The 1940s - War and Recovery

During the war years, the campus was used for military training purposes - many students went off to war, and many clubs ceased activity. The yearbooks for 1943-1945 reflect the changing mood and decrease of normal student activities in both volume size and content. Dedications in these years were aimed toward students who at that time were risking their lives for the safety of our country. Organizations represented in the yearbook are overwhelmingly female and athletics are limited to a reduced basketball team and a sprinkling of women’s clubs. By 1946, the sports teams were back in force - thanks in part to the enrollment of a great number of veterans. Also in 1946, for the first time in the history of the University, women were allowed to participate in the marching band.

Featured Text

Dedication
When the Smooth Log of Higher Education of the Twentieth Century is compiled, 1943-44 will be designated as the Critical Time, the Crucial Period, the Climax. This year the “Resources of our Colleges and Universities were Utilized in the War Effort.” The Army and Navy came Aboard, and where the military goes – well, things happen. Nor do we make the fallacy POST HOC ERGO PROPTER HOC to presume a direct casual relationship between the ingress of the Brass Hats to the College Quarter-Deck and the Turn in the Fortunes of War. Learning is contributing to the Downfall of the Axis in the Enlightened Ages.

Good old U.C. When its Far-Seeing Administrators completed the Articles with the High Command, lo! the University was one of the Favored Ships destined for a Special Cruise in World War II. A Bottle of Ohio River Water was smashed against the Bow as she slipped down the Ways with Her Band – at any rate the ASTP Band – Playing Special Music for the Launching. The Administrators became the Gold Braid; the Faculty, with a few changes, the Ship’s Company; and the Crew of the Trainees were Shanghaied as of Old by Forceful Means. All did a stretch of Sounding Off, then settled themselves to scrubbing decks and tossing Sulfas down the hatch. In re-conditioning the Old Ship for the New Task it was necessary to scrape a few Barnacles from the Cabin as well as the Hull, but the Dry-Docking should in the end make Her a more Useful Craft.

Some of us from the Original Ship’s Company went Elsewhere under Temporary Orders for the Duration, and we haul away on Other Ships or Shore Stations doing our Duty as we see it, but with the Starboard Ears ever perked to hear that order “Cease Firing.” We know that soon after that we may anticipate the Big Ticket, the order granting us the privilege of being piped over the side at U.C. to join the Company before we accumulate enough Hash Marks to retire as Chicken Farmers.

Judging from the Scuttlebutt Rumors emanating from the Ward-Room all has not been Tuscarora on the Battle-Wagon U.C. during the Shake-Down Cruise. Some of the Crew, we are told, were Swacked; some were too friendly with the Gulls while on Shore Leave; a few faced the Captain’s Mast; mostly they kept their noses clean. At present writing all is not as straight as a Deck Seam, and a Rough Passage is predicted on the Return Crossing. But with Good Vision on the Bridge the Ship should weather the Storm.

To the Cincinnatian Staff this year goes the unique distinction of writing the Rough Log of the Cruise Extraordianry, and I congratulate Ship’s Writer Rawson for her spirit and enterprise in keeping the Record Complete.

Arthur S. Postle
Lieutenant, USNR Navy V-12 Unit
Carson Newman College
Jefferson City, Tennessee

Found in the front of the 1944 book