In Spring 1945, the U.S. Army's Information and Educational Branch made formal plans to establish overseas university campuses for American service men and women, awaiting demobilization, or redeployment to another theater. Three University centers were eventually established in the French resort town of Biarritz, the English town of Shrivenham, Berkshire, and in Florence, Italy. These three campuses were set up to provide a transition between army life and a successful transition to civilian life, with career training and possibly attendance at a university in the US. Most students attended for just one term.
Students removed their caps, and therefore the distinction between officers and enlisted personnel was eliminated. [1]
The first American university for service personnel was established in June 1945 at the School of Aeronautics in Florence, Italy. Some 7,500 soldier-students were to pass through the university during its four one-month sessions from July to November 1945. [2]
Under General Samuel L. McCroskey, the hotels and casinos of Biarritz in France were converted into quarters, labs, and class spaces for U.S. service personnel. The university opened 10 August 1945, and approximately 10,000 students attended at least one eight-week term. BAU ran the longest of any of the centers and made a significant impact on both faculty and students, as well as the local community. The curriculum covered the range of subject of any state-side university, students established a full symphony orchestra, a choir, a theater group, and two basketball teams; a local hotel was rebuilt by the engineering class, a daily newspaper was published by the journalism program, and the theater program performed in local orphanages and hospitals. The social highlight of the BAU's existence was a fashion show and beauty contest held as benefits for French war orphans, which Marlene Dietrich attended. [3] It was a return to "normal" and a stepping stone to a future for many. [4]
Staffing for the university came from many sources. Service members were recruited as administrators and instructors in fields they were trained in prior to the war, hundreds of faculty were recruited from US colleges and universities, and administrative staff from multiple headquarters, including members of the British military such as Angela Vivian, a British civilian secretaries working at that time in Paris since the liberation. "I believe there were 40 of us “carefully chosen” as the General wrote to our Supervisor in his letter of appreciation when the University eventually closed the following March 1946. We were billeted in a beautifully luxurious hotel overlooking the sea. Each of us had a room and bathroom. We could not believe our luck."
After three successful terms, the university closed in March 1946. [3]
Walter F. Hendricks, who would go on to found three colleges in Vermont between 1946 and 1966 served as director of English at the university. The music department was directed by Edwin Stringham from Queens College and included Seth Bingham. [5] Other instructors included Édouard Herriot and Charles Rist. A student newspaper The Banner was published five times a week. [3]
Under General C. M. Thiele, a British Army Camp near Swindon was converted into a university campus. After two successful terms, the university closed in December 1945. About 4,000 students attended each term. [6]
The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans. The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the term "G.I. Bill" is still used to refer to programs created to assist American military veterans.
Biarritz is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the border with Spain. It is a luxurious seaside tourist destination known for the Hôtel du Palais, its seafront casinos, and its surfing culture.
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in northwest Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF throughout its existence. The position itself shares a common lineage with Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Atlantic, but they are different titles.
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate-only public research university specialising in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the development of aircraft research led to growth and diversification into other areas such as manufacturing and management, and in 1967, to the founding of the Cranfield School of Management. In 1969, the College of Aeronautics was renamed the Cranfield Institute of Technology, was incorporated by royal charter, gained degree awarding powers, and became a university. In 1993, it adopted its current name.
Shrivenham is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Faringdon. The village is close to the county boundary with Wiltshire and about 7 miles (11 km) east-northeast of Swindon. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 2,347. The parish is within the historic boundaries of Berkshire; the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire for administrative purposes.
ACS Athens – American Community Schools of Athens is a private school offering international JK–12 education to local, national and international students in Greece. ACS Athens embraces American educational philosophy, principles and values.
The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom provides higher education for personnel in the British Armed Forces, Civil Service, other government departments and service personnel from other nations.
The American Robert College of Istanbul, often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a highly selective, independent, co-educational, private high school in Turkey. The school is situated in a 265-acre (107 ha) wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul in the Beşiktaş district, with the historic Arnavutköy neighborhood to the east and the upscale Ulus neighborhood to the west. Founded in 1863, Robert College is the oldest continuously operating American school outside the United States.
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state.
William Spoelhof was the President of Calvin College, and President Emeritus of the Grand Rapids, Michigan school.
The 467th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was to the Strategic Air Command, being stationed at Clovis Army Airfield, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 4 August 1946.
Irving Singer was an American professor of philosophy who was on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 55 years and wrote over 20 books. He was the author of books on various topics, including cinema, love, sexuality, and the philosophy of George Santayana. He also wrote on the subject of film, including writings about the work of film directors Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock.
Oliver Cromwell Carmichael served as the third chancellor of Vanderbilt University from 1937 to 1946. He also served as the President of the University of Alabama from 1953 to 1957.
Bull College was the name commonly used for a branch of the Training Within Civilian Agencies programme of the US Army, which, during Michaelmas (winter) term 1945 and Lent (spring) term 1946, allowed American military personnel to study at the University of Cambridge at the conclusion of the Second World War. It was named for the Bull Hotel in which most GIs in the programme were initially billeted. Bull students made an impression on the university, not least through the first participation of a female coxswain in a Cambridge boat race, in the 1946 Lent Bumps. Bull was also involved in a fixture against Pembroke College, in which the first half was played under rugby union rules, and the second under American football rules.
The Demobilization of United States armed forces after the Second World War began with the defeat of Germany in May 1945 and continued through 1946. The United States had more than 12 million men and women in the armed forces at the end of World War II, of whom 7.6 million were stationed abroad. The American public demanded a rapid demobilization and soldiers protested the slowness of the process. Military personnel were returned to the United States in Operation Magic Carpet. By June 30, 1947, the number of active duty soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in the armed forces had been reduced to 1,566,000.
The Morrison–Grady Plan, also known as the Morrison Plan or the Provincial Autonomy Plan was a joint Anglo-American plan announced on 31 July 1946 for the creation of a unitary federal trusteeship in Mandatory Palestine.
G. I. Carmen was an all-GI 1945 musical stage show produced by the 253rd Infantry Regiment, 63rd Division of the U.S. Army as morale booster for allied troops occupying post-WWII Europe. Initially intended as a three-show run for the regiment, it was extended to reach the entire division and then picked up by the 7th Army and sent on an eight-month tour of the ETO seen by over 250,000 military personnel and countless civilians.
Silas Herbert Hunt was a U.S. veteran of World War II who became the first African American student to enroll in a white Southern university since the Reconstruction era. He enrolled in the University of Arkansas School of Law on Feb. 2, 1948, breaking the color barrier in higher education and starting integration of colleges and universities in the South.
Kate Hevner Mueller was an American psychologist and educator who served as dean of women at Indiana University during 1938–1949.
Robert Gehlmann Bone was the ninth president of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. He was renowned for his leadership experience and welcoming nature. Bone became a staple of the Illinois State University culture by representing friendliness and generosity. He is memorialized on campus through the Hand of Friendship, a small stone statue dedicated to his time at the university. During Bone's presidency, the university grew from a small teacher's college into a large multidisciplinary university. Bone was able to gain funding for the development of residence halls, thus allowing more students to attend the school. He emphasized a reconstruction of several University facilities and sought to make the campus more student-friendly. On any given day, Bone could be seen taking a walk through campus and greeting every student by name, as he sought to make Illinois State a welcoming and inclusive environment.