AS MEMORIAL DAY AND D-DAY NEAR, SOUTHEAST REFLECTS ON NAVY V-12 PROGRAM

As the Memorial Day holiday and the 50th anniversary of D-Day nears, Southeast Missouri State University reflects on the Navy V-12 Program and the pride it brought to the campus five decades ago and continues to provide today.

The year was 1943. The nation was at war and the need for educated men for the military was almost insatiable. In an effort to increase the number of trained men, the Navy notified then Southeast Missouri State President W.W. Parker that Southeast Missouri Teachers College had been selected for the Navy V-12 program.

The program was open to all men at the College and graduation from the program led to a commission as an ensign in the Navy. Eventually, nearly 400 men completed their training here.

Southeast Missouri Teachers College was one of 131 colleges and universities across the country that participated in the program. About 125,000 men nationwide were enrolled in the World War II Navy V-12 Program, a naval services college educational endeavor. The program was the largest Navy officer training program of World War II and opened the door of educational opportunity to many young men who otherwise might never have gone to college, providing participants with up to seven semesters of college level education.

The Navy V-12 program was announced Dec. 17, 1942. The program was designed to accelerate the availability of college men in the inactive reserve programs, provide sufficient numbers of additional officer candidates, provide the education necessary to qualify those in undergraduate programs for midshipmen's schools or officers candidate classes and offer graduate education for additional physicians, dentists and chaplains.

Dr. Charles P. McGinty Sr. of Cape Girardeau has fond memories of the Navy V-12 Program at Southeast.

McGinty said he had been enrolled for three months in the Navy V-I program at William Jewell College in Liberty in the spring of 1943. The Navy V-I program was for civilian pre-medical, pre-dental and pre-ministerial students. In the spring of 1943, the Navy V-I program was converted to the Navy V-12 program, he said.

Those participants then were called to active duty. McGinty was sent to Southeast Missouri Teachers College, where he began active duty July 1, 1943 as an apprentice seaman. Within two years, he received two bachelor's degrees, majoring in both biology and chemistry and minoring in both German and English. He graduated from Southeast June 30, 1945.

McGinty, who lived in Cheney and the former Albert residence halls, said he also served as president of the student body, president of the Varsity Club, a member of the varsity football team and of the Mark Twain Society.

As a member of the Navy V-12 program, he attended classes in a Navy uniform and was paid $50 a month. The program also covered the costs of meals, clothing and tuition.

"We were sworn into the Navy and trained to be Naval officers," McGinty said. "We took the same classes as civilians, though, and went to classes informally."

Formally, however, participants in the program were required to be in bed by 11 p.m. and be up at 6 a.m. for calisthenics, jogging and close order drills performed behind Kent Library. Participants also marched as platoons up "Henderson Hill" and on Pacific Street, he said.

It was not an easy program for trainees. Six days a week, their day began at 6 a.m. with 20 minutes of calisthenics, followed by a schedule of 18 to 19 academic hours a week, intertwined with a vigorous physical training program and military discipline.

The trainees, who ranged in age from 17 to 23, remained in the program for one to eight four-month terms, depending upon their specialty and the amount of their previous college experience. Upon completion of their terms, they were sent on to reserve midshipmen's schools in the case of Navy trainees, and, for Marines, to boot camp and officers candidate classes. Some of the Navy V-12s were assigned to the Naval Reserve Officer Training program, which was at that time operated under the umbrella of the V-12 program.

Upon his graduation from Southeast, McGinty was sent to Millington Air Base Hospital north of Memphis, Tenn., a pre-medical student accepted for medical school. In August of 1945, the Japanese involved in World War II surrendered. In September of 1945, McGinty said he and other pre-medical students in the Navy V-12 program entered various medical schools. McGinty attended Washington University Medical School in St. Louis and became a midshipmen.

By December of 1945, the program was beginning to come to an end, and he was discharged from the Navy, he said. Nonetheless, the Navy V-12 program covered the first semester of medical school tuition.

"It was a great thing," McGinty said. "I don't know how I'd have gotten through with two college degrees and a medical degree without the Navy V-12 program."

Of the 110,000 sailors and 15,000 Marines who participated in the program, about 60,000 were commissioned. Although the apprentice seamen at Southeast were in Cape Girardeau on June 6, 1944, some Navy V-12 trainees participated in the landings at Normandy in June 1944 and every Navy campaign after that.

The program had long-lasting results after the war, creating a generation of leaders. More than 40 future admirals and 18 Marine Corps generals had their first training in the V-12 program. V-12 trainees found their way to the top echelons of many business and professional endeavors in the United States. They have been leaders in communities all across the nation.

Participants in the Navy V-12 program at Southeast celebrated their 40th anniversary during a special reunion planned during Homecoming 1984 on campus. Last November, a 50th anniversary celebration of the program was held in Norfolk, Va. All former participants were invited to attend.

Jane Stacy, director of alumni services at Southeast, said the university provided a Southeast banner, which was on display with banners from other participating V-12 institutions during the celebration, "on behalf of graduates of our program."