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

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IST R L . fs H 5 , on p ',, ,, 'Y n . f ,K a, lmliiin ,m.,,, ' ,- A 'iii --AA we 5.5, 'Ill' flllllllltpwfm ig ng gnu pg H ff -- 42593 ' saw' wind' at -:zz-n -Q... 'hfv ,....., ,,,,,,, 4M,,,1'A' ,- ff , ,,... - ,,,W4Lh f L lfrz A r MV' Great Lakes is the Midwest's largest Naval instal- lation. A veteran of two world wars and the Korean con- flict, Great Lakes has served primarily as a recruit training establishment-bridging the gap from civil- ian to military life-by introducing recruits to Naval customs and discipline, and preparing them through intensive training for the requirements of Naval service. During World War II, approximately 1,000,000 Bluejackets were trained at Great Lakes-about one out of every three in the wartime fleet, and twice the number trained at any other installation. In addition to its primary function of training re- cruits, Great Lakes provides advanced training in various technical schools for the numerous specialists required in today's modern and complex Navy. In these schools, men of the fleet learn to be electronic technicians, machinists, gunners, enginemen, elec- tricians, dental technicians, boilermen, and hospital- men, to name a few of the specialties. The Dental Technician School is one of the few Armed Forces schools offering instruction to Army and Air Force personnel as well as Navy. The Hospital Corps School, which can accommodate 1600 students, is a part of the U. S. Naval Hospital at Great Lakes. The Naval Hospital is one of the Navy's major hospitals for treatment and care of ill and injured personnel. At the height of the Korean fighting, more than 700 battle casualties were under treatment here. The establishment of two large Naval supply ac- tivities here in recent years has increased Great

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E91 g 1 COMMANDER H. L. VAUGHAN, U. S. NAVY Executive Officer, Recruit Training Command CAPTAIN C. B. JACKSON, .IR U. S. NAVY Commanding Officer, Recruit Training Command ?Q - HTH Iwi

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Lakes' importance as a Naval supply center. Numerous Naval activities throughout the Midwest, as well as ships of the fleet, obtain equipment through the enlarged Naval Supply Depot. In addition, a large Electronic Supply Office at Great Lakes controls the procurement and distribution of repair parts re- quired for the maintenance of electronic equipment at shore stations and in Navy ships. Great Lakes also is the headquarters of the Ninth Naval Dis- trict-the largest Naval district in the nation, encompassing 13 midwestern states. The Commandant of the Ninth Naval Dis- trict directs the hundreds of Naval activities in this land-locked area. Included among these activities is administration of the large Naval Reserve program in the Midwest, where civilians who are Naval Reservists receive practical instruction in weekly drills at 72 training centers. They also participate in annual cruises aboard ships of the Great Lakes training squadron. Other activities at Great Lakes have all-Navy functions. These include: lj the Naval Examining Center, which prepares and processes rating examinations for the entire Navy, 21 Fleet Home Town News Center, which receives news stories and photographs of Naval personnel from all parts of the world and distributes them to hometown newspapers, and 31 Navy Medi- cal Research Unit No. 4, which conducts research into the cause, cure, and control of respiratory diseases. Waves have been stationed at Great Lakes since the Navy volunteer women's organization was established in 1942. A Wave recruit training school was located here from 1948 to 1951. In addition to filling essential jobs at Great Lakes, Waves also attend some of the specialty schools here. Great Lakes' history dates back to 1904, when a board ap- pointed by the President selected the site of the Naval Training Center from among 37 locations on the Great Lakes. The Mer- chants' Club of Chicago raised the funds to purchase the prop- erty, and the land was presented to the Government as a gift from the people of Chicago. On July 1, 1911-six years to the day after construction began-Great Lakes was commissioned. It consisted of 39 build- ings, with a capacity of 1,500 'men. During World War I, the training center was expanded to 775 buildings with a capacity of almost 50,000 trainees. More than 125,000 men received their first Navy training here during World War I. Great Lakes' population dropped sharply during the years between wars, but population and construction began a rapid increase after President Roosevelt proclaimed a national emer- gency on September 9, 1939. Pearl Harbor threw the expansion program into high gear, with 13,000 civilians working in shifts, seven days a week, to build additional barracks, mess halls, and training facilities. A total of 675 buildings had been erected by the end of 1942 and in 1944 the population reached a peak of more than 100,000. At the end of World War II, Great Lakes consisted of ap- proximately 1,000 buildings. Since then, these facilities have been utilized in the continued training of recruits and in Great Lakes' expansion as an important advanced school center for the Navy. ff'