I was a Third Class Midshipman in the NROTC Unit at the University of Minnesota in 1955.  Colleen was my girlfriend who lived in my home town...Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.  She was selected and sponsored by a local business firm to vie for the title of Sleepy Eye Fire Queen.  (She was the most congenial and prettiest girl in the whole bunch so I was not surprised that she was crowned Miss Sleepy Eye 1955)  One of the perks for the queens of all the small towns in Minnesota was that they got an all expense paid trip to attend the annual St. Paul Winter Carnival Gala in St. Paul, Minnesota and ride on the visiting queen floats in the grand parade plus attend all the royal functions---including a giant gala Grand Royal Party and Ball...for the Grand Ball, the visiting queens are traditionally paired with the First Class Midshipmen from the U. of M. NROTC unit for the event.  When I found out that this was going to happen, I did not want any First Class Middie escorting Colleen but I was only a Third Classman with minimum leverage to stop it from happening.  Never, had a 3rd Class Middie ever been an escort for a visiting queen.  So after spending a lot of time in thought and anxiety, I decided I had to make a move.  The NROTC Unit Commander was a Marine Colonel whom I had met one time.  During my freshman year the colonel had asked me to come to his office once because I was the only Midshipman in the entire NROTC unit that was majoring in Forestry.  The Colonel informed me that he had something ‘eating the railings’ on his porch and asked me if I could help him identify and kill the type of bug that was causing the damage.  Freshmen Foresters know nothing about Entomology, but my time in the Navy had enlightened me enough to say ‘Yes Sir, I can help you’.  So I took the problem to an Entomology Prof (who would be my Entomology professor in my senior year) and ‘together’ we solved the problem. (It was powder post beetle damage)  The Colonel was elated.  So, hoping that the Colonel would still recognize me, I decided to throw caution to the winds and ask for a private meeting with him.   I got it, and somehow had enough courage to explain my predicament to him in such a manner that he readily agreed that an exception to the traditional rule should be made in my case.  I was going to be able to escort Colleen to the Grand Ball as a Third Classman!!

But the plot thickens here:  Colleen had no idea that I had made any arrangements to be her escort....and as the date of the Grand Ball Event rolled around, I was able to act as though I was going to be busy with school work on that night but hoped she would have a great time at the festivities.  The way they introduce the escorts to the visiting queens is pretty crude.  i.e. all of us Midshipmen (in dress uniform) were grouped at the end of a large, empty conference room (basketball court size) and then all the visiting queens entered the room from the far end all at the same time....and there were probably at least 50 queens all in formal dresses.  All the Midshipmen came forward and randomly offered an arm to a queen and then led her off to a social gathering.  I sought out Colleen (who did not expect me to be in the room) and gave her the surprise of her life by offering her my arm.