The World at War

Members of the ACPHS
community in the military

The 1940s at ACPHS began much as the 1930s had, with the College struggling to keep its head above water due to the corrosive effects of the Great Depression. All that changed on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II.

The departure of many of its young men to enlist in the armed forces and the influx of young women into the new Medical Technology program irrevocably changed the face of ACPHS during the decade.

In May 1941, the "Playboys of '41," an all-male class of 24 students, graduated as the first class to complete the new four-year Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. Little were they to know that theirs would be the last four-ear class for some time to come as ACPHS adapted to a world at war.

On December 7, 1941, Jimmy Dorsey and his band were advertised at Albany 's Palace Theatre and Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator was being shown at the Leland. The Christmas tree in Capitol Park was to be lit the following day in the traditional kickoff to the city's holiday season.

Members of Lambda
Kappa Sigma, 1941

That afternoon, Russ Denegar '43 was alone in his apartment near Washington Park , studying for an exam and listening to the radio. Suddenly the music was interrupted by a news bulletin about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and he "knew that the world was really turned upside down." The war was to change everything.

The next evening, the ACPHS junior and a friend went to visit his favorite professor, Francis O'Brien, Ph.D., to ask for advice. "Stay in college and try to graduate before enlisting," Dr. O'Brien told them. As blackouts and air raid drills commenced in Albany, Pathe newsreels screened in the theaters and Civil Defense wardens roamed the streets in pancake helmets, ACPHS made plans of its own to deal with the effects of the war. "The Class of 1942 will depart from the comparative tranquility of academic life and enter a world at war," said the yearbook. "Our lot will not be an easy one . but in our hearts is the fervent prayer that our specialized training will enable each of us to contribute in some small degree to the common cause of humanity not only 'for the duration' for but the years to follow."

Even as the Class of '42 graduated, the student body was readying itself for big changes. An essay in the yearbook estimated that 15,000 pharmacists or more would be needed to serve the expanded army and navy, with additional responsibility thrust upon pharmacists by the withdrawal of approximately 40,000 doctors, 13,000 dentists and 35,000 nurses from civilian practice.

"Pharmacists will be called on to dispense more than ever as doctors at home become increasingly busy," it went on to say, and would be further challenged by an "acute shortage of drugs . and an increased call upon them for medical advice."

Dean William Mansfield made the decision to accelerate classes so that students could finish their schooling before going off to war. Classes were scheduled during the summer and commenced in June 1942, after only a two-week break, thus enabling the junior class to graduate in January rather than June 1943.

"Diminishing classes and the cessation of summer vacations definitely brought the war closer to all of us," said Denegar.

The decision had repercussions, not only for students' workloads, but also their finances.

With virtually no summer vacation to get a job and many places of employment closed due to the war, Denegar found himself in a tricky financial situation. He gave up his apartment in Albany and began the long commute from his home in Germantown via train and trolley. Fortunately, a new government loan program helped with tuition and he continued with his job washing test tubes and filling bottles in the ACPHS lab.

The Class of '43 became the first to graduate in January of that year under the new accelerated program, with the valedictory address delivered by Richard Phalen, tagged "Dr. Huer" by his classmates because of his resemblance to a character in the Buck Rogers comics. The Alumni Reunion Banquet also was "accelerated" and took place at the Ten Eyck Hotel on January 18 at 8:30 p.m., Eastern War Time.

In spite of the new schedule, many students did not have a chance to complete their coursework, though some joined the Army Reserve Corps in the hopes that they would be able to finish up before being called into active service. Private Carl Bevilacqua, who started out with the Class of '44, was one of the first pharmacy students in the state called to the service of his country. Soon after, 13 other students were called up as well and class numbers continued to decrease as the months went on.

The war changed the face of ACPHS in many ways.

Dean Francis J. O'Brien, 1942

In 1943, Dr. O'Brien replaced Mansfield as dean of the College and was tasked with the difficult job of keeping the school afloat during the most difficult crisis it had ever faced.

The College was in rough shape financially; the long years of the Depression with few students were further exacerbated by the war. Denegar, who had been hired at ACPHS in 1946 as an instructor in pharmacy and mathematics, remembered that there were periods when Dean O'Brien did not take his salary and the payroll was supplemented by contributions from a board member.

With the bank threatening to take over the mortgage, the new dean predicted that the post-war years would bring in many returning servicemen and a new beginning for ACPHS. The school steadfastly hung on.

By 1944, 42 members of the student body were in the service and the yearbook was chock full of photos of men in the uniforms of the army, navy and marines. With graduating classes in both January and June, the Class of 1944, was reduced to only 15 graduates, six of them women.

Class of 1944

Luckily, due to the Medical Technology program, by 1944 there were 25 "girls" at ACPHS and for the first time, ACPHS classes contained more women than men. Without their tuition dollars, the College probably would not have made it through the war years.

The Class of '45, the first to be totally accelerated, was set to graduate in two years and eight months. Even so, the class went through three sets of officers; each time elections were held, the winners were drafted. By the time the Class of 1946 graduated with only six members, it was deemed to be "the smallest in the history of the College," save the first graduating class in1882.

Class of 1946

There were shortages of material goods as well as students. A " Victory Garden ," cultivated by the botany classes of Professor John Dwyer provided cabbage, tomatoes and spinach for a very practical lesson. Students shivered through the state boards, held in the school auditorium, due to a shortage of heating materials, and the Alumni Association pitched in to collect $3,500 for a Coal Conversion Fund.

