Ohio University and The Post during World War II
Stories from the Digitized Student Newspaper Collection
Introduction
In celebrating the recent digitization of the Ohio University Post issues spanning September 1939 through June 1960, and in recognition of the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June 2024, this digital exhibit offers a sampling of articles from Ohio University’s major student newspaper, The Post, related to life on OHIO’s Athens campus throughout the World War II years. Follow along, year by year, as we walk through this history as it was recounted by student Post writers who were living through it.
Before now, The Post and its predecessor, The Green and White, had been digitized from December 1911 through spring 1939, and from 1960 through 2011. The years missing from this digital collection—1939-1960—have now been digitized and are readily available for all readers to enjoy.
The Post
At the beginning of the 1939 academic year, as Ohio University’s major student newspaper changed its name from The Green and White to The Post, and as it changed some of its format, University residence halls and classroom spaces were being expanded to accommodate a seemingly ever-burgeoning enrollment.
In March 1945 , with a little more than four months of war still remaining , The Post looked back at University-related news during the first year under its new title as The Post, which included building expansions and renamings, as well as gridiron success, a big Homecoming, and a flood.
1939
Theater plays, college dances, and the traditional Freshmen vs. Sophomores tug-of-war over a pond at the asylum were still as popular as ever at Ohio University in fall, 1939.
However, with war already raging in Europe, it was never far from the minds of the Ohio University community, as this September 25,1939 front page demonstrates.
1940
By late summer of the next year, national proposals for a military draft which would not exempt college students was the talk of the campus. Some members of the community, including, apparently Post writers, were not happy with the bill, as this front-page editorial of August 2, 1940 indicates.
Asked by The Post to interpret the proposed conscription bill, Ohio University President Herman James suggested that such a draft as proposed would affect a relatively few OU students. His interesting method for making this determination is included in this Post article .
Herman James, Ohio University president (1935-1943)
One way or another, the military draft continued to be mentioned often on the front pages of The Post throughout the fall of 1940.
More than a year later, as some confusion and concern about the draft remained, front-page articles in The Post endeavored to explain the complexities of draft status, deferments, and appeals.
1941
Meanwhile, in early 1941, although the U.S. was still several months away from officially entering WWII, defense courses were already being planned for OU’s so-called “branch campuses,” and the Campus Affairs Committee was asking for permission to solicit war relief donations on the Athens campus.
In late October, 1941 , as Homecoming plans were made, queens were nominated, and draftee tuition was being refunded, The Post was beginning what would become a brief column called “Army Life,” which would be changed later to “Service Life,” regularly updating readers about the status of OU men serving in the U. S. military.
As late as November 1941, students and faculty across the Athens campus were divided on the potential U.S. declaration of war.
On Monday, December 8, 1941 , just hours after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, and hours before the U.S. would officially declare war, shock and confusion reigned in Athens, as The Post editors attempted to describe the situation.
On December 10, these two editorial essays appeared on page two of The Post: the first reminding students that although war has come, they should maintain a healthy attitude about their lives and continue what they are doing for now, even if service to the country is inevitable. The second essay is an interesting, anti-racism satire, sternly reminding the community that all things and all people Japanese are not necessarily villainous.
1942
During the months immediately following Pearl Harbor, as fighting the war in one way or another became the priority of the nation, the educational priorities of the Ohio University campus also shifted, and military training and defense preparations became front-page news in The Post.
These January 7, 1942, front-page Post articles describe different facets of OU’s early war effort including a naval officers training program, making the library a campus center for printed defense information and guidance, introducing new special war-related courses, and creating an examining board for Army Air Corps applicants.
Almost immediately after the declaration of war, colleges and universities across the U.S. began shortening their academic schedules to adapt to the needs for a wartime workforce. As OU administrators began discussing a similar adaptation of the OU academic schedule, The Post asked students to vote on three choices:
- Change to a three-semester plan extending the academic year from September 1st through September 1st.
- Keep the present academic year intact but allow for students who maintained a C+ average to take more courses each semester including in extended summer sessions.
- Eliminate spring break 1942 so that the summer period could be extended.
Later The Post reported that 90% of the students had voted for choice #2.
On February 6, 1942 , The Post announced that in keeping with the decision of the Ohio University Defense Committee, the University would be mostly keeping to its usual academic schedule, with some adjustments being made to allow students to shorten the time that they would need to complete required course work to earn their degrees.
The Post also announced that, following the national trend in keeping universities relevant to the war effort, OU would be adding several new so-called “war courses” to its curriculum
However, in March 1942 , with the Faculty Council, the University Executive Committee, the Defense Committee, and President James all weighing in, the University changed its mind and collectively opted for three-semester academic year. The Post provided readers with a summary of the new scheduling information.
Meanwhile, as the weeks passed, OU students, faculty, and other staff pitched in to aid in the war cause in different ways.
In the area of medicine, 100,000 nurses aides were needed to assist in hospitals. And, in the area of agriculture, an American Women’s Voluntary Service was training other women as farmers’ helpers. Manufacturing, social work, and food preparation were other areas in which women could serve.
In March 1942, The Post also reported that the Army would accept 20,000 or so women in voluntary enlistment in non-combatant roles at the same rank as men. Furthermore, the Army and the Navy asked Civil Services for hundreds of college women, who had had at least 3 years of college courses, to serve as scientific aides, inspectors, and draftsmen. Taking defense courses at the university level would help to qualify women for these sorts of positions.
Later in March 1942 , under the headline “All will aid defense,” The Post reported that the Ohio University Student Victory Council had announced that OU students would be involved in fundraising for bonds to support the war effort, and that, for the present time, some of the residence halls would abandon their annual dances in order to save money which would be contributed to the Victory Council funds.
Admission collections for theatrical performances and a men’s rodeo would also add to the war effort savings. At the same time, plans were also made for an all-campus blood donation campaign, and for students to participate in blackout and air raid drills. Students would also collect and contribute foil from candy and cigarette packages, and student light wardens would help to curtail wastes of campus electricity.
In May 1942, with a somewhat humorous introduction, The Post announced the University’s plans for sugar rationing and distributing for students who were 18 and older. Younger students trying to obtain sugar were required to make sure that they were on their parents’ rationing plans.
Besides detailing how OU students and staff on campus were contributing to the war effort, Post writers also reported on students, faculty, and alum serving in the military away from campus. Many of these reports were brief and summed up under the header of the regular Post column “Service Life.”
But some of the more famous alum such as Ohio University Hall of Fame athlete Frank Baumholtz naturally received their own larger headlines and stories.
Besides printing news related to war-related efforts and changes that were happening on campus, The Post also kept readers regularly informed about the state of the war overall, particularly with regards to the military and how it was conducting the war. Usually printed on page two, ROTC Major Sherwood Jones’s column titled “Military Analysis” was one such informative column.
For more than a year, while he was an OU student, Post Editor Don Irons (’43) provided a regular update and analysis column in The Post on how the war abroad was going. Sadly, he was killed in action while serving as an intelligence and reconnaissance officer behind enemy lines on July 10, 1944.
By the time that Ohio University prepared for fall semester 1942, the effect of the war on freshmen enrollment had become obvious. However, meanwhile, enrollment in the ROTC program on campus doubled in fall 1942.
It was not unusual during the war for the largest portion of stories on The Post’s front pages to be war-related. The December 1, 1942 issue reported:
- Detailed plans for an upcoming women’s wartime vocational conference.
- Plans for the establishment of a Navy training operation at OU including the possibility of Naval personnel and training courses taking over Howard Hall and the Men’s Dormitory.
- OU’s Board of Trustees Chairman Gordon Bush explaining that despite such government agencies taking over some OU facilities, students and staff should not be concerned that the routine and progress of higher. education at OU would be hindered
- And, finally, a story about the Student Victory Council’s plans to counter student apathy toward the war effort.
1943
During this time, savings stamps were issued by the U. S. Treasury Department to help fund the nation’s war effort. The lowest denomination was a 10-cent stamp, enabling ordinary citizens and OU students to be able to afford purchasing them. These savings stamps could be redeemed for Treasury Certificates or war bonds. To mobilize the home front to support the war efforts ideologically and financially, the Treasury Department's primary message usually revolved around patriotism.
This January 12, 1943, Post front page cartoon, sponsored by the OU Student Victory Council, was one such example of the patriotic appeal for purchasing war stamps.
As air raid drills and student Air Corps reservists being called up made the headlines in early spring 1943 Post issues, an announcement was made that OU would begin serving as an Army and Navy training base.
According to a later Post issue , the Army’s Specialized Training Program at OU would include soldiers and not just students in uniform. For those soldiers there would be 24 to 25 hours of classroom and laboratory work on campus, and many more hours of supervised study, and military and physical training. The University would house and feed the soldiers, and provide them with textbooks, lab supplies, and other academic necessities.
Each unit would be under a commandant assisted by a small group of officers. Exams would be given every 12 weeks and those who failed would be sent back to the regular Army. The trainees would all be ranked as privates, and each would receive $50 a month in pay. Their course of study would include physics, chemistry, history, geography, English, and math.
A July 15, 1943 Post article reported that since the Government had taken over Howard Hall for the Army Special Training Program, it was necessary to adjust the housing situation for OU women accordingly. As a result, every room in Lindley Hall, Boyd Hall, Preston Cottage, Sigma Pi house, Beta Theta Pi house, and the Phi Kappa Tau house had been assigned to OU women.
Dining options for women on campus also changed. Women living at the Sigma Pi and Beta Theta Pi houses would eat at Lindley Hall, where there would be cafeteria service, and women at Phi Kappa Tau house would have their own separate dining facility for all meals except breakfast and Sunday night supper. Dean of Women Voigt said that she was delighted with the spirit of the OU women in meeting these changes. “Their cooperative attitude,” she said, “is magnificent. They seem to feel that this is one of their contributions to the war.”
However, making changes to their living and dining routines was not the only sacrifice that OU women were asked to make as a result of the Army Training Program. In midsummer 1943, a curfew was implemented for OU women because, as this Post editorial explains, “certain women have persisted in hanging around the barracks after ‘free hours’ for the cadets are over.” The curfew began at 10:30 PM every night except Saturday when permission would extend to midnight.
On August 12, 1943 , just a week after the women’s curfew was implemented and announced, OU students received more bad news: the entire previously scheduled 1943-44 Ohio University football season had been canceled. Although the related headline suggested that this would happen “next year,” the first sentence of the article affirms that it would be this coming season. Reasons given were: lack of manpower, with so many students and coaches away serving in the military; on-campus cadets were not allowed to participate in football; and many scheduled opponents had already canceled their seasons.
In September 1943, with the new fall semester under way, The Post published this issue with three interesting stories on its front page.
The first story related to the planned Army Caravan, consisting of men, officers, and equipment, which would bivouac in the parking lot at Ohio Stadium where townspeople and university personnel could check it out. Army equipment including jeeps, 90mm guns, tanks, a rolling chapel and kitchen would ramble up to East State Street for further inspection. Also in the plans were an overnight encampment, a parade, a one-hour entertainment gig, and a dance for which Dean Voigt recruited 200 OU women from the dormitories to volunteer as partners.
The second Post article on that date was a re-affirming of the cancellation of the OU football season, but it also contained the news that the OU basketball, baseball, and wrestling seasons would still take place.
Thirdly, the other major headline of the day was that 1,245 students had enrolled for classes for the fall. This was a significant drop from 2,620 students the year prior, and way down from the record enrollment of 1940 which had been 3,307.
Throughout the war, The Post continued to update readers about the heroic status of OU students, alum, and faculty such as these servicemen.
William D. Hartman was a 1941 graduate who named his Flying Fortress plane after his OU alum wife Ruth. Hartman also had earned an Oak Leaf Cluster and the Army Air Medal.
Wilfred J. Smith , an assistant professor on leave from the OU History Department who was fluent in Chinese languages, traveled deep into China to convince an influential Chinese war lord to ally with the U.S. in the war against Japan.
Marine Captain Harold Spears (’42), a member of the Fighting Corsairs Marine squadron, and “the second ranking [U. S. flying] ace of the southwest Pacific”, had taken part in the several major U.S. military campaigns in the Pacific, and had, according to The Post, “chalked up a record of 15 official air victories, 10 probables, and two in the water.”
