Our Unit Beginnings

The Story Behind How Naval ROTC Came to Madison

Appreciating how our NROTC Unit came about requires an understanding of the evolution of Navy training on the campus shortly after Pearl Harbor - first to address enlisted training and later officer training. World War II was a forcing function for the Navy to address capacity shortfalls in an officer education program relying almost entirely on the U.S. Naval Academy to generate sufficient officers to man the Fleet. For the University that wanted to embrace the Navy, officer training had to align to university norms. The V-12 Program made significant strides in aligning officer training with a civilian university and pushed the Navy to expand ROTC. This section also provides insights into how Fleet Admiral Leahy was instrumental in Wisconsin's selection as a Naval ROTC Unit, why the Blackhawk Garage ("the eyesore on University") is our home and the Commanding Officers of the unit (with a download of the Unit Staff thru 2006). Finally, drawing from John Washbush's research, we present the period 1939 to 1946 to illustrate the activities before the unit was formally established on 1 November 1945. It is a rich history. But first, an overview of the Navy training efforts in Madison.

Background and Overview

Extracts from The Campus and the Navy in World War II: Naval Training at the University of Wisconsin, 1939 - 1946, by John B. Washbush, Commander, USNR (Ret.), Class of 1964

The national mobilization effort in the United States during the Second World War left few elements of society untouched. For example, there were a myriad of forms of centralized economic management, the conversion of production to war materiel, and the raising of huge fighting forces. Illustrating the magnitude of the mobilization effort was the growth of the U.S. Navy from a pre-war force of less than 200,000 men in 1939 to a peak strength of more than 3,000,000 men and women by January of 1945. The Navy procured and trained more than 286,000 officers between December of 1941 and December of 1944. Equally striking was the contribution of American colleges and universities in wartime manpower mobilization. Academic institutions across the nation played important roles in the task of educating and training men and women for the armed forces and for key civilian defense jobs.

The necessity of providing training and professional education on huge numbers led the armed forces to actively seek out and employ the services of American colleges and universities. For example, the Navy contracted with some 231 post-secondary institutions in every corner of the nation to train both officers and enlisted personnel. Services provided included instruction, room and board, training facilities and equipment. Examples of naval training included:

• Officer Education: V-12 College Program (NROTC, deck, aviation engineering, aerology, supply, theology, medical and dental, college preparatory)
• Officer Training: reserve midshipmen schools, V-5 aviation training, communication, electronics, diesel engineering, naval architecture, marine engineering
• Enlisted Training: electronics, radio, radar, languages, basic engineering, carpenter’s mate, diesel, electrical, yeoman, storekeeper, signalman, quartermaster, cook and baker, shipfitter, metalsmith, coxswain

The University of Wisconsin made a significant contribution to the Navy's training efforts. The campus was home during the war years to seven distinct naval schools which enrolled in excess of 15,000 men and women, officers and enlisted. The university was additionally home to Army programs such as the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), ROTC, and training for airplane mechanics, ski troops, commandos, radio operators and meteorologists. The university also acted as coordinating center for the United States Armed Forces Institute (USAFI), trained civilian and military pilots, acted as a center for Army and Navy enlistment programs (including the Navy's V-1, V-5, and V-7 programs) organized special business and industry training classes through Extension, operated on a year-round “speed-up” basis, cooperated with the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in training wood inspectors, conducted geological survey work, and provided countless hours of faculty expertise for wartime research and development projects both on and off the campus.

The Navy programs on the campus included an enlisted radioman training school operated jointly by the Navy and Extension, a naval officer diesel engineering school conducted by the College of Engineering, a V-12 medical unit in the College of Medicine, a V-12 engineering unit conducted by the College of Engineering, a cooks and bakers school conducted by the Division of Residence Halls, a naval aviation cadet (V-5) training program conducted through Extension and the Morey Airplane Company, and, at war’s end, a Naval ROTC Unit. For most of the war years the Madison campus was home to an average population of approximately 1,500 to 2,000 servicemen and women wearing Navy uniforms, staff included. During World War II, Madison became a Navy town.

Naval Training Schools Command and Staff

The on-campus naval command was conducted by the Commanding Officer, Naval Training Schools, University of Wisconsin. As was typical of a large portion of wartime Navy training programs, officers serving in command of training activities such as those at Madison were either activated reserve officers with training and education backgrounds or retired officers extended on active duty. The first commander was Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Commander) Elmer H. Schubert. Schubert, a naval reserve officer previously in the advertising business in Cincinnati, went on active duty in 1940. Before coming to Madison in February of 1942, he had assignments at the Naval Communications School, Indianapolis, and then at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. At the university, he technically served as “officer-in-charge” until the arrival of a permanent commanding officer. Schubert oversaw the startup of the radio school and the diesel engineering school during his tenure. In October of 1942, Commander Charles F. Greene, U.S. Navy (Retired), relieved him and became the first permanent commanding officer.

