As last page is reached, book on WWII alumni to leave Frist

"Alma Mater keeps in eternal memory her sons who laid down their lives for their country." Engrained on each page of the Princeton Alumni WWII Book is this inscription, a promise to alumni who died during the Second World War. During the last year the University displayed the memorial at Frist Campus Center and has turned a page daily.

Coincidentally, its last showcase comes during the early stages of the conflict in Iraq. "During this time it's certainly something that pulls you up short and makes you think," said Gregg Lange '70, chair of the Princetoniana committee.

Each page is devoted to one of the 355 alumni and during this final week of the exhibit, the book is turned to Lou Russell '45. The display also consists of Russell's freshman football sweater, a letter from his sister, the Distinguished Flying Cross he received for combat and his dink, a cap that freshman were required to wear during then.

While Russell may appear as just another name in the book, according to Lange his story also strongly relates to the student body. Russell, a freshman football player and ROTC member, enlisted for the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

When Russell failed his first physical because he was considered too light, he gorged himself with bananas for a day before stepping on the scales again, said his sister, Grace Whelar. "Like everyone else he was eager," she said. "He wanted to fly with the best and he never thought he wouldn't come back."

Russell became an aviator in the South Pacific. However, in March 1944, just shy of his 21st birthday, Russell and another pilot went out to look for a flier who had been seen down but alive. After weathering hostile fire, they returned to base without success and a severely damaged plane, Whelar said.

"But my brother went back up to see if he could find this person alone," Whelar added. "It was in that mission that he was never found."

Later, Australian coast watchers could only confirm that a plane had been shot down and then exploded.

Russell was among the dozens of people in the classes of '44 and '45 who died in World War II, Lange said.

"The whole motivation for war was dramatically more clear in WWII than today," Lange said. The global situation and issues of justification were entirely different, he added.

While differences exists, Lange said the current war is not so far removed despite the sense of distance media adds. "Even if you are watching a war in real time, there is a sense of removal, of intervened reporting that doesn't make it seem like its you," he said. "In a very real sense it is."

According to Lange, "there is a very fine line that separates the University and the war," Lange said. "It doesn't take much to go over."