Delta Kappa Epsilon

Captain Richard E Fleming, Phi Epsilon (Minnesota)

Captain Richard E. Fleming was awakened early in the morning of June 5th, 1942 on Midway Island having had less than four hours sleep. Orders had just been received to pursue and attack a pair of Japanese heavy cruisers sighted in retreat from Midway Island.

As part of the Japanese invasion force intended for Midway, the cruisers Mogami and Mikuma were stationed away from the island with two other cruisers and two destroyers. When the badly outgunned allied forces stunned the Japanese Navy by destroying four of its aircraft carriers the day before, the orders were given to fall back. Captain Fleming had taken part in the attacks against those carriers. That day also saw two of his squadron's commanders killed in action. His own aircraft took 179 hits during one attack from anti-aircraft fire, but was able to pull out with only two minor wounds himself. The damaged aircraft was forced to fall behind the rest of the squadron, but was able to make a safe landing despite total darkness and hazardous weather.

That night the cruisers were ordered to turn around and head to safety. The Mogami, last in the column, didn't get the order promptly and rammed the Mikuma. The Mogami caught fire and damaged so much of her bow that she was only able to make 12 knots. The Mikuma started trailing oil. The two undamaged cruisers moved away to safety, leaving the destroyers behind as protection.

The U.S. submarine Tambor was in the area and heard the sounds of damaged vessels. The cruisers were spotted at night 90 miles west of Midway. The Tambor - never able to maneuver into a firing position - followed them until daybreak at 4:12 a.m. when they were positively identified as Japanese warships.

A PBY Catalina seaplane on patrol from Midway spotted the oil slick and radioed the ship's location back to base, incorrectly identifying them as battleships.

After the losses of the previous day, Captain Fleming was now in command of the second division of Bombing Squadron 241. He collected all airworthy aircraft - six TBM Avenger and six Vindicator dive-bombers - and left Midway without fighter escort in search of the cruisers.

At 8:05 a.m., the cruisers were spotted and he ordered the attack. The Avengers dive-bombed the Mogami while he and the five other Vindicators glide-bombed the Mikuma at a perilously low altitude of 500 feet.

The anti-aircraft fire from the vessels was so heavy and intense that accurate bombing was impossible. Six near misses were scored, but no bomb hits. Captain Fleming's plane was hit and burst into flames. He pressed his aircraft forward, dropped his bombs for a near miss and dove the aircraft into the rear turret of the Mikuma, sacrificing his life.

The impact started the Mikuma on fire and was the only damage inflicted on either cruiser that day. Aircraft from the U.S.S. Enterprise later destroyed the Mikuma and a reconnaissance photograph clearly shows the wreckage of a Vindicator dive bomber scattered around the rear turret.

Soon after, Captain Richard Fleming was awarded the Medal of Honor by the U.S. Congress.

Captain A. Soji was in command of the Mogami and witnessed the attack on the Mikuma. During an interrogation following the war, he spoke of Captain Fleming saying

"I saw a dive-bomber dive into the last turret and start fires. He was very brave."

Perhaps the highest praise a Japanese Naval officer can give to an enemy.

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The Medal of Honor was established in 1861 and first awarded in 1863. The stipulation for receiving this award is that the heroic deed must have two eyewitnesses and be outstanding beyond lesser forms of bravery or risk of life.

Captain Fleming received the citation for "extraordinary heroism and conspicuous intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as Flight Officer Marine Scout - Bombing Squadron 241, during action against enemy Japanese Forces in the battle of Midway on 4 and 5 June 1942."

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Richard Fleming was born on November 2, 1917 and attended St. Thomas Military Academy. He graduated as Top Student Officer in 1935.

He attended the University of Minnesota and joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity where he became president. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1939 and enlisted in the Marine Corps and applied for flight training.

He was sent to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola Florida for training and finished at the top of his class in 1940. In April 1942, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and then Captain only a month later. The Naval Air Base at San Diego became his first duty station. He was stationed at Midway Island ten days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

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Captain Fleming's name was not one to be forgotten. The South St. Paul Municipal airport in Minnesota was officially dedicated on September 29, 1940 when it had but a single hangar. Plans were soon announced that included larger hangars, but World War II was looming on the horizon.

The United States Navy was in desperate need for training facilities, so the airport was sold to the Navy in 1941 who invested approximately $1,000,000 in developing the field. Eight hangars, two large barracks, a boiler room and a power house were constructed. One barracks housed WAVES, the women's auxiliary of the Navy. The field, with its two large circular runways, was used over the next four years for carrier training.

The City of South St. Paul entered into an agreement in 1947 to operate the field as a community airport after it had become military surplus, but the transfer of ownership was put on hold when the Korean War broke out. The city received a quitclaim deed in 1950 and acquired additional land bringing the field to more than 230 acres.

