Today,FALL/WINTER 2004 1 - University of the Ozarks

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Sixty years ago the Ozarks campus moved off College Hilland into the First Presbyterian Church in Clarksville after theU.S. Navy took over the college for a training programMargaret (Wright) French Biazo remembers howexciting it was to watch a new class of U.S. Navymen get off the train in downtown Clarksville andmarch up College Hill to a campus that had been transformedfrom a place of higher education to a naval training facility.“We knew exactly when they would arrive each weekand we’d make sure to be out there,” said French. “It was justnot the sort of thing we were used to seeing in Clarksville.”It was sixty years ago that the U.S. Navy took over whatwas then The College of the Ozarks for a program calledelementary electricity and radio materiel electronics (EE &RM School) training. In actuality, it was early radar training.The entire college, which then had about 150 students,was moved down the hill to the Presbyterian Church.During the height of World War II, the Ozarks campusplayed a significant role in helping the country’s war effortsby giving the U.S. Navy full control of the university’sfacilities to run its training program. The Navy occupied theOzarks campus from January 1944 to April of 1945.Biazo ended up meeting a young Navy recruit fromKingsville, Texas, Robert French, at a Sunday afternoonsocial in 1945. They were married six months later and weretogether for 52 years before he passed away in 1997.“We became acquainted with the Navy men when theywould come to visit us,” said Biazo, who remarried in 2003and is living in Springdale, Ark. “Friendships were made, inwhich many cases led to lasting relationships.”Professor and historian Dr. Raymond Watson of Huntsville,Ala., has done extensive research on the Navy program,which was officially called Radio Materiel Training School.According to Watson, “radio” was a cover for “radar,” whichwas still secret and in its early stages at the time. Initiated inJanuary 1942, immediately after Pearl Harbor, EE & RMSchool was considered the most difficult training program forenlisted personnel offered during the war.“It was said that the average IQ of successful students inthe program exceeded that of graduates from Harvard, MITand similar schools,” said Watson.Entrance to the program was through the Eddy Test,which had about a 25 percent pass record. Those passing theEddy Test first attended a one-monthpre-radio school (offered at severaljunior colleges in Chicago) that hadabout a 50 percent passing rate.From there, they went to one ofeight Primary Schools located aroundthe country. The Primary Schoolsconsisted of a three-month trainingperiod and had a pass rate of about 70percent. The training program atOzarks was originally at the NavalResearch Laboratory in Washington,D.C., but transferred to Ozarks inJanuary 1944, according to Watson.In addition to Ozarks, PrimarySchools were located at OklahomaA&M; University of Houston; GroveCity College in Pennsylvania; BlissMargaret (Wright)French Biazo metlate husband RobertFrench while hewas stationed atOzarks.12 Today, FALL/WINTER 2004
Electrical School in Maryland; Utah State; Dearborn, Mich.;and Monterey, Calif.Those making it through Primary School then went toSecondary School, a six-month activity at one of four locations— three for ship equipment and one for aircraft systems.Attendees at the EE & RM schools were Navy, Marineand Coast Guard enlisted men. The instructors were mainlyNavy and Marine personnel, usually with civilian teachingexperience. One of the instructors at Ozarks was a Marinenamed Frank Genochio, who later served in the South Pacificwhere he was instrumental in establishing the “Navaho CodeTalkers,” made famous in the 2002 film Windtalkers.Weekday classes ran nine hours, with a required studyperiod in the evenings. Saturday mornings were for examinations.John Westkaemper of Austin, Texas, a retired engineeringprofessor, was part of the training program’s last class atOzarks. He recalls the classes covering such topics as electricaltheory, principles of vacuum tubes and the operation ofvarious circuits using those tubes.“Navy life picked up dramatically when I arrived inClarksville,” Westkaemper said. “The location was attractive,the duties weren’t onerous, the people were pleasant and theweather was nice. We were given liberty on weekends, andbecause Clarksville was small and didn’t have any beerjoints, we soon learned that Russellville was more exciting.We spent a lot of weekends in Russellville.”College officials learned that the Navy would take overthe campus in early December of 1943. In a span of aboutthree weeks, the college set up shop at the PresbyterianChurch, complete with administrative offices, library, labsand classrooms.In a 1944 article for School and Society journal, RichardArmour wrote about the Ozarks’ frantic efforts to move thecampus:In January of 1945, the entire university moved down the hill tothe First Presbyterian Church.Instructors in the U.S. Navy Radio Materiel Training School posefor a photo in front of Munger Chapel in 1945.“There was work to be done. Partitions and plasteringhad to be thrown up to subdivide the two large Sundayschooldepartments into eight reasonably soundproof classrooms.College cafeteria equipment had to be transferred tothe church kitchen. All the educational paraphernalia,including laboratory equipment and 15,000 books, had to bebrought down the hill to the church. … President, dean,faculty members and students went to work with a zest andenergy that amazed even themselves … The decision to movewas made on December 9. On January 5, college classesbegan in the new location … The months went by. The navalschool grew to 1,000, graduating a class of 100 each week.The college settled down to its routine. Students acceptedtheir new surroundings and cheerfully went to church everyday. “When the war is over,” they said quietly, “we shall goback up on the hill.”While classes were held in the various rooms, includingthe sanctuary, of the First Presbyterian Church, many of thecollege’s female students were housed in the church’s adjoiningManse, a house of 12 to 14 rooms.“There were probably 40 or 50 of us crowded into thathouse; four or six to a room” said Helen McElree, a 1947Ozarks graduate who lives in Fayetteville, Ark. “It sure madeit difficult to find time to get a shower with that many girlsliving in the house.”Watson estimates that a total of about 30,000 men wentthrough the entire EE & RM program, of which about 3,000(or 10 percent) were stationed at the Ozarks campus at onetime. If, as some historians say, radar helped win worldWorld War II, then Ozarks played a small role.“This (radar) training, its creative originators, and thestudents involved deserve recognition in modern history,”Watson said.The college’s only profit from the U.S. Navy during theperiod was in the rental of the facilities, which totaled $1,100a month. But even that did not cover the inconvenience andcost the college incurred in setting up temporary accommodations.However, as the college Board of Trustees minutes fromJune 1, 1945 so succinctly record, the true benefit was thecollege’s “satisfaction in serving the country.”Today, FALL/WINTER 2004 13
Page 1 and 2: Today, FALL/WINTER 2004 1
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTSTodayA Magazine for Ozarks
Page 5 and 6: Alumni philanthropy reaches new hig
Page 7 and 8: CampusNewsHumanities professors bec
Page 9 and 10: CampusNewsCampus stages own debatei
Page 11: U of O basketball players andbrothe
Page 15 and 16: alumni news1950sRobert “Bob” De
Page 17 and 18: Alton, Ill., where he is a police o
Page 19 and 20: alumni newsworking as a first-grade
Page 23 and 24: ARAMARK Corporation, Coppell, TX*Ri
Page 25 and 26: Bella Vista Community Church,Bella
Page 27 and 28: John Crary ’76 and Sharon Smith C
Page 29 and 30: Charlie Sefers, Jr. ’50 and Janic
Page 31 and 32: John Clendenin ’69 and CarolSauge
Page 33 and 34: Douglas Kelly ’72 and Gail KellyG
Page 35 and 36: David Scarborough ’49 andDallas B
Page 37 and 38: M emorialsMay 1, 2004 through Sept.

Today,FALL/WINTER 2004 1 - University of the Ozarks

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