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George Charles Calnan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 19 January 1900. His parents came from Ireland and were Catholic. They worked hard to raise their family of three; George had an older sister, Margaret, and a younger brother, Frank.
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An inveterate reader, George borrowed Margaret’s library card to get books before he was old enough to obtain a card himself. He devoured Horatio Alger books, enjoying the stories about the tridmph of poor boys overcoming great obstacles to attajtfjfime and success. He desperately wanted a collegeeducation, but this did not seem “ economically until he read an
in Boys’ Life about the U. S. Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. With encouragement from his mother, he contacted the congressman from his district and received a second alternate 'appointment to the Academy. Consequently, he went to Annapolis to take the Academy entrance examination. Much to George’s surprise and good fortune, he passed the exam, and the principal and the first alternate /from his district failed it.
He received an appointment to the Naval Academy from the 12th Congressional District of Massachusetts on 25 June 1916 at the age of 16. He was one of the youngest members of his class. He said about himself, “I was a gangling youngster of sixteen years of age and of such an imposing stature that when 1
walked down the corridor in my military uniform, my classmates were constantly afraid that I was going to suddenly fall apart. I was six feet one and weighed a little over 130 pounds.”
George’s dream was to become a football player. When the call for football candidates came out in August of that summer, he reported for practice with enormous enthusiasm and a lot of heart, but obviously not the stature. In September, the football uniforms were distributed. He was not given one.
As he brokenheartedly left the field that evening, he met a friend who was on his way to the fencing room for fencing lessons. His friend suggested that George accompany him there if only to observe. George’s first comment was ‘‘No way! Fencing is a sissy sport.” However, his friend persisted and George complied. After that first visit, George was hooked on the sport. In George’s words:
“Mr. Darriaulat, the Fencing Coach at the Naval Academy then was having his usual difficult time convincing the midshipmen to take more interest in the sport of fencing. Anybody who entered the fencing room looked good to him. He came over to greet me and persuaded me to put on a mask and a glove and to take a foil in my hand. He even bribed me by giving me a lesson. So I received in fifteen minutes more attention than I had received in a month on the football field. From then on I hardly missed a day of fencing for the whole three years I was in the Naval Academy. I am quite sure that I averaged five days a week for those three academic years.”
George became the captain of the fencing team. He won the Navy Athletic Association’s Duelling Swords Competition Championship in 1918 and 1919, and he was the 1918 runner-up and 1919 champion in their foils competition. Representing the Naval Academy in 1919 at the intercollegiate competition, he won third place in foils.
At that time, World War I was raging. During the war, the Academy’s four-year term was shortened to three years to hasten the training of officers. George graduated in 1919, an honor student in the class of 1920. He served as a midshipman during the war on board the USS Rhode Island (BB-17) and the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38).
In 1920, George returned to Annapolis to train for the Olympic Fencing Team tryouts. After months of practice, he was named a substitute on the foils team. He went to Antwerp, Belgium, where he got a firsthand view of the greatest group of fencers in his experience. He resolved to continue fencing with the hope of attaining some approximation of their perfection. He fenced only five bouts at Antwerp, winning two and losing three. Following Antwerp, he did one year of postgraduate work at the Naval Academy. He spent some of his time coaching the midshipmen in fencing as well as improving his own.
George received a master of science degree in naval construction from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 1923. At M.I.T., he was instrumental in initiating a fencing program and undertook the job of amateur coach for the undergraduates. Under his guidance, Joseph L. Levis started his fencing career and became the most
famous of George’s proteges. Joe won the national f°' championship several times and ranked second in f°lls the 1932 Olympics. .,
In May 1923, George won the New England Fm Championship, and in his first national competition in epee, he won that championship. In June of the same ye • he was chosen to be a member of the U. S. Internationa Team to go to England. They fenced the British in Lon^ don, where George won all his foil bouts and lostonly,°on epee bout. They also went to Birmingham to fence ana to Edinburgh where they fenced the Scots.
In Scotland, the team was to have a special treat on ^ Sunday, visiting a castle in the countryside and having elaborate picnic all very beautifully planned by their tinguished hosts. George, being a devout Catholic, & fused to go because they would have to leave very early 1 the morning, and he would have to miss attending nia->s- Everyone on the team was upset, perturbed, and em ' rassed by him, especially since, I assume, their hosts w Scotch Presbyterians. I know he was not popular
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The following year, 1924, George placed second in National Epee Championships and then went to Paris compete in his second Olympics as a member of the feIlC ing team.