Intramural basketball and tennis were the only sports as teams could not travel to games because of gasoline rationing. Even the popular Camera Club was put on the back burner because of the unavailability of film.

Camera Club, 1941.

Other clubs and fraternal organizations languished due to lack of personnel and funding, though a few bravely soldiered on through the war years. Activities in general tended to be more serious; the Alumni Association recruited prospective students, sponsored Red Cross First Aid courses and tried to gather information on the status of alumni in any branch of the armed services. Albany Mayor Erastus Corning was the featured speaker at the Alumni Banquet in 1943, shortly before he entered the army as an infantryman private. In spite of the gloomy times and accelerated schedule, life at ACPHS was not all work and no play.

Girls bowling team, 1942

Students hung out at the Washington Tavern and Ralph's and bought meal tickets to eat at the Deluxe Restaurant on Madison Avenue. There were botany hikes with Professor Dwyer in McKown's Grove in Guilderland, informal tennis tournaments and even a boat trip to Kingston . Activities for women continued to flourish; Lambda Kappa Sigma sponsored hay rides and dances and the girl's bowling team had 10 members.

In 1945, the Alumni Association did not hold its annual spring meeting due to transportation Girls bowling team, 1942. restrictions. That year, nearly 300 ACPHS alumni were in the armed services. Those that remained at home rallied round their alma mater, "creating a reserve fund to overcome the deficits occasioned by the present limited enrollment."

And still the war ground on.

Then "one hot August night the girls of the class were taking out the fellows as part of a sorority initiation when the V.J. announcement came through [over the radio], resulting in a sudden change of plan." It was August 14, 1945, also known as "Victory over Japan Day," and the war was over. By the time Japan formally surrendered on September 2, things already had started to change for ACPHS.

In October 1945 "the doors opened to a new era of well being, crowded classrooms and noisy halls." Dean O'Brien had been right. The G.I. Bill, officially known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, provided tuition and stipends for living expenses to returning veterans to attend college or trade school.

Nearly 10 million servicemen in the U.S. took advantage of the benefits before the program was phased out.

Bender Hygienic Laboratory
on New Scotland

The first post-war class contained 70-plus '49ers, forcing Dean O'Brien to "unlock the auditorium to accommodate the large class" and turn the "boy's lounge" into a classroom rather than a smoking room. So many vets joined the ranks of ACPHS students that more than half of the freshmen class was made up of ex-servicemen and 42 percent of the male and female students were married.

Another freshmen class was added during the second semester to accommodate the overflow; soon there were 120 new students for the Bachelor of Science programs in Pharmacy and Medical Technology.

The Med Tech program went from a three-year certificate program to a four-year Bachelor of Science program in 1945, with three years spent at ACPHS and one full year at Bender Laboratory across the street, under Director John J. Clemmer, M.D., and his staff. Eventually, the third year was spent at Bender and the fourth at Brady Hospital , Wasserman Lab or another local facility.

For the first time, the program was not limited to "girls only" and the Class of 1949 contained two male Med Tech majors.

Girl's Club, 1949

With all of the "co-eds" on campus, more activities for women were added. In 1947, a Girl's Club was formed with the first scheduled event a "Bacon Bat" at Thacher Park . Similar to a marshmallow roast, students feasted on sandwiches after toasting the bacon on sticks over a fire. The club also sponsored a sleigh ride down Western Avenue for 25 couples (with a chaperone, of course), a picnic at Sand Lake and trips to historic sites such as the Van Buren House in Kinderhook. A signature event for the club was the popular weekly "Coke Party."

Lambda Kappa Sigma sorority was reactivated and sponsored a Valentine's Hop with the newly revitalized frats. Kappa Psi was back to full membership for first time since 1941, Rho Pi Phi was reactivated in the spring of 1945 and Phi Delta Chi was restarted by a group of energetic veterans in late 1946.

Other clubs and sports made their reappearance as well.

ACPHS cheerleaders, 1949

The Mortar and Pestle and Student Council returned, as did the Camera Club, with 50 active members. Bowling and basketball were back, with the addition of an "efficient and competent" cheerleading squad sporting red and white outfits and saddle shoes.

The bowling team joined the Intercollegiate League of the Capital District when it was formed in 1948, while the basketball team became a member of the new Empire State Conference that same year. In 1949, an Athletic Commission was formed to handle the nitty-gritty details of the burgeoning sports program. New activities, including a fledgling student branch of the American Pharma- ceutical Association, a Dramatic Club and a Chess Club, gave students even more options. And the social whirl was once again in full swing with a Campus Queen Dance, Corn Hop, St. Patrick's Day Dance, Junior Prom and square dances in "dungarees."

Of course, there were lots of informal get-togethers to encourage the "ole college spirit" complete with "be-bop" music and snacks of "Dagwood sandwiches," named for the 1930s comic strip character.

Activities were not limited to campus. Beginning in 1947, juniors and seniors traveled to the Eli Lilly headquarters in Indianapolis during spring vacation, where they lived "the life of kings for two days." In 1949, students visited Parke-Davis in Detroit.

Parke-Davis trip to Detroit, 1949

Things certainly were looking up for ACPHS by 1949, when the yearbook commented on one of several new faculty members hired to deal with the influx in students. The recently graduated Walter Singer '48 was assigned to teach chemistry and "all kinds of expressions greeted Professor Singer as he rose to the challenge of teaching the first class in chemistry to the Class of '52."

Little did they know at the time that Dr. Singer would go on to become one of the most influential people in ACPHS history.