There are a small handful of people at IHS who know about a very small, very pink room at the very end of the E-wing. Although small and unassuming, this room is the deepest one can go into the chronicles of IHS. In that room, there are four average-looking filing cabinets that contain annals of IHS Tattler history, dating back 125 years. Here follows a selection.
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Note: The current Tattler does not necessarily endorse the opinions published in historical Tattlers.
October 8, 1942
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?
Question: How long do you think the war will last and why?
(This is a question which has not been brought about too seriously by some while others are very much concerned and have definite reasons for their beliefs. Let’s see what these people have to say.)
Esther Fincher: I won’t give any estimate because I honestly don’t know. But I do know that if everyone buys War Bonds and Stamps our side can’t lose.
Lois Haigh: I can’t say when the war will end, but I believe a victorious peace would be reached a lot sooner if we Americans would stop being so complacent and sure of ourselves and realized that it is possible for the United States to lose a war if she doesn’t get all the help and cooperation she needs from the home front!
Naomi Krum: I’m not a prophet, but in my opinion, it will last many more years because of the vast number of fronts where battles are being fought and because this is a “global war.”
Evelyn Fuller: I hope not more than a year or two, but I am afraid it will be longer unless the people forget their complacency and remember we are not winning yet.
Bob Merritt: It’ll take five years: two years to put the Japs on the defensive and three years to completely conquer them. You may quote me on this.
Paul Kiely: If Russia doesn’t fall—three years; if Russia does fall—ten years.
October 14, 1943
Berlin to Ithaca
The most widely traveled student in Ithaca High is Michael Nothmann, freshman from room 340, who came to Ithaca from Berlin by way of Genoa, Naples, the Suez Canal, India, Singapore, the Philippine Islands, Hong Kong, and Kunming. After four years in Kunming, China the Nothmanns flew back to Bombay, took a train to Calcutta, then went by ship to San Francisco by way of Australia and New Zealand, and came on to Ithaca last month.
Michael’s story is not only interesting, but it is also a challenge to all American students to know him and to understand his desire to be one of us.
The Nothmann family fled from Nazi Germany in 1939 and in time reached Kunming where they lived next door to General Chennault of the famous Flying Tigers. There Michael had first hand experience watching the Tigers operate from their base near Burma Road. During several bombing raids, he went to a nearby hill to watch the American Aviators shoot down the Japanese bombers and Zeros. The Tigers evidently convinced the Japs of the unhealthy atmosphere of the skies over the Flying Tigers because they finally left and didn’t come back again.
In spite of the excitement of life in Kunming, Michael continued his studies and began to learn English from the Flying Tigers. He must have caught their belief that nothing is too difficult or too dangerous to try because when he enrolled at IHS, he wanted to brave the dangers of six subjects and was very disappointed that he could only take 5.