Two Strange Ways Our Father Served His Country During WWII

Our  Dad  passed  away  at  age  89  from  carotid  artery  blockage.   My  memory  of  him  is  a  vast  array  of  stories  and  episodes.  Here,  briefly,  are  two  of  his  stories  about  how  he  served  his  country  in  the  ROTC  Program  during  World  War  II.

At  one  point,   the  Navy  was  interested   in  how  well  mini-greenhouses  could  keep  American  soldiers  warm  in  frigid  lands.

So,  in  his  classes  in  Dartmouth  College,    Dad  and  his  classmates  built  a  person-size  greenhouse,     and  they  took  turns  sitting  in  their  bathing  suits  inside  the  person-size  greenhouse   on  Dartmouth's  front  lawn   in  the  middle  of  New  England  blizzards,  recording  data  and  waving  to  their  laughing  classmates.

At  another  point,   someone  in  the  Navy  had  heard  that  when  a  person  eats   ice  cream,  his  or  her  body  responds  by  warming-up.  And  so  the  Navy  wondered  if  eating  ice  cream  might  abet  survival  in  frigid  latitudes.

As  a  result,  Dad  and  his  classmates  built  3-sided   lean-tos  (to  keep  off  the  wind)    and   got  into  their  bathing  suits  again   and  went  outside  into  their  lean-tos  in  the  middle  of New  England   winter  blizzards   and  spent  their  classes   sitting  outdoors  in  bathing  suits  eating  ice  cream!