The History of the Class of 1945W

 On July 4, 1942 we met together in Woolsey Hall for the first time. There were 1059 of us, the largest class to have entered Yale in its 241 years. We had recently turned 18 or were about to become 18 years old. In 1942 that was draft age. With the accelerated schedule we would receive four years of college education in a mere 32 months and would graduate in February 1945. There was a graduation but only 149 of us remained at Yale long enough to attend. The rest had left for military service Of those who did graduate 22 were commissioned officers in the Navy reserve. Many of the others were immediately drafted.

  In 1947, when the bulk of the class had returned from service to complete their Yale education, a few resourceful members created a Class Book for the Class of 1945W. The simple requirement of submitting a picture with a few words about ourselves made us aware that even though we would receive our degree in 1947 or '48 or '49 or '50 we were members of the Class of 1945W and could choose that as our alumni affiliation. Without this book the class might well have disappeared. The Class Book contained The History of the Class of 1945W  War Baby written by Robert Treat Hooker Davidson. This Class Book also contains a Necrology of our classmates who gave their lives in the service of their country. In their honor we have included a page, In Memoriam, which contains a bio-sketch of each of the 38..

  The 40th Reunion Book published in 1985 contains a second history of our our time at Yale seen from 38 years after the first history, The Yale Class of 1945W Unique, Loyal, and Real by Gerald Radley Daly. Research for this history discovered the source and meaning of the "W:.
  The most recent class history by John Ledes entitled Yale 1945W A Reflection in 2005 was is included in the Yale 1945W 60th Reunion Class Directory 2005.
  The Yale Alumni Magazine, March 1997 has a feature article The Yale of My Day which contains a section by our class secretary John Finney, White Shoes to Combat Boots. John Finney has also collected a set of War Memories written by members of our class.

 The book The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw led Leight Johnson to collect comments from classmates to make another view of The Greatest Generation.