1915: In war’s shadow

On June 16 Boston College conferred 76 degrees at its annual commencement, the third to take place on the Chestnut Hill campus. The graduation speaker was David I. Walsh, governor of Massachusetts. Elsewhere, in the fields of Flanders, the Second Battle of Ypres had just concluded, with the first use of poison gas in warfare and the death of 100,000 troops in one month. In 1916, BC enrollment stood at 671; two years later, it was 125, as America joined the war and students enlisted.