Figure 1.--This is a section of our class photo at Swampscott Jr. High in 1944. I am fourth from the end of the second row. The School had a very strict dress code. We always came to school looking like this, not just for the photo. The boys were supposed to wear jacket and tie at all times. There were no trousers for the girls.

We arrived in America just in time for school. I recall being interviewed with my brother by the Superintendent of Schools, a Mr. Manser. We had taken our English school reports with us. I recall no test though. I had wonderful teachers in America. Integration was a bit difficult. I was nine, nearly ten when I went to American School. I was put in the 6th grade, so the rest of my class were two years older. I started school in UK when I was nearly four so I had a head start. Socially it made life difficult, but my classmates were tolerant. I was used to having an older brother and so having twenty-five older 'brothers' and 'sisters' was not the challenge that my brother had. He started in the 8th grade and he was only eleven, and still in short pants! I think that only lasted a few days before our guardians took pity on him and bought him some long trousers. I wore my prep school suit for a few weeks until the weather turned cold and I went into longs. A few boys wore knickers but only one in the 7th Grade. Because I had been taught Latin and French back in England, I used to go into the Junior High next door and have Latin and French with the 7th Graders. We were streamed when we went into Junior High and my stream was C1 which stood for 'College Grade 1. Academic status was respected, so inspite of my age and small size, I was O.K. My accent caused interest. The kids used to come up to me and say "Talk, go on Talk, we love it." I had the reverse experience when I returned to England in 1945. My 100 percent American accent caused giggles in class if I had to read aloud.

Elementary School (1940-41)

We arrived in America just in time for school. School began only a few days after we arrived. I recall being interviewed with my brother by the Superintendent of Schools, a Mr. Manser. We had taken our English school reports with us. I recall no test though. I had wonderful teachers in America. Integration was a bit difficult. I was 9, nearly 10 years old when I went to American School. I was put in the 6th grade which was the last year of elementary or primary school as it is usually called in Britain or Europe. so the rest of my class were 2 years older. I started school in UK when I was nearly 4 years old so I had a head start. I wore my prep school suit for a few weeks until the weather turned cold and I went into longs. Socially it made life difficult, but my classmates were tolerant. I was used to having an older brother and so having twenty-five older 'brothers' and 'sisters' was not the challenge that my brother had in junior high school.

Junior High School (1941-44)

While I was placed in elementary school, Crahm was placed in junior high school. He started in the 8th grade and he was only 11 years old, and still in short pants! I think that only lasted a few days before our guardians took pity on him and bought him some long trousers I joined Grahm in junior high school the second year. A few boys wore knickers but only one in the 7th Grade. Because I had been taught Latin and French back in England, I used to go into the Junior High next door and have Latin and French with the 7th Graders. We were streamed when we went into Junior High and my stream was C1 which stood for 'College Grade 1. Academic status was respected, so inspite of my age and small size, I was O.K. My accent caused interest. The kids used to come up to me and say "Talk, go on Talk, we love it." I had the reverse experience when I returned to England in 1945. My 100 percent American accent caused giggles in class if I had to read aloud. In Junior High I had several charismatic teachers. These were all women. After kindergarten I had always been taught by men, until then. Miss Fitzgerald taught us English, but so much more. She taught us how to use the Public Library and how to look things up. At the beginning of each term we were given a list of essay titles. From the list we had to produce each Monday morning a 500 word essay on any one of the subjects that took our fancy. It meant using the reference Library. There was no Google then. That is how I beame fascinated with Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Panama Canal, about which I have sent contributions to HBC. Here I am in my junior high school in 1944 (figure 1).

Prep School (1944-45)

After graduating from Jr High, I went to Vermont Academy, a private boarding school in Saxton's River. Here I blossomed. We were taught by men. Again we had wonderful teachers. Memorable were the English Master, Maths master and the biology teacher. He inspired me to do medicine. I had my own research project with fruit flies confirming Mendelian genetics. Sport was very organised and I loved it, particulary skiing. Size didn't matter so even though I was only five foot nothing, I had a low centre of gravity, which is no bad thing. I had endurance. I loved cross country skiing and was tolerably good at the half mile on the track.