Ryan & Fairbanks Army Officers, 1942

Now Army Officers

Bainbridge News & Republican, July 16, 1942

 

James Ryan and Paul Fairbanks

 

Bainbridge residents will surely recognize the two bright-eyed lads on this week's front page as two Eagle Boy Scouts of Troop 52, Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], who proudly posed in their splendor some time in the year 1935 right after they had been chosen, on credits of ability and merit, to represent their Scout Troop at the annual Boy Scout Camporee held in Washington, D.C.  At the time they posed for this picture the boys did not know that their trip would be cancelled, as was the whole Camporee, due to an epidemic of infantile paralysis in the nation's capital, and their pride in their accomplishment is clearly reflected on their faces.

 

The timely thing about this picture is the fact that both of these boys, Eagle Scouts in their boyhood, are now lieutenants in the United States Army, and the only two lieutenants from Bainbridge.  The boys, of course, are First Lieutenant James F. Ryan, son of Mr. and Mrs. P.F Ryan, and Second Lieutenant Paul D. Fairbanks, son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Fairbanks.

 

Paul D. Fairbanks graduated from Bainbridge Central High School in June, 1935,.  During his years in school, Paul was an active member of the Boy Scouts, was an apt bugler, and soon graduated to the rank of an Eagle Scout, and was also an assistant scoutmaster.  On completion of his high school course at Bainbridge, Paul took a post graduate course at Swarthmore High School at Swarthmore, Pa.  In the Fall of 1936, he entered the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., where he remained for three years in the department of Social Science.  In March of 1941, he was inducted into the United States Army and received his basic training in the armored force at Fort Bragg, N.C.  From there he was transferred to Ft. Blanding, Fla., where he participated in two maneuvers one in Louisiana and one in South Carolina.  In both campaigns Paul served on the headquarters staff as assistant to the major in charge of the maps and reports in connection with them.  In January of this year, Corp. Fairbanks was assigned to Camp Shelby, La., and while there, was notified that he had been selected to take training in preparation for an officer's commission.  He was then transferred to the Officers' Candidate School at Fort Knox, Ky., in March, 1942.  On July, 1942, he was graduated receiving the commission of Second Lieutenant, a ceremony which his parents attended at his camp in Kentucky.  On receiving his commission, Lt. Fairbanks accompanied his parents back home for a  10-day furlough after which he was assigned to duty in the Third Division at Camp Polk, La. 

 

James F. Ryan graduated from Bainbridge Central High School in June, 1937, after having spent most of his school days as a member of the local Scout Troop.  He, too, was an Eagle Scout and was active in assisting the Scout Masters to enlarge and improve on the Troop which was then just beginning to become really organized.  In the fall of 1937, "Jim" entered St. Bonaventure's College, St. Bonaventure, where he followed the pre-medical course and was a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps where he received the training that made him eligible for  his commission on graduating.  While in college, Jim was a member of the Alpha Kappa Mu Fraternity, was active in athletics, a member of the band, and also served on the officers' board of the Student Senate.  He excelled at his studies and was mentioned in the National Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities on account of his scholastic ability.  In June, 1941, he graduated form Bonaventure College and received his commission as Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery on June 6, after having completed his R.O.T.C. requirements by serving six weeks at Pine Camp, where he experienced maneuvers training.  He was assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C., on Aug. 10, of last year, and was attached to the Third Regiment, Field Artillery, where his work was connected with the training of selectees.  Excelling at his new work, his superior officers soon recognized his worth and in March of 1942, the News received a communication from Ft. Bragg notifying us that Lt. Ryan had been appointed to the staff of Headquarters of the Third Regiment as aide de campe to Col. O.M. Moore.  At present Lt. Ryan is still stationed at Ft. Bragg. 

 

This brings to the present the history of two Boy Scouts, both of whom repeatedly have stated, that their training in Troop 52 did much for them that helped them later in their lives. They each took their Scout training seriously and excelled at it, becoming two of the very few Eagle Scouts that Bainbridge has ever had  And when modern times indicated that the military was the necessary mode, they left their other plans and took their Army life seriously, and continually excelling at this, we leave them with new work, new fields and always the promises of further advancements for two such able young men at Lts. Fairbanks and Ryan.