By Jocelyn Rivard ’28
Few events have affected the world as much as World War I. Yet, even fewer have caused communities and countries to unite and achieve what was once deemed impossible. While World War I was a time of chaos and fear for the American people, both The Choate School and Rosemary Hall collaborated to support the war effort.
The former Headmaster of The Choate School, Mr. George St. John, knew it was only a matter of time before boys from the School would be drafted. Thus, he started preparing them for the inevitable. The boys were divided into four companies, training three times a week on what was then the Varsity Football field, which serves as the Girls’ JV Soccer field today.
Dubbed “The Choate Battalion,” the unit followed the United States Army Infantry Drill Regulations, with the younger boys practicing with wooden rifles and the older students using real rifles. The purpose of this training was to prepare graduating students for the Students’ Army Training Corps, a program that allowed them to continue their studies in university while undergoing military training.
The School Archives holds unique artifacts from this period, including a uniform worn during the war, which was donated by an alumnus. The Archives also possess the bugle — a small trumpet — used by Mr. Ray Brown, a battalion leader. According to Choate Archivist Mrs. Stephanie Gold, it would be used to “wake everybody up in the morning, and call them to the fields to start with their training [at Choate].”
During World War I, victory gardens were planted on both public and private land to help address food shortages, as much of the food supply was being shipped overseas; The Choate School similarly founded one of these farms. The School bought a 25-acre plot of land and planted potatoes; the crops were cultivated throughout the school year and into the summer.
All of the money earned from the potato harvest and various fundraisers was donated to the Red Cross to support war efforts. In fact, the School had raised enough money through their fundraisers to send an ambulance to France. The final batch of potatoes was harvested on November 15, 2017, and the 1918 Choate yearbook, The Brief, read, “Company lists of the Battalion posted. Sergeant Higgins!! Great joy — potatoes finished.”
Although the graduates of Rosemary Hall would not go on to fight, their Headmistress, Caroline Ruutz-Rees, was determined to contribute to the war effort. Like the boys at The Choate School, the girls at Rosemary Hall planted and tended their own potatoes in a victory garden.
Aside from holding multiple fundraisers to support the war effort, the Rosemary Hall girls vacated campus and traveled to Miami, Florida on January 15, 1918 to escape the cold winter weather. At the time, a majority of coal resources were being sent abroad to support the war effort, leaving insufficient fuel to heat the many buildings on campus. The boarders remained in Miami until March 27. This trip was documented in Rosemary Hall’s yearbook, The Answer Book: “At first it was very hot, and we were all quite irritable. But the salt sea restored our good humor.”
After the war ended, the staff at The Choate School felt a need to memorialize the Choate boys who had died in service of their country. Headmaster St. John proposed the idea of a “Memorial House” to remind students of the sacrifices their predecessors had made. Today, Memorial House, or “Mem,” is a dorm for fourth- and fifth-formers. In addition to this project, The Choate News also published obituaries honoring the alumni and students who died in service.
From preparing students for military service to relocating students to Miami, World War I had a significant impact on student life at The Choate School and Rosemary Hall. Through the efforts of both schools, the students learned first-hand the importance of putting one’s nation before themselves.
