Sidney R. Blackman
ASTP/Syracuse University
Editor’s Note: This personal account of the ASTP experience of Sidney R. Blackman (d. October 1999) was written by his son, Craig Blackman. It is based upon his conversations with his father, his interviews with veterans who knew his father, and his own research. It is dedicated to the honorable men who served in the ASTP – who were truly part of the “Greatest Generation”.
The 1940s were one of the most memorable decades in American history.
Countless Americans battled the Nazis in Western Europe, while others
liberated the South Pacific from Japanese occupation.
On the home front, millions of Americans made sacrifices for the allied
cause by rationing items that were needed for the war effort, and by providing
the labor to make the weapons of war for America’s “arsenal of democracy.”
Soldiers developed a unique camaraderie as they prepared for epic battles
around the globe. I developed a
similar bond with three fellow engineering students in the Army Specialized
Training Program at Syracuse University in the Fall of 1944 – Thomas
Pritchett, Barney Baxter and Joe Pate.
Syracuse University welcomed the ASTP since many of its students had been
called up for active duty with the passage of the Selective Service Act in
November of 1942. Given the
reduction of funds from the change in student enrollment, Syracuse University
President William Tolley embraced the ASTP because the University, “could not
survive without students, and that meant boys in uniform.”1
To accommodate the new troops, President Tolley purchased off-campus
housing, including old fraternity houses and the Auburn Theological Seminary.
As a result of Tolley’s efforts, Syracuse University had one of the
largest contingents of military personnel of any campus in America during World
War II.
Being a native of Syracuse, I helped Thomas, Barney and Joe adjust to the
campus. Having already taken
Calculus, Trigonometry, Physics and Organic Chemistry before being drafted, I
was placed in Term 4 of the ASTP curriculum.
Despite the limited number of log-log duplex decitrg slide rulers and the
accelerated pace of the electrical engineering curriculum, the four of us
successfully completed the course requirements. However, there was a very high attrition rate: over 50% of
the students who began the program at Syracuse University in the Fall of 1944
eventually failed.
Reflecting the patriotic spirit of the decade, Syracuse University
students fully supported the war effort. Likewise,
Thomas, Barney, Joe and I believed in serving our country and defending our
freedoms; it was our duty despite our status as students in uniform.
There were many examples of such patriotism on campus.
In May of 1943, President Tolley suspended intercollegiate athletics in
order to focus greater attention on the war.
The Chapel Association ran war bond drives while The Daily Orange
(the campus newspaper) limited its publication to conserve ink and paper.
And Slocum Auditorium was transformed into an Army PX to better address
the needs of the uniformed students on campus.
But perhaps the best example of student body patriotism at Syracuse was a
Japanese-American student named Frank Watanabe. Despite the anti-Japanese sentiment of the day, President
Tolley had accepted 65 Japanese-Americans (who had been living in internment
camps) as students at the university. Watanabe,
who was one of these students, won the “most patriotic poster” contest at
the school in January of 1943. But
when President Tolley presented him with the $100.00 award for the contest,
Watanabe stunned the audience of uniformed students by handing the check back to
the president and asking that it be donated to the American Red Cross.2
In December of 1944, our ASTP contingent was given orders to be deployed
to the Ardennes Forest in Europe for the Battle of the Bulge.
To our amazement, our cadre, Master Sergeant Gabrielle Corbiere,
intervened and prevented our deployment. Corbiere
was “always looking after us”; therefore, he went to the Pentagon in
Washington, DC and convinced his “old Regular Army buddies” to change the
criteria for deployment. Thereafter,
instead of sending the smallest ASTP units in action, the Army would send the
units with the lowest ratings based on inspections.
To guarantee our success, Corbiere drilled us to perfection; his actions
“quite possibly saved our lives.”3
With American victory secured in Europe after the “Bulge”, Joe, Barney, Thomas and I completed our Term 4 course work of electrical engineering and graduated in January of 1945. Afterward, we were shipped to Ohio State University, Texas A&M and eventually to the Signal Corps Replacement Training Center at Camp Crowder, Missouri for more technical training. After Japan surrendered in August of 1945, I was assigned to the 9427th Transportation (or Technical Service) Unit of the Alaska Communication System. While I was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the radio teletype equipment in the West Seattle station, Joe, Barney and Thomas were assigned to a radio station on Adak Island in the Aleutians.
Although our bond was severed by hundreds of miles, our cherished memories of training together in the ASTP remained. I am especially grateful for my experience at Syracuse University. Having studied electrical engineering, I acquired technical knowledge that qualified me to be trained as a radio repairman and radio teletype operator for the Alaska Communication System. In retrospect, I am grateful for the professionalism and discipline that I gained from the ASTP. Having been an insurance broker for a number of companies (including a notable one in New York City), the training was an invaluable experience.