University Fire-Fighters Reminisce About War Time Rigours And Monthly Banquets

Two fire trucks, replete with water pumps, hard rubber tires, 45 volunteer smoke-eaters and a lot of good times composed the working assets of the colorful, if not so vital University Auxiliary Fire Department, supported by the administration during the wartime years.

Chief of Harvard's own fire department was Fred Graves who retired last summer after over 15 years with the maintenance department. Many more of the old "fire horses," all drawn from the maintenance department, are still around however, including Armand Perry, Al Gardiner, Herb Wilson and James Habcock.

A 1928 Knox hook and ladder rig, the noble warrior of the department, was bought from a Boston fire station and rushed to the Harvard division to become the workhorse of the University force. The Knox, featuring solid rubber tires and a built-in water pump, was by far the finest engine Harvard had ever owned.

The forty-five auxiliaries were scrupulously regimented into two distinct crews under selected captains and lieutenants; they drilled at least once a week, usually roaring from their Memorial Drive station to Soldiers Field where hoses, ladders, and men would dive into action pumping water from the Charles near the boat house onto the Stadium at the rate of 500 gallons per minute.

But a Harvard Auxiliary Fireman's job was not always all work and no play. The group took on the aspect of an informal club when there was no work to be done and this is the part the old gang remembers best. "Everybody always showed up for those," Perry grinned when asked about the monthly banquets held upstairs in the Faculty Club. After dinner the Boston Fire Chief or other notables in the fire prevention world would speak for a while on modern techniques and use of equipment, and the rest of the evening would be taken up with sports movies or other entertainment.