A 1912 graduate of the Naval Academy, Greene, originally retired in 1933 after 21 years of active service, returned to active duty in 1939. Prior to reporting to Madison, he served as assistant chief of staff and morale officer for the 5th Naval District, Norfolk, Virginia. During his retirement, he had been an investment banker. Greene's tenure was short and stormy. In late November 1942 Commander Leslie K. Pollard, U.S. Navy, a 1921 Annapolis graduate, succeeded him. Pollard was soon placed in retired status on active duty and remained commanding officer of the Naval Schools until October of 1945. Pollard's background included command of a submarine, service in battleships and cruisers, including duty as a shipboard communications officer, study at the Naval War College, and college faculty experience with the Harvard University NROTC Unit. This rich background and a smooth, professional demeanor made Pollard both effective and popular on the Madison campus. In addition to the Radio School, he supervised the Diesel Engineering School, the Cooks and Bakers School, and the V-12 Engineering and Medical Units assigned to the campus in 1943. He also was a leader in arguing for the establishment of an NROTC Unit on the Madison campus. A mark of Pollard's tenure and success was his promotion to the rank of Captain in September of 1944. Madison and the campus applauded the promotion. Even the staunchly anti-military Capital Times was (cautiously) pleased, stating in an editorial:

“Capt. Pollard has made a host of friends during his stay here in Madison. He is a sociable man who does not exude the spirit of brusqueness and authoritarianism that is often associated with men who are reared under the stern discipline of the military code…. Capt. Pollard is a friendly and cordial sort of fellow and he has done a swell job at the university.”

Many of the military staff were reserve and retired personnel. A number of the staff were Navy “WAVES” (Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service). The first “Ship’s Company” (administrative staff) contingent of six arrived in December 1942. By July 1944, 31 WAVES comprised slightly less than one-third of Ship's Company at the Naval Training Schools and another 30 worked at USAFI. By law, WAVES served in assignments that released Navy men for combat-area duties.

Plaque to the left as you pass through the Unit Quarterdeck

This

MARK OF COMMENDATION

is awarded to

THE UNIVERSITY

OF WISCONSIN

For effective co-operation

in training naval personnel

during World War II

NAVAL RESERVE OFFICERS’ TRAINING CORPS

NAVY V-12 UNIT V-12 (MEDICAL)

NAVAL TRAINING SCHOOLS

(COOKS & BAKERS) (RADIO) (DIESEL ENGINEERING)

James Forrestal

Secretary of the Navy

Minor Navy Schools

The Diesel Engineering School and the Cooks and Bakers School were the smallest and shortest-lived of the Navy schools on the campus. Originally proposed to the university in June of 1942, the Diesel Engineering School commenced operation within the College of Engineering under the direct supervision of Professor G.L. Larson of the mechanical engineering faculty. The students were engineering officers who trained in the operation and maintenance of diesel engines used aboard ships and at shore stations. The ten-week course called for 39 hours of classes and laboratories plus 9 hours of study a week. The first class consisted of 29 officers. In December, the Navy advised the university that it would terminate training diesel engineers at the UW in February of 1943 because “…the growth and future needs of the Navy for trained Diesel Engineering personnel is at the present time in excess of the quotas originally set up.” UW President Clarence A. Dykstra was upset by what he perceived to be an abrupt and disruptive action taken unilaterally by the Navy. He complained, “…if the Navy decided it must discontinue other courses now being given here at the University and for which we have made such elaborate preparations that it give us the opportunity to discuss the time and method of discontinuance so that we may have opportunity to make plans particularly for the use of housing and messing space.” This was not the first nor would it be the last point of friction between President Dykstra and the Navy. The short-lived school trained approximately 100 officers during the brief period of its existence.

The Cooks and Bakers School commenced operation in October of 1942 with an initial class of nine sailors.  Donald L. Halverson, director of university residence halls, served as director of instruction while Helen Giessel was chief teacher.  University chefs and dietitians supervised the students in their practical training. The school's schedule called for nine hours a day in university kitchens and one hour in class. During the sixteen-week course, trainees rotated to all central kitchens on the campus to gain experience in all types of mass cookery. Students studied topics such as sanitation, refrigeration, vitamins and calories, animal anatomy, and record keeping. Plans called for an eventual on-board total of 36 in each of four class groups. The school graduated its final class in September of 1943.

Aviation Training

University Extension, in cooperation with the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army, operated a military aviation training program, an outgrowth of the Civilian Pilot Training Program inaugurated by Extension and the federal government in 1939. After U.S. belligerency began, the program focused exclusively on military pilot training. In 1942 and early 1943 the program contained about equal numbers of naval and Army Air Force trainees.  However, the Army ended its involvement in March of 1943, and, from then until termination, the program focused exclusively on training naval aviation cadets. The initial program director was Frederick L. Caudle. Upon his assignment to instructional duty at Annapolis, John D. Bates succeeded. Middleton’s Morey Airport served as the Madison-area base for flight training. The university provided student housing at the YMCA, 740 Langdon St., until April of 1943, when the “Av-Cads” moved into three former fraternity houses at the foot of North Lake Street. Students messed in the Memorial Union.

Flying Badgers at NAS Glenview, ca. 1942 - 1945

The University's aviation training program provided primary instruction to more than 900 "Flying Badgers.” Class sizes averaged about 120 cadets. The instructional program extended over two to three months. Cadets received ground school training in their barracks from Extension instructors. Ground school occupied half the training day and included navigation, aerology, engines, civil air regulations, and radio code. Flying at Morey filled the other half of the training day. Students lived under military discipline and received a rigorous training regimen. By 1944 the "problem" of a nationwide surplus of aviation cadets made Wisconsin's program expendable.  Training ceased in August 1944.

Officer Programs

In terms of sheer numbers trained, nothing equaled the Radio School (approximately 15,000 trainees participated in three and one-half years). Navy V-12 Engineering and Medical contingents not only added significantly to the on-campus population, but also greatly increased the demand for faculty teaching of college courses. The drive to secure an NROTC unit for the university, beginning in 1939 and successfully completed at war's end in 1945, saw the determined involvement of high-level figures in the university, state legislature, Madison Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Congress, and even the White House.  The history of University of Wisconsin naval training programs illustrates the roles played by patriotism, opportunism, and politics on wartime campuses.