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Show Merchant Marine Academy Develops Fighting Officers 'ine Academy hting Officers ! f ff I ' " - " -1 , , f f ' 1 ' : ', t, : , i. !' C y x (I I v i ;v ' 3r $ 1 . ffmAifaiiaiaajaMi. tol -.at, v Comhat Training Is Part of Extensive Cadet Requirement npHE nation's newest service -1 academy sends its undergraduates undergradu-ates to sea as part of their normal course of training. During war, they go to sea just the same, consequently, consequent-ly, they're participants in sea warfare. war-fare. They've withstood torpedoes, bombings, strafing, coast artillery, and fire from enemy raiders. They've performed heroic acts under fire which would do credit to battle-experienced battle-experienced veterans. Cadet-midshipmen In the United States merchant marine cadet corps have participated in every landing and invasion operation of the war Upper: Graduating regimental commander, Willard B. Kitchen and other cadet officers salute as taps is blown In honor of former cadet-midshipmen cadet-midshipmen lost or missing In action. Left: Training vessel, Emery Rice, under full sail. Right: Cadet-midshipmen taking observations for longitude during training cruise. from easy in order to live up to the creed, "... Got to make sure that no boy's ghost will ever say, 'If your training program had only done its job.' . . ." Because of the sea duty requirements, require-ments, every cadet - midshipman at Kings Point actually is a veteran vet-eran of sea warfare and many wear war-zone ribbons indicating service around the world. Among several cadet-midshipmen who participated in the invasion of France were Louie B. Wood Jr., of Atlanta, Ga., and John F. Steed-ley Steed-ley Jr. of Tallahassee, Fla., who witnessed all the fire and action of American warships and planes and the cadet corps while serving aboard merchant vessels. Seven have won distinguished service medals; more than 600 have been forced to abandon ship as a result of enemy action; more than 150 have been killed in action; many have been credited with saving lives of shipmates and others have spent as many as 40 days in lifeboats. life-boats. The United States merchant marine ma-rine cadet corps includes the U. S. merchant marine academy, Kings Point, L. I.; a basic school at San Mateo, Calif.; one at Pass Christian, Chris-tian, Miss.; and a revolving group of 2,600 to 3,000 cadet-midshipmen serving at sea at all times. Upon admission ad-mission to the cadet corps, a cadet-midshipman cadet-midshipman is assigned to one of the basic schools for training of about four months, after which he goes to sea for a minimum of six months. This sometimes lasts as long as 12 months, because the cadet-midshipman's ship may be in the Indian ocean when his six months is completed, and he, of course, must serve until his ship returns to the United States. Has Sea Training First. After sea duty, a cadet-midshipman is assigned to Kings Point for advanced training during which he assimilates knowledge acquired in classrooms and laboratories with that which results from sea training train-ing to qualify himself to become a deck or engine officer in America's ever-expanding merchant fleet. Upon graduation a cadet-mid-fihipman is licensed as third mate or third assistant engineer and is appointed an ensign in the U. S. maritime service and in the U. S. naval reserve. Many of the 5,000 graduates to. date have gone into active duty with the navy. The U. S. merchant marine cadet ....... ,. ,1n fitttoT" our vicinity. One had our number on it and struck the ship squarely in No. five hold, killing seven soldiers sol-diers of the stevedore crew and a merchant seaman." Steedley was busy helping to man ,an antiaircraft gun on the bridge, and Wood was assisting to extinguish a fire on deck. When the fire was out. Wood went below to help remove the dead men from the hold. "The concussion had ripped large holes in both sides and the bottom of the ship, and she settled fast, the stern resting on the bottom in seven fathoms of water," he recounts. re-counts. The order to abandon ship was given after as much geamps possible pos-sible had been removed to nearby vessels. Next day, it was tnought that there might be a chance to save the ship, and an emergency volunteer volun-teer crew was sought to go aboard. Both Wood and Steedley volunteered, volun-teered, but after a few hours all hope of saving the vessel was abandoned. aban-doned. The two cadet-midshipmen were returned to England and were back in New York on July 7, one month after participating in the greatest invasion in history. Their ship had been lost, but the precious cargo of soldiers, jeeps and guns had been put ashore in France. They're at Kings Point now. Dudley Example of Sea Heroes. Almost tw years earlier, on the other side of the world, another cadet-midshipman had played a dramatic dra-matic part in a landing operation. He is Robert H. Dudley of Yonkers, N. Y., who was assigned to a transport trans-port in the task - force which took the first contingent of U. S. marines to Guadalcanal. Dudley was placed in charge of landing boats from his vessel, and the disembarking was proceeding successfully when 23 Japanese torpedo planes attacked at-tacked the ships. Antiaircraft gunners on merchant vessels and warships alike went into action immediately, and skippers skip-pers of the various vessels ordered maneuvers to dodge the torpedoes from the enemy planes. The accuracy accu-racy of the fire from American guns excelled that of the Jap aviators, however, and every one of the 23 planes was shot down. One ship in the landing force was lost when a flaming Jap plane struck on its deck and set it afire. This was Dudley's vessel from which all marines and cargo had been disembarked. Dudley was assigned to another ship loaded with provisions bound for Tulagi, and a few days after the Guadalcanal episode, Dudley again heard the Order, "Abandon ship!," as this vessel was torpedoed and sunk on August 21. Dudley and 12 members of the crew spent the ensuing 14 days in a lifeboat with the most meager supplies of food and water. "On the 14th day, we sighted land, and naturally exerted every ounce of our fast-waning energy to pull ashore," Dudley reported. "We landed on a coral reef, and every man fell face forward, exhausted. The sharp edges of the coral inflicted inflict-ed severe cuts about the body of every one of us, but we just didn't seem to have the strength to move again, so we lay there on the reefs, almost unconscious, for several hours. The natives found us and brought us water." Dudley spent the next two months in army and navy hospital before returning to Kings Point, where he graduated on February 3, 1943, received re-ceived his license as third mate, and went back to sea as an officer helping help-ing deliver the goods. Saved Shipmate's Life. An example of valor and disregard dis-regard of his own safety was shown by cadet-midshipman William M. Thoma Jr. of Alameda, Calif., who was awarded the Distinguished Service medal by President Roosevelt Roose-velt for his heroism in dramatically saving the life of a shipmate. corps, authorized by the merchant marine act of 1936, is to be a permanent per-manent institution, serving the nation na-tion just as do West Point, Annapolis Annapo-lis and the coast guard academy. The academy at Kings Point is situated on Long Island Sound, two miles from Great Neck, on what was previously the site of several swanky estates. There are 30-odd new and modern buildings on the 65-acre campus which also includes parade grounds, an athletic field and an obstacle course which is quite tough. At the academy's private dock, there are half a dozen vessels Cadet-midshipman laying aloft the main mast. German E-boats and coast artillery during the first three or four days of the historic landings. "Our ships moved into the English Eng-lish channel on D-Day, carrying trucks, jeeps, small arms and about 400 soldiers, and we, of course, were exposed to the German bombers, bomb-ers, E-boats and coast artillery. We didn't worry about the Nazis too much, though, when we looked up and saw our own fliers in action and watched American and British V "x u 1 Man overboard rescue practice at Pass Christian, Miss. which afford the best possible means of learning that multitude of sublets sub-lets and details embraced in the term, "seamanship." Laboratories are equipped with actual Liberty ship engines and boilers, Diesels, radio and other signal equipment, refrigeration, units, and machinery and equipment of all types encountered en-countered aboard ship. Administrative Adminis-trative officers of the cadet corps make the training thorough and far warships taking care of the coast emplacements," Wood relates. "A day or so after the initial landings, we were ordered to anchor an-chor a quarter mile off Normandy and discharge our cargo into LSTs. This job took about 12 hours," he said, "and the ship pulled away and anchored to await formation of a convoy to return to England. "On D-Day plus four, ME 109s were dropping 500-pound bombs in |