The V-12 Program at Gustavus Adolphus College

In 1942, the “draft age was lowered to 18…the Navy quickly foresaw a shortage of college-educated officers for it’s operations.1” It was then that the government developed the V-12 program.  The program would take eligible men and train them to become officers in the Navy. Colleges and universities volunteered to take on the newly developed training program.  . Another name for the program was the Navy College Training Program.  In order for men to be accepted into the program they had to meet certain requirements:

1. 1.“High school or preparatory graduate who are 17 years of age but not 20 years of age by July 1, 1943
   

2. 2.High school or preparatory seniors who will be graduated by July 1, 1943 and are 17 years of age but not 20 years of age by July 1, 1943
   

3. 3.Do not need to have a high school diploma but are continuing their educated in an accredited college or university
   

4. 4.Male citizen of the United States of America
   

5. 5.Morally and physically qualified for program
   

1. a.Including minimum visual acuity of 18/20
   

6. 6.Be unmarried and agree to remain unmarried until commissioned unless sooner released by Navy Department
   

7. 7.Evidence potential officer qualification including appearance and scholarship2”
   

In November of 1942, Gustavus Adolphus College President, Walter A. Lunden, began the process to bring the Navy V-12 program to the college’s campus. He succeeded. On July 1, 1943, 400 trainees moved on to campus. Many in the community worried that the program would have adverse effects upon the schools character. For this reason the campus had a “strict social code at Gustavus Adolphus [that] prohibited dancing on the campus.3”

During the duration of the program the men were housed in Rundstrom and Uhler Halls. The cost per man per month for board, room, and recreation facilities at Gustavus was $40.75. The trainees were allowed to use all of the facilities on the campus. The tuition for the men was $75 per trimester.  In order to graduate from the program the trainees had to complete many different subjects: mathematical Analysis, English, Historical background of present world, physics, engineering drawing and descriptive geometry, naval organization, and physical training. The V-12 program lasted from 1943 until 1946. During the duration of Gustavus’s Navy V-12 program, 213 marines and 739 sailors graduated.