Jason H. Samuels
Years at Tufts:
1941-1944; 1946-1947
Degrees:
Tufts E1945, Mechanical Engineering High School, Waltham, MA
Past Memberships and Offices:
American Society of Mechanical Engineers; American Society of Materials Handling; Institute of Packaging Professionals; Phi Epsilon Pi Fraternity; Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley, Mass.
Current memberships:
President of Class of 1945; Board of Directors of Cape Cod Tufts Club; Co-Chair of V-12 / NROTC Memorial Committee and Tisch Library Exhibit; Tufts Alumni Council; Traditions Committee; Co-Chair of Class Reunions
Married:
Eleanor H. Berkovich, May 2, 1959. Boston University, CBA, 1948
Children:
Howard A., Tufts, E1984, MBA Babson 1989; James P., Connecticut College, BA 1988
Avocations:
Reading, Theatre, Symphony, Gardening.
World War II Duty:
NROTC, Tufts University, September 1941 - Commissioned February 1944.Sub Chaser Training at Bar Harbor Section Base (née Yacht Club), Bar Harbor, Maine.Additional training at Sub Chaser Training Center, Miami, Florida.Convoy duty, Caribbean Sea and South Atlantic on board 128 foot wooden-hulled Sub Chaser (SC-1298).Through Panama Canal to San Diego and on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for outfitting as Invasion Landing Control Vessel.
Invasions of Iwo Jima, Okinawa and three other smaller Okinawan Islands.Office of Naval Research at Guggenheim Estate, Sands Point, Port Washington, Long Island, New York.
Patriotism was my most important reason to join the Naval ROTC at Tufts in 1941
– Jason H. Samuels
Jason Samuels "wanted to be an engineer from the ninth grade onward." He prepared for this ambition by participating in a special technical program in high school and was accepted to Tufts Engineering School.
His war experience started from time he first arrived at Tufts for class selection and registration in 1941. Moved by patriotism, he decided to apply for the NROTC unit and was selected.
The first two years of engineering school were tough and NROTC meant much more additional work: three additional credit hours in Naval Science and one afternoon a week for military exercises.
In February of 1944, at the end of his junior year, Jason received his commission. After additional Sub Chaser training at Navy bases in Maine and Florida, he was assigned as executive officer to convoy duty on board a 128-foot wooden-hulled Sub Chaser (SC - 1298). Samuels' ship accompanied convoys in the Caribbean Sea and South Atlantic and he saw action in the titanic battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
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After the World War II, Samuels completed a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tufts and moved on to building a civilian career. "Lt. U.S. Naval Reserve - Active Duty World War II, since leaving college, have specialized in all areas of the packaging machinery industry, such as designing, sales, service, and administrative. I am presently self-employed and have been for forty years a manufacturers' representative of diversified lines of packaging machinery and consultant in same and consumer manufacturing operations."
Jason Samuels believes that NROTC provided him with experiences that were very valuable in civilian life. Those years gave him an opportunity to develop leadership qualities and an understanding of people from various places in this country and the world. He likes to say, "We got a lot of rough edges smoothed off us. One of the things we were taught to say was "Yes, Sir!" The wartime experience provided us V-12/NROTC men with the basis for success in business. We were forced into a situation where you had to work as a team as part of an organization. This is something a lot of people now miss."