From 1925 to 1931, George won the national t°' ‘ championship every year but one. He ranked third > 1932. He never again captured the epee championship1 a^ he had won in 1923, but ranked in four of those yea^ among the top three. In 1927, he won the Amateur Fef>c ers League of America Three Weapon Championship-
George’s third time as a member of an Olympic teanj was in 1928. The Amsterdam Olympics marked the firs time that a U. S. fencer ever reached the final pool- FerlC ing epee in the so-called “super-finals” of just four con1 petitors, he won third place. According to Colonel Hen^ Breckinridge, captain of the U. S. Fencing Team, rights he should have become a world fencing champi°n 1928, but on a point of honor he as much as gave the t> away.” As I recall being told, George did the unheard-0 in Olympic fencing competition; he called a touch on hm1 self, thereby losing the match. .
Living at bachelor officers’ quarters at the Naval A> Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey, George drove the miles to the New York Fencers Club almost every week a least once and sometimes twice. He was a club mernbc and consistently worked out and participated in fencin'? events under the guidance of Fencing Master ReI1‘/ Pinchart.
At that time, the German-built dirigible Los Ang^e* was housed in the Lakehurst Naval Air Station hanga together with the small nonrigid blimps, the J-3, the J- ’ and the “tin ship,” the ZMC-2. George flew frequently111 these ships on training missions.
I first met George Calnan in 1925 when I was 17 yea,> old. I was at my first party in New York City while011 vacation from a Montreal boarding school. I was so llT1 pressed with this tall handsome man in his naval unifor01- I never forgot him. Not until five years later did I see h"11
a8ain. I watched him win the national foils championship, nich in those days was always held in the grand ballroom {he old Hotel Astor. It was followed by a formal dance. £°rge came up to our box afterwards, and I was overtimed all over again. He jokingly commented while ancing with me that he was looking for a wife but was not SUre that he could afford one, to which I replied that I ^°uld be delighted to take the job and would be willing to
always answer in kind.
Once in 1931, when the Los Angeles was cruising over Virginia, George had been ordered to inspect the gas cells that kept her aloft. There were 13 of these helium-filled cells slung within the big silver envelope. George, who was in training for the job of ship’s first lieutenant, had to climb a transverse girder between two gas cells, which were inflated tightly and pressing against each other. In
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Later, when he called for a date, I was overjoyed. From . n on, I watched the newspapers for anything concern- lng him, his fencing, or flying. I also watched the skies on JJ'ghts when I knew he was flying in the Los Angeles. ^any times, that silver ship and later the huge Akron ^ould fly over New York City and sometimes over the aPartment where I lived. I would frequently see a tiny light r°m the control car blinking “hello” to me, and I would
“But the most solemn and impressive scene of all wa yet to come. That was the moment when one of tho athletes, representing all of them was to mount the ros trum, lift his right hand and swear the Olympic oath 0 them all. And here he came now, a handsome, pro shouldered chap identified by the programs as a jun officer in the United States Navy. Leaving the Amerl can group, he strode steadfastly toward the Tribune- mounted the little platform, lifted his right arm and sal in a strong clear voice:
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ile. According to what I understood at the time, after he had worked his way up between them, the flashlight he had in his back pocket pressed against and punctured the cell in back of him. The released helium enveloped him, he staggered and tumbled down to the centerline catwalk, falling inside the ruptured cell. He was sighted by Chief Petty Officer Tobin who rushed to assist him. He carried George to safety. The ship was not long in returning to Lakehurst and getting George to the base dispensary for observation. Until that time, the Navy had had little, if any, experience with anyone being knocked out by helium gas.
Later that year, the Los Angeles was on training maneuvers. Part of these maneuvers consisted of releasing airplanes from the dirigible in flight. Lieutenant Howard L. Young sat in one of the planes, hooked 18 feet beneath the dirigible by a special mechanical device designed to provide the release at the proper moment. The moment came, but the mechanism failed. George had to solve the difficulty. Without a parachute, because it would interfere with the manipulation of tools he carried, he was lowered to the mechanism on a trapeze. Dangling there, whipped by the wind, he tackled the offending mechanism, while Young remained in the plane’s cockpit and directed operations. It took about an hour. When he had finished, Lieutenant Young flew away in safety, and George returned to the airship. I found a New York newspaper clipping about the incident in an old book. The headline read, “Airman Risks Life to Unhook Plane.” At the bottom of the clipping, there was a notation in pencil: “Ain’t you grand! You Big Hunk of Cheese. Sincerely, Harvey.”
George and I became engaged on 1 January 1932. We decided not to marry until after the Los Angeles Olympic games, for which George had qualified. We set the date for 20 August. We were to be married at Highgate Springs, Vermont.
Late that spring, George was made captain of the fencing team scheduled to go to the Los Angeles Olympics. Toward the end of July, the team left for the games. The Olympic games officially opened in Los Angeles on 30 July 1932.
