High School Victory Corps Established

On September 25, 1942, upon the recommendation of the U.S. War Manpower Commission, Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker announced the launch of a nationwide initiative ‘designed to mobilize secondary school students for more effective preparation and participation in wartime service.’ This voluntary organization, aimed at the country’s more-than-six-million students attending some of its over-28,000 high schools, was called the High School Victory Corps and was conceived to prepare young Americans for service ‘in the armed forces tomorrow through learning in the classroom today.’

More than a patriotic or extracurricular service group, the High School Victory Corps program emphasized an entirely supplemental war-time education, complete with its own uniform, insignia, physical fitness regimen and command structure. In order to participate in the High School Victory Corps, students – both male and female – were required to enroll in a war-effort class (such as first-aid, marksmanship or navigation), pass a physical fitness inspection and volunteer in at least one extracurricular wartime activity. For their uniform, Victory Corps members were issued service caps embroidered with the Corps insignia and service patches indicating the focus of their wartime course work. Physical fitness, through sports and military drill, was considered a special focus of the program as draft officials at the time were alarmed by the growing number of recent enlistments declared unfit. National leadership of the High School Victory Corps was entrusted to its National Policy Committee headed by Captain “Fast” Eddie Rickenbacker, a WWI fighter ace and Medal of Honor recipient.

The High School Victory Corps program proved extremely popular during the two years of its existence, with a wealth of pamphlets and instructional policy guide books being produced and issued to schools and teachers. The High School Victory Corps program was also groundbreaking for its time by allowing participation from both white and African-American students a full decade before public school desegregation.

Today, The National WWII Museum honors the contributions made by the High School Victory Corps through its Victory Corps young volunteer program, which takes the wartime program as its namesake and seeks to continue its seventy-year-old mission of service and education with the students of today’s generation.

Post by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator at The National WWII Museum

Volunteering For Victory

Since June, guests may have noticed a few new sights, sounds and even smells within the Museum’s exhibits. The group responsible for the addition of these new tactile and sensory components to the Museum experience are also the newest faces of the Museum volunteering family: the student Victory Corps.

The Victory Corps program was developed in the spring by the Education Department as a new weekend volunteering opportunity for area students, ages 13 – 17. Named for a WWII-era high school program designed to mobilize students and encourage war-time preparedness, today’s Victory Corps volunteers man stations strategically placed throughout the Museum’s exhibits, offering visitors the chance to handle select artifacts and further explore WWII history.

In the Home Front gallery, for example, guests can feel what it was like to have their future put in the hands of a lottery system by participating in a mock draft, while in the D-Day landing exhibit guests get a chance to experience some of the smells of the battlefield likely encountered by American servicemen from a selection of glass test tubes. Victory Corps volunteers also staff a Hands-On Activity Table, where young visitors can color propaganda posters, build cardboard Higgins boats, and even mold “seed bombs” for some fun guerilla gardening.

Victory Corps members are dedicated to the Museum’s mission, to furthering their own education, and to befriending other teens with similar interests. Volunteers receive special training in artifact handling and presentation, behind-the-scenes tours of the Museum’s storage vaults, as well as chances to collaborate with Education Department staff in creating new hands-on experiences for Museum guests.

Come see the Victory Corps in action this Saturday at The National WWII Museum!

Explore WWII Victory Corps Primary Source Materials

Learn more about the current Victory Corps program and how to apply for membership.

Posted by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator at The National WWII Museum.