Navy V-12

Henry C. Herge

Description

A history of the Navy V-12 Program during World War II. The Program provided opportunities for young men whose families had suffered during the difficult times of the Great Depression. These high school graduates were offered the golden opportunity to attend colleges and universities. At the end of the program, more than 60,000 U.S. Navy and USMC officers had entered the armed forces for the war. Many, also entered the U.S. Naval Reserve in the post-ear period, and served in Korea and Vietnam. With photos -- 80+ pages of biographies of individual members of the program. Many include photos then and now.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Armada de los Estados Unidos
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Military
• World War II
• History
• United States Navy
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 juin 1996
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681621579
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Company-G, Navy V-12 Unit, University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame, IN, July 31. 1944. Company Commander: G.A. Bender. (Courtesy of Bernard J. Freed)
NAVI V-12

T URNER P UBLISHING C OMPANY
T URNER P UBLISHING C OMPANY
Copyright 1996
Turner Publishing Company.
All rights reserved.
Publishing Rights: Turner Publishing Company
This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the written consent of Turner Publishing Company.
Turner Publishing Company Staff:
Chief Editor: Robert J. Martin
Designer: Lora Ann Lauder
Library of Congress
Catalog Card Number: 95-60331
ISBN: 978-1-56311-189-1
Additional copies may be purchased directly from Turner Publishing Company.
This publication was compiled using available information. The publisher regrets it cannot assume liability for errors or omissions.
Photo: EX Fraternity Wabash College 1944-45 . ( Courtesy of William Thompson )
Table of Contents
Frontispiece
Publisher s Message
Preface
Acknowledgments
Dedication And In Respectful Tribute to Arthur Stanton Adams
Foreword
Prologue
A Tribute to Navy V-12 Trainees Of World War II
Chronology Pathway To Global War
Chapter I Designing The Role For American Colleges
Chapter II Inception of Navy College Training Programs
Chapter III New But Much Different
Chapter IV Mobilizing For Total War
Chapter V How Blacks Became Naval Officers
Navy V-12 Bulletins - The Program s Bible
U.S. Navy Phraseology
Addendum
Bibliography
Appendix A Navy V-12 Production Records
Appendix B Outline of Curricula, Navy V-12 Program - Regular Students
Appendix C List of Naval District Officers
Appendix D Navy V-12 and NROTC Units
Appendix E Summary of Navy V-12 Enrollment by Trainee Types
Special Stories
Biographies
Index
Frontispiece

