiences during the First World War. These articles, appearing in each spring edition from 2014-2018, are shedding an amazing light on the impact that the Great War had on campus and on Andover’s students, alumni, and faculty. This issue also takes you into Afghanistan where an Andover graduate saves lives today as part of a Navy medical unit, a story respectfully told by another recent graduate currently training to become an Army Green Beret. We learn of a Navy aviator who flew strategic command and control missions during the close of the Cold War, as told by a classmate, a US Navy veteran. And this edition recounts the impact of the end of the Civil War on campus, 150 years ago. These stories and others describe incredible people in extraordinary times. Our graduates have served in all of America’s major wars since the early days of the American Revolution. This spring we mark several key anniversaries, three good and one foreboding, each impacting Andover graduates. April 2015 marked the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War and Andover remembered its significance with an evening speaker on campus and an email to all students. This month marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, and September marks a similar victory in the Pacific. All three of these events meant that Andover men and Abbot women would be coming home. But this summer also marks the 50th anniversary of the first major expansion of US combat forces into Vietnam. With this broadening of the war effort, greater numbers of Andover men would begin serving in Southeast Asia. Non Sibi,
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Charlie Dean ’79 Editor
Care in Kandahar
100 percent airborne coverage in the event that our national leaders had to get word to our ballistic missile submarines.”
Throughout American history, physicians—including many Andover graduates— have played a vital role in military medicine. Today, Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, USNR, continues this long tradition. After graduating from Andover in 1996, Jesse received a BS in chemistry from Haverford College, an MD from the University of Chicago, and an MPH from Harvard. He then completed his internship and residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. An accomplished physician, Jesse is now a boardcertified anesthesiologist and an associate professor at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine in the departments of anesthesiology, surgery, biomedical informatics, and health policy.
ALUMNI CURRENTLY ON ACTIVE DUTY* Jake Bean ’08
Matt Riehl ’99
Hanson Causbie ’08
Samantha Samora ’99
Ben Kagan ’08
Grancis Santana ’99
Walker Washburn ’08
Ali Ghaffari ’98
Karl Novick ’07
Philipp Risseeuw ’98
Alex Ryan ’07
Luis Gonzalez ’97
Lauren Johnson ’07
Ian Stephenson ’96
Young Fei ’06
Kenny Weiner ’96
Connor Flynn ’06
Laurie Coffey ’95
Jenn Bales ’04
Jesse Ehrenfeld ’96
Livy Coe ’04
Robert Crevey ’95
Tom Barron ’04
James Mok ’94
Vol. 3, Number 1
Matt Fram ’04
Ryan Shann ’93
Published biannually by the Office of Academy Resources, Phillips Academy
Aaron Stroble ’04
Robert Bolton ’92
Nicholas Ksiazek ’03
Kenneth Jambor ’91
Catherine Reppert ’02
John Orsmond ’91
Marc Ward ’02
David King ’90
Corbin Butcher ’01
Robert Patrick ’88
Aaron deVos ’01
Julian Facer ’85
Gilman Barndollar ’00
Jonathan Leete ’85
Carl Dietz ’00
Graeme Henderson ’83
Jarreau Jones ’00
Alexander Cochran ’82
Matthew Sullivan ’00
James Donnelly ’82
Hunter Washburn ’00
Ruben Alvero ’76
—Robert Tuller ’82 Veteran, U.S. Navy
THE BLUE GUIDON The Newsletter of Andover and the Military
EDITOR Charlie Dean ’79 ASSOCIATE EDITOR George S.K. Rider ’51 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Charlie Dean ’79, chair Seth Moulton ’97, cochair Christine Balling ’86 Tom Barron ’04 Tom Beaton ’73 Chris Joel ’88 Johnson Lightfoote ’69 Karl Andrew Novick ’07 Robert Patrick ’88 George Rider ’51 Dana Seero ’71 Don Way ’63
*We recognize this list may be incomplete; it is based on data we have received from alumni updates. If you or someone you know is not on this list, please e-mail Jenny Savino at jsavino@andover.edu.
With a long family history of military service—including an ancestor who served as a medical officer in the Revolutionary War—Jesse says he always felt a desire “to give back to our country in some sort of meaningful and tangible way. During college and medical school, however, I always found myself on a fairly defined path toward becoming a physician and entering into practice. As my residency was coming to a close, I felt it was the right time to follow that longstanding desire to serve, so I joined the Navy as reserve officer. My motivation in joining was simple: I wanted to find a way to make a larger contribution, and knew that service in the Navy would enable me to do that.” Today, Jesse is stationed at the NATO Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit (MMU) in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The MMU is the primary trauma receiving and referral center for all combat casualties in Southern Afghanistan. Their mission is to provide the best possible care to all persons brought to the MMU. They are charged with supporting NATO and indigenous combat forces in accomplishing their missions. The hospital itself is a 70,000-sq.-ft., rocket-resistant, state-of-the-art facility with three
operating rooms, a procedure room, a fully equipped ER, an intensive care unit, and two CT scanners. For Jesse, “one of the most rewarding aspects of working in a combat hospital has been serving as a member of an integrated trauma team. It is inspiring to witness over and over the extraordinary teamwork that ensures each patient receives the highest quality care possible, leading to a 98 percent overall coalition survival rate since the hospital opened.” Jesse believes that Andover influenced his pursuit of military service. “Like most PA grads, my time at Andover was formative. From my first moments on campus, I recall a clear narrative woven throughout my experience that we, today mere teenagers, would be and needed to be tomorrow’s leaders. Like most, I didn’t buy it at first. But somewhere along the way I realized the capacity that my classmates and I each had within us to both lead and create change. I left Andover feeling a responsibility to use the opportunities I had been given, to make an impact on the world. If I didn’t, who would? These feelings led me to a career in medicine, and ultimately, to join the United States Navy.” —Tom Barron ’04 Active Duty, U.S. Army
Recent News Admiral Steve Abbot ’62 will be the featured speaker at Phillips Academy’s annual Veterans Day Dinner on Wednesday, September 11, 2015 in Paresky Commons. Dinner begins at 6:00 p.m., preceded by a meeting of the full Andover and the Military committee at 4:30 p.m. We hope you can join us for this special event. Registration information will be forthcoming this fall. Elijah Johnson has been named the second recipient of the LCDR Erik Kristensen Scholarship. The scholarship was created by the Alumni Council’s Andover and the Military Committee and is funded by the Maintaining the Military Legacy on Campus Endowment. The scholarship was named in honor of Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen ’91, USN SEAL, who was killed in action in Afghanistan while commanding a mission to rescue four fellow SEALs. Johnson hails from Georgia and his mother, Esther, is a US army veteran.
Admiral Steve Abbot ’62
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