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Navy V-12 engineering alumni reunite on campus
by Rachel Shafer
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Six V-12 engineers returned to campus for a nostalgic tour. Shown with Alumni Relations Director Karin Mack (center), they are (from left) John Van Bronkhorst (B.S.’46 ME), J.W. “Jack” London (B.S.’46 ME), Boyd Thompson (B.S.’48 EE), Dino Williams (B.S.’46 ME), Daniel Shiells (B.S.’46 ME), and Bill Kenton (then William Kleinberg). London’s memorabilia include the photo at left, showing him (center) at Sather Gate with Kenton (left) and the late Carl Seibly (B.S.’46 ME).
VINTAGE PHOTO COURTESY J.W. LONDON
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J.W. “Jack” London (B.S.’46 ME) earned a four-year ME degree from Berkeley in two years and eight months. The rush was deliberate. With World War II roaring in two theaters, the Navy urgently needed engineering officers to keep its ships operating. As an enrollee in the V-12 program, the Navy’s accelerated degree training program for officers, London was one of 16,000 boys chosen to go to college.
“It was tough,” London recalls. “I studied hard. But I was given an opportunity I never would have had otherwise. My folks couldn’t afford a college education. I had to go for the big apple. This was my chance and I wasn’t going to mess around with it.”
At UC Berkeley, V-12s went to school all year long. Their day began at 5:30 a.m. and ended promptly at 10 p.m. They took part in regular PT, physical training, and bunked in International House (temporarily renamed Callaghan House at the time). Of the 40 engineers who started with London, he recalls, only about 15 graduated. But there was an upside to the grueling regime.
“Seven to one,” says fellow V-12 alum Boyd Thompson (B.S.’48 EE), chuckling. “That was the ratio of women to men on campus.” Indeed, during slivers of free time, London dated a fellow Berkeley student, a woman he’d met on campus and would later marry.
By the time the group received their commissions, the war was over. But six of them have remained friends, and last spring they reunited for the first time since 1946 for a campus tour with Berkeley Engineering Alumni Relations Director Karin Mack. They noticed changes big and small, but one thing remained the same.
“We were totally together for our entire time at Cal,” London says. “The six of us have kept in touch all these years. We’ve always felt like brothers.”
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