1944
By spring 1944, according to The Post, more than 30 OU faculty members were serving in the military. The April 14 two-page article lists their names, their OU jobs, and their current military assignments, domestic and abroad.
While such stories about war-related accomplishments, promotions, and heroic acts appeared regularly in The Post, so, unfortunately, did stories about war-related casualties.
Since, to conserve resources, The Post was only publishing once every two or three weeks in summer 1944, the news of the June 6 D-Day Normandy landing arrived late in the campus newspaper on June 9 . By then the news was most likely well known across campus and the Athens community. Nevertheless, The Post did its best to update readers about the most recent advances of the Allied forces onto the European continent.
Meanwhile, a back-page ad in the June 9 issue continued to remind Post readers that the war was far from being over and their financial support for it at home was still necessary.
Although on July 14, 1944 , when this issue of The Post was released, the war was not over on either the European or the Pacific front, a $3.3 million so-called “postwar” building project was planned by the state and the University.
Among the many projects planned were reinforcing the Ewing Hall auditorium ceiling and replacing its floor; a thorough renovation of Cutler Hall, which had fallen to extreme disrepair; construction of a new student center, a new student infirmary, and a new natatorium. The campus heating plant and its connecting tunnels would also be upgraded.
Alumnus Bernard Newman captured this silent 16mm black-and-white footage of the campus and students while attending Ohio University, circa 1944.
1945
As demobilized military veterans began returning to colleges and universities in increasing numbers at the start of 1945, institutions began adjusting to the special needs that would be required including instruction, advising, and counseling.
On January 12, 1945 , this timely editorial appeared on page two of The Post suggesting that it was the University’s responsibility to create and adapt programs that would fit the needs of the returning vets.
On July 27, The Post announced that the University had established a Veterans’ Affairs office to be directed by WWI veteran and Professor of Spanish Victor Whitehouse.
Speaking of returning veterans, sometimes The Post featured articles that were based on stories told in writing or in presentations by returning student, alumni, or faculty vets describing their World War II experiences.
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was a series of battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces. It was the single longest battle on German ground during World War II and it is the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. In a March 16, 1945 , page two Post article, Ohio University student veteran, Ernie Panagiotakos, a 1942 Delta Tau Delta pledge, recounted the action, results, and significance of the battle from his perspective as a participant.
Although this exhibit has adhered closely to revealing mostly local, Ohio University-related World War II stories, it would be remiss for it to omit the front page of the April 12, 1945 Post, that announced such significant news as this:
Roosevelt Dead: Four-Term President Suddenly Dies in Warm Springs, Ga.
In speaking for the University, Ohio University President John C. Baker said this:
“The news of the sudden death of President Roosevelt cannot help but come to all of us as a sad and tragic blow. Tremendous political storms have blown ’round his head and he has been the center of controversies such as few men can live through. In death these controversies are forgotten, and we bow our heads in profound reverence and respect for our President as a valiant leader through world revolutionary times..”
However, such unusually large font headlines did not always have such negative implications as demonstrated by this May 7, 1945 front page of The Post.
To help demonstrate local reaction to the story The Post reached out to several Ohio University officials including longtime Dean of Women Irma Voigt who said:
“Stop and listen, America: the bells are ringing, the bugles blowing. There is thanksgiving in our hearts, but . . . one milestone only is passed, every bell is tolling for someone’s loved one, every bugle is blowing taps, and still we must fight on. There is no longer any glamor in the atmosphere about war. In deep humility, let us seek the sanctuary and pray for courage to go on. And when the fighting shall have ceased over the world, let us have the will to fight on for peace.”
Meanwhile, on page two of this same May 7, 1945 issue, The Post staff chipped in with an thoughtful editorial piece which concluded with this statement:
“The vast majority of the men in service are in our age range. The war has taken from us much of the color and tradition of college life. Think of how much has been taken from college men who were taken from campus and put on battlefields. Think of those who two years ago were in class with you—those who won’t come back. Do you feel you should celebrate for them? Today is a day of rejoicing. Let us rejoice in a manner that reflects both our happiness and our thanks.”
