In September 1917, Headmaster Nathaniel Horton Batchelder told a group of fellow school heads, “When the world shall have been made safe for democracy, it will still remain for us schoolmen to make democracy safe for the world by training up boys who know what democracy means and how to lead.” Batchelder and Loomis students had already begun this endeavor with vigorous patriotic home front efforts on campus during World War I. This was their generation's quest for the best self and the common good.
 

Officers of the Boys Battalion, 1917

In 1917, Loomis founded a training militia unit for students. The Boys Battalion drilled outdoors once spring weather arrived, gathering at 6:30 every morning at the bugle’s call. The school also started a military band that played at social events.
 

“A Country Worth Fighting For is a Country Worth Plowing For”

Students enrolled in the Agriculture Program did their bit for home front efforts by raising vegetables on campus farmland during the summers of 1917 and 1918. They produced enough potatoes, corn, and other vegetables to meet the school’s needs for the entire coming year. This is Walter Wood ’18 driving the school’s tractor.
 

Wheatless and Meatless Menus, 1918

The Loomis Dining Hall responded to national calls for patriotic sacrifice and modest consumption. Students and faculty ate one meatless and one wheatless meal per day for much of the 1917–18 school year.
 

The Loomis LOG, April 11, 1917

LOG issues from the World War I period paint a picture of the school’s eager participation in home front projects, of visiting speakers who shared news from the war, and of the experience of alumni who were serving in the US military.
 

Charles “Chick” Sellers

After passing exams in early 1918 for service with the WW I Army Aviation Corps, Loomis faculty member and baseball coach, Chick Sellers, was called to service in May. For Coach Sellers’ last game, the team soundly defeated Westminster and “fought with a determination to give him a cheerful send-off.” Chick was sorely missed until his return in the winter of 1919, just in time for the first basketball game of the season.
 

Gwendolen Batchelder Flagpole Dedication, May 11, 1918

Students erected a flagpole on the northside of Founders Hall to celebrate the life of their headmaster’s wife, Gwendolen Batchelder, who passed away unexpectedly in 1917. The dedication ceremony was replete with personal recollections and patriotic references. The LOG reported, “The flag was…raised and when it was broken out, many small American flags fluttered to the ground.” For a number of years, each freshman raised and lowered the flag for one week during the school year.