D (DRAFT) DAY AT THE A SCHOOL On or about April 1, 1944, World War II critical skills deferments for almost all of Newport News Shipbuilding s apprentices were terminated. Shortly thereafter, hundreds of these young shipbuilders received their draft notices. When America was forced to participate in that world-wide conflict, shipbuilding skills were at first considered essential to the Nation s war effort. Production efforts at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) required an experienced workforce of thousands. Consequently, while hundreds of thousands of Americans received draft notices from the Selective Service in 1942 and 1943, the craftsmen of Newport News were spared. Most NNS shipbuilders, including the vast majority of apprentices were granted 2B deferments; defined as Registrant Deferred Because of Occupation in a War Industry. Under this protective umbrella, the Apprentice School flourished. In 1943, enrollment at the school hit a peak of 1,096 students. But at the same time, a sizable percentage of patriots engaged in shipbuilding, including numerous apprentices and graduate apprentices, felt a call to duty and volunteered for military service in spite of having been granted deferment status. By early 1944, the Navy had determined that the production pipeline for combat vessels had satisfied the critical needs of the early war years. Since the Army and the Marines needed more and more manpower to replace combat causalities, the Navy agreed to terminate many of the occupational deferments previously granted to NNS employees.
Apprentices were among the first to have their 2B deferments rescinded, and those that were physically fit were reclassified as IA (i.e., Available for Unrestricted Military Service). Induction notices quickly followed. In addition, many recent graduates of the Apprentice School also lost their occupational deferments. For example, the 1943 graduating class numbered 120. The vast majority, 105, ended up in military service by the end of 1944. Students that were drafted by the armed forces that had less than six months time remaining were credited with completion of their apprenticeship by NNS. This abrupt change in the lives of hundreds of apprentices did not come as a complete surprise. Rumors had previously swirled around the shipyard that occupational deferments might be in jeopardy before they were actually rescinded. Some apprentices, perhaps feeling patriotic or desiring to make their own service selection, volunteered for various branches of military service. A few became merchant mariners; a profession that allowed them to retain deferment status, although that put them in harm s way when they went to sea in cargo vessels and tankers. Other enterprising students, upon learning that the Navy was soliciting men to participate in what was then a brand-new technology, took the Navy up on the offer identified in this poster. As then-electrician apprentice Ty Bowman recalls in a book entitled Until I Left Home he wrote about his early years of growing up in a very rural part of Virginia and then beginning an apprenticeship at NNS: My friends and neighbors selected me to join the military in April, 1944. Being told I would be ordered to report for duty within two weeks, I quit my job and went home to visit family and friends. I had taken the Navy Eddy Test and passed it. This gave me entry into the Naval electronics technicians course. A number of the NNS&DDCO apprentices were in this program. Many of them did quite well, when they returned to complete their apprenticeship and/or go to college. 2
Ty Bowman was one who did quite well He returned to NNS in 1946 and resumed his apprenticeship. After transferring to the Electrical Design Department, he completed his time in early 1950. Soon thereafter he enrolled in the University of Virginia and earned a degree in electrical engineering. Returning to NNS, he was assigned to the Atomic Power Division and participated in the very earliest naval nuclear propulsion work undertaken by the shipyard. The highlight of his career at NNS, which ended in retirement in 1990, was being Electrical Section Engineering Manager for the ultra- successful NIMITZ-class propulsion plant design. Many of his fellow apprentices simply took their chances when drafted. Some were inducted into the Navy, where their shipbuilding skills might be useful. The majority of drafted apprentices ended up in combat units of the US Army. By the middle of 1945, enrollment in the Apprentice School had dropped to just 39 students. All school activities were interrupted. The Binnacle was not published between 1943 and 1946. No graduation exercises were held during those years. Sports and social activities were greatly curtailed, if not canceled altogether. The drastic decline in the Apprentice School enrollment was reversed following the end of World War II. Over 400 veterans returned to complete their apprenticeships; many of them married by then. Graduation exercises held on January 16 th, 1948, honored some 383 members of the Classes of 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1947 who had completed their time. It was one of the largest graduation ceremonies held in the school s history. A number of the members of those classes were not present at that graduation ceremony but received their certificates in absentia. Some of them had completed their interrupted apprenticeships in 1946. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, they had already gone off to college. But twenty-eight young men did neither; they had paid the ultimate price of victory during World War II. 3
Created in their memory, this mural currently resides in the Apprentice school building s auditorium. The names of those apprentices who gave their lives during World War II flank this magnificent memorial display, which measures 22 feet, ten inches wide by five feet, nine inches high. It will be moved to the new Apprentice School complex currently under construction, when that facility is completed. In addition, the 1947 edition of The Binnacle was dedicated to the Apprentice School s twenty-eight lost souls of the Greatest Generation. The mural reproduced above was appropriately included as a two-page spread in full color in that publication. It was first displayed in public to form a somber backdrop for the 1948 graduation event. This lasting tribute was the work of Thomas C. Skinner, shipyard artist-inresidence for over two decades; from the early 1930 s to the mid-1950 s. Sixty years later, the 2007 Apprentice Alumni Directory was dedicated to the hundreds of apprentices who served in World War Two, and to the memory of the twenty-eight who made the ultimate sacrifice. Many of those who attended the school s 1948 graduation ceremony went on to become Newport News shipbuilders, amassing long service records before retiring. A sizable percentage of this group also became members of the Apprentice Alumni Association. Two of them, Bobby Powers (Designer, Electrical - 1944) [Left] and Arvil Gregg (Shipfitter - 1947) [Right]; eventually took a turn at being president of the alumni organization. 4
King Goodwin (Designer, Hull - 1944) [Left] was an apprentice instructor in Hull Design for years and also unselfishly served as a sponsor for a number of Apprentice School extracurricular activities before retiring. They all served in the United States Navy World War II, as did Ty Bowman. One would imagine that they preferred the prospect of being onboard a ship and hopefully one built by NNS rather than in a foxhole. ~ Postscript ~ My older brother, Howard Lee, Jr., (Designer, Piping 1947), had somewhat similar experiences to those of Ty Bowman. He also took and passed the Navy s eddy current test. After being drafted and receiving his training in Navy electronics, my brother served in the battleship NEW MEXICO during the latter stages of the war. His battle station was in a radar room, which was very close to where his ship was severely damaged on two separate occasions by Kamikazes. He was unharmed, but understandably unnerved, since a large number of his shipmates were killed or wounded. He returned to Newport News in 1946, completed his apprenticeship and then went to college on the GI Bill. Returning to NNS, he worked in the Engine Technical Department for a short period of time, then sought his fortune elsewhere. His fondest memory of that last period of employment at the shipyard is when he participated in the design and model testing of the smokestacks for the SS UNITED STATES. He s on the left in the following photo. My Big Brother never tires of telling that story and I never tire of hearing it! Bill Lee January 2013 5