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<em>John Finzer Presnell, Jr</em>., was born in Portland, Maine, November 2, 1914, the son of John F. and Fannye Farwell Presnell. He attended the local schools, graduating as salutatorian of his class from the Portland High School in 1932. He entered Bowdoin College that fall and began an academic career of unusual distinction. In 1936 he obtained his degree of Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, having in the meantime won the Goodwin French Prize, the Smyth Mathematical Prize, the Brown Memorial and Kling Scholarships, and having been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He also acted as undergraduate assistant in Mathematics and Chemistry. In college he was quiet, modest, and popular. For two or three years he was a member of the National Guard, so deeply did he feel his obligations to his country. Appointed to West Point by Senator Hale in 1936 he continued there as a high ranking student; upon graduation he was awarded the Sons of the American Revolution Cup for military efficiency, the General Pershing sword as a cadet captain and regimental commander, and the Robert E. Lee Memorial sword presented by the United Daughters of the Confederacy for the highest rating in mathematics. It is perhaps well to emphasize the really distinguished scholastic record of Presnell both at Bowdoin College and at West Point because it is evidence of a line mind, of unusual industry and of a strong character. When he received word of his appointment to West Point, with characteristic modesty he wrote to me, “I hope that I may be able in small part to reflect the fine training in scholarship that I have received at Bowdoin.” That he graduated third in his class at West Point is proof that this ambition of his was well fulfilled.</p>
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Commissioned as second lieutenant Presnell sailed for the Philippines in August 1940, he was captured at the fall of Bataan, the War Department officially notifying his parents of that fact December 12, 1942. For three years a prisoner of the Japanese; he was reported as having died December 15, 1944 after the sinking of a Japanese prison ship in Subic Bay, Luzon, P.I.</p>
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Just thirty when he died he left to all who knew him the memory of a good man, a splendid officer and a fine and generous spirit. In his memory his parents have given a scholarship to Bowdoin College with the interesting provision that the recipient should keep in mind during his college course “the Cadet Prayer of West Point.” Thus a college of liberal arts founded in 1794 and the United States Military Academy both have pride in the life and death of a young American who all through his career was an outstanding example of the military phrase, “beyond the call of duty.”</p>
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<em>—Kenneth C. M. Sills, President of Bowdoin College</em></p>
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