World War II veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Corporal Hershel “Woody” Williams held the Super Bowl LII coin in his hand on February 4, 2018 before some 70,000 in the stadium and some 103 million through television. Standing on the 50-yard line alongside 15 other recipients of the nation’s highest military honor, the former U.S. Marine
remains one of four living men to receive the Medal of Honor for conspicuous valor during World War II. According to the National WWII Museum, of the 16 million Americans who served their country, just over 500,000 are alive today. The United States faces the reality that its last living connections to the war become fewer in number each year. As part of the Greatest Generation, those who served in World War II take on an esteemed place in the collective memories of a country seemingly desperate for men and women of integrity and virtue. The honoring of Corporal Hershel “Woody” Williams during Super Bowl LII illustrates just one example of the esteem held for those who served in World War II. The receptions of the recent films Hacksaw Ridge (2016), Dunkirk (2017), and Darkest Hour (2017) provide additional examples. Their receptions convey not only America’s but also the world’s reverence for those who faced existential threats and stood firm in their resolve to serve and sacrifice in the name of freedom. As time continues to distance World War II, a collective expression is voiced that the service and sacrifice of those men and women of the United States and the Allied powers will not be forgotten and rightfully so.
Service and sacrifice appeared on many fronts during World War II. Just as they came in the fronts of war, they also came at the home front, and both are of importance. In what seems to be extensive collection of scholarship, a glaring gap is unexpected, but yet a glaring gap indeed exists. A largely ignored part of the history of World War II continues to be how colleges and universities responded to the war and contributed to the efforts abroad and in the United States. Where some historians of World War II have included higher education in their analyses, their focus has primarily focused on large-scale research through the federal government and massive training programs sponsored by the armed services. In beginning to establish a foundation on the history of higher education during the war, C.D. Cardozier deserves much credit for his work Colleges and Universities in World War II (1993) that brought great insight into the relationship between higher education and wartime America. In the scope of higher education during the war, however, Cardozier’s work does not reveal the full complexity of issues affecting colleges and universities during the national crisis, nor should it be expected to do so as a single work. To understand more fully this history, additional works, such as this one, call attention to how the war affected colleges and universities and how colleges and universities furthered the United States’ efforts toward victory. What appears through additional historical inquiry is that colleges and universities during the war possessed definite patterns or similarities and, at the same time, possessed distinct differences creating a history characterized by nuance. These nuances are well illustrated in the history of Christian denominational colleges and universities across the landscape of the United States during World War II.
Denominational colleges and universities faced the national crisis in relationship to their Christian tenets and particular religious communities. Within Protestantism, for instance, denominational positions ranged from justifying the war in light of the threat to the United States to maintaining long-held beliefs of nonviolence. The scope of religious diversity within Christian higher education and the central issues of faith and service to God and country become particularly apparent during the war. Shifting the focus from research and public institutions to denominational institutions fills a gap in the history of higher education and the history of World War II. Through this, an expanded view of higher education during wartime and the relationship between higher education, faith, and war becomes possible. Additionally, since most denominational institutions can be characterized as liberal arts colleges, the ways in which the liberal arts intersected with the mission of higher education during the mid-twentieth century, Christian faith, and distinct religious beliefs demonstrate an often complex environment characterized by traditional foundations and new paths forward.
The diversity of Christian denominations makes any generalization about Christian higher education
during World War II somewhat difficult. Select denominations fit larger, historic movements within Christianity, and their responses and contributions to the war seem in line with mainline Protestant
and Catholic beliefs. Other denominations, however, are best characterized as the Protestants of the Protestants and dissenters of the dissenters, and their responses varied to the same degree as their doctrines. Regardless, whether on a large or small scale, denominational colleges often answered to religious authorities beyond the campus for their framing of the war and did not simply respond to the forces present during wartime whether that force be American patriotism
, government directives, or old-world loyalties. Enveloping the denominational college, the call to serve God meant examining theologically and through Scriptures the actions necessary to be faithful to God in accordance with established beliefs. For some denominational colleges, being faithful to God and country did not cause a conflict of conscience. For others, the war and responsibilities to the country led to crises within the colleges and denominations.
The twelve chapters in this work analyze how denominational colleges framed World War II in relationship to faith, contributed and responded to the war effort, and adapted to changes facing higher education during wartime. Some aspects of the war seem similar across public, private, and denominational institutions. This history is part of this volume. The exodus, for instance, of men—students, faculty, and administrators—being drafted led to declines
in overall enrollment. With this, the gender balance shifted significantly with student populations becoming largely female. Across the country, news of classmates serving across the world reached campus newspapers. As the war continued, the news of fallen soldiers, sailors, and pilots left a deep sense of loss among campus communities. With this sense of loss also came a patriotic pride in knowing that former classmates and alumni paid the ultimate price for the American cause. Common events also occurred. Students
sold war bonds
, held scrap drives
, and donated blood. They experienced gas
and tire rationing and consequently limited travel. Football seasons and dances were cancelled. Technical training was often added to the curriculum along with accelerated programs
, and many campuses sponsored military reserve programs. Higher education, indeed, changed with the war, and, in many ways, the changes possessed a degree of commonality across colleges as the twelve chapters show. Where the commonalities are part of this volume, the distinct differences that developed from denominational identities are part of the volume as well. From the theology
of just war theory
and the theology
of pacifism
and noncombatancy, for instance, to an assortment of middle positions, Christian
colleges were able to frame and express their positions and feelings on war through faith where public universities could not and most private, secular institutions would not.
The twelve chapters collected here reflect a wide range of denominations and geographic locations and provide a significant investigation into denominational higher education during World War II. With their names as they appeared during World War II, their locations, and their denominational affiliations, the colleges include Pepperdine College
in Los Angeles, California (Church of Christ
); Sioux Falls College
in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Baptist); College of Mount St. Joseph
in Cincinnati, Ohio (Catholic, Sisters of Charity
); North Park College
in Chicago, Illinois (Evangelical
Covenant Church
); Sterling College
in Sterling, Kansas (Presbyterian); Walla Walla College
in College Place, Washington (Seventh-day Adventist); Huntington College
in Huntington, Indiana (Church of the United Brethren in Christ
); Houghton College
in Houghton, New York (Wesleyan); Whitworth College
in Spokane, Washington (Presbyterian); Mississippi College
in Clinton, Mississippi (Baptist); Louisiana College
in Pineville, Louisiana (Baptist); and Montreat College
in Montreat, North Carolina (Presbyterian). Together, they illustrate an intricate and significant history that brings attention to historical accounts that have been generally overlooked in studies of higher education and World War II. They also give voice to the many men and women from denominational colleges across the country, who served and sacrificed at home and abroad.