Posts Tagged "WW2"

Calisthenics at Bowdoin WW2

Posted by Martha Densmore on Jun 12, 2016 in 1940s Life, All Blog Posts, Bowdoin College, Media, Navy, WW2 | 0 comments

When college coaches were sent to war, new athletic managers were recruited.

As teams coaches were sent to war, new athletic managers were recruited from slim pickings

In 1943 Bowdoin College boys were required to take rigorous calisthenics 5 hours a week.  It was normal for boys just out of high school to be weak in reading and writing. Ordinarily the college would focus greatly on upgrading writing and math skills, english, foreign language, history, debate, American literature and the classics.  But in 1943 best efforts at Bowdoin were strained by the war. Bowdoin’s tradition of liberal arts, Christian morality and intellectualism for the common good, were the formula that created great thinkers to lead democratic society. This unlike a socialist or communist government that requires none but the brute.

Young men like Mose were already heavily burdened with extra classes plus training for sports. Morris played Baseball, Football, Tack, and Basketball.  And even though he wasn’t yet enlisted in the navy, he was subjected to an altered curriculum including extra physical ed classes designed to ready boys for war.

As sportsmen aged 18-21 instantly dissolved from Bowdoin’s varsity teams, freshmen like Mose were added on the fly. Mose loved to play ball. And he had a good time of it at Bowdoin.

Morris’s freshman year at Bowdoin in 1942-1943 was a critical time in American history. The college had to comply with the Army-Navy requirement to get the boys fit for war. No part of campus life remained untouched by war. This film gives and idea about military calisthenics.

WW2 Joy of Peace! Armistice Day 2015

Posted by Martha Densmore on Nov 11, 2015 in 1920s and 1930s, 1940s Life, All Blog Posts, Holiday, Media, Photo, South Pacific, WW2 | 0 comments

Wishing all war veterans everywhere peace and joy today. Armistice Day on the 11th of November commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I. It took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning—the “eleventh hour of eleventh day of eleventh month” of 1918. The end of World War II in Asia occurred on August 14 and 15, 1945. On August 23, 1945 the last Japanese troops on Shumshu surrendered to Soviet forces. Here’s a happy clip from the trove.

Peace brings Mardi Gras spirit back to New Orleans. Aug. 23, 1945