FIELD ORDER No. 1.
1a. The forces of tradition, severe weather, custom, general apathy, hesitance and
inexperience hold the Civic Center Fortress.
1b. On the right is the legion of fair damsels ably commanded by Dean Haggard; on our
left is the student body of Clarkson College. The artillery barrage will be under the
capable direction of Jan Campbell and his NBC Orchestra. Other friendly troops in the
vicinity which are expected to give valuable aid consist of: the faculty, the people of
Potsdam, our erstwhile enemies from St. Lawrence, and selected detachments from the
military garrisons at Plattsburgh and Madison Barracks, N.Y.
2. The general plans calls for a simultaneous attack upon the fortress by the ROTC Unit
and all supporting elements.
3. Detailed plan:
a. The ROTC Unit will attack the portals of the citadel en masse exactly at 9:00
p.m. (four hours after darkness) 14 January 1938. Simultaneously all other
supporting elements will converge on this same objective. (Ladies will precede
the attacking forces through the portals in order to surprise and confuse the
enemy.)
b. Jan Campbell and his Orchestra with girl vocalist will, at 8:45 p.m., enter the
building through secret passage in the rear and will, at the moment of attack,
create a diversion of popular swing music in the enemy's rear in order to confuse
and distract the opposing forces as to the real objective of the assault.
c. On taking the fortress, all hands will join in a huge celebration lasting until
1:30 a.m.
Ice Carnival.
Changes in the ice carnival schedule moved the tobogganing party to Saturday
afternoon along with the skiing races, and a hockey game against Iroquois to Thursday evening.
Friday afternoon events included the judging of the ice statues and the window displays, and
Friday evening saw a skating party and races at the rink. The first of four races began at 7:15
p.m.: open race for men, an obstacle race for men, an open race for hockey players, and a relay
obstacle race for men consisting of the first leg for racers with only the left skate on, then a leg
of skating forward, then a leg for racers with only the right skate on, and the final leg for skaters
skating backwards. This was followed by a general skating party which was scheduled to last
until 10 o'clock.
Saturday afternoon saw a basketball game against Cortland Normal, followed at three
o'clock by a cross-country ski race starting at the toboggan slide on outer Pierrepont Avenue,
crossing the river to the Clarkson estate, and then returning to the starting point. Saturday
evening was set aside for the Minto Follies performing its famous
Around the World Cruise
,
followed by the Ice Carnival ball. Bringing one of its largest groups to Potsdam, the Minto Club
scheduled 26 numbers on its program, beginning with the crowning of Carnival King John
Jepson of Sigma Delta and Queen Katherine Campbell of AGO. Two of the skaters
accompanying the Minto Club were Peter Chance and Wingate Snaith, runner-up in the
Canadian Senior Championships in 1936 and Dominion Junior Champion in 1935. Featured in
one of the pairs numbers was Barbara Ann Scott, later Olympic champion.
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate as the temperatures rose and much of the
ice rink disappeared under a warm rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, canceling Thursday's and
Friday's events. A drop in the temperature on Friday allowed ice statues to be repaired and the
