“Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday of May, commemorates the men and women who died while in the military service.” -USA.gov
This is my third and final post in the series to honor Memorial Day 2018. In my first post, “PE @ War: ALL IN FOR VICTORY,” I explained how while no one of right mind would want a war, it is important to discuss how physical education changed and how the second world war created the last sense of “total unity” in American society including the major conservation and rationing efforts for goods like rubber, steel, textiles, and more. My second post “PE @ WAR: Survival, Security, & Schools” examined how quickly the curriculum changed at American high schools to support the war effort.
Today is Memorial Day 2018. Let’s examine one of the best PE programs in the history of the United States as represented by the US Navy Pre-Flight and Physical Training Program which originated as the V-Five Program.
Despite the valiant and vigorous efforts of the US Navy V-Five Program, many of these young men never came back alive. To them and our other fallen, I memorialize them and recognize the their service in humble gratitude. Let us proceed…
What’s amazing about the V-Five Program is how quickly it was put together and put into ACTION. As pointed out in my other two previous posts, when a nation is at all-out war, PE, and life in general changes immediately. Gone are so many of the luxurious things we cherish and enjoy even at the expense of making us soft and lazy. It has been nothing short of survival of the fittest…when push comes to shove in a war…it’s time for targeted action.
In January of 1943, William H. Sullivan, Jr. USNR, Division of Aviation Training in Washington, DC cited this as the mission of US Navy Pre-Flight Physical Training:
“…to train our pilots not only so they are more skillful in flying technique and knowledge, but in one year and subsequent training to place them on the field of combat stronger and tougher both physically and mentally.”
To the best of my knowledge with the records I currently have, in December of what appears to be 1941 following Pearl Harbor, USN Captain Arthur W. Radford conceived an intense and vigorous PE program to get our Navy aviators ready for battle as quickly and as efficiently as possible. He presented the need for the program to Lt. Commander Thomas J. Hamilton who was put in charge of figuring out how to do it. Radford did not explain the program step by step. He just said what needed to be done and why. Hamilton then assembled an advisory council by February just a few months after the initial meeting with Radford in December. What took place in less than ONE YEAR remains a stuff of legends and of mythical significance. Nothing today even comes close to the USN V-Five Program. In just a few months, some of the brightest minds in American physical education had resigned their collegiate posts and were part of putting together and teaching the US Navy V-Five Program. These physical educators were required to lead by example–they spent the first months running through the program themselves including all the calisthenics, obstacle courses, swimming endurance tests, manual drills, and more including the indoctrination of Navy nomenclature and culture. They knew the program “through experience” from its roots to implementation, and yes, could teach and demonstrate ALL of it.
PE has often fought over the classical PE model of gymnastics VS. sports; however, the V-Five took the best of both to forge many of our best warriors who were not only tough-but very physically literate with a sophistication of movement through precision. Over the years, I’ve read accounts of the V-Five Program as not really being a “classical PE program” compared to others. I find this astounding until we take it in context of the 1940s vs. 2018. What they considered only partial classical PE would be the gold standard in “classical” PE today in 2018!
Their program was not considered as classical because it was more “sport-based” but not as we think of sports today–this was WAR SPORTS. They cited “competitive sports” as the foundation for their program, but it was essentially sports for war. “Rules” were shoved aside and aggression was pushed forward as the men were encouraged to be rough and ready with a fighting spirit. Sports took on a “martial utilitarian” objective. Football was actually used as a weapon of war training where it and other sports were thought of as the way to promote a deep mental and physical toughness and aggression. The elements of team work and group unity were also part of their sports philosophy like so many other sport programs, but the “war sport” focus was quite different than peace-time sports…understand the difference. Sports included in the program were: baseball, football, basketball, boxing, gymnastics and tumbling, hand-to-hand combat, military track, soccer, and wrestling plus they also did military drill, running, swimming, and more. Again, all of the above had the “martial” component emphasized for war purposes.
