Volume I (1940-1960)

This volume covers the events that led up to the creation of the NROTC Unit at UT in the fall of 1940 and subsequent events and stories that painted the lives of Midshipmen and other officer candidates during the WWII and the Korean conflict years. This score of years was highlighted by the attack on Pearl Harbor that led to WWII, the largest commissioning class in UT history, the largest Naval ROTC command in UT history, the first NROTC graduates to be killed in action, a unit Swing Band and Glee Club, the first Drum & Bugle Corps, three different “homes” for NROTC on campus, the advent of the Holloway Plan, the arrival of Army and Air Force ROTC, the creation of the Buccaneer drill team, the creation of the Crow’s Nest and its first four homes, a summer cruise marked with tragedy, another tragedy at the NROTC Unit itself and a new tri-service organization called Scabbard & Blade.

Many sources were used in compiling this portion of Unit history, largely the Cactus yearbook and a few early Spun Yarn newsletters, but the most important source was the alumni themselves. Their stories and recollections added “spice” to this assembly of numbers, names and statistics. In this volume we were quite fortunate to have received so much input from many WWII veterans. This first volume was completed in time for the November 7, 2015 reunion weekend and was largely dedicated to those same WWII vets on a weekend that UT celebrated all her vets.

Click here to download. Released Oct. 20, 2015.

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