Since The Post was not publishing in mid August 1945 when Victory over Japan (VJ) Day came and went, there were no headlines or stories marking the event. However, other good news came for Ohio University students and alum a month afterward when The Post announced on September 21, 1945 that an intercollegiate varsity football program was resuming, and Bowling Green would be the first opponent faced by the Bobcats.
Oh, by the way, the announcement that enrollment was up 35% over 1944 was also welcomed news.
Page two of that same September 21, 1945 Post issue contained a wonderfully written editorial about the campus returning to “normal,” as well as another story beside it titled “Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Joe College,” naming some of the returning OU students for that fall semester.
The list of returning students included Bob Wren, an OU alum who had played professional baseball for the Toledo Mud Hens, was coming back to college for his Master’s degree. As many will know, Coach Wren became a mainstay in the OU varsity baseball program for years, which included a 1970 visit to the College World Series.
Meanwhile, T/Sgt. Bob Hanna, a veteran of the war in Africa, Italy, France and Germany, was back to finish work for his Physical Education degree accompanied by his wife, the former Bea Cochran, whom he had met at the Student Grill one night in 1943 when Bob had been at OU as an ROTC instructor.
Good news for OU students, staff, and alum just kept coming in fall 1945, as The Post devoted its entire October 12 front page to stories about OU’s first Homecoming in three years. Festivities would include Greek houses being competitively decorated and judged; a pep rally, otherwise known as a “Yell,” would be held on Friday night, featuring the introduction of new cheerleaders and a bonfire over which dummies representing the Homecoming game football opponents from the University of Cincinnati (UC) would be burned in effigy.
Football Coach Don Peden would induce the crowd ‘s enthusiasm with a rally message and the introduction of the OU football squad. The railroad station in Athens reported that extra rail coaches from Cincinnati had been scheduled to accommodate the migration of Bearcats students and other UC fans to Athens. A look back at 10 years of pre-War homecomings was also featured.
For a more complete history of OU homecomings, see the 2021 online exhibit It's All Coming Back: Stories from OHIO's Homecoming History .
However, the fall semester at OU was not all joy and happy celebrations of renewed university traditions. On Friday, November 30, 1945 , The Post featured a front-page story related to a scheduled Sunday, December 2nd service in Alumni Memorial Auditorium honoring more than 108 families of the Ohio University’s 201 war dead.
Parents, wives, and other relatives of the deceased soldiers were coming to Athens from at least eight other states and 51 cities and towns in Ohio. Prayers and solemn songs would be offered before engraved war memorial certificates would be presented to the parents and wives of the soldiers. The inscription on the certificates stated that:
“Ohio University holds in grateful memory the name of (name of the deceased) who answered the call of his country and gave his life in the Second World War that freedom among men might live. With pride in his heroic spirit and with deepest sympathy in his loss the university has inscribed his name on its cherished roll of honor.”
Page two of the November 30 issue revealed the entire list of the 201 so-called “Gold Star Men.”
View the Memorial Service program which also includes a full list of names and was published for a service held at Ohio University on December 2, 1945.
And for a list of Ohio University related men and women who have served the U.S. in various wars over time please see Ohio University honor roll, 1804-1954: a record of war-time military service.
Banner embroidered with the names of Ohio University gold star service members
Conclusion
This virtual exhibit has not included the entire complete collection—or even 10% of the entire collection—of World War II-related stories and articles and speeches and ads that were published in The Post during the 1939-1945 period. But we hope that by featuring at least some samples of the material, we have encouraged readers to examine The Post for themselves.
With digitizing of The Post for over 100 years completed now, researchers can focus on their own research of Ohio University during World War II, or any on any other University-related news during other years, 1911-1939 with The Green and White , 1939-2011 with The Post , and 1970-1982 with the Afro-American Affairs student newspapers.
Whether your mission is researching specific people, places, and events, or you just have some time to go down some interesting so-called “rabbit holes,” looking through the student newspapers is almost always a rewarding, informative, and sometimes, even entertaining journey.
If you have any questions about this, please contact Bill Kimok , Ohio University Archivist and Records Manager at kimok@ohio.edu. And if you find some really cool and interesting stuff, please send us an email and tell us about it.
