"Aegis Fortissima Virtus"

"The strongest shield is virtue" was the school motto at Kensington High School in Buffalo.  Clara Matynka, our CMZ, saved a big carton of memorabilia related to the school from which she graduated in 1947.

In 1942, sister Gertrude was a freshman at Ken; Clara was still in middle school.  The yearbook cover art is startling.

 The back cover has the US flag surrounded by flags of various Latin American countries, over the Kensington arms and motto.  Remember, you can click on the image to enlarge it into Preview.

The endpapers, front and back, are of a theme as alien to snowy Buffalo as is imaginable.  The surface of the Moon is closer to the Buffalo climate than the Sonora Desert.  Furthermore, all cheerful colors are surreal in 1942.

Here is a clue: a map of German-occupied Europe in that year.

Here's a link to another one, with numbers as links to entries in a chronology of devastation. 

Below, a further clue: a map of the Japanese advance through mid-1942, from the Wikipedia article "Pacific War."

The British Commonwealth and the Americas were at bay.  Even with the Soviets battling the Wehrmacht on the second front, not only Europe but most of the Old World and most of the oceans were battlegrounds in 1942, with the attackers still having the advantage.

So the theme for the graduating class that year was solidarity with nearby allies. (For some reason, Canada was not mentioned or pictured.)

"The Compass of 1942 records Kensington's part in the struggle for victory and the furthering of Latin American friendships . . ."

The photo and name list for senior boys was half that of the photo and name list for senior girls.  It looks like half the upperclassman boys had signed up.  Their names are listed on a special page to the front of the volume.  Note the asterisk next to "Raymond Pawlowski."

Next up: the 1942 Compass continues, featuring war bonds, slide rules, and the antithetical forces of anonymous clones versus Dorothy Lamour.