Researchers combing through the records found on this guide will undoubtedly encounter several terms relating to specific Second World War programs or Queens College policies. Below are brief descriptions/ definitions of the most common programs and policies referenced within the guide. More detailed information on each program or policy can be found by following the links at the end of each section.
Instituted in mid-1942, the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) was envisioned as a means by which the Army could satiate its capacious appetite for university-trained officers. However, facing a man-power crisis in early 1944, the War Department abruptly terminated the program. Participants, such as Queens College sophomore Jacob Rand, who believed the ASTP to be their ticket to Officer Candidate School, were reassigned to billets in the infantry, armored, airborne, and civil service divisions. Current records indicate that approximately twenty Queens College students participated in the program over the course of its two year existence. The note "Program Terminated," found in many of the guide's entries, indicates that the individual in question participated in the ASTP.
For a more detailed look at the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) see Louis E. Keefer, “Birth and Death of the Army Specialized Training Program,” Army History 33 (Winter 1995): 1-8.
"Civil Service" is a relatively ambiguous term. According to Professor Bobby A, Wintermute, Queens College's resident military historian, "There are two possible classifications here: one is for students who went on to serve in the Federal Government during the war. This would include persons connected with the War Department, State Department, or other special civilian organizations (the Manhattan Project) under the auspices of the War Department. These would have been special cases, who's war-related work occurred under civilian control and direction. The second classification would be uniformed personnel who would have completed ASTP training, or were otherwise educated in highly specialized technical areas, who went to work during and after the war in the reconstruction of civilian institutional and governmental areas after combat had moved on and the transfer of political power to the formerly occupied population (or defeated enemy combatant population) was to commence. This would include military civil affairs and engineering support in war-shattered areas (France, Italy, Germany, Japan, the Philippines)."
I end up taking sixteen credits over the summer, summer school. 32 credits in the September semester. So when we were called in March …February of ’43 to report to duty March ’42, I was only ten credits short of graduating and I went to see the registrar at the time was Howard Lens, if I’m not mistaken. He was German, actually German but very nice guy and the student body was very close and the college did whatever they could. They were very flexible about what you can do and so forth and he said, “You’re lucky we’re going to give you ten credits for the military service you going to be performing. You will have enough to graduate.”
Eager for individuals to fill vital non-combatant roles, the Army, after some prodding by Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, established the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in late 1941—the Army’s first non-medical service to substantively employ women within the ranks. Initially, WAC graduates were formed into companies and assigned to the Army Air Forces (AAF), Army Ground Forces (AGF), and Army Service Forces (ASF) to preform work as clerks, stenographers, and vehicle drivers. As the war progressed the roles assigned to WAC participants increased in scope and complexity. Current records are unclear as to the exact number of Queens College students who enlisted with the Women’s Army Corps. Only one, Miriam Gersten, is definitively known to have served.
For further information on the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) see Judith A. Bellafaire, The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service, Carlisle, PA: Center for Military History, 2015.
Created by President Roosevelt on July 30, 1942, the WAVES served a similar function to the Women’s Army Corps. Short of going to sea, WAVES undertook necessary support roles in nearly all of the Navy’s operational, strategic, and logistical bureaus. Approximately forty Queens College students, including Eileen Boere, Evelyn M. Haig, and Edith Tonkonogy are known to have served in this capacity.
For more on the Navy’s Women Accepted for Emergency Volunteer Service (WAVES) program see "The WAVES’ 75th Birthday,” Naval History and Heritage Command.
