Young Potential At the End of an Era

The First World War lasted four years. With a war of such scale, the people on the homefront on both sides waited anxiously for the war's outcome and eventual end. In the United States, women and children waited for the men to return home from the Great War all across the states. This was true of Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio.

             Awaiting the end of the war, President Walter Clippinger of Otterbein had set up a student military program. The Students’ Army Training Corps (SATC) consisted of two officers, Lieutenant Scearle M. Brewster and Second Lieutenant William Johnson, who would teach and train Otterbein men to be prepared for war and the ongoing draft. The Association building was transformed into several military facilities such as barracks, mess hall and military headquarters.

             Any student that signed up for the SATC would remain a part time student on campus. They would spend most of their time in college being taught by the military officers while still going to a few classes. According to Clippinger, “Otterbein has a strong unit of 195 men, with a maximum limit of 250. We have in the institution about 260 men, 435 students in all, of whom about 225 are Freshmen.” Given these statistics, it is clear that the program was relatively successful, given that more than half of the men enrolled had signed up.

            Wartime had a much different perspective and disposition during the early 1900’s. To Americans, a war titled, “World War” was an opportunity, a way to slowly break away from the neutrality advised by George Washington and send young men into a path of service. Even a small private college could use its resources to train men to be soldiers. Otterbein was producing war ready men that were to go overseas. These men’s time never came.

             November 11, 1918, 2:30 A.M, the American population erupted in celebration. The German Government had signed the armistice with the Allied forces. The four-year war had ended, and thousands of men would be able to go home to see their friends and families. In a letter written that morning to military private, Earl B. Brobst, Clippinger sends his regards at the end of the war. “I was aroused from my peaceful slumbers by the firing of the guns and the ringing of the college bell, by the janitor. A great many townspeople got up at once and began to celebrate, and by five o’clock all the bells of town were ringing.” Despite all of Clippinger’s work with the SATC, he himself was quite pleased with the end of the war, if perhaps not as exuberant as the townspeople he mentions. He noted, “The end has come quickly. The period of reconstruction will be long and tedious, but very inspiring and significant, and you ought to get all the training you can here and abroad.” Indeed, Clippinger noted the quickness of the end of the war.

             While the SATC proved unnecessary in the immediate time, the program still remained influential to the few hundred students that participated in the program. The participants were given honorable discharges, but the training they went to would prepare the young men for any future military service that they might do. With that being said, the SATC was toned down and eventually turned into what is now the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

             While the endeavors of Otterbein’s SATC was an ambitious and, to an extent, fruitful plan, the program teaches us domestic war sentiment during these earlier times. The SATC is an example of how war during the early 1900’s was seen as more of an opportunity, something that would bring out American patriotism and the citizens' love of their country. In these current times, this sentiment is no longer as universal as it used to be.

    Bibliography

 Letter to Private Earl B. from Walter Clipinger: November 11, 1918

Letter to the Trustees of Otterbein College from Walter Clippinger: September 30, 1918