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World War II had far-reaching effects on the Duke community, from the establishment of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, to government-funded breakthroughs in medical and scientific research, to the postwar GI Bill, which educated thousands of returning veterans. Faculty members and employees worked with government war agencies, including several scientists who collaborated on the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons.
Over the course of the war, 7,000 alumni served in the various branches of the armed forces; more than 200 died.
We invited alumni who were involved in the war to share their experiences.
Tom Hart '44, J.D. '50
As he was beginning the second semester of his junior year, Hart was called to active duty with the U.S. Army Air Corps. In February 1943, he and some 200 of his Duke classmates were transported to Raleigh, put on a train, and sent to Miami Beach for Army basic training. Hart is now a retired vice president of Bowater Inc., and lives in Redding, Connecticut.
We got off the train on a hot, sunny day and were herded into the backs of open-air trucks and driven across the causeway to Miami Beach. We were told that there were about 50,000 Air Corps trainees on Miami Beach, and as we in civilian clothes were arriving at the South Beach art-deco hotels, it seemed thousands of marching troops yelled at us, "You'll be sorry!" And they were right to a large extent.
Our Duke group was quartered in small hotels off Collins Avenue containing GI beds for furniture. Contingents from other Southern and Midwestern colleges were also training as units. We dressed in sweaty "civvies" for two days until we were issued our high-cut shoes, olive drab coveralls, and "sun tans" (dress uniforms). It was a tough four weeks of shaping up and learning "the Army way."
We had several hours a day learning close-order drill and marching in columns of four up and down the streets. Lou Bello ['47], later an NCAA basketball referee, was our song master, yelling out "Duke Blue and White Song" and "Paddy Murphy" as we marched along. Physical training was held in the city park housing the baseball stadium where the Phillies had trained in 1941, when Tommy Prothro's ['42] father was manager. The park's grass was worn off from the marching and running feet of GIs.
One sport we engaged in was "Miami Murder": 200 fatigue-uniformed Dukesters would line up like a rugby scrum opposite 200 Georgia Tech guys, with a huge, ten-foot-diameter rubber ball in the middle. The object was to push it over the opposite goal line. We put our football players in the front ranks. Like a tug-of-war, once one side gathered momentum, it was a rush of bodies over others, with bruises galore.
Jerry Damren '49
Damren entered Duke in September of 1941 with hopes of playing baseball for Coach Jack Coombs. Three months later, Pearl Harbor forced him to change his plans. He tried to enlist in the U.S. Marines but failed the eye exam. He was inducted into the U.S. Army and sent overseas, first to North Africa, and then to Italy. A retired school administrator, Damren lives in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.I was inducted in Durham and sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in November 1942, and then to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, for basic training. From there, I went to communication school at Fort Knox, Kentucky. I became a radio operator in a tank. I did not like this assignment, so I volunteered to go overseas.
In Naples, Italy, I was assigned to the 351st Regiment, Company G. We moved to Rome and continued on a northerly route up the peninsula of Italy. The Po Valley was our goal. As we arrived in that area, the Americans gained control of Vedriano, which was a key stronghold.
The Germans brought in reinforcements, and another battle for this territory began. During this fierce battle, Company G was surrounded and fighting desperately. A German radio message was intercepted, telling their troops: "Attack Vedriano. Vedriano is decisive!" This was followed by: "Vedriano retaken. Eighty Americans are captured."
Company G, with approximately 150 soldiers, had approached closer to the Po Valley than any unit in the Fifth Army. The area was close to the main lateral road for the German forces. Eighty members of Company G were captured on October 24, 1944. General George Patton liberated us on April 29, 1945, at Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany. The German propaganda gave the 88th Division the nickname "Blue Devils" because this outfit fought with tenacious resistance. article continues on page two |