The person to whom I am most grateful for maintaining my interest in collecting data and information on the World War II U.S. Navy V-12 Program is my wife, Alice. Since my retirement in 1975, she knew of my desire to write a chronicle with its primary focus on Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, where I served as the Commanding Officer of its V-12 Unit.
Accordingly, on three separate occasions, we scoured the archives in search of information at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky; Dartmouth College. Hanover, New Hampshire; and Wesleyan University. Pertinent information to my own file of data motivated my writing, with Alice offering constructive criticism as she typed the manuscript.
Upon completion, my manuscript was submitted to the editor of The Press at Wesleyan University, entitled. Wesleyan University in World War II-A Cooperative Venture in Education . After much waiting. I was informed in a terse note: The University Press is closed.
So, much of Part I in my Wesleyan manuscript has been adapted for inclusion in this publication. Henry C. Herge, Sr .
Preface
In late June 1945, it was a distinct pleasure for me to inform Dr. Alonzo G. Grace, Connecticut Commissioner of Education, of my affirmative response to his offer of the associate directorship of a study, Implications of the Armed Services Educational Programs, to be sponsored by the American Council on Education (ACE), Washington, DC, and funded jointly by the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations. *
Highly honored by Dr. Grace s offer, I doubted seriously whether I might be released from active duty as the Commanding Officer of Wesleyan University s Navy V-12 Unit, which was still in full operation. Nevertheless, I initiated the request for release from active duty in order to join the ACE staff by September 1, 1945.
I was aware of the very important role played by the ACE in the early policy and decision-making process pertaining to the utilizations of colleges as contract institutions for training officer personnel. So, I remained hopeful and waited.
My release from active duty was approved by Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. Accordingly, I was granted terminal leave authorizing my replacement to report to Wesleyan University for the change of command.
In the period September 1, 1943 to December 24, 1945, it was my good fortune to visit 14 institutions in which Armed Services Training Units were operative. Thus, I was able to glean valuable data, information and literature for subsequent use in the ACE Commission Staff studies.
Also, while on active duty, but prior to the ACE Commission appointment, I was a recipient of temporary duty orders from the Director of Training, Third Naval District, to attend inspections of Navy V-12 Units. In all, there were four such inspections during my tenure as a Commanding Officer that were fruitful also for acquiring valuable information of Navy programs-in-action.
The combination of these experiences enabled me to prepare an ACE staff document, No. 10, entitled, The War and Higher Education , for the Commission members.
Now, more than five decades later, this nation stands much indebted to the Armed Services and the 131 contract colleges that participated in the preparation of highly qualified civilian youths, together with a large contingent of carefully selected enlistees from the Fleet and Marine Corps, that produced college-educated officer candidates for the Navy and Marine Corps.
The V-12 Program provided young men who grew up in the nation s severest depression with a new vision, especially those high school graduates who, at age 18, saw little hope of ever going to college.
When the V-12 Program terminated oin June 30, 1946 (page 363, Navy V-12 Leadership for a Lifetime by James Schneider), it had produced more than 60,000 Navy and Marine Corps officers. Today, records show that many trainees remained on active duty and became the highest ranking officers while others in civilian life, during the post-war period, achieved national prominence in business, industry and government.
In boastful pride, trainee alumni can point today to their success in being selected for admission to the Navy V-12 Program in April 1943. The nationwide qualifying examination was taken by 60 percent of all young men in the draft age category, which had been lowered to age 18. While 125,000 were in the V-12 program, only 117,295 passed the first national test and selected the Navy. An additional 10,000 came from the Fleet and active Marine corps.
In tribute to those trainees who became commissioned officers and saw action in the Fleet from Normandy to Saipan, Iwo Jima or Okinawa, or the Pentagon, and to those who made a career in the Navy and Marine Corps - High Praise! It is likewise appropriate that the V-12ers who stayed in the U.S. Naval Reserve in the post-war period deserve acclaim, inasmuch as many were called up for fighting in Vietnam while still others fought in Korea if they had become U.S. Navy Reserves. Henry C. Herge, Sr .
Endnote:
* The Commission on Implications of Armed Services Educational Programs began its work in July 1945. It undertook to identify features of the wartime training and educational programs worthy of adaptation and experimentation in peacetime civilian education of any and all types and levels. It also undertook to make available to the public well-considered answers to the questions: What should education in America gain from the experience of the vast wartime training efforts? What are the implications for education and the national culture and strength, now and in the future?
Acknowledgments
The Commission on Implications of Armed Services Educational Programs began its comprehensive studies in July 1945. Subsequently, the Commission published 10 separate studies before it terminated in 1949.
One of these studies was focused primarily on the U.S. Navy V-12 Program: *
Part I of this study was strictly my authorship. It focused primarily on Navy contract training programs in colleges and universities during World War II.
The American Council on Education (ACE) was both the sponsor and publisher of the 10-volume series of the Commission. It is fitting, therefore, to note that portions of the report cited above were adapted for use in this manuscript and to thank the ACE Manager of Publications, James Murray, for permission to do so with an appropriate credit line.
Acknowledgment is due Raymond J. Connally, who served as Chief, Contracts Unit, Purchase Control Section, Procurement Branch, War Department, for his comprehensive in-depth report of all the contract relationships between the United States Government and civilian colleges and universities during World War II. Connally s focus on the financial relationships between the military and civilian colleges remains pertinent as an important reference source in the event of another conflict with hostile nations.
The source of much useful information was the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, Olin Research Library, where Elizabeth Swaim, archivist, was most cooperative. Finally, the author is grateful that materials dealing with the Navy College Training Programs at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, were made available by Kenneth C. Cramer, archivist in Dartmouth s Baker Library. Henry C. Herge, Sr .
Endnote:
* HERGE, HENRY C., et al . Wartime College Training Programs of the Armed Services. Washington, DC. The American Council on Education, 1947 .
Dedication And In Respectful Tribute To Arthur Stanton Adams
To accomplish its purpose as an instrument of force against our enemies, the Navy has built a vast and formidable fleet. To meet the personnel needs of that new fleet, the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers) undertook the unprecedented programs of procurement, training and distribution of personnel. All three programs have kept pace with the rapid growth of the Navy s ships and facilities to ensure a balanced development at maximum efficiency in all stages. Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, USN, Chief of Naval Personnel .
Admiral Jacobs statement depicted well the task faced by the Navy at the ti