In November of 1956, refurbishing work was being done on the west side of North Barracks. The workers were a bit careless with some of their equipment, and one day a fairly long rope was noticed, discarded off to one side. Thinking that a good piece of rope like that should not go unused, I started mulling possibilities. Somehow, the rope, the Supe's sentry box, and Arvin Gym came together in my mind. The rope was not long enough to reach the top of the gym, but would do quite well in reaching the top of the one-story projection on the side of the gym facing the lost 50's.

Discussion with my roomies, Harry Shedd and Coleman Conrad, resulted in development of a plan which called for two teams; one to get the rope and climb to the destination roof, the other to fetch the sentry box. We obviously needed more manpower, so we went to our G-2 classmates. A briefing was held, teams formed, and a decision reached to execute the plan at the next after-taps football rally for the Army-Navy Game. All were to wear black parkas with a white handerchief tied around their wrist for identification.

The next rally began, and we executed the plan. The first problem came when we tried to move the sentry box. It tipped without much trouble, but we discovered the base was heavily weighted, and we struggled to lift it. We had, at most, six lifters; however, there were cadets within earshot, and we soon had more than enough willing helpers. They knew not where we were going or what we were going to do with the sentry box, but the temptation to do something, anything, with the Supe's sentry box was too much for them to resist.

We arrived at our destination to find the other team on the roof with the two ends of the rope hanging down. It was a long rope, permitting us to lay the sentry box on top of the two end sections, and the ends would still reach up to the roof so the box could be rolled up. Again, the unexpected weight almost did us in, but by this time there were plenty of cadets available, many from H-2. Several cadets scrambled up to the roof to help on the rope while as many as could find room to get a hand on the sentry box lifted from the ground. Once the box was on the roof and upright, everyone rapidly dispersed to the rally, and the rope was returned to were we found it, once more to be lonely.

The Commandant's staff did not seem to appreciate our efforts. Fortunately, they did not have any suspects, although they logically narrowed the suspect pool to the Second Regiment. Therefore, the Second Regiment company commanders were summoned to Colonel Oglesby's office where they drew lots to see which company would restore the sentry box to its proper resting place. L-2 won! Naturally, the work was delegated to the L-2 plebes. The box stood on the roof for several days before someone figured out a way to get it down. I suppose nobody looked for the lonely rope. ...Jack Bujalski