Bernard McGinnis '42 graduated from Sidney High School 1942, worked briefly in Bendix Corporation and immediately enlisted in the Navy to serve in World War 11. He was assigned to LST,131, built in Evansville, Indiana. He sailed from New Orleans to Guantanamo Bay,then to San Diego through the Panama Canal, and eventually to the Pacific War where he participated in the invasions of Saipan, Tinian, and the Palau Islands. After the surrender of Japan he participated in moving troops and supplies from Okinawa to Tokyo.
He returned to Sidney and to Bendix and completed a four-year apprentice program as Tool maker. He joined IBM in Poughkeepsie in 1956 and remained there until retirement in 1987. While working for IBM for more than thirty years he was credited with twenty-six inventions including nine US Patents.