European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 15, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Left president Franklin a Roosevelt signed the . Bill into Law on june 22,1944. Above the . Bui provided quonset hut housing on or near campuses for thousands of War veterans and their families i Bui turns 50 a the most significant Bill Congress has passed in this Century by Jim Abrams the associated press d an Inouye returned from world War ii with his right Arm lost to a German rocket grenade his dream of becoming a surgeon shattered. He was determined to go Back to school in his native Hawaii but his father a clerk who worked As a waiter in the evenings could t foot the Bill. But Inouye like 15 million other veterans from the War had a new source of help the i Bill of rights that would change Many of their lives and in doing so change the face of America. It s been 50 years this month since president Franklin d. Roosevelt signed the i Bill into Law and Daniel k. Inouye now the senior senator from Hawaii says with conviction that it s a the most significant Bill Congress has passed in this  Quot i can say i would have made it without the it Bill but that s bravado Quot said Inouye who put himself through the University of Hawaii and George Washington University Law school on the Bill. Quot this made it a  the education program has Cost $70 billion Over the years but sen. Dale bumpers dark another of the hundreds of National leaders who benefited from the Bill says it Quot May be the Best single investment the United states government has Ever  bumpers said his father a Small town merchant Quot would have stolen to get an education for his  instead the i Bill helped pay for his Way through the University of Arkansas and then Northwestern Law school and got his brother through Harvard. In All 7.b million world War ii veterans received training with More than 2 million going to College under what was formally called the Quot servicemen a readjustment act of 1944.&Quot what s More one fifth of All single family Homes built in the two decades after the War were financed under the i Bill loan guarantee program a financial impetus that changed the National landscape by moving millions into the new world of Suburbia. In the beginning though it was fear not foresight that drove Congress toward support for the Bill. Still fresh in the minds of Many was the Post world War i recession when millions of unemployed vets were on the streets living off handouts and Charity and the 1932 Bonus army March when thousands of jobless vets descended on Washington demanding help. Twice As Many vets would be returning from world War ii and widespread depression was predicted it was the american legion led by former Illinois gov. John Stelle that came up with the concept of sending vets Back to school and crafted the legislation. With Strong lobbying support from William Randolph Hearst and his newspapers the Bill sailed through Congress passing both Chambers unanimously in the Spring of 1944. But the Bill nearly died in the House Senate conference to Iron out differences according to writer Michael Bennett who is publishing a Book on the i Bill rep. John Rankin of Mississippi a chief sponsor suddenly withdrew his support in a dispute Over the "52-20 club Quot a provision of the Bill that gave unemployed vets $20 a week for up to 52 weeks. 1 Bennett said Rankin saw the Benefit As a threat to the double wage scale pervasive in the South that favored Whites over1 Blacks. With the conference committee deadlocked rep John Gibson was roused from bed in his Georgia Home and rushed to Jacksonville fla., where a plane was waiting to take him to Washington. Gibson in casting the tiebreak no vote said there could be no other decision when american men at that very time were dying on the beaches of Normandy a a a a president Roosevelt signed the Bill into Law on june 22, 1944. The original Bill provided up to $500 a year for tuition and other educational costs and gave the single Veteran an allowance of $50 a month. The program ended in 1956, but new versions have been enacted after the korean and Vietnam wars. The current plan the Montgomery i Bill named after House veterans affairs committee chairman rep. . Quot Sonny Montgomery d-miss., is a voluntary plan where participants have their military pay reduced by $100 for 12 months and Are eligible for benefits of up to $400 a month for 36 months. Many educators worried that the original Bill would seriously erode educational standards overburdening colleges with millions of ill prepared students. A leading critic University of Chicago president Robert Hutchins warned that Quot colleges and universities will find themselves converted into educational Hobo . They were right about the overcrowding. Quot it was almost like being in the army. There was very Little privacy Quot said bumpers recalling the Barracks converted into housing at the University of Arkansas. A. Quonset huts and prefab housing were trucked to 2,600 campuses across the country for use As dorms and classrooms. Rep. Neal Smith a Loveva another i Bill beneficiary said that six weeks into the 1945 school year the University of Missouri had to create a special entering class to accommodate the returning vets a Quot everybody in town who had an attic or basement room rented it out. Everything in Columbia that was Rentable was rented Quot Smith said. By 1947, one half of All those enrolled in College were veterans. Bumpers Inouye but fears that the vets would bring Down educational standards were ill founded. The gis proved to be the most motivated group Ever to attend College. A we were just extraordinarily pleased that this Opportunity was provided