Bernard Marshall Gordon - Military Service

Military Service

The program found by the 17-year-old Bernie in 1944 amounted to a free year of college and a commission in the United States Navy. Started only a few years previously it was officially termed the V-12 Navy College Training Program. Bernie entered the navy under this program at 17, along with a good many other future notables in American government and society, as a Seaman Apprentice, the lowest rank in the navy, but also one that was being used for a training rate.

The program gave Bernie his first year in college, which he took first at MIT, then at Tufts, bunking in on the third floor of West Hall, four to a room. The boys wore uniform on campus. Bernie's room was near the fire escape, where he watched the other boys sneaking out for dates. This was an era of wistfulness for the young man, who later described himself as "pure" at that time. He did not escape down the fire escape, but remained hard at work, a habit he retained all his life.

He was subsequently commissioned and remained an officer in the Ready Reserve for 15 years.