Whitworth Veterans History

A Student Reflects on the announcement of the U.S. entering WWII

In the Fall of 1918 the Campus was given over to the U.S. Army where it became an auto training school. One goal was teaching soldiers to drive for transport of goods and men, ambulances and other uses.  In 1918, the working class man may not have ever driven a car, their cost being above their means.  The school also taught auto mechanics both in the gymnasium and in downtown Spokane. Pictured are not Whitworth Students but a new batch of Army recruits. They came to Whitworth at the height of the Spanish Flu Pandemic many becoming ill on their train ride to Spokane delaying their arrival on the Whitworth Campus.  The campus grounds were practically destroyed with all the marching drills.