This series explores Texas A&M history. In honor of the centennial of the U.S. involvement in World War I, we take a journey back 100 years to what life was like on campus during this tumultuous time.
This year marks the centennial of the U.S. entering World War I. With World War I raging in Europe and U.S. involvement not far behind, “war fever” spread rapidly on the campus of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. In anticipation, Texas A&M became the first college in the country to offer its facilities and equipment to the government for war training. From that point until the war ended in November 1918, the campus was in full-blown “war mode.”
When the U.S. officially declared war on Germany in April 1917, cadets were eager to join the war efforts. The university administration excused nearly all of the class of 1917 and other students from classes so that they could enter an officer training course at Camp Funston (later redesignated Camp Stanley), in Leon Springs, Texas. Graduation was also relocated to the training camp that year, and the faculty handed out Honor War Certificates, which did not serve as diplomas, but were given to students in good academic standing.
Approximately 2,000 students from the A&M College marched off to war. Sixty of them never returned, making the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
A Campus Caught Up in War Fever
During the war, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas served as a federal army training base. By September 1918, it had trained 4,000 soldiers in specialized skills such as auto mechanics, radio signaling, meteorology, horseshoeing, blacksmithing, carpentry, surveying and topographical drafting. Cadets were getting their normal schooling at an accelerated rate with direct ties to what was going on in the war. Simultaneously, thousands of regular army soldiers were undergoing training on campus.
In the early 20th century, the U.S. Army was small compared to the mobilizations of the European powers. When war was declared, President Woodrow Wilson drafted the Selective Service Act, which allowed the federal government to raise an army for the U.S. entry into World War I through a compulsory military draft.
Texas A&M was already the largest military college in the nation, and even larger than the service academies. Nearly 50 percent of all graduates of the college from the beginning to the end of the war participated as soldiers—the highest percentage of any college or university in the country. For the students who remained on campus, military instruction was increased to 10 hours per week and they were soon joined by regular army inductees.