I am a proud alumna of Bath’s Huse School, which I attended a couple decades after its construction. I have many memories: watching Mercury astronauts blasting off on the school’s only black-and-white TV, collecting the milk money (4 cents for regular milk, 5 cents for chocolate), talent shows, safety patrol crossing guards, biography-reading contests, great teachers.

But just as importantly, the name of the school was kept alive by its students. Every one of us learned that John E.L. Huse was a true hero who was the first “Bath boy” to be killed in World War II. We saw his portrait on the wall every day. According to a West Point history written by Franklin Wright, a Morse High School classmate, Huse was valedictorian of the Morse Class of 1934, a 1939 graduate of West Point, and a proud member of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was stationed in the Philippines on Dec. 24, 1941, when he won the Silver Star for distinguishing himself under enemy fire when he continued to change a tire on a disabled plane even as enemy fighter planes strafed the airplane he was fixing. He was killed on a routine test flight on Feb. 3, 1942, after which, the school was named for him.

It is with all this in mind that I urge the Szanton Co. to preserve the name and the history of John E.L. Huse. The “John E.L. Huse Apartments” has a nice ring to it. And a portrait plaque would also be fitting for this hero of the City of Ships.

Elaine S. Povich
Laurel, Maryland