ence HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS SEVENTY-NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 2304 A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE TRAINING OF 89105 JUNE 12 AND 13, 1946 Printed for the use of the Committee on Naval Affairs UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1946 COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS DAVID I. WALSH, Massachusetts, Chairman MILLARD E. TYDINGS, Maryland RICHARD B. RUSSELL, Georgia HARRY FLOOD BYRD, Virginia PETER G. GERRY, Rhode Island CHARLES O. ANDREWS, Florida ALLEN J. ELLENDER, Louisiana JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Arkansas JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi WARREN G. MAGNUSON, Washington FRANCIS J. MYERS, Pennsylvania CHARLES W. TOBEY, New Hampshire M. E. GALLAGHER, Clerk CONTENTS Hon. James V. Forrestal, the Secretary of the Navy; accompanied Rear Adm. Felix Johnson, Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel (Plans), accompanied by Vice Adm. Louis E. Denfeld, Chief of Naval Per- sonnel, and Capt. John P. W. Vest, Director of Aviation Training, Office of Chief of Naval Operations, United States Navy... Lt. Col. Thomas B. Hughes, Chief, G-1 Section, Division of Plans TRAINING OF OFFICERS FOR THE NAVAL SERVICE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1946 UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m., in room 212, Senate Office Building, Senator David I. Walsh (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Walsh (chairman), Myers, Brooks, Tobey, Saltonstall, and Robertson. The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, we will now take up docket No. 218, S. 2304, a bill to provide for the training of officers for the naval service, and for other purposes. (S. 2304 is as follows:) [S. 2304, 79th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To provide for the training of officers for the naval service, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a naval and Marine Corps officer candidate training program, supplementary to existing programs, is hereby established, which shall be administered by the Secretary of the Navy in accordance with the provisions of this Act and with such regulations as the President may prescribe. SEC. 2. No individual shall be enrolled in the training program which this Act establishes unless (a) he be a male citizen of the United States; (b) with the consent of his parent or legal guardian in the case of a minor, he shall have entered into a contractual agreement with the Secretary of the Navy, acting for and on behalf of the United States, in which said individual obligates himself to the United States for such periods as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act; and (c) he signs an agreement to accept a commission in the Navy or Marine Corps if offered and, having accepted such commission, he will, in the event of termination thereof, accept such commission in the Organized Naval or Marine Corps Reserve that may be offered him and thereafter will not resign from the Reserve prior to the sixth anniversary of the date of rank stated in his original commission in the Regular Navy or Marine Corps. The Secretary of the Navy may release any individual from such obligation and separate the individual from the training program at any time that, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Navy, the best interest of the naval service requires such action. SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to enroll in the training program (a) any person (1) who, on May 1, 1946, was a member of the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps or (2) who subsequent to such date may be admitted to such corps and who will not be more than twenty-five years of age on July 1 of the calendar year in which eligible for appointment to commissioned ranks pursuant to subsection 6 (a). Upon enrollment such persons shall be appointed midshipmen in the Naval Reserve. (b) as a naval aviation officer candidate (1) any high-school graduate or person of equivalent educational level, or any person who has completed satisfactorily less than two scholastic years' work in an accredited college or university, and who will not be more than twenty-one years and six months of age on July 1 of the calendar year of his appointment as midshipman as hereinafter prescribed; each such candidate shall be enlisted as an appren |