50th anniversary marks future cadets taking oath at academy

  • Published
  • By Eddie Kovsky
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  Fifty years ago, 306 civilians took the oath July 11 at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver to become the first Air Force Academy cadets.

Lt. Gen. Hubert R. Harmon was recalled from retirement to become the academy’s first superintendent. General Harmon, along with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Nathan F. Twining and Secretary of the Air Force Harold Talbott, presided over the three-day celebration that marked the opening of the academy. Nearly 4,000 visitors were on hand for the opening celebration, which included speeches, a Thunderbirds aerial demonstration and the swearing in of the first class.

Secretary Talbott began by reading a message from President Eisenhower:

“In taking its place beside West Point and Annapolis, the Air Force Academy joins a proud company. The honored histories of the two older institutions provide a standard against which, in future years, the excellence of the new academy will be measured. I know it will be found worthy.

“Today we stand on one of the crests of our upward climb. The struggle for recognition has given way to success. The Air Force has come of age. We are here to found a great national institution, one that is dedicated to the United States Air Force.”

After the Thunderbirds performed, General Twining told the assemblage it was a “very proud day for you, the first class of cadets to enter the Air Force Academy. … Most men go through their whole lives wanting, just one time, to be first at something. I guess we all have a little pioneer instinct in us, and I believe you will be thankful the rest of your lives you are a member of this first class attending this Air Force Academy. You will set the pace. Both the big thinking and little things you do will establish Academy customs and traditions.”

The cadet wing was organized into four squadrons, and cadets began eight weeks of military and physical training after being sworn in. The academic year began following a weeklong encampment at nearby Buckley Field.

Military academies have a long tradition of having the upperclassmen train new cadets. But in 1955, there were no upperclassmen to guide the incoming cadets. To fill the temporary void, recently commissioned lieutenants from other schools such as The Citadel and West Point, were recruited as air training officers to act as surrogate upperclassmen and provide leadership and guidance.

“Things were such a jumble at that time, you hardly had time to think about anything,” said retired Lt. Col. Jim Brown, class of 1959. “There were a lot of dignitaries there. Everything was a blur. We were met at the gate by senior (noncommissioned officers), and all hell broke loose like it does now when (future cadets) get off the bus at Doolittle Hall. It was a bit of a shock. The ATOs got us in uniform, set up rooms, haircuts, got us ready to march for the ceremony. (They) did an outstanding job getting us ready, teaching us to march. It was hectic all day long.”

Although Colonel Brown was a newcomer at the academy, he was no stranger to military life.

“My dad had been in the Air Force. I was a brat. He had gone to West Point. I tried for two years to get in, but didn’t have political connections,” he said. “I wanted to fly, so I came to the academy. I was really looking forward to it. For me it was great. I had been in college for two years, in Air Force ROTC. I already knew how to march, so it wasn’t too hard.

“The facility was a refurbished World War II facility,” he said. “There’s very little left now that’s recognizable. T he office of the commandant of cadets is the only thing left.”

Lowry was only a temporary site until construction of the current academy facility in Colorado Springs was opened for the beginning of the academic year in the fall of 1958. The class of 1962 was the last class to conduct summer training at Lowry before moving to Colorado Springs.

“It’s like a birdie coming out of an egg,” said retired Col. William Taylor of his tenure as the first assistant chief of staff of the academy. “You’re staking it out and looking around to see what the big wide world is like. And, of course, things were on a very temporary basis with the World War II buildings.

“The headquarters was a very nice, fairly new structure, but those that were occupied by the cadets and so forth were not,” he said. “It was an efficient operation. We weren’t, of course, too big; everyone essentially knew each other. And until the time the cadets came, everybody was trying to figure out how to have everything in readiness by the time they came.”

President Eisenhower signed the bill establishing the Air Force Academy on April 1, 1954. On August 1 of that year, General Harmon issued General Order No. 1, activating the academy at Lowry.