Inouye said. Quot for most of us without the i Bill higher education and graduate studies would have been a . Erie Cocke an International banker w to headed the american legion in the 1950s, said there were almost no dropouts among his i colleagues who joined him at Harvard business  the War. These were men in their Early 30s, Cocke said who had shot Down German planes and sunk japanese battleships. Quot everybody was anxious to catch up for the five years they had lost Quot he said. A a. The historian Bennett said the veterans in addition to bringing colleges years of financial Security transformed the whole concept of higher education in this country with their demands for More practical courses such As business administration and engineering. Quot they took higher education out of the Ivy league into something More approaching the real world Quot he said. Among the National leaders who emerged from the i Bill program according to the veterans affairs department have been former presidents Bush and Ford vice president a Gore supreme court chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice John Paul Stevens Secretary of state Warren Christopher and Senate majority Leader George Mitchell. There Are also newsmen David Brinkley and John Chancellor entertainers Clint Eastwood Paul Newman and Jason Robards and former football coach Tom Landry. Forgotten heroes world War ii pilots killed in training receive belated honors by Jeff Donn the associated press they Are perhaps the most forgotten of world War i s forgotten. They never reached Europe or the Pacific. Instead they died thousands of Miles from the War in lumbering bombers and crude fighter planes that slowed into snowy new England mountainsides or dropped into the Atlantic often in the Black a of night. They were the casualties of flight training deprived even of the gratitude and Honor bestowed on victims of combat. More than 15,130 men died in world War ii flight training across the country according to the air Force safety Agency in Albuquerque . Among them were at least 118 killed in 35 accidents on training flights from Westover air base in the Western Massachusetts City of Chicopee according to military and state records. Most died on flights of giant b-24 bombers which allowed escape Only through their underside in a crash. The plane was nicknamed the Quot Liberator Quot but Many called it the Quot flying  the accidents were blamed on mechanical failure and errors by often inexperienced pilots. Frank Tencza a Vietnam Veteran held a 1989 memorial service atop mount Holyoke for 10 airmen who died in a Westover crash there in late May 1944 As they prepared to invade France on a Day. That operation so Well remembered by history was launched 10 Days later without them this year Tencza organized another service held nine before the 50th anniversary of a Day. This one honoured All who died on Westover training flights in world War  would. Think of training accidents As part of the Cost of War Quot Tencza asked. Quot let s remember them a at least . Quot nobody in officialdom Ever recognized them after they were dead. Within a month they were forgotten Quot said Brian Lindner who organized a similar 1989 service for nine victims of a crash on a Mountain in Duxbury it. Bearing the Westover death toll 50 years later shocked Betty o Connell who worked in Supply and outfitting at a base hangar during the War. Quot i Don t Ever Ever remember that much Quot she said haltingly. Quot they sure kept that information from  Quot it was part of the War thing Quot said cordon Newell who serves As a civilian spokesman for Westover now an air Force Reserve base. Quot there was just so much going on a necessity of War they were sarcastically known As "90-Day wonders Quot these fledgling fliers mostly in their teens and 20s who were sent to Westover to form Crews gain flight experience and Fly out three months later to join the army air corp s 8th air Force in Europe. Although the air Force was t a separate military Branch until two years after the War America s warplanes made a huge contribution in crippling Hitler s Germany. But the staggering losses in combat quickly washed away memories of training accidents however terrible. Quot the numbers were nothing compared to the losses being taken 1 on major raids Quot said Frank Faulkner a historian of Westover sixty bombers were lost in a single raid Over Schweinfurt Germany in october 1943, meanwhile relatives of training victims were tormented by a feeling that the deaths lacked even the meaning and dignity of perishing in fighting. Quot i think if he had died in combat he was fighting for our country. He was Only on Maneu vers said Vivian Leite a victim s sister. Quot something like that should t  Leite s brother Chi. Jim Perry was 18 when he died with eight others in the october 1944 crash at Duxbury. Quot my mom and dad never got Over this. I think there s always that resentment Quot Leite said. The sole survivor of that crash was Jim Wilson a gunner who Lay unconscious on the Frozen Mountainside for More than 60 hours until rescuers found him. He lost both hands and both feet to frostbite. But Wilson now a 69-year-old retired lawyer in Dumont colo., said he always Felt Lucky just to be alive. He attended the memorial service in Vermont but said he never expected honors. Quot there was a Job that had to be done. We were selected to do it. There s not much glory in it Quot he said. Quot i never Ever imagined a ticker tape  Frank Tancza stands at the Summit of it. Holyoke mass., where a Monument honors those killed in world War ii flight training accidents at nearby Westover Field. 20 the stars and stripes wednesday june 15, 1994 the stars and stripes 21