Last Updated: 2/8/99
Due to World War II travel restrictions, the 1942 and 1943 games were played at West Point and Annapolis but neither the Corps of Cadets nor the Brigade of Midshipmen were permitted to attend the away game. However, in 1944, secret arrangements were made to hold the game in Baltimore, MD rather than at Annapolis. What follows are extracts of the book, " WEST POINT REVISITED, Reminiscences of the Class of 1946 50 Years Later" authored by John C. McWhorter, MG, U. S. Army Retired, Class of 1946.In a letter home, one cadet expressed it this way: "11/19/44 - The Superintendent came to the Mess Hall at dinner and said, 'As you've probably heard, the Navy game will be played in Baltimore. I want to tell you that the entire Corps will be there!' This was more than anyone of us could have expected and all hell broke loose in the Mess Hall. This news just sounded unbelievable. As yet, we don't know how we are going to get there."
ANCHORS AWEIGH FOR THE CORPS "Football, or even all of sports, never had an event to equal the circumstances that existed in Baltimore exactly 50 years ago. It was the only time Army played Navy when each was ranked the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country plus the fact you had to first buy a war bond before being eligible to purchase a ticket. Furthermore, because of railroad travel restrictions, the corps and brigade of the academies came to the game by ship. The entire mission was guarded by World War II censorship rules. Had German U-boats known of the trip down the Hudson River, and then hugging the coast line of New Jersey, they may have attempted to torpedo the USS Uruguay, and wipe out the 2,400 future officers it was transporting. There was a convoy of protection, six destroyers, which surrounded the troop carrier against such an attack. Meanwhile, Naval Academy undergraduates merely sailed up Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis to Baltimore and then marched to then Municipal Stadium, built on the same site as present Memorial Stadium. It wasn't until after the war that the almost spell-binding details of how the Cadets and Midshipmen made it to Baltimore for the 1944 kickoff were revealed by Harold Rosenthal, sports writer of the New York Herald Tribune. What happened was never talked about or discussed and known only to military personnel before Rosenthal related the secret scenario that unfolded. World War II was at its height. Railroads were moving supplies and men. It would have been a violation of national policy to utilize trains to carry the cadets and midshipmen to Baltimore. Thus, the precarious nautical maneuver, an approach by sea, was implemented. Army Coach Earl 'Red' Blaik, great as a man and football strategist, later said, 'I know there must be a moment in every coach's career which surpasses all the others….I believe the No. 1 moment for me came in that victory of Army's greatest over Navy's greatest in Baltimore.' To see the game, a fan was compelled to first buy a war bond to qualify as a ticket holder. A crowd of 66,658 was present, including Gen. George Marshall, Army Chief of Staff; Adm. William D. Leahy, Navy Chief of Staff; Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations; and Gen. H. H. Arnold, Chief of the Air Forces. A seat on the 50-yard line meant a million-dollar war bond had to be purchased. Fifteen boxes, bought by corporations and industries, were sold for that figure. Overall, the total war bond sale represented the most money accrued during World War II from any single event - an astronomical $58,637,000, It was the Treasury Department that came up with the idea of staging the war bond bonanza, succeeding in a brief 15-day period, with congressional pressure, to move the game site from modest Thompson Stadium at the Naval Academy to Baltimore where the capacity was three times the size as could have been accommodated in Annapolis. As for the game, it was an epic even though Army won by a deceptive score of 23-7. Two future Heisman Trophy winners, Felix 'Doc' Blanchard and Glenn Davis, were in the West Point backfield. Blanchard, in a momentous twist of irony, had tried to enlist in the Navy after his freshman year at North Carolina, but was turned down because doctors found he was color blind. Imagine if Blanchard had gone in the Navy and played there. History would have offered a diverse perspective. Davis, in reflecting on the game remembers Blaik telling the team in the locker room how Gen. Robert Eichelberger had wired him 'to win for all the soldiers fighting for us.' There was no denying the resolve as the teams took the field. Davis is in agreement with Blaik that the Baltimore performance was historic. It was Army's first undefeated season in 30 years. 'Of the many thrills I've had in my career, I guess the Army-Navy game of Dec. 2, 1944, was my greatest,' he says. 'We at West Point considered that victory the high point of our undefeated streak.' And on a distant battlefront, Gen. Douglas MacArthur learned via Armed Forces Radio what had transpired in Baltimore. He quickly dispatched a cable to Blaik that qualifies as a vivid example of the flamboyant MacArthur. His message read" "The greatest of all Army teams. We have stopped the war to celebrate your magnificent success.' After Army's win, the cadets hoped to celebrate in downtown Baltimore but had to march four miles from the stadium to the Baltimore waterfront, where they re-boarded the troop ship. They looked forward to a promised victory dinner but those plans, for most of the party, went awry. A freak storm, close to hurricane proportions, came up Chesapeake Bay, creating a chop that was so severe the men couldn't eat. They crowded the rails because the seasickness beset them. The only thing they rationalized at that moment was how pleased they were to be involved in an Army career, and not aboard ship, after graduation. It would have been the perfect anniversary setting if the 50th anniversary of the wartime game could have been staged in Baltimore, not Philadelphia, because of the symbolic significance. College football and the service rivalry never overcame so many difficulties to play a game. Even the most horrendous war in world history didn't stop them." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are many stories in the McWhorter book attesting to the very rough seas to and from Baltimore, the many who suffered from seasickness, and the crowded sleeping conditions in canvas bunks four and five high. One story related how many put their toilet kits and shoes on the deck of their sleeping quarters and the rough waves broke through the temporary wall that had been erected when the ship was converted from a luxury liner to a troopship and the resulting rush of water carried all the kits and shoes down the deck. They were recovered. The ship was named the USS Uruguay but had previously been named the USS California and some members of '46 remembered sailing on it in pre-war days. However, cadets being cadets, some explored and found quieter and cleaner quarters as reported in the following extract: "B-1 Company had a distinguished collection of characters who were sometimes resourceful and never hesitant to do something - even if not endorsed by higher authority. On the well-known ocean sail to Baltimore, in winter of 1944, the Atlantic did not greet the Corps with open arms. With a majority of the B-1 crowd ghostly ill the second day along with the crew, Tacs and others, escape from our bunk area was uppermost in our minds. There were few places available that offered peace, quiet and cleanliness. But a hidden door large enough for one to crawl through was found. The ship's morgue became temporary quarters for Arnold, Fuller, Tully, Barrett, Blazey and a few others. Fortunately there were no customers in this off-limits location and we enjoyed the trip to the Army-Navy game a lot more than other shipmates." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ship docked at Baltimore around 9:00 PM the Friday night before the game. Again, the ingeniousness of, and never ending, cadet spirit around Navy game came into play as explained in the following extract: "As you remember, we traveled to Baltimore by troopship to Baltimore harbor arriving the evening before the game. The H-1 Regulars decided that it would be a good idea to sneak off the ship, get to Annapolis and paint Tecumseh. Included in this adventure were Dick Ruble and I Charlie Baker], Don Schnepf, and Art Murphy. Getting off the ship was quite a challenge. We spotted a hold which was covered with heavy board and this provided the answer. We put a board across from the deck to a gantry crane which was next to the ship. Then we each crawled across. From the crane, we descended to a warehouse and to the street which runs next to the docks. The next part of our venture was really crazy. Dressed in fatigues we hailed a cab and told the driver our plan. He thought the idea was sensational and indeed he volunteered to take us to his house to get a can of paint and brushes. Our combined funds totaled $10 but he was more than willing to accept this as full payment. He drove us to Annapolis and parked next to the wall of the Naval Academy. Dick Ruble was our guide since he had upon occasion visited the Academy to see his brother. We climbed the walls and paint can in hand headed toward Tecumseh. On the way, we passed some Jimmie Legs (security guards) but in our gray coveralls and knit caps we aroused no suspicion. They regarded us as workers. Tecumseh was resplendent in war paint so we attacked there first. We painted a big red A on the statue. Then, in the street where the midshipmen form, in huge red letters we painted 'Beat Navy". The job done, we got back to the ship at about 3:00 AM. We were dead tired so instead of finding our plank, we decided to brazen it out. All of us walked up to the gangplank guarded by sleepy M.P.'s. We said 'ship's personnel' and walked on without any questions. On our adventure, we had swiped a sign saying 'Severn River Naval Command.' We paraded this in front of the enemy at half time. Unfortunately, we were mobbed and the sign was swiped back removing all tangible evidence of our night's work. Fortunately for us, the Tac suspected but could not prove the name of the culprits involved." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Following debarkation on Saturday morning, the Corps had a 4 to 6 mile march to the stadium. One '46 grad reported the following: "The march to the stadium was equally cold. I and most of my company mates pulled our finger and thumbs out of our light leather gloves and made balled fists in the palm area. About half way, in a residential area, we halted beside what seemed to be a block sized vacant lot surrounded by what was probably the world's longest latrine screen. We entered at least by battalion and lined up along an X-shaped slit trench that extended almost to each corner of the area. The lot was on a slope so that people from the three story apartment buildings around it got a good view of the operation. The observers probably understood what was meant by the Long Gray Line." Another said on the same subject: "A press photographer - sure that the Corps was preparing some gimmick for half time scaled a telephone pole to see what was going on - 2,000 men taking a leak." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Following the game, the Corps formed for the march back to the ship. One member of '46 recalled it this way: "We warmed up marching the six miles back to the ship. We marched from the stadium through many sections of Baltimore singing football, Corps and raucous marching songs. We certainly sang 'My eyes are dim, I cannot see, I have not brought my specs with me'; it and the Army ballad of 'For its whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, that makes us feel so frisky, in the Corps, in the Corps' and followed by 'Gin, Gin, Gin, that makes you want to Sin, in the Corps, in the Corps' and even the recently popular WW II risque' song 'Roll Me Over in the Clover.' There were groups of people at almost every street corner on this march who heard us singing along the way and rushed out to see what it was all about. We were certainly in high spirits. A later Look magazine article showed photographs of us at Baltimore - the Corps in strength! The effect on the crowd must have been impressive, for as one song would die away as one company moved out of their hearing, another company would march by singing another song. Needless to say, we were in high spirits and our voices were hoarse when we arrived at the ship." Another put it this way: "Then we marched back to the ship - six miles, singing all the way - and for the first time, words of those songs really meant something - really made me realize what a team we have, what a Corps we have. The streets were lined with crowds of people applauding the Army." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The above are only extracts from Jack McWhorter's book on the memorable Army - Navy game of 1944.
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