The outbreak of war made it essential that the corps should be filled as far as practicable with officers who had had prior military experience and training, and immediate steps were taken to arrange for the designation and examination of Marine Corps warrant officers, noncommissioned officers, graduates of military colleges, and other civilians with military experience and training.
The appointment of officers subsequent to the declaration of war up to October, 1917, both for the permanent service and for the temporary increase authorized for the duration of the war, were drawn from the following sources:
| Graduates of the Naval Academy | 6 |
| Former officer of the Marine Corps | 1 |
| Former graduate of the Naval Academy | 1 |
| Warrant officers and paymaster’s clerks of the Marine Corps | 89 |
| Meritorious noncommissioned officers of the Marine Corps | 122 |
| Reserve officers and National Naval Volunteers | 36 |
| Graduates of military colleges | 284 |
| Other civilians with prior military or naval experience or training | 136 |
| Other civilians passing the competitive examination held July 10, 1917 | 86 |
In order to expedite the training of the new officers, advantage was taken of the law providing for a Marine Corps Reserve, and successful candidates were immediately enrolled as second lieutenants in the reserve and ordered to Marine Corps posts for instruction pending the issuance of their commissions in the regular service. Candidates designated for the examination held July 10, 1917, were authorized upon designation to enroll as privates in the Marine Corps Reserve, with the understanding that upon the completion of their examination they would be ordered to the Recruit Depot at Parris Island, S. C., for training pending the receipt of the report of the examining board. This policy was carried out, and the successful candidates were commissioned second lieutenants in the Marine Corps, while the unsuccessful candidates were given the option of continuing in the service as enlisted men or of being discharged therefrom.
Owing to the unusually large number of young men of excellent education and fine attainments who had enlisted in the Marine Corps after the outbreak of war, it was decided that no further appointments of civilians to the rank of second lieutenant would be made during the continuance of the war, and that all vacancies occurring in that grade, not required for graduates of the Naval Academy, would be filled by the promotion of meritorious noncommissioned officers. This decision was promulgated to the service in Marine Corps Orders No. 25 (Series 1917).
The officers appointed from civil life, as soon as enrolled, were ordered to the Marine barracks, Mare Island, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Parris Island, S. C.; and the Marine Corps rifle range, Winthrop, Md., for instruction, pending the completion of the buildings for their use at the Marine barracks, Quantico, Va. Early in July, 1917, the buildings being in readiness, the newly appointed officers, about 345 in number, were assembled at Quantico, where an officers’ camp of instruction was held, and the course completed in October, 1917.
In carrying out the policy of obtaining officers from the ranks, orders were issued to commanding officers of every post and station of the Marine Corps, both at home and abroad, as well as those on board ship, to the effect that all commissioned officers would be taken from the ranks, and that the number of men to be designated from each post to attend the training camp would be a certain percentage of the number of men stationed at such post or station. Each commanding officer was ordered to convene a board of three officers to examine into the qualifications of the men at his post, and to report in the order of merit the names of the men considered qualified for entry to the officers’ training camp at Quantico, Va. These reports were all forwarded to headquarters, where a board was convened to examine them and to select, in accordance with their standing as reported by the various boards, the number of men who it had been decided could be quartered and properly instructed at Quantico. It was found that about 600 was the limit that could be accommodated, and approximately this number was selected for the first camp, which was established at Quantico, Va., in April, 1918.
The officers’ training camp was commanded by an officer of adequate rank. The students were divided into companies with a major in command as chief instructor and captains and lieutenants to assist him. The candidates were given a very rigid course of instruction and intensive training. Some of the studies pursued were: Infantry drill regulations, manual of interior guard duty, bayonet training, bombing, minor tactics, military engineering, military topography, administration, military law, lectures on gas and on sea duty, and a practical course on the rifle range.
The training at these camps was most intensive and thoroughly competitive, so that a man’s position depended entirely upon himself. The material to draw from was so excellent that comparatively few of those who entered the camps failed to receive commissions and many of the young men so commissioned who were assigned to duty abroad demonstrated that their selection was fully justified.
Many officers also received special training in the schools of the Overseas Depot at Quantico, Va.
The majority of the members of the first officers’ training camp were graduated in July, 1918. Three hundred of this camp were commissioned on July 15, 1918, and 91 on August 15, 1918.
The same proportionate allowance that was made in the United States was also designated for the Marines serving in France, and similar means were instituted there to carry out the policy of selection of men for the training camp. As a result of the camp established over there, 164 second lieutenants were appointed from the Fourth Brigade in France.
The second officers’ training camp was opened at Quantico, Va., on August 20, 1918, the enlisted men forming its personnel having been selected in exactly the same manner as those attending the first camp and this procedure was also followed with regard to the Marines of the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Of the 570 men enrolled 432 were graduated from the second officers’ training camp, December 16, 1918, and 172 from the Army candidate school in France, who, immediately upon graduating, were enrolled as second lieutenants (provisional) in class 4, Marine Corps Reserve, and subsequently appointed temporary second lieutenants in the Marine Corps. An extension of three weeks to this course in America was necessitated by the epidemic of influenza.
There were 235 graduated in July, 1919, from the third officers’ training camp who were enrolled as second lieutenants (provisional) in class 4, Marine Corps Reserve, and immediately assigned to inactive duty.
There were also 48 graduates of the Army candidate school in France, who were enrolled as second lieutenants (provisional) in class 4, Marine Corps Reserve, and who were discharged or placed on inactive duty upon their return to the United States, with the exception of four who were transferred to the temporary service.
Sixty-nine officers were graduated from the Marine Corps school of machine gun instruction at Utica N. Y.
Information regarding the training of Marine officers for aviation duties will be found in Chapter XXI.
In the act approved August 31, 1918, provision was made for a Student Army Training Corps, and under date of September 12, 1918, the Secretary of War directed the Provost Marshal General to allot 1,500 of the registrants authorized for induction into the Student Army Training Corps to the Marine sections under that organization. On September 23, 1918, with the approval of the Navy Department, Marine Corps headquarters designated the following institutions for the organization of Marine sections of the Student Army Training Corps and allotted quotas to each ranging from 100 to 190:
| Leland Stanford Junior University | 110 |
| Georgia School of Technology | 100 |
| Harvard University | 120 |
| University of Minnesota | 110 |
| Cornell University | 170 |
| University of Washington | 160 |
| University of Texas | 100 |
| Yale University | 100 |
| University of Kansas | 140 |
| University of Wisconsin | 190 |
| Virginia Military Institute | 100 |
| University of North Carolina | 100 |
A Marine officer was ordered to each of the designated institutions and charged with the duties of administration, instruction, and discipline of the Marine section, with the assistance of a noncommissioned officer of the Marine Corps.
It was intended to transfer, from time to time, well-qualified students who were inducted into Marine sections of the Student Army Training Corps to aviation duty, or to one of the two recruit camps, and in both cases men thus recommended, who proved themselves qualified to become officers, would be ultimately commissioned in either the Marine Corps Reserve Flying Corps or for general service in the Marine Corps. In either case after finishing their course in the Student Army Training Corps they would have been sent to a recruit camp for the regular course of training, because this would make it possible to imbue them with the necessary esprit de corps and indoctrinate them with the Marine Corps methods of procedure and training, both essential to the making of a Marine officer of the highest type. Owing to the ending of active hostilities there were no graduates from the Marine sections of the Student Army Training Corps at the different universities and colleges as they were ordered abandoned shortly after the armistice became operative.