Their worldliness more than compensated for their academic backgrounds, the College reported. The presence of veterans "stimulated" the college campus.

"[Their presence] made the class a little more serious, and the intellectual discussions a little more serious," reminisces Robert J. Blinken '50, who also was a Crimson editor.

"Most of us were respectful of our older classmates because we were aware of places where they had seen active duty in places we read about in the newspapers," says Melvin L. Zurier '50, who entered Harvard after secondary school. "We were rookies."

Hurry Up and Wait

After years of rigid military discipline, the veterans were well suited to the University's bureaucracy.

"The vets do exactly as they are supposed to do. They are very good about it. They cooperate wonderfully," said Helen McCloskey, a Coop employee during book ordering.

Non-veteran students sometimes resented the long lines at the bookstores caused by the paperwork the veterans needed for repayment under the G.I. Bill.

"All I could see in every direction were lines stretching out to infinity under a snowfall of veterans' authorization slips," one student wrote in a Crimson op-ed bemoaning his life as a non-veteran. "And you didn't think there were any of them left, did you?" he continued.

But the vast increases in undergraduates tested many University resources. The College began running a three-term year--fall, spring and summer--to graduate students in three and a half years. Veterans were granted "war service credits" for training and experience they gained in the military.

"There were so many people that I found the freshman advisors quite inadequate," says John F. Woolverton '50, who was stationed in Europe. "There wasn't very much direction."

In fact, although the college population stood at 145 percent of its pre-war population, there was no increase in the number of tutors in the Houses, leading to grumbling among students.

Non-veterans often found themselves intimidated by the G.I.'s.

"It's difficult enough to enter Harvard as what turns out to be naive freshman, but on top of that you're meeting and rubbing elbows with older guys who have had an entirely different experience," explains Frank J. Lionette '50, who entered Harvard after graduating from public high school.

Raise Every Voice

The veterans, who helped win the war in Europe and the Pacific, continued their worldly ways once matriculating.

The student body was very vocal, sounding off on communism, universal military training and the Marshall Plan which had been announced at Harvard's 1947 Commencement.

Several liberal political groups popped up on campus, and a variety of publications saw a rebirth as veterans became involved.