Tau Zeta During WWII

The other day I was looking at our Tau Zeta archives, reading through old chapter minutes. These chapter minutes, written by a typewriter, date back to some of the earliest times the 1920s, 30s and 40s. While I was skimming from year to year I came across a passage that didn’t include any of the formal information such as when chapter took place, who presided over chapter, and what was discussed during chapter. Instead this was a simple note intended for future members of Tau Zeta to reflect on. The following note reads:

This is the close of the school year of 1942-43. Most of the boys are destined for service in the United State Armed Forces soon after school closes. Since the Army is planning on renting the house for the duration, we have stored all of our furniture in the Chapter room now. We all hope for a speedy close of hostilities, and may the house again be open to the fraternity fellowship, meetings, the old nights of study, and the jolly times that are possible amongst brothers of the Bond. With this I close, hoping the new Gamma has as much fun and inspiration as I have from my duties.

Yours in ZAX,

Clinton C. Sloan

To put things in perspective, by the close of the 1942, 1943 school year, Marines had just captured Guadalcanal from the Japanese in the Pacific and were turning their attention to Rabaul. U.S. military forces would continue to island hop in the Pacific for two more years. In Europe at this time, the axis powers were continuing to spread through the continent and D-day would not occur for another year. 

In essence, America was at the height of the global conflict of World War II.

This passage from the Tau Zeta gamma (secretary) amazes me and quite frankly it’s hard to comprehend. Imagine an entire group of men in a fraternity leaving college, shipped overseas, and uncertain of what the next few months might hold. Imagine a fraternity house being disbanded for a year because of the war efforts (the next passage in the archives was written in the fall of 1945).  During World War II a whole generation of people dedicated their lives to making sure we could have a future void of tyranny.

As Tau Zeta continues to progress we must be fortunate for the chance to be a part of a tight brotherhood. At this moment, we don’t have to fear that an imminent conflict half way around the world will tear us apart from our Tau Zeta experience. We should always be thankful and remember the people who fought for our country and who are still fighting- including Lambda Chi’s.

In ZAX,

Andrew Talevich

Alumni Correspondent.

Tau 1731