With so great a number of Michigan men with the expeditionary forces,
the University was particularly interested in their welfare while "over
there." From the first Michigan took a prominent part in the
establishment of the American University Union in Paris, of which
President Hutchins was one of the first Board of Trustees. Professor
Charles B. Vibbert, '04, of the Department of Philosophy was appointed
Director of the Michigan Bureau by President Hutchins and was made one
of the Executive Committee in Paris. Here he rendered most effective
service to the hundreds of Michigan men who used the club house, a
large hotel in the heart of Paris, as their headquarters. He was also
assigned as his special duty, the promotion of friendly relations
between the Americans and the French people of Paris, and so successful
was he in this task that he was awarded the Legion of Honor by the
French government. After the end of the demobilization period he
remained in Paris for a time as Director of a permanent Union which
succeeded the war organization. Two other representatives of the
University, Mr. Warren J. Vinton, '11, for some time Professor Vibbert's
assistant, and Assistant Professor Philip E. Bursley, '02, one of the
general secretaries, were on the Union's staff.
No review of Michigan's record in the war would be complete without a
word as to the share of the Faculty. As never before this was a war of
scientists and technically trained men. There was hardly a subject
taught in the University which did not fit in somewhere, while the work
of such departments as chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics, and
the various branches of engineering, to say nothing of the Schools of
Medicine and the Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy, proved absolutely
indispensable. Long before this country entered the war Dean M.E. Cooley
had offered his services to the Government, when the crisis which he and
many others foresaw, should come.
In all there were 162 members of the Faculty in various forms of war
service, a large proportion of them in uniform. Among those to whom were
assigned particularly noteworthy tasks were Dean Victor C. Vaughan,
'78_m_, of the Medical Advisory Board of the Council of National Defense
and later Colonel on the staff of the Surgeon-General in Washington,
where was also Dr. Walter R. Parker, '88_e_, Professor of
Ophthalmology, who as Lieutenant-Colonel in the Medical Corps had charge
of head surgery. Dr. Udo J. Wile, Professor of Dermatology, Major in the
Medical Corps, was among the earliest medical officers abroad, where he
was in charge of the first American hospital in England, near Liverpool.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account