George, Frank Vreeland, Jr., 2008 June 18

This is a Living History interview with Vreeland George, class of 1950, conducted by Marilyn Somers on June 18th, 2008 at Georgia Tech Savannah in Savannah, Georgia. The subject is the interviewee’s life, and experiences at Georgia Tech.

Mr. George was born in Savannah in 1924 and grew up with a supportive and hard-working family. He started elementary school when The Great Depression began and remembers enjoying school and making many friends. His family did not own a car, but rode the streetcar everywhere, especially to church. Mr. George’s surname originates from New York and his first name is from his family in Maryland. He started high school and remembers various games and activities that he and his friends would participate in to have fun. In high school, Mr. George decided on three goals that he wanted to accomplish within his lifetime: becoming an engineer, flying an airplane, and joining the Marine Corps. The greatest satisfaction of his life is that he achieved all three goals. After graduating from high school, Mr. George tried to get into the Navy Pre-Flight Program, but could not because of a vision problem. He joined the Marine Corps instead and was sent to boot camp in San Diego, California. After boot camp, Mr. George was sent back to the east coast to attend radio gunner school to become an aerial marksman. He had to go back to the west coast to learn how to operate his specific aircraft, the SBD Dauntless, by actually shooting at targets in the desert. After training, Mr. George was sent to the Philippines and left on a sortie two or three times a week. He remembers hearing about the atomic bombs while in the Pacific Ocean on his way home. Once home, Mr. George wanted to go to college and decided to apply to Georgia Tech because he wanted to be an engineer. He started at Tech in the summer of 1946 taking a refresher course and living on campus. Once the regular school year started he had to live off campus at Fort Gordon with the other veterans. He decided to continue in his studies of Civil Engineering despite feeling a little discouraged after his first year. Mr. George remembers and admires professors like Dr. George Sowers and E.E. “Shorty” Bortell. Besides working hard in his classes, Mr. George joined Sigma Chi Fraternity. During Mr. George’s sophomore year, he decided that commuting from Fort Gordon was too difficult and rented a room in a boarding house on North Avenue with two of his Savannah friends. He was at Tech when Sideways the dog roamed the campus, but he does not remember any significant contact with the legendary dog. Mr. George also remembers legends from Tech such as Dean George Griffin and The Varsity owner, Frank Gordy. He kept in contact with his future wife, Allene, during his time at Tech mostly via letters. Mr. George always remembers his classes being difficult, but he found his major classes to be very interesting. He also remembers the change over of presidents from Dr. Brittain to Dr. Van Leer. Mr. George always went to the football games. He went to school year round except for the summer of 1949 when he went to Honduras and worked for the United Fruit Company. After graduation, he began to work for Southern Paperboard Company. He had to leave his job in 1950 because he was called back to active duty. He spent his time as a boot camp instructor and an engineer officer. After his second stint in the military, Mr. George began to work at Thomas and Hutton Engineering as a junior engineer on a survey team. He got married in 1956 and became president of the company in 1972. As president, he helped to open up another branch of the company in Charleston, South Carolina. In recent years, Mr. George has served on the Advisory Board for Georgia Tech Savannah. He has four children and three grandchildren that he is very proud of. In 2001, Mr. George was inducted into the Georgia Tech College of Engineering Hall of Fame.