Draft:Georgia Military Academy

Georgia Military Academy, also known as GMA, was a private, college-preparatory military school located in College Park, Georgia that taught both boarding and non-boarding students from its founding in September 1900 to 1965. It was called GMA by its students, faculty and staff. In 1965 its Board of Directors changed the corporate name to Woodward Academy and discontinued Army ROTC as well as all the school’s previous military traditions and customs. Woodward Academy continued with the same student body, faculty, facilities and administration.

History
Georgia Military Academy was opened in September 1900