Tufts Answers the Call to Service: V-12 and NROTC at Tufts

Tufts and the V-12 Program: "Leadership for a Lifetime"

This exhibit explores the history of the V-12 Program and examines the experiences of students attending Tufts College and who served in the U.S. Marine Corps. The NROTC program has always offered the option to its graduates to request commissioning as Second Lieutenants in the Marine Corps rather than as Ensigns in the Navy. Depending on the needs of the service and individual requests, the number entering the Marine Corps has varied with each graduating class. You may read more about the history of the V-12 and NROTC Programs at Tufts.

This exhibit was developed to recognize two of the graduates of the V-12/NROTC program who selected the Marine Corps option when they were commissioned.

To read more about individual stories, click on each name

More pleasant memories remain of working to the early hours of the morning getting decorations prepared for the Ring Dance. Mike Lash and I worked together on this. My biggest memory is that having worked so hard and so late, I could hardly enjoy the dance, I was so tired. I also worked with Mike co-editing the section of The Tracer called ‘The Wake,’ which was devoted to a recap of our fellow classmates in the NROTC class of February 1946. The friendship that started with Mike at Tufts and was strengthened with our time at Parris Island, Quantico, China, and Guam has endured throughout the years and is a blessing of my time at Tufts.

– Robert J. McNicholas, Lt. Colonel USMC