US Navy Aviation V-Five Program
The way the V-Five forged many of the brightest and bravest minds and bodies of WWII was through vigorous physical fitness. They emphasized toughness, aggressiveness, balance of both mind and body, manual labor, academics and most important-this primarily came “through” physical fitness training. Sports were part of it, but they did in fact do many classical PE methods as well like calisthenic drills, obstacle courses, swimming endurance, running, “primitive” exercises like crawling, jumping, hanging, rolling, etc. 80% of their program was was physical training. This is how they did it, and the men LOVED IT. To pull this off by January of 1943, they had trained 1,000 instructors who were running 30,000 cadets per year through the programs around the country. Within just a few months, the Navy went from concept to action with 1500 cadets at each school. Simply amazing.
PRECISION. Yes, but isn’t all this toughness and aggressiveness just like the boot camps today or the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) training or other “hard core warrior make yourself vomit to prove you are tough” programs? NO. There was also an intelligence to their training along with precision. They moved so well that they set the foundation for such feats of endurance WITHOUT the casualties and injuries! Macho fitness does not mean jack in war if you cannot move well and are injured holding back your comrades. The V-Five had real fitness built to last for the duration of the conflict in battles beyond what most of us can even imagine. It was NOT the same as people throwing around a lot of weight and moving poorly like most today. Know the difference. Nothing today rivals the V-Five not just because of the “exercises” they performed, or the physique of bodies, but because of how they did them and WHY they did them. Respect the history and we what you do not know–myself included. 🙂
I’m absolutely shocked at how fast they put this whole program together and how well it worked. Literally in just a few months from concept to action, the men were cited as going from not believing they could swim more than 25 yards to swimming a full MILE at the end of ten weeks and men that went from complaining about a quarter mile walk to the athletic field to doing vigorous 40 MILE HIKES…and in less than ten weeks training time! Not only could they swim a mile but they could also jump off a large platform some 20-30 feet high into the pool, stay at the bottom for five or more seconds “then” swim underwater for another 50-75 feet to simulate swimming under oil burning on top of the open water oceans…all this by men who could only jump off a ten foot board with eyes closed…they went from soft and lazy to rock hard warriors in under ten weeks.
In describing how PE went to war in the form of the US Navy Pre-Flight and Physical Training Program, Sullivan cited:
“In the foreground is the picture of healthy, youthful America, with tanned body, well-toned muscles, perfectly conditioned physique, and eyes which shine with anticipation for the task at hand.”
USN V-Five Group @ Play
PE @ WAR was very practical. Win or perish and utilitarian.
I’ve spent decades studying the history of PE and fitness including Nazi Germany. What made it possible for the US to win against what is arguably and even more superior training regimen like Hitler organized far sooner than the US following Pearl Harbor? How could we assemble and implement our military PE programs so quickly when we were so far behind the current war and far behind our WWI levels of fitness and health according to so many of my sources? Was it that America had a more “Noble” Purpose? Was it the democratic spirit that could triumph over the eventual evils delivered historically by totalitarian governments hell bent on war and destruction? I do not have all the answers, but I sure have a lot of questions. I truly believe that our V-Five and others in WWII from civilian to military combat soldiers were really made of something far deeper…stuff of spiritual depth and quality. We really need to think about this…before it is too late.
When American PE went to war–our schools and the US Navy Aviators answered the call for survival training in order to protect and preserve national security.
With my deepest and most sincere appreciation, thank you US Navy V-Five. We have remained free thanks to your efforts and others who have fallen. On Memorial Day 2018, this one is for you.
*Special thanks to William H. Sullivan, Jr, USNR, Division of Aviation Training in Washington DC for his article “The Naval Aviation Physical Training Program” (January 1943).
To learn more about the values of the “Classical PE” I recommend and teach, see our documentary film “The Motivation Factor.” I was the PE historian and archivist for the film. If you want the real stuff-watch our film.
–Ron Jones, MS, Historical Kinesiologist, Physical Educator