I was elated to learn that George was chosen from all the U. S. athletes to give the Oath of Good Sportsmanship on behalf of the athletes of 40 nations at the official opening of the games. A bride never had a nicer wedding present. Articles about the spectacle of the opening ceremonies were in every New York paper. Notable among them was one by Bill Cunningham, I believe of the New York World Telegram, who wrote in part:
“The Greeks came first. They graced the place of honor as the ‘Mother of the Olympic Games.’ After that the groups came alphabetically—Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil and so on through the long list to the United States of America, the host nation, largest in number and last in line. . . .
“One of the big thrills was the German appearance. This marked their first participation since the World War and nobody knew just how they would be received. They were fine looking men and women in
Heidelberg caps, blue coats, gray trousers and ski s- The crowd at first didn’t seem to realize who they wer and for a moment there came an uncomfortable si|enC^ Then all at once a wholehearted ovation began rising- boomed like the surf into an almost unbelievable gre ing. The set faces of the Germans slowly broke in smiles, perhaps they were smiles of gratitude, and t ey so far forgot their military training that they actua y began to wave to the stands and the frauleins at 0 stage threw kisses to the crowd. And so it went down through the black turbaned Indians, the Italia who gave the Fascist salute, the big Japanese delega tion doing the goose step. . . .
‘We swear that we will take part in the Olympic in loyal competition, respecting the regulations govern them and desirous of participating in them 1 the true spirit of sportsmanship for the honor of 0 country and the glory of the sport.”’
The U. S. Olympic Fencing Team never did better in history than at the 1932 games. Three times, the Stars an Stripes flew over the fencing pavilion. The team came j third in foil and in epee, and Joe Levis came in second 1 individual foil. This marked the first time a U. S. fencme team ever ranked in the Olympics. George tied with Frenchman for sixth place in the individual epee.
When George arrived in Vermont from the games t our wedding, he was very much in demand to perform 1 parlor trick of reciting the Olympic oath. George’s bes man was Colonel Henry Breckinridge, who had been sistant Secretary of War for three years under the Wils°, administration, invented Navy Day, and was captain 1 the 1928 Olympic Fencing Team and five-year presided of the Amateur Fencers League of America. Mrs. BreC inridge was the first woman to fly a lighter-than-air craft-' Santos Dumont balloon in Paris in 1910. Later, they but became my very dear friends.
In September, we found a house in Beachwood, Nf Jersey, which was a short distance from Lakehurst. ‘a zero hours when the ship took off were usually pretty ear; in the morning. George would often fly over our house one of the blimps low enough for me to see him waving- That winter, George was offered the nomination 1 president of the Amateur Fencers League of America- which he finally agreed to accept after much deliberate11 and consultation with other members of the league. Ho'v ever, it was not in the cards, it seems, for him ever t0 occupy the position. _
George was very anxious to spend as much time fencing
. Possible in preparation for the 1933 national competi- ’°n> which was to be held during Easter week. He went to evv York the first weekend of April and had a good work- ut- He also attended mass at a church there before return, to Beachwood. Early Monday morning, 3 April, he •ssed me good-bye, saying “Don’t take any wooden |"ckels,’’ and took off for Lakehurst. The Akron was due take off that evening with Admiral William Moffett, h’ef of the Bureau of Aeronautics, who was coming up r°m Washington, D.C.
Monday evening was terribly still and foggy. My friend Jyly Clendenning and I decided we would go to a movie, hen we left the theater about 10:30 p.m., there was eavy thunder, some lightning, but still a dense fog. We °th went home, not the least bit apprehensive since the ast time the ship was out in a terrible northeaster with '§h winds and rain, we sat up together all night long orrying and calling Lakehurst regularly for reports, hen the men returned from that trip, they laughed at us and said they had been in a perfect calm over Lake Erie an<i that any time there was a sizable storm, they would ave advance warning of it and would run away from it.
Thus, I went home, thinking only that it was strange having thunder and lightning in a fog. My next-door neighbor came over to keep me company, thinking I would be nervous. I assured her that I wasn’t, and she went home after a short visit. At about 2:00 a.m., my phone rang and awakened me. It was my sister-in-law, Margaret Calnan, calling from Boston. She had time to ask me just one question, “Did George go out flying on the Akron tonight?”
“Yes,” 1 said. “Did you see the Akron flying over Boston?”
All I could hear her say before we were disconnected was, “Oh my God!”
It seemed an eternity before she could get back to me.
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At 2:30 a.m. , when George Jr. returned to our
When she did, she said that her brother, Frank, worked the night shift on a Boston newspaper, and there was a report that the Akron had crashed in the ocean off the New Jersey coast. I assured her that that was impossible because I, being right there near Lakehurst, surely would have known about it. I promised to call her right back after I checked with Lakehurst. I tried and tried to get through to the station, but all lines were tied up, so I knew something had gone wrong. Then, I telephoned the base commander’s house, and his wife answered.
