US Navy Recruit Training Command - Keel Yearbook (Great Lakes, IL)

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U ' 'HX' Wheii the Armistice of 1918 concluded the Kaiser war, Great Lakes had been expanded to 1,200 acres and 45,000 men were in training. The Station had trained a quarter-million men for service in that war. Between wars, the station's activity came to a complete standstill for a time, beginning in 1933. Although it was re-opened July 29, 1935, the total population of Great Lakes was less than one thousand when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed a national emergency on September 9, 1939. A period of orderly growth began July 26, 1940, and when the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor, Great Lakes accommodated 14,000 men. America's entry into W'orld Wai' ll touched off a tremendous expansion program which was to add another thousand acres to the Station area and make it big enough to hold 100,000 men under crowded conditions. Ten thousand men were employed in the construction program which by late 1942 had mushroomed Great Lakes to ap- proximately its present size. More than a million men, or a third of the Bluejackets in the wartime fleet, were trained at Great Lakes during the war. The present name, U. S. Naval Training Cen- ter, Great Lakes, Ill., came with a change of status on March 28, 1944. Great Lakes became a group command, with four subordinate com- mands, of which one is the Recruit Training Com- mand. The others are Administrative and Service School commands and the Marine Barracks. Great Lakes was the home of the Navy's only Wave Recruit Training School until late in 1951.

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is as . E f -..e . .....,.,..,' ..- -HU... hw . ., .f Q Z Y 'ME-rj. -an ft- H LDL-- ' B saga as .11 MKIN ENTRANCE to United States Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Illinois. History of Great Lakes From a modest beginning shortly after the turn of the century, U. S. Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Ill., has grown to a capacity of more than 80,000 and become the Navy's largest training establishment. It was in 1904+ when a board appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt selected 'two ad- joining farms near Lake Bluff, Ill., as a site for a naval training station. The site was presented as a gift of the people of nearby Chicago, acting thru their Merchantis Club. After six years of construction, the Navy had a 172-acre station with a capacity of 1,500 men. It was commissioned July 1, 1911, and dedicated as a Station by President William Howard Taft in November of that year. Under conditions of wartime urgency, Great Lakes has undergone two periods of rapid ex- pansion. Tower of Mann Building Headquarters of 9th Naval District.

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The Navy recruit receives basic indoctrination in the skills needed in the service and an overall picture of the Navy, its customs, traditions and history. Physical training, first aid, physical hy- giene and related subjects complement the strictly academic program. The active and healthful en- vironment of training camp life, supported by ample wholesome food, almost invariably is re- flected in the improved health of the recruit. Training at the Navy's greatest Training Cen- ter goes beyond the level of recruit training, how- ever. The Service School Command embodies six separate trade schools. Two other schools at Great Lakes train Hospi- tal Corpsmen and Dental Technicians. The Marine Barracks is charged with disciplin- ary and security controls, but controls a relatively small training program, as well. Administrative Command, housed in the orig- inal training station, is the nerve center. Physical maintenance and overall administration of the e11- tire Center are its functions. Everyone spends c few days in Comp Barry AV c , ,,.-q-, , . N , ::.- ,..lg-q5.ew'fg'-'-54.'u53.gfg2mf2.. Nerve Center Recruit Training Command