Final Issue
8-Page Special
BU
Vol. 4—No. 2
U. S. NAVY PRE-FLIGHT SCHOOL, CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
Wednesday, October 3, 1945
The Round-Up
More Than 20,000
In Training Here
Since May of ’42
For the past three years and
four months, training has been
the business of this Pre-Flight
School, intense and concentrated
training as needed in the win
ning of an intense and global
war.
Upwards of 20,000 cadets and
officers, of the U. S. Navy and
of the French Navy, have here
been moved along the road that
led to final victory. Large num
bers of these have gone on to
win combat honors in battle the
atres everywhere.
Now that the last trainee has
departed, a glance at the final
box score shows:
•A total of 18,700 cadets were
received for training, starting
with arrival of the First Bat
talion on May 28, 1942, and end
ing with the 75 th Battalion
which arrived in mid-Septem
ber, 1945.
•1,220 officers, mostly mili
tary and physical training in
structors, were indoctrinated in
nine classes at Chapel Hill, the
first starting in August, 1942,
and the last ending in Septem
ber, 1943. The first four indoc
trination classes for V-5 oflBcers
were held at the Naval Academy
in the spring and early summer
of 1942.
•360 French cadets were
trained since May, 1944, when
the first group arrived for in
struction approximating that
given the American cadets.
• 78 French officers were
trained during the summer of
1945.
•82 Navy and Coast Guard
officers from stations through
out the country received a spe
cial two-week course of instruc
tion in survival practices in the
summer of 1944.
• 49 photographic interpreta
tion officers from naval air sta
tions at Quonset Point, R. I.,
and Anacostia, D. C., were given
a special course of instruction in
the latter part of 1943.
To aid in accomplishing this
training mission 768 officers and
715 enlisted personnel at one
time or another were assigned to
this Pre-Flight School on a duty
basis.
U. s. NAVY PRE FUGHT SCHOOL
CHAFEL Him NORTH CAROLINA
TO ALL mA'DS
Our work here has endod—our mission has been fulfilled
and the time has come for saying our goodbyes as we decommission
the Pre-Klight School and fit ourselves to the now pattern of
living which lias before us in u world no longer at war.
On behalf of the Ship's Conpany I extend congratulations
to all the young uen who havu trained here. Your purposefulness
in training has been our inspiration and your valorous record in
combat has been our pride. Those of you who are now in training
measure up in every respect to your predecessors, and yours will
be a vital contribution to the continuing greatness of llaval Avia
tion. You have chosen a career of usefulness and honor.
I wish to express to all hands, iiavol and civilian, my
appreciation for tlie fine spirit of cooperation and devotion to
•duty which has earned high praise for us throughout the Naval
Service. It has been a distinct privilege to serve with you and
I shall always cherish the pleasure of having been your shipmate.
"^Coinniander, USITR,
Commanding Officer*
Pre-Flight School Has Had
Three Commanding Officers
Comdr. Kessing
Comdr. Graff
Comdr. Raugh
Three commanding officers
have been at the helm of this
Pre-Flight School since it was
commissioned in May, 1942.
For the task of setting the An
napolis-like pattern that the Pre-
Flight School was to follow,
the Navy Department selected
Comdr. O. O. Kessing, USN,
(now Commodore), a Navy ca
reer officer with a record of 32
years of service, including 22
years of sea duty.
He was a logical selection for
the task of organizing the Pre-
Flight School at Chapel Hill,
since he was closely identified
with the Pre-Flight idea from
the start and, along with several
ither officers, had inspected more
than 60 colleges and universities
before the final selections of sites
were made.
During his more than thre
decades of Naval experience
Comdr. Kessing had served in
every sea of the world. He held
nedals for the Mexican campaign
in 1914, the first World War, the
Haitian Campaign and for China
Service.
He was graduated from the
Naval Academy in 1914, right
into the Mexican War and duty
aboard the Maryland. With the
outbreak of the World War, he
was assigned to the Huntington
on convoy duty, and volunteered
as a kite balloon pilot. His Naval
career continued with brief
heavier-than-air training at Pen
sacola and several years of de
stroyer duty in the Mediterra
nean and Adriatic.
Enthusiasm for Athletics
In 1926 Comdr. Kessing be
came the first graduate manager
(Continued on Page 8)
All Cadets Go.
Officers, Crew
Follow Soon
The Pre-Flight area ceased to
exist last Friday when for the
first time since May, 1942, sta
tion restrictions were lifted and
that part of the University cam
pus occupied by Pre-Flight for
more than three years became
open territory for university
students and the local com
munity.
The “No Admittance Except
on Official Business” signs were
relegated to the wood pile, along
with sentry huts, and barriers,
as Navy Pre-Flight’s evacuation
program moved ahead.
Last of the cadets were trans
ferred over the week-end, leav
ing behind only a steadily dimin
ishing staff of officers, enlisted
personnel, and civilian em
ployees.
Officers, enlisted personnel,
and civilian employees will
move on in increasing numbers
until all are gone shortly after
official decommissioning in the
middle of this month.
Farewell Honors
Farewell honors were paid
the Pre-Flight School by the
University of North Carolina in
a special program held in Me
morial Hall last Thursday eve
ning and attended by Pre-Flight
personnel, NROTC and V-12
trainees, university students and
faculty, and townspeople.
Official farewell from the uni
versity was spoken by President
Frank P. Graham. Final mes
sages in tribute to the Pre-
Flight training program also
were delivered by Lt. Gov. L. Y
Ballentine, representing North
Carolina Governor R. Gregg
Cherry; Josephus Daniels, Sec
retary of the Navy during the
first World Wdr and now editor
of the Raleigh News & Observer;
and Capt. E. E. Hazlett, com
mandant of the NROTC and
V-12 units here and Senior Offi
cer Present.
A letter of farewell from J.
Melville Broughton, Carolina
governor when the Pre-Flight
School was established, was read
by University Chancellor Robert
B. House, who presided over the
meeting.
Comdr. James P. Raugh, com
manding officer, responded for
the Pre-Flight School.