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When
Yale Schooled for War
Sixty years ago the Yale campus was transformed into a World War
II military base, and no class experienced the transition more dramatically
than the Class of 1943—by graduating in 1942.
December
2002
by Judith Ann Schiff
Judith
Ann Schiff is Chief Research Archivist at the Yale University Library.
When
the Class entered Yale in 1939, the war in Europe seemed far away,
and college life was normal.
The "golden days" continued until early 1942 when draft registration
in the colleges put an end to the popular saying: "They don't draft
Yale men, they just ration them." Most of the class enlisted in
reserve units of the Army, Navy, and Marines, a strategy that permitted
students to complete their degrees; others, however, were drafted
or volunteered for active service.
At the time, President
Charles Seymour announced a new college program to be in effect
during the emergency, adding a summer term to the academic year
so that undergraduates would receive their degrees in three years.
On July 6, 1942, the juniors returned as seniors living on "borrowed
time."
The war crisis added
new courses to the curriculum, including Japanese, Chinese, Arabic,
and Malayan, as well as combat training and jujitsu. After the long
hot summer term, the Class of 1943 expected to graduate in February
1943. But in late in October they learned that their graduation
would be further accelerated to December 1942.
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"Instructions in Case of Air Raid" were printed in the program.
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The abrupt departure
of the Class was necessitated by the University's negotiations with
the Armed Forces to establish an officers school at Yale. In January
1943, Cadet Advanced Training Center No. 1 opened, and about 3,000
cadets of the Army Air Force Technical Training Command moved in,
taking over half of the residential and a third of the academic
facilities. The cadets attended classes eight hours a day, six days
a week, for periods of 6 to 20 weeks, to qualify as photographic
laboratory commanders, communications officers, airplane maintenance engineers, and airplane armament officers, each with the rank of
second lieutenant.
Military
programs would soon take over most of the campus, and 20,000
service men and women, including 12,000 aviation cadets, were trained
in all. Yale also conducted an Engineering, Science, and Management
War Training Program in New Haven and Fairfield counties to prepare
thousands of workers for jobs in essential industries.
On December 19, 1942,
nearly 600 seniors received their degrees at a simple graduation
ceremony. Academic gowns were worn only by the faculty, and many
seniors were in uniform. For the first time in Yale history, a Senior
Class Dinner was held in place of Class Day, and "Instructions in
Case of Air Raid" were printed in the program. In the cold of December
the traditional planting of the Class Ivy had to be done indoors
in a silver planter, but it was no less meaningful.
Their ivy ode reads
in part: "We shall quickly be snatched off to arms, for bristling
War grips the whole world, brings fear into our homes, and threatens every one..It is up to us with bravery to drive off their fury,
their plots, and threats; and when they have been beaten, we must establish order with moderation and justice. In warlike times.
let us remember the symbol of Light and Truth, the tender ivy."
(Forty-three members of the Class died in the War.)
Still, the seriousness
of the occasion was offset by some humor in the Class History: "We,
the Class of 1943, are undoubtedly the most impressive and brilliant
that ever went through Yale . in three years and four months.
Every other class has had to take four years to do it."
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