Class of 1944

James Dieffenderfer was a native of Easton, Pennsylvania and graduated from Wilson High School in 1941. He entered Dickinson in the autumn of 1941 and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1942. He was a participant in the unprecedented accelerated degree program; when he enlisted he was assigned to Franklin and Marshall College, completing his Dickinson degree there on February 29, 1944. In his time between the two colleges, he became a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Upon graduation, he was trained at Parris Island and completed officer candidate school at Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina in October 1944. He was assigned to the Pacific in December 1944 with fellow Dickinsonian Milton Fussell and joined the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Division for the invasion of Okinawa in April 1945. On May 2, 1945, Lt. Dieffenderfer was killed in action on the island, joining more than 12,500 Americans lost (including three Dickinsonians) in securing what was intended to be the main staging area for the final invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Calvert Foote was born on April 22, 1922 in Chester, South Dakota; his father was a minister who later served as the Methodist superintendent of the Scranton area in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. Calvert attended the Wyoming Seminary and enrolled in Dickinson with the class of 1944 on September 19, 1940.

Known as "Jack," he left the College on the outbreak of war and attempted, unsuccessfully, to enlist in the armed services. He was accepted to the Merchant Marine Academy by competitive examination, however, and following several months of instruction was assigned to his first ship on his twentieth birthday. Cadets often joined ships while still enrolled, many lost their lives, and the institution is the only service academy permitted to fly battle honors.

Cadet Foote's immediate assignment was to the Arctic Convoys and in late July 1942, his ship was sunk by enemy action somewhere between Iceland and Russia. The ship was possibly a part of the ill-fated convoy "PQ17" which lost 23 of 34 merchant ships during those weeks. Calvert Foote was declared "missing and presumed lost," the first Dickinsonian to perish in the conflict.

Milton Fussell was born on April 20, 1923 and grew up in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Swarthmore High School he entered Dickinson in the fall of 1941, and became a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Then he enlisted in the Marines and was assigned, along with fellow Dickinsonian James Dieffenderfer, to the V-12 unit at Franklin and Marshall, where he graduated with a Dickinson degree in March 1944.

Fussell trained at Parris Island, South Carolina and at Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina; both he and Dieffenderfer were commissioned on October 1, 1944. The two men were assigned to Guadalcanal in late December. Fussell participated in the attack on Okinawa and was killed in action on May 27, 1945. Dieffenderfer had been killed twenty-five days earlier.

John Herdic graduated from high school in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He entered Dickinson with the class of 1944 but withdrew to enlist in July 1942. Before leaving he became of member of Chi Phi fraternity. Herdic trained in Texas as a bombardier, earning his wings and commission in June 1943. He then trained as a navigator in New Mexico before being assigned to overseas duty in early 1944.

Herdic joined General Claire Chenault's command in the Burma-China theater, flying a B-25 as a bombardier and navigator. On his penultimate mission before completing the fifty which would see him serve out his combat tour, Herdic's aircraft was lost in action on January 19, 1945.

Theodore Strouse was born in Harrisburg in 1922 and graduated from John Harris High School in 1940. He then entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with the class of 1944. He was editor-in-chief of the Dickinsonian and a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He left his studies during the last semester of his senior year in February 1943 to enlist in the Army Air Force.

Strouse trained as a bombardier/navigator in Texas and New Mexico, earning his commission in February 1944. He was assigned to the China-India theater, where he flew forty-one missions in B-25 bombers with the 10th Air Force, winning a Bronze Star and two Air Medals in the process. While flying to a rest area as a passenger over India, Strouse's transport aircraft crashed on July 11, 1945, killing him.

Norman Watkins was born in Minersville, Pennsylvania in 1919, the son of a Dickinson Law School graduate. The younger Watkins prepared at Baltimore Polytechnic and entered the Dickinson College in 1940. He withdrew in 1942 to attend the Dickinson School of Law. He withdrew from there in January 1943 to enlist in the United States Army.

Watkins received his commission in July 1943, and in October left for combat duty in Europe as commander of a platoon of Combat Engineers. His unit participated in the D-Day landings, and, after sufficient rest, was then sent back into action in Normandy.

On July 27, 1944, Lieutenant Watkins was killed in action at the head of his platoon.