In response to my question, she said gently, “Babs, why don’t you come over here to our house? We have no positive news as to what has happened other than that we do know that the Akron is down.”
I felt as though my heart hit the floor. I phoned my sister-in-law in Boston with the limited news I had. Then at 3:00 a.m., I called my friend, Sally, told her the news, and asked her to drive to Lakehurst with me.
All day long, it rained and was foggy while plane after plane took off and returned. A blimp went out to scout the area for survivors, and it also crashed, killing an officer whose wife was at Lakehurst trying to console the wives of the men who were on the Akron. I can still visualize the roomful of officers’ wives, sitting in a large living room waiting all day for news of their husbands. Some sobbed quietly; some were hysterical; some remained like icicles. One other wife, like myself, was expecting a baby.
Colonel and Mrs. Breckinridge came to my house the next day. The colonel kept the press away from me. Both he and Mrs. Breckinridge were so wonderfully helpful, as were my sister and mother.
Letters and tributes from fencers and friends from all over the world poured in expressing sorrow and great admiration and affection for George. Some of the tributes vividly described parts of his personality and character with words I cannot find. F. Bernard O’Connor wrote:
‘‘But great as was Calnan’s interest in fencing, his interest in his friends and in social intercourse was just as great. He loved to meet people, to talk on numerous subjects with which he was familiar, to argue points of historical or current interest; he found in such intercourse not only relaxation but mental refreshment and stimulus and he loved a good time. . . . Calnan in his unostentatious way was a man of deep religious feeling. He believed implicitly in the idea of immortality. This was a conviction with him as well as a matter of faith. He saw the future life as a matter of philosophic justice, of historic promise and of divine fulfillment. Unless such ideas are utterly misleading, we can mourn his loss only as it deprives us of his sterling character and great sportsmanship—a great fencer, a distinguished Naval Officer, a loyal comrade and a true friend.”
In going through George’s many books, I came across a diary he kept when he was 20 years old. Inside the front cover written in his handwriting were these words:
“No one achieves without effort No one arrives without starting.
No one succeeds without study The brilliant man is not the winner.
The successes in this world have been persistent pluggers
Concentrate on winning. . ,,
One hour’s application is worth a week's dreaming-
Postlude: About a year later, a perpetual trophy dedi cated to the memory of George Calnan was approve ^ the Amateur Fencers League of America to be presente the winning trio in the National Three Weapon T®3 Championship. The trophy, standing 30 inches high, cast in bronze. It is a figure of George Calnan in fenCI|^ regalia at ease with blade resting upon the strip as awaits the judge’s decision. The sculptor, Paul Ru ^ made a bronze mounted duplicate of the head, which w ■ presented to me. ,
In 1975, I donated four frames of medals won ^ George Calnan to the Naval Academy. They mc‘u ^ some souvenir medals and a beautiful silver medal gjv to me by the Amateur Fencing Association of Eng 3 when the English Fencing Team was visiting New There were some 67 medals in all. The fencing coaC the Naval Academy whom I contacted regarding the g and who arranged for its acceptance was Andre Deladrie • son of an outstanding Annapolis coach who was a gte friend of George and gave him many lessons in the a 1920s and early 1930s. The medals were accepted on half of the Academy by Commander J. W. Blanchard, r j the Deputy Director of Athletics at the Academy at t time. 5
Our son, George Charles Calnan, Jr., was born on October 1933. As he grew up, his room was filled w*^ mementos of his father’s career, notable among which W a print of the Los Angeles Olympic stadium at the time the opening of the Olympic games of 1932. In the cente^ his father could be seen with hand held high at the time giving the Olympic oath. , ■
In the fall of 1950, George Jr. was ready to start ^ college career at Brown University in Providence, R*10 Island. Shortly before entrance time, he attended a Br0 freshman dinner that was held in New York City. After ^ dinner, a friend and he decided to see a Broadway rn(,vlL and chose “Jim Thorpe—All American.” In that movl ’ a Pathe News film of the 1932 Los Angeles Oly111^ opening ceremonies was incorporated, including a clos up of George giving the Olympic oath
Jersey home, he burst into the bedroom, exclaiming “Mother, you won’t believe this! I have never in my 1 j had such a feeling. I heard and saw my father spea • heard and saw him give the Olympic oath!
After George’s death in 1933, Mrs. Case worked as assistant direct^ a nonprofit cooperative buying and research organization for hospd*1 New York City. During World War II. she joined a large depai(j,e store as assistant to the personnel director, later becoming director 0 ^
personnel activities department. In July 1942, she married a New ^ ^ banker, with whom she now lives in Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. been involved in volunteer work at the First Community C Children’s Hospital, and First Community Village.