Queens College Press Release, Alan Rea Dedication
Files
Title
Queens College Press Release, Alan Rea Dedication
Description
Press release announcing the re-dedication of the Queens College ROTC building in honor of Lieutenant Alan Rea, who died in a plane crash in the Netherlands. Lieutenant Rea, a graduate of Queens College and the Air Force ROTC program there, was piloting an Air Force jet when it malfunctioned and went down. He remained in the aircraft instead of ejecting so as to avoid a collision with a civilian building in its path.
Subject
Queens College (New York, N.Y.)
United States--Air Force ROTC
Rea, Alan
Creator
Queens College (New York, N.Y.)
Source
AirForceROTCCollection.Box2.Folder11
Publisher
Queens College Department of Special Collections and Archives (New York, N.Y.)
Date
1958-04-01
Rights
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Format
Image
JPEG
496448 bytes
348179 bytes
Language
English
Type
Text
Coverage
Queens College (New York, N.Y.)
Zeist (Netherlands)
Text
NEWS FROM QUEENS COLLEGE FLUSHING, N.Y.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL:
Henry S. Miller, Public Relations Counselor
Flushing 3-4700 or Hamilton 3-4292
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 1958
A number of distinguished civic and Air Force officials, including Major General Turner C. Rogers, Commandant of Headquarters Air Force ROTC, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and the Honorable Gustave G. Rosenberg, Chairman of the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, will attend the ceremonies incident to the renaming of the Queens College Air Force ROTC building as Lieutenant Alan N. Rea Hall. The ceremonies will be held on Tuesday, May 20, starting at 11 A.M. on the Flushing campus.
The building was named in memory of the first Air Force ROTC graduate of Queens College who was killed in the line of duty. Lt. Rea gave his life heroically last May 28 in Zeist, The Netherlands, when he was killed in an F-100 Sabre-Jet. Lt. Rea, instead of possibly saving his own life, chose to remain in the jet in order to prevent it from crashing into Den Dolder mental institution. He thereby saved hundreds of other lives.
Among those who spoke highly of Lt. Rea's heroic deed were H. Freeman Matthews, U.S. Ambassador to The Netherlands, Lt. General William H. Tunner, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and General Nathan F. Twining, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The plaque to be affixed to the building and unveiled on May 20 by Norman Parsons of Beechhurst, a graduate of Queens College now with the New York Telephone Company, reads in part: "Lt. Rea's life was given in a cause of eternal significance to our nation and to all mankind." The plaque was donated by Beta Phi fraternity, of which Lt. Rea was a member.
Lt. Rea was one of two distinguished military graduates at Queens College in February 1955. He was commissioned a second lieutenant when he received his B.A. degree in Economics. He was a member of the Arnold Air Society and The Pershing Rifles. Lt. Rea's wife, the former Dorothy Hannigan, and daughter, Celia, now over a year old, were in Holland at the time of his death. They now reside in Kew Gardens.
The cereminies will begin with a formal AFROTC review. Greetings will be given by Dr. John J. Theobald, President-on-leave of Queens College and Superintendent of Schools-elect of New York City, Dr. Thomas V. Garvey, Queens
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College Provost, Lt. Colonel Orange W. Hall, Professor of Air Science at Queens, and other officials. Gill Robb Wilson's well-known poem, "Courage," will be read by Dr. Irving P. Schwartz, one of Lt. Rea's fraternity brothers and Assistant Public Relations Counselor at Queens. The Rev. W. L. Damian Pitcaithly, Chaplain of the Queens College Canterbury Club will offer the invocation and benediction.
Other guests will include members of the Board of Higher Education, New York City officials and Air Force representatives from Mitchel Air Force Base and Headquarters Air Force ROTC.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL:
Henry S. Miller, Public Relations Counselor
Flushing 3-4700 or Hamilton 3-4292
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 1958
A number of distinguished civic and Air Force officials, including Major General Turner C. Rogers, Commandant of Headquarters Air Force ROTC, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and the Honorable Gustave G. Rosenberg, Chairman of the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, will attend the ceremonies incident to the renaming of the Queens College Air Force ROTC building as Lieutenant Alan N. Rea Hall. The ceremonies will be held on Tuesday, May 20, starting at 11 A.M. on the Flushing campus.
The building was named in memory of the first Air Force ROTC graduate of Queens College who was killed in the line of duty. Lt. Rea gave his life heroically last May 28 in Zeist, The Netherlands, when he was killed in an F-100 Sabre-Jet. Lt. Rea, instead of possibly saving his own life, chose to remain in the jet in order to prevent it from crashing into Den Dolder mental institution. He thereby saved hundreds of other lives.
Among those who spoke highly of Lt. Rea's heroic deed were H. Freeman Matthews, U.S. Ambassador to The Netherlands, Lt. General William H. Tunner, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and General Nathan F. Twining, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The plaque to be affixed to the building and unveiled on May 20 by Norman Parsons of Beechhurst, a graduate of Queens College now with the New York Telephone Company, reads in part: "Lt. Rea's life was given in a cause of eternal significance to our nation and to all mankind." The plaque was donated by Beta Phi fraternity, of which Lt. Rea was a member.
Lt. Rea was one of two distinguished military graduates at Queens College in February 1955. He was commissioned a second lieutenant when he received his B.A. degree in Economics. He was a member of the Arnold Air Society and The Pershing Rifles. Lt. Rea's wife, the former Dorothy Hannigan, and daughter, Celia, now over a year old, were in Holland at the time of his death. They now reside in Kew Gardens.
The cereminies will begin with a formal AFROTC review. Greetings will be given by Dr. John J. Theobald, President-on-leave of Queens College and Superintendent of Schools-elect of New York City, Dr. Thomas V. Garvey, Queens
-MORE-
-2-
College Provost, Lt. Colonel Orange W. Hall, Professor of Air Science at Queens, and other officials. Gill Robb Wilson's well-known poem, "Courage," will be read by Dr. Irving P. Schwartz, one of Lt. Rea's fraternity brothers and Assistant Public Relations Counselor at Queens. The Rev. W. L. Damian Pitcaithly, Chaplain of the Queens College Canterbury Club will offer the invocation and benediction.
Other guests will include members of the Board of Higher Education, New York City officials and Air Force representatives from Mitchel Air Force Base and Headquarters Air Force ROTC.
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77
Original Format
Paper
Press release
8 x 14 inches (203 x 356 mm)
Collection
Citation
Queens College (New York, N.Y.), “Queens College Press Release, Alan Rea Dedication,” Queens College Archives and Special Collections, accessed January 17, 2019, https://archives.qc.cuny.edu/queenscollege/items/show/467.