Returning to School after War – the Veterans Class of 1947
by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, November 8, 2019.
For many years, Scotty Lees was the custodian at the Exeter First Baptist Church. Noticing that the church’s next-door neighbor, the Exeter Historical Society, was often lax about landscaping, he began tending the grass there as well. On the days when it was very hot, or when Scotty just needed a break, he’d often come inside to visit with the staff and volunteers. He told us about his long career as a lineman with the Exeter and Hampton Electric Company and his work with Little League Baseball. We’d pull out the collection photos of Exeter baseball teams – including the Exeter Bears – and pick out Scotty. “Did you play ball in high school?” he was asked. He’d started to, he told us, but things got complicated. Scotty’s Exeter High School years were complicated, as were those of his classmates, by the United States entrance into World War II. Like many in the class of 1945, Lees left school before graduating to join the Navy.
When the war first broke out and there was a rush for enlistment, Exeter, like most schools, tried to retain boys until they earned a diploma. The class of 1941, which graduated a class of 27 in June before war was even declared, sent 11 young men directly into service after commencement. By 1944, 24 members of that class were serving. The following year saw more students leave school before graduation and the numbers went up each year during the war. When the 1944 Exeter High School yearbook was laid out, editor John Zocchi dedicated a page to “E.H.S. men now in the armed forces” and included those who had left school early to take up arms.
It was a tough decision for many men. They were boys, really. Boys being asked to do adult work. How should the schools in Exeter address this ‘national emergency?’ It seemed like there was so little time to prepare them for the harrowing task ahead. These were, after all, kids who’d only recently teased each other about barfing when being asked to kill the Thanksgiving turkey. The High School added clubs – First Aid Club, Aeronautics Club, in 1942 only – a knitting club. The model airplane club, which had always been a favorite, adapted itself to making models of war planes. The models were then used for civilian defense training. The boys of Exeter High School (and there were only boys at Exeter High School – girls attended the Robinson Female Seminary) were recruited for civilian war duties like picking apples, delivering mail, and shoveling the town roads. The school day was shortened from two sessions (8:15 am – 12:00, lunch, 1:30 – 3:30) to one long session (8:15 – 1:30). The 1944 yearbook explained the change, “in order that pupils may do work essential to the war effort and also because of transportation difficulties.” In 1943, a new headmaster, Aura Coleman, revised the curriculum to add more flexibility. The war showed no signs of ending soon. “Boys who are qualified have been encouraged to specialize in mathematics during their junior and senior years. The program of studies has been organized to include a large amount of the Pre-induction material recommended for the armed services. Additional units on electricity are being taught in the courses in Physics and Chemistry. Pre-induction units in Fundamentals of Shop Work and Fundamentals of Machines are included in the regular shop courses. An earnest effort is being made to adapt the work of the entire curriculum to the needs of the students in the present emergency without sacrificing the fundamental essentials of secondary education in normal times,” he wrote in his annual report. The mechanical arts program was beefed to provide training for those who might soon find themselves working at the shipyards in Portsmouth and Kittery. Still, many young men left before earning a diploma.
After the war, when these boys came home as men, the transition to peace time was often difficult. Scotty, who’d left school when he was 17, had to decide whether it was worth it to go back. He was older than the boys at the high school. How awkward would it be sitting in geometry class with a bunch of kids? The School District Report in 1946 noted, “A few veterans who did not graduate from high school have requested information about the possibility of continuing school and completing the requirements for a diploma. Exeter High School will do everything it possibly can to assist the returning veterans.” Seventy-five students between 1941 and 1945 had left before graduation to serve in the war. Most did not return to school, but in the school year of 1946-47, the district was able to report: “A class of fifteen veterans has returned to Exeter High School to continue their education. Ten are completing the requirements for a diploma while three are preparing to enter college next fall and are registered as post-graduates. The fact that 58% of this class have received honor grades shows that the veterans of Exeter are maintaining the excellent record of veterans in secondary and post-secondary schools throughout the nation.” So often we hear about the benefits the GI Bill brought to veterans who pursued a college education that it is easy to forget the men who needed to finish high school. Scotty Lees was one of the returning students. He earned his Exeter High School diploma in mechanical arts in the spring of 1947. The yearbook dedicated a section to the returning veterans – most of whom were in their twenties, some even married by that time. By creating a special Veterans class, the school validated these men and eased the transition back to civilian life. Lees chose as his yearbook quote, “A joyous disposition and a purposeful earnestness,” and this was how he chose to live his life.
