Smart Classes
by Jack D. Walker
Columbia Military Academy had an outstanding record for students winning appointments to the Naval Academy. For eight years the Navy gave 20 appointments to honor military schools and the naval reserve colleges. Columbia Military Academy cadets in this competition won third place in 1936; forth and sixth place in 1937; and seventh place in 1938. In 1944 the Naval Academy decided to give 10 appointments to honor the military schools and 10 to the naval reserve colleges, thus placing the competition on an equal basis. Columbia Military Academy boys won three of the 10 appointments granted to all honor military schools that year. The Class of 1944 must have an extremely smart class.
But let me tell you about how smart my class was. Not my graduating class but my first class at Columbia Military Academy. There were four of us in the seventh grade One boy, Carroll, from
Alabama, got “shipped,” so that left three: Ted Ross from Clarksville, Alfred Orr from Columbia and myself from Nashville. Smart? We were so smart we figured out how to work a pin up through the cane bottom of Captain Eskew’s chair.
When the faculty officer entered the room, the class was called to “attention!” and when he returned the salute of the ranking cadet, the command “seats!” was given. We all started down into our seats, but when Captain Eskew hit that pin, he started back up yelling “oh! oh! oh!” Looking down into the chair he located the cause of his pain. There the three of us sat. Weren’t we smart?
Well, instead of English that period, the good captain gave us a stern, stern lecture. We all thought we would be put on the bull ring for sure; but as it turned out, Captain Eskew was the only one that got “stuck.”