Having proved its value to the campus and the nation during World War II, ROTC returned as strong as ever after the war. The student body grew beyond its usual pre-war size of 500 students as GI’s rushed to complete bachelor’s degrees. The largest student organization on campus appears to have been the Veteran’s Club, and the college even had about 32 apartments on campus for married students. The 1947 yearbook noted that the post-war ROTC unit was almost as large as the pre-war program, and that the officers in charge were popular “despite the fact that most of the student body had been in some branch of the service.” While the professor of military science and tactics before World War II was generally a captain, after the war, the position was generally held by a lieutenant colonel or colonel. ROTC remained a force on campus well into the 1960s, with the battalion generally being organized into several companies along with a band and rifle team.
Members of ROTC in 1961