The Exeter High School Veterans Class of 1947: John Emerson, Albert Field, Asa Keniston, Walter Lang, William Gordon “Scotty” Lees, Frederick Lundberg, Donald Morgan, Wesley Nickerson, Andrew Pelletier, Theodore Richard, Howard Swain Jr., James West.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org
Image: Exeter Veteran’s Day parade c. 1950. Servicemen returning after World War II had to contend with the interruption military service had caused in their lives. For some men, this meant catching up on education. Exeter High School created a special Veteran’s Class in 1947.
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, November 8, 2019.
For many years, Scotty Lees was the custodian at the Exeter First Baptist Church. Noticing that the church’s next-door neighbor, the Exeter Historical Society, was often lax about landscaping, he began tending the grass there as well. On the days when it was very hot, or when Scotty just needed a break, he’d often come inside to visit with the staff and volunteers. He told us about his long career as a lineman with the Exeter and Hampton Electric Company and his work with Little League Baseball. We’d pull out the collection photos of Exeter baseball teams – including the Exeter Bears – and pick out Scotty. “Did you play ball in high school?” he was asked. He’d started to, he told us, but things got complicated. Scotty’s Exeter High School years were complicated, as were those of his classmates, by the United States entrance into World War II. Like many in the class of 1945, Lees left school before graduating to join the Navy.
It was a tough decision for many men. They were boys, really. Boys being asked to do adult work. How should the schools in Exeter address this ‘national emergency?’ It seemed like there was so little time to prepare them for the harrowing task ahead. These were, after all, kids who’d only recently teased each other about barfing when being asked to kill the Thanksgiving turkey. The High School added clubs – First Aid Club, Aeronautics Club, in 1942 only – a knitting club. The model airplane club, which had always been a favorite, adapted itself to making models of war planes. The models were then used for civilian defense training. The boys of Exeter High School (and there were only boys at Exeter High School – girls attended the Robinson Female Seminary) were recruited for civilian war duties like picking apples, delivering mail, and shoveling the town roads. The school day was shortened from two sessions (8:15 am – 12:00, lunch, 1:30 – 3:30) to one long session (8:15 – 1:30). The 1944 yearbook explained the change, “in order that pupils may do work essential to the war effort and also because of transportation difficulties.” In 1943, a new headmaster, Aura Coleman, revised the curriculum to add more flexibility. The war showed no signs of ending soon. “Boys who are qualified have been encouraged to specialize in mathematics during their junior and senior years. The program of studies has been organized to include a large amount of the Pre-induction material recommended for the armed services. Additional units on electricity are being taught in the courses in Physics and Chemistry. Pre-induction units in Fundamentals of Shop Work and Fundamentals of Machines are included in the regular shop courses. An earnest effort is being made to adapt the work of the entire curriculum to the needs of the students in the present emergency without sacrificing the fundamental essentials of secondary education in normal times,” he wrote in his annual report. The mechanical arts program was beefed to provide training for those who might soon find themselves working at the shipyards in Portsmouth and Kittery. Still, many young men left before earning a diploma.
After the war, when these boys came home as men, the transition to peace time was often difficult. Scotty, who’d left school when he was 17, had to decide whether it was worth it to go back. He was older than the boys at the high school. How awkward would it be sitting in geometry class with a bunch of kids? The School District Report in 1946 noted, “A few veterans who did not graduate from high school have requested information about the possibility of continuing school and completing the requirements for a diploma. Exeter High School will do everything it possibly can to assist the returning veterans.” Seventy-five students between 1941 and 1945 had left before graduation to serve in the war. Most did not return to school, but in the school year of 1946-47, the district was able to report: “A class of fifteen veterans has returned to Exeter High School to continue their education. Ten are completing the requirements for a diploma while three are preparing to enter college next fall and are registered as post-graduates. The fact that 58% of this class have received honor grades shows that the veterans of Exeter are maintaining the excellent record of veterans in secondary and post-secondary schools throughout the nation.” So often we hear about the benefits the GI Bill brought to veterans who pursued a college education that it is easy to forget the men who needed to finish high school. Scotty Lees was one of the returning students. He earned his Exeter High School diploma in mechanical arts in the spring of 1947. The yearbook dedicated a section to the returning veterans – most of whom were in their twenties, some even married by that time. By creating a special Veterans class, the school validated these men and eased the transition back to civilian life. Lees chose as his yearbook quote, “A joyous disposition and a purposeful earnestness,” and this was how he chose to live his life.
The Exeter High School Veterans Class of 1947: John Emerson, Albert Field, Asa Keniston, Walter Lang, William Gordon “Scotty” Lees, Frederick Lundberg, Donald Morgan, Wesley Nickerson, Andrew Pelletier, Theodore Richard, Howard Swain Jr., James West.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org
Image: Exeter Veteran’s Day parade c. 1950. Servicemen returning after World War II had to contend with the interruption military service had caused in their lives. For some men, this meant catching up on education. Exeter High School created a special Veteran’s Class in 1947.
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