Since 1942, the airport had always been unofficially known as Fleming Field. The South St. Paul Jaycees worked for more than a year to have the airport officially bear Fleming's name in his honor.

In May 1965, the Federal Aeronautics Administration (FAA) agreed to officially name the airport "South St. Paul Municipal Airport - Richard E. Fleming Field." A monument was installed at the entrance of the airport.

The field has been instrumental bringing additional business to the community and has been the center of much activity. In 1949, three National Guard flyers leaving Wold-Chamberlain Field (now Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport) enroute to Little Rock, Arkansas lost engine power. They were just about to bail out when they spotted Fleming Field and made a safe landing.

In 1950, under Jack Lysdale's management, Fleming Field was designated as a control airport for civil defense. "Fleming Field will be the essential unit and nerve center for civil aviation in civil defense, serving as the assembly point in case of emergency."

Fleming Field remains an effective airport today and the home to a number of specialized businesses including a major float designer and manufacturer and the home of the Minnesota Wing of the Commemorative Air Force. The CAF Wing is the oldest in the world and is responsible for restoring and maintaining several aircraft including the B-25 "Miss Mitchell."

Teddy Roosevelt, Alpha (Harvard)

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

"With the regards of your Brother in DKE "

Brothers in DKE, A Poem

Upon a southern battlefield the twilight shadows fall;

The clash and roar are ended, and the evening bugles call.

The wearied hosts are resting where the ground is stained with red,

And o'er the plain between them lie the wounded and the dead.

Then out upon the sodden field where the armies fought all day

There came a group of soldiers who wore the Rebel gray.

But peaceful was their mission upon the darkened plain;

They came to save their wounded and lay at rest the slain.

And tenderly their hands performed the work they had to do;

And one among them paused beside a wounded boy in blue,

A Northern lad with curly hair and eyes of softest brown,

Whose coat of blue was red with blood that trickled slowly down.

A bullet hole was in his breast, and there alone he lay

At night upon the battlefield and moaned his life away.

The Rebel paused beside him and in the lantern's light

He saw upon the Yankee's breast a fair, familiar sight.

It was the pin of DKE, the diamond, stars and scroll-

The emblem of a Brotherhood that bound them soul to soul.

He raised his hand and quickly tore his coat of gray apart

To show the dying soldier a Deke pin on his heart!

Then close beside the Yankee dropped the Rebel to his knee

And their hands were clasped together in the grip of DKE.

"I'm from Theta," said the Yankee, as he tried to raise his head,

"I'm from Psi in Alabama," were the words the other said,

"Brothers from the heart forever"-nothing more was left to say

Though one was clad in Northern blue and one in Southern Gray.

But the wounded lad was dying; his voice was faint at best,

As he murmured out his message for "Mother and the rest."

And as the Rebel soothed him with his head upon his knee,

He heard him whisper "Bowdoin" and "The Dear old DKE."

And he bandaged up the bosom that was torn by Rebel Shot

And bathed the brow with water where the fever fires were hot

And kissed him for his mother and breathed a gentle prayer

While angels' wings were fluttering above them in the air.

Then to a lonely country home far in the heart of Maine

A letter made the journey from that Southern battle plain;

It told about the conflict and how he bravely fell

Who was the son and brother in that home beloved so well.

It told the simple story of that night when he had died,

All written by the Southern Deke who God sent to his side.

And when it all was written the writer sent within

A little lock of curly hair and a battered diamond pin.

And thirty years have passed away, but these simple relics are,

Of all a mother treasures dear, the dearest still by far.

A simple tale and simply told, but true; and I thought it might

Well stir the hearts of loyal Dekes, so I tell it here tonight.

The Northern soldier's name is found on Bowdoin's honor roll;

The names of both are blazoned fair on Delta Kappa's scroll.

God bless our noble Brotherhood; its past is sweet to hear,

And its grandeur and its glory grow with each succeeding year.

And the story of its heroes shall an inspiration be

To us who proudly wear today the pin of DKE.

DKE Founding at Yale University

Each year at Yale University during the 1840's, certain members of the sophomore class were elected to two junior societies, Alpha Delta Phi and Psi Upsilon. In the spring of 1844, due to undergraduate politics and a division in the sophomore class, a number of men of high character and scholastic attainment did not receive bids from the two societies. So unfair, in fact, were the selections that some men who did receive bids promptly rejected them.

On Saturday, June 22, 1844, fifteen Yale sophomores, rejecting the status quo, met and formed a new junior society they called Delta Kappa Epsilon. Very quickly DKE became more than just another junior society. Its predecessors' criterion of academic distinction, while still highly respected, was expanded to include the qualities of good fellowship and compatible tastes and interests and thus attracted a wider range of prospective members. More fraternal than its rival societies, DKE proceeded to recruit men who combine "in equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar, and the jolly good fellow" -- criteria that have remained unchanged to this day.

We are proud of our fraternity and the more than 70,000 men who have become our brothers since DKE was founded in 1844. Dekes come from every walk of life. Many have gone on to distinguish themselves in politics, the arts, sciences, sports, education, and the humanities. Five U.S. Presidents have been Dekes, more than any other any fraternity. The first man to reach the North Pole was a Deke, and a Deke has carried our flag to the moon. In every corner of the world you will meet fellow Dekes, but whatever their background or station in life, all are united by the shared experience of membership in DKE.

Founding at the University of Minnesota

Phi Epsilon Chapter was founded at the University of Minnesota in 1889. Previous to that time, during the Presidency of Dr. Folwell, two formal applications for DKE Charters were refused by the convention. The delegates in each case were worthy young men; but the Fraternity in its wise policy of conservatism was unwilling to place a chapter in any institution which was not on an established basis, and the University at that time seemed hardly up to the required standard. In 1884, Cyrus Northrop (F, 1857) succeeded to the Presidency and a period of growth and development set in. On three occasions, attempts were made by as many different groups of students to obtain a DKE Charter, and on such occasion the local DKE Alumni felt that the time was hardly ripe for such a movement to receive their approval. When, however, the year 1889 brought overwhelming evidence of the prosperity of the institution and of the increasing number of desirable young men who were becoming students, it was clear that at last the time had come for action. At that time, two DKE Alumni, strangers to each other, both newcomers to the city, and neither connected with the faculty of the University, simultaneously formed a plan to organize the chapter. A nucleus was set at once gathered of the students who were from DKE families, and several others who were under consideration.

At this juncture a new element appeared. The local chapter of the FDQ Fraternity, some fourteen in number, learned of the movement and asked to be included. Their statement was that they were not in sympathy with their fraternity and desired to leave it and to be permitted to petition for a DKE Charter. These men, who now applied, were known to be of suitable character. No suggestion or inducement that they should break with their old fraternity had ever been offered by any member of DKE. They were told very explicitly that they were by no means advised to leave their fraternity-that no promise could be made, that no negotiations could be had with them as a chapter or as fraternity men-that if they should become non-fraternity men, their applications would then be considered as individuals and they must assume all the risks. The chapter thereupon took such action, resigned from FDQ, surrendered their charter, and joined six other petitioners to the XLIII Convention, held at Boston, in asking for a charter from DKE. After due investigation of the circumstances, the Council made a favorable report on the application and the Convention granted the charter October 16, 1889.

On the evening of December 11, 1889, about forty DKE Alumni, representing fourteen chapters, gathered at the Holmes Hotel, Minneapolis, to assist at the birth of the new chapter of the Fraternity. The ceremonies of initiation and presentation were under the auspices of the Northwestern DKE Alumni Association of Minneapolis. Promptly at eight o’clock, the novitiates to the number of twenty were brought before the assembled alumni and a solemn and impressive initiation was begun. The following were the charter members:

Edward M. Spaulding, Herbert Gilman Richardson, William Bennett Bebb, Douglas Andrus Fiske, John Ernest Merrill, Ernest Arthur Nickerson, Ripley Bernard Brower, William Webb Harmon, Alden Joseph Blethen, Jr., Elon Obed Huntington, Everett Buell Kirk, Edwin James Krafft, George Thomas King, Walter S. Davis, Wallace H. Davis, Arthur Jay Farnsworth, George Plummer Merrill, Cyrus Northrop, Jr., Henry Thomas Lee, Jr., R.B. Farming.

At the conclusion of the ceremonies, Rev. D. J. Burrell, D.D., (F, 1867), president of the Association, presented the charter, which was received on behalf of the chapter by the senior members of the delegation. The influence or President Northrop as well as of President George E. McLean (E, 1871) of Iowa State University, and President Harry Pratt Judson (E, 1870) of the University of Chicago, had been earnestly exerted to procure the charter for the new chapter, and they were all present at the installation to welcome it and to extend their best wishes for its future.

The chapter has grown with the University and has maintained a prosperous existence ever since its installation, and remains on of our most loyal chapters.

Taken from Delta Kappa Epsilon Catalogue 1910, pages 1115-1116

Phi Epsilon Crest

There have been two crests use by our chapter, this being the most widely used and the one DKE recognizes

Welcome to our blog...

Welcome to the new blog of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of Minnesota. We are currently building a new web site for our chapter so in the mean time we are using this site to comunicate with our Alumni, University, parents and friends.

Bookmark this page as you will see annoucements about our upcoming Founder's Day poker tournament, updates on the changes being done to the chapter house, and recruitment events.