Class of 1939

Sydney Novell was from Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from high school. He spent two years at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in the Ph.B. course as a member of the class of 1939. He was a member of Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity but withdrew before his junior year.

Captain Novell lost his life in the service of the United States during the Second World War but the details of his sacrifice are presently not available.

Jack Spangenberg was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on August 26, 1918. He attended Clarks Summit High School and the Keystone Academy before entering Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with the class of 1939. Small in stature, but, according to his classmates, not in ideas, he served on the staff of the Dickinsonian and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He graduated with his class and went straight on to the Dickinson School of Law.

Spangenburg was admitted to the Bar in November 1942 but by August 1943 he had completed Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was sent to Italy with an anti-tank unit in January 1944, and was slightly wounded at Cassino in April. Spangenburg returned to duty and was killed in action in Italy on July 10, 1944. He was twenty-five years old. On August 19, 1944, his son, John Michael, was born at home in Pennsylvania.