Alfred Trehanon, class of 1938, began his teaching career as a science teacher and athletic coach at Norwich High School. Interested in flying since he was a child, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps in October 1940. He was an Aviation Cadet assigned to Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, when he was killed in a plane crash during night maneuvers in September 1941, two weeks before his graduation. His family received his wings posthumously. He was the first graduate of State College since World War I to have been killed while in the Armed Forces.