Ozark Academy Medical Cadet Corps

Medical Cadet Corps students practicing a shoulder bandage. Photo courtesy of Union College Library.

The “College Medical Corps was founded by Everett N. Dick at Union College in 1934 as a way to train males for non-combatant medic military service. . . . In 1937, Dick presented his program to other Adventist educators which led to other colleges adopting the program. . . . When the General Conference met for its Autumn Council in 1939 shortly after fighting broke out in Europe, church leaders . . . sanctioned the Union College Medical Corps program but formally adopted . . . Medical Cadet Corps as the name. . . . [T]he program would always focus on preparing enlisted soldiers. About this time, Everett Dick and two other leaders met with officials of the U.S. Surgeon General’s office to establish a unified curriculum for the MCC. Thus started a twenty-year relationship between Dick and officers of the Surgeon General’s office. This relationship resulted in a curriculum continuously revised to meet evolving military standards and recognition for Adventist soldiers which routinely placed them in the Army’s Medical Corps.” Nearly every Adventist college and secondary school in the United States participated in the MCC program. Each one chose its own uniform, but patches were used in common (Wikipedia, 2019).

Uniform patch in 1950. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

In 1941 Ozark Academy started an Ozark Academy Medical Cadet Corps (O. A. M. C. C.) for the academy boys. This class taught the students how to preserve life instead of taking it (Flintonian, 1942). Eight young people from Arkansas-Louisiana conference attended the Medical Cadet Corps training camp held in Keene in December 1942 (Roy, 1942). They learned anatomy and practiced first aid and bandaging, and many other skills they would need on a battle field. In 1942 the first Girls’ Cadet Corps was organized at Ozark Academy. They had uniforms of navy blue and white (Flintonian, 1943).

  • The boys’ Medical Cadet Corps in 1941
  • Girls’ Cadet Corps in 1942
  • Learning to take care of the wounded in 1953
  • Ozark Academy M.C.C. standing inspection by Col. Dick in 1955
(Flintonian, 1942, 1943, 1954; Haas, 1955)
(Record, 1941)

Training was held not only at Ozark Academy, but the Southwestern Union held MCC Training Camps. “In 1950 a ten-day summer Medical Cadet Corps training program was held at Grand Ledge, Michigan on the Michigan Conference camp meeting grounds. Named for Desmond T. Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor, this camp became an annual event until about 1970. Doss himself frequently attended, an attraction that helped bring more young men to the camp each year” (Wikipedia, 2019). 

Cabins at the Grand Ledge, Michigan, camp ground where Camp Doss was held. Photo courtesy of Union College Library.

The Medical Cadet training was given to thousands of Seventh-day Adventist young men and women during these years. It proved to be a great blessing to those who had been drafted into Army service. Almost every young person, who could show that they had completed the MCC training course, was placed into the Medical Department upon induction into the Army. “Here they [were] able to minister to the sick, wounded, and dying, and in this line of service they had the least possible conflict in regard to Sabbath observance” (Branson, 1942).

Citations

(1941, Sep. 8). Southwestern Union Record, p. 1.

(1942). The Flintonian. Gentry, AR: Ozark Academy, p. 16.

(1943). Ibid., p. 15.

(1955). Ibid., p. 12.

Branson, W. H. (1942, Aug. 26). Southwestern Union Record, p. 1.

Haas, Harold E. (1955, Nov. 30). Ibid., p. 4.

Roy, R. J. (1942, Dec. 9). Ibid., p. 2.

Wikipedia. (2019, Jul. 31). Medical Cadet Corps. Retrieved Nov. 2, 2019, from en.wikipedia.org.