The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 participants were enrolled in 131 colleges and universities in the United States. Numerous participants attended classes and lectures at their respective colleges and earned completion degrees for their studies. Some even returned from their naval obligations to earn a degree from the colleges where they were previously stationed.
The V-12 program's goal was to produce officers, not unlike the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), which sought to turn out more than 200,000 technically trained personnel in such fields as engineering, foreign languages, and medicine. Running from 1942 to 1944, the ASTP recruits were expected but not required to become officers at the end of their training.
History The V-12 program was founded to generate a large number of officers for both the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to meet the demands of World War II, in excess of the number that was turned out annually by the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School. Once enrollees completed their V-12-subsidized bachelor's degree programs, their next step toward obtaining a commission depended on the service branch:
Navy Navy officer candidates were required to complete the V-7 United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School program. It was a short course of eight months. The first month was spent at Indoctrination School, a "boot camp" for officer candidates that had Marine Corps drill instructors. Pre-Midshipmen's School was a preparatory four-month course teaching military skills like seamanship, navigation, ordnance, and how to behave like an officer. Midshipmen's School itself taught academic skills and was three months long. Graduates were commissioned as ensigns in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the majority entered into active duty with the U.S. fleet.
Marines Marine Corps candidates reported directly to boot camp and were later enrolled in a three-month officer candidate course. Once complete, participants were commissioned as second lieutenants in the Marine Corps.
Inception
When the United States entered the Second World War, American colleges and universities suffered huge enrollment declines. Men of prime draft age who would normally have gone into college (or would have remained enrolled until their course of study was completed) were either drafted, volunteered for service, or dropped out and took jobs in agriculture or war-related industries. As a result, some colleges worried they would have to close their doors for the duration of the conflict.
On October 14, 1942, the American Council on Education issued a report on how best to use colleges and universities for the war effort. The plan recommended that a "college training corps" be established on college and university campuses, that members of the corps be in uniform and receive active-duty pay, and that graduates be trained in technical specialties that were of use to the Army and the Navy. President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed with this report, and asked the Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy how best they could use higher education in their mobilization plans. The V-12 Navy college training program and the Army Specialized Training Program were jointly announced on December 12, 1942. The V-12 program found more favor with college administrators than did the ASTP. Unlike the ASTP, V-12 students were allowed to attend classes with civilian students and participate in athletics. The majority of the basic curriculum consisted of classes already taught by civilian instructors. Depending on the V-12 enrollees' past college curriculum, they were enrolled in three school terms, or semesters, which lasted four months each.
Captain Arthur S. Adams, from the Training Division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, was the officer-in-charge of the V-12 program. Richard Barrett Lowe, future Governor of Guam and American Samoa, was one of its early commanding officers.
Scope
The V-12 program was economically and functionally beneficial to undergraduate colleges and universities in maintaining enrollments during a general mobilization of manpower for the war, and also met and exceeded the critical needs of the military.
Participating institutions
Unlike the ASTP, the Navy predominantly chose small, private colleges for V-12 detachments. Of the 131 institutions selected for line units, approximately 100 could be considered "small," and eighty-eight were private institutions. Eleven were associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Land grant and state flagship universities accounted for only eighteen of the 131 detachments. After the V-12 Program got underway on July 1, 1943, public and private college enrollment increased by 100,000 participants, helping reverse the sharp wartime downward trend.
Midshipman Schools (V-7 Midshipman Program) Cornell University University of Notre Dame Northwestern University Villanova University
Line units
Alma College Arkansas A & M College Arizona State Teachers College Baldwin-Wallace College Bates College Berea College Bethany College (Kansas) Bethany College (West Virginia) Bloomsburg University Bowling Green State University Brown University Bucknell University California Institute of Technology Carroll College Carson-Newman College Case School of Applied Science Central College Central Michigan UniversityWarren Giese Rejects Central Coaching Job, Ludington Daily News, March 24, 1951. Central Missouri State Teachers College Colgate University College of the Holy Cross College of St. Thomas College of the Pacific Colorado College Columbia University Cornell University (archived 2012) Dartmouth College Denison University DePauw University Dickinson State Teachers College Doane College Drew University Duke University Emory & Henry College Emory University Franklin and Marshall College Georgia Institute of Technology Gonzaga University Gustavus Adolphus College Hampden–Sydney College Harvard University Hobart College Howard College Iowa State College Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois State Normal University Indiana State Teachers College John Carroll University Kansas State Teachers College Lawrence College Louisiana Polytechnic Institute Marquette University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mercer University Miami University Middlebury College Milligan College Millsaps College Mississippi College Missouri Valley College Montana School of Mines Mount Saint Mary's College Muhlenberg College Murray State Teacher's College Nebraska State Teachers College Newberry College North Dakota State School of Science North Texas Agricultural College Northwest Missouri State Teachers College Northwestern University Oberlin College Occidental College Ohio Wesleyan University Park College"S.S. Park Victory" Park University Magazine, Spring 2009, pp 18–19. Pennsylvania State University Princeton UniversityRichard D. Challener, "The Response to War," Princeton History 1992 11: 48–65. Purdue University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rice Institute Saint Ambrose College St. Lawrence University St. Mary's College Southeast Missouri State Teachers College Southern Methodist University Southwestern Louisiana Institute Southwestern University Stevens Institute of Technology Swarthmore College Texas Christian University Trinity College Tufts College Tulane University Union College University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles University of Chicago University of Colorado University of Dubuque University of Idaho – Southern Branch University of Illinois University of Kansas University of Louisville University of Miami University of Michigan at Ann Arbor University of Minnesota University of New Mexico University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Notre Dame University of Oklahoma University of Pennsylvania University of RedlandsMoore, Frank E. "Redlands, Our Town" Moore Historical Foundation, Redlands, CA 1987 University of Richmond University of Rochester University of South Carolina University of South Dakota University of Southern California University of the South University of Texas at Austin University of Utah University of Virginia University of WashingtonMcHenry 2007, p.25. University of Wisconsin–Madison Ursinus College Villanova College Wabash College Washburn Municipal University Webb Institute of Naval Architecture Wesleyan University West Virginia State College West Virginia University Western Michigan College Westminster College Whitman College Willamette University Williams College Worcester Polytechnic InstituteTwo Towers: The Story of Worcester Tech 1865–1965 URL accessed on July 23, 2006 Yale University
Medical units
Albany Medical College Baylor University Boston University School of Medicine Cornell University Medical College College of Medical Evangelists Creighton University College of Medicine Duke University School of Medicine Emory University School of Medicine George Washington University Medical School Georgetown University School of Medicine Hahnemann Medical College Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis Jefferson Medical College Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Long Island College of Medicine Louisiana State University Loyola University - Stritch School of Medicine Medical College of South Carolina Medical College of Virginia Marquette University School of Medicine New York Medical College North Pacific College of Oregon Northwestern University School of Medicine NYU College of Medicine Saint Louis University School of Medicine Southwestern Medical Foundation Southwestern University Stanford University School of Medicine Syracuse University College of Medicine Temple University School of Medicine Tulane University School of Medicine University of Alabama School of Medicine University of Arkansas College of Medicine University of Buffalo School of Medicine University of Chicago School of Medicine University of Cincinnati College of Medicine University of Georgia School of Medicine University of Illinois College of Medicine University of Iowa Schools of Medicine and Dentistry University of Kansas School of Medicine University of Louisville School of Medicine University of Maryland School of Medicine University of Michigan Medical College University of Mississippi School of Medicine University of Missouri, School of Basic Medical Science University of Nebraska College of Medicine University of North Carolina School of Medicine North Dakota State School of Science University of Oklahoma College of Medicine University of Oregon Medical School University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine University of Tennessee College of Medicine University of Texas Medical Branch University of Utah College of Medicine University of Vermont College of Medicine Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Wake Forest College - Bowman Gray School of Medicine Wayne State University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine Yale University School of Medicine
Dental units
Baylor University College of Physicians and Surgeons (San Francisco) Creighton University College of Dentistry Emory University School of Medicine Indiana University School of Dentistry Loyola University - Stritch School of Medicine North Pacific College of Oregon - School of Dentistry Marquette University School of Dentistry Ohio State University College of Dentistry Saint Louis University School of Dentistry University of Buffalo School of Dentistry University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry University of Illinois College of Dentistry University of Louisville School of Dentistry University of Maryland School of Medicine University of Minnesota Medical School University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Dentistry University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine