Purdue University Press spoke with author John Norberg about his new book, A Spirit of Service: Purdue University and the United States Military. Spearheaded by the Purdue University College of Engineering in recognition of its 150th anniversary, this book examines how Purdue Boilermakers have played a consequential role in defending democracy, freedom, and independence in times of war and great duress.
Q: Could you give a brief description of your book?
A Spirit of Service uses stories of people to tell the history of Purdue University and the military from the school’s founding through today’s education and training of military personal and leadership in national security and defense research including hypersonics and semiconductors. It is the stories of men and women who lived this history, from ROTC students to a Medal of Honor recipient, from soldiers at the front during the Great War to a man who witnessed the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, from a pilot who led thousands of planes in bombing missions over Germany during World War II to military astronauts, from trailblazing female officers and pilots to twenty-first-century teachers and researchers who are creating the future. It records the stories of Purdue men and women whose patriotism, leadership, and heroism have preserved life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for generations of Americans—past, present, and future.
Q: What is the goal of your book? What motivated you to write it?
The goal of the book is to show the extensive efforts taking place at Purdue in support of military personnel and national security and defense research and the long history behind it. Today about 500 male and female Purdue students are enrolled in Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC), another 2,100 military-connected students are studying for degrees on Purdue campuses. Purdue has an office created to assist military-connected students with their unique needs and G.I. Bill benefits. The Purdue Global online school enrolls more than 30,000 students, nearly 10,000 of them with connections to the military and growing, and the university has another online program with about 1,000 military connected students. The Purdue Military Research Institute (PMRI) provides more active military officers with graduate degrees than any non-military school in the nation. We profiled people who graduated from Purdue and had incredible careers in the military. We profiled Purdue graduates who served in the military and that experience helped them with careers in business. We also wanted to show students of today the wonderful learning and scholarship opportunities that are available to them through the military.
(Mark Simons / Purdue University)
Q: What are a few things that are being studied for the first time in this book?
Between 1958 and 2005, more than nine hundred Navy enlisted men and women were sent to Purdue to receive a college education and a commission as an officer. It was life-changing for these high school graduates. After graduation from Purdue and flight school one of them was piloting a mission during the Vietnam War, was shot down, captured, and tortured. The story of his love for his country and a handmade U.S. flag became an inspiration for other prisoners and everyone who has heard it. The book chronicles important research that took place at Purdue during World War II and the impact the Great War had on the campus almost threatening its existence.
Q: Is there anything that shocked or surprised you while working on this project?
There is so much that interested me. More than 100 Purdue faculty worked on the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb. Before he became president of Purdue Frederick Hovde played an important role in development of the bomb. Purdue Controller (later Vice President and Treasurer) R. B. Stewart was chairman of the advisory board to the Veterans Administration and played a key role in the administration of the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, the G.I. Bill of Rights. Dean of Women Dorothy Stratton and Helen Schleman, director of Duhme Hall and later dean of women, were two of the highest-ranking females in military service during and immediately after World War II. The book tells the stories of women and African Americans and the military, including Purdue women who became among the first military jet pilots, admirals and generals. It also tells the story of a Purdue marine who studied at Purdue and became the first African American officer in the Corps. It tells the story of a Purdue military drill team in the 1950s and 1960s that won six national championships. It was the best team in the University’s history. Judges stopped scoring them in the middle of one contest and just sat down and enjoyed it.
Q: Is it common knowledge or commonly mentioned that military training is an aspect of education included in the Morrill Act? Why is that significant in the context of this book?
It’s well known that the federal Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 provided funds for the creation of universities and required that they teach engineering and agriculture because the nation needed people in these fields. It is far less known that the act required Land Grant universities to teach military tactics. In 1862 thousands of officers were needed by Union forces in the Civil War. The nation had only hundreds of trained men available. While it was too late to train officers for that war, it was decided to train reserve officers at universities for the nation’s future needs.
Q: What are some things/places/organizations students and alumni would be familiar with on campus but might not realize are associated with ROTC, the military training mandate from the Morrill Act, and/or Purdue’s history of military service?
The Purdue Band was formed in 1886 to perform for cadets while they marched. In 1935 the band became known as the All-American Marching Band. From its inception through most of the 20th century it was a military band. So, in 1892 when the Board of Trustees required all male freshman and sophomore students to take military training participation in the band fulfilled that requirement. In the mid-1960s, with encouragement from the U.S. military, universities, including Purdue, ended the requirement that all male students take two years of military training. Since 1918 the Purdue Armory has played a significant role in U.S. military and university history. The Purdue Airport, the first university airport in the nation, was used to train young men as pilots before U.S. involvement in World War II and helped recruit young men to West Lafayette who would become the nation’s first astronauts.
Q: What is the first war Purdue military students are known to have participated in?
In 1898 war broke out between the United States and Spain. It ended in months and six Boilermaker students and alumni took part. In the summer 1916, before American involvement in the Great War in 1917, the Purdue Battery B student Artillery unit was sent to Texas to guard the border with Mexico. A revolution was underway in Mexico and Francisco “Pancho” Villa was a key leader. His forces were crossing into the United States stealing supplies and killing Americans. President Woodrow Wilson sent General John “Blackjack” Pershing and thousands of regular army soldiers into Mexico to capture Villa and scattered his troops. That left no one to guard the border so Wilson sent in National Guard units from around the nation, including those at universities such as Purdue. They stayed through the summer under harsh weather conditions.
Q: Is there a particular battle or war that Purdue military students/ROTC are associated with? How many different wars have Purdue military students participated in?
Purdue students, faculty, alumni, and administrators have taken part in all U.S. wars and military actions beginning with the Spanish American War. The book tells the stories of Purdue students in the Great War taken from their diaries and journals as they fought through France- — brutal battles leaving thousands of men dead on the battle fields. It also describes the young men on their visits to Paris, their first taste of wine and French cooking before and after the battles. Sixty-seven Boilermakers died in the great war. More of them died of flu than from battle injuries during the influenza pandemic. During The Great War and World War II Purdue was essentially a military camp. There were more military personnel in training at Purdue during World War II than regular students. Five hundred Boilermakers died in uniform during World War II.
You can get 30% off A Spirit of Service: Purdue University and the United States Military and any other Purdue University Press publication by ordering from our website and using the code PURDUE30 at checkout.