In 2003, on the campus of Valley City State University, former members of the Navy’s V-12 program gathered to dedicate a naval anchor honoring their wartime training. Among them was Kenneth Brown, who came to Valley City in 1944 after boot camp and entered the V-12 Navy College Training Program, a World War II initiative created to rapidly prepare commissioned officers for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. Between 1943 and 1946, more than 125,000 men trained on 131 campuses nationwide. Returning decades later, Brown reflects on his time in Valley City and the lasting impact of the V-12 program.

And going through school, high school and so forth from Newton, Kansas. And then I got in the Navy in 1944 and went through boot camp and tested into the V12 program out of boot camp and sent directly to Valley City, North Dakota. And was here from 1940 to 1945, exactly one year, November 1944 to November of 1945. And we transferred them out of the V12 program into the NROTC program, which is a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. Incidentally, the V12 program was a deck Officers Training program.

And from there I went to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and was there until I was discharged in 1946. Came home to Newton, Kansas, and enrolled in the University of Kansas at Lawrence and completed my education as an architectural engineer and started in practice when I graduated in 49 and have been in practice ever since. And had the bright idea that something should be done about the V12 program in Valley City. So I contacted the President, the gracious President Chaffee. I volunteered my services to do something in commemoration of the V12 program. And President Ellen Chaffee graciously accepted my proposal. And we eventually got together on a campus sign and in addition to that, the base for a naval anchor. In fact, this period of time is what I’m up here for, to kind of look over the process of putting in the anchor.

As you stand here at the Naval Anchor on the campus of Valley City State University, take a moment to reflect on the students, like Ken, who once balanced college life with the call to serve during World War II. Their stories are just one chapter in Valley City’s wartime history. To learn more, continue along the Valley City Talking Trail and explore additional stops that highlight the community’s role in the war.