Class of 1918

From Clearfield, Pennsylvania, Russell Flegal entered the College in 1915 as a member of the class of 1918, pursuing a bachelor of philosophy degree. A popular student and enthusiastic musician, he was a member of the Union Philosophical Society, Phi Delta Theta fraternity, the Glee Club, and the Mandolin Club.

By 1917 he seems to have been a part-time student, working in the summer of 1917 on a farm until he joined the United States Marines. He trained at Parris Island, South Carolina and then served with the Sixth Regiment, USMC. By February 1918, Flegal was in France. He was gassed during combat in April and was wounded on July 18 during the battle of Chateau Thierry, for which he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. Russell Flegal was killed in action at Mount Blanche Ridge, near Chateau Thierry, on October 7, 1918.

John Fox was from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and probably commuted from his home there while taking the Latin-Scientific course in the class of 1918. He left at the end of his junior year and by late 1917 he had graduated from the Officer Training School at Fort Niagara, New York.

Fox was assigned to the 316th Infantry of the 79th Division and was promoted to first lieutenant in January 1918. He was killed in action in France on September 26, 1918, the same day as his fellow Dickinsonian in the 79th, David Rupp, class of 1916.

Oscar Hykes was born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania on March 13, 1894. He had entered the Conway Hall at nearby Dickinson College in 1914 and later studied the Philosophical course at Dickinson as a member of the class of 1918. While at the College he was a member of Belles Lettres Literary Society and Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He also studied transportation at the Wharton School and began work with the Pennsylvania Railroad just before he enlisted in the U.S. Army in the spring of 1918.

He trained at Camp Lee, Virginia until May 1918 when he was assigned to the 37th Division's 146th Infantry Regiment and joined the fourth platoon of Company H in that unit. The 37th left Hoboken, New Jersey on June 15, 1918 and arrived in France a week later. Private Hykes went into action first in the Vosges Mountains in August 1918 and then the 37th joined the Meuse-Argonne battles on September 20, 1918. On September 28, Company H was advancing up a dirt road when an shell struck a small group of the fourth platoon in the rear of the column. They had stopped to refill their canteens at a roadside spring. Oscar Maclay Hykes was seriously wounded and died September 30, 1918 in a field hospital. His body was returned to Shippensburg after the war and buried in Spring Hill Cemetery. The Shippensburg American Legion Post 223, organized in 1919, was named for the fallen infantryman.

John Richards was from Hazleton, Pennsylvania and a member of the class of 1918 at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, studying the Philosophical course. He was active at the College in the Y.M.C.A, and was also a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and a participant in freshman football.

Richards left to enlist in the spring of 1917 and served as a sergeant in the Quartermaster Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces. He arrived in France in November 1917 and died there on October 22, 1918.

William Taylor was the son of Rev. W.P. Taylor, class of 1890, and arrived at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania from Georgetown, Delaware. He entered with the class of 1918, enrolling in the Latin-Scientific course. He was a member of Belles Lettres Literary Society, of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, and the Y.M.C.A. He was also a companion of Russell Flegal in the Mandolin Club.

Taylor withdrew from his junior year to enlist and entered the aviation service. He trained first at Princeton, New Jersey and then in the Fifth Air Cadet Squadron at Ellington Field outside of Houston, Texas. Taylor died at Ellington of influenza on October 19, 1918.