Veterans reflect on post-World War II experiences at MSU, what has changed since then

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to reflect a spelling correction in the headline.

Gordon Guyer remembers the campus of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in 1947 — it was a place flooded with people, most of whom were veterans from World War II trying to get their lives back on track after returning from the war.

One of more than 9,000 veterans to attend MSC that year, Guyer, like many others returning from the war, used the GI Bill to pay for his schooling.

“It was nice to be able to graduate without a debt of any kind,” Guyer said.

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights, was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944. The bill provided World War II veterans with education and training, loan guarantees for homes, farms or businesses, and unemployment pay.

The bill, which allowed for a tuition of $500 per school year, was more than enough to cover the cost of MSC, which at the time was $120 per year for in-state students and $180 for out-of-state students.

In 1947, the GI Bill’s peak year, veterans accounted for more than 49 percent of college admissions nationwide, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Guyer, who eventually became president of MSU from 1992-93, said then-MSU President John Hannah saw the influx coming.

“He knew there were going to be a terrific number of young men coming to the university, and that it was really going to tax the facilities,” he said.

In order to accept all of the veterans in 1945, Hannah called for a village of 450 trailers, 104 steel Quonset huts and a group of barracks to be constructed where Breslin Center now stands to house the students and families that would be coming to the college.

“There were so many broken uniforms on campus,” said Richard Kratochvil, who attended MSC from 1947-52. “I would say even half of the students were wearing Army pants. And a number of them were wearing officer pinks. There was a tremendous amount of veterans.”

At that time many of the dorms, including Shaw, Yakeley and Gilchrist halls, were built to house the growing college.

But finding a place to live wasn’t the only issue.

A problem for many of the returning students, was a gap between their previous studies and their arrival at MSC, leaving them rusty in a lot of subjects, said George McManus, who attended MSC from 1948-53.

“I tutored some of them,” he said. “It had been a while since they were in high school. They needed a little brushing up.”

And much of what the veterans would be learning also changed, McManus said.

“A lot of them left farms to go to the Army,” he said. “They could see that they wouldn’t go back, and they needed an education to get the jobs that were out there.”

The number of people in agriculture programs was higher back then, McManus said, but many people began to transition into new occupations.

Kratochvil said he might not have had the confidence to go to college if he hadn’t had the GI Bill.

“I was an honor student in high school, and entertained the idea of going to college,” he said. “But no one in my family went to college.”

Kratochvil said he decided to join the veterinary medicine program when he heard he would receive the GI Bill.

Giltner Hall, which then housed the veterinary program, was one of many buildings that were expanding during the time. Others included Berkey and Anthony halls and the Main Library.

“Things were happening so fast on campus,” Guyer said. “As fast as they can ever happen.”

By the time the GI Bill expired in 1956, MSU had become a university, had entered the Big Ten Conference, and had grown in size from 6,640 students at the end of the war to nearly 23,000.

Guyer said the credit all goes to Hannah recognizing the importance of the GI Bill.

“He got the jump on everybody,” he said. “That was typical of Dr. Hannah. He always was good with promoting the future.”

Published on Monday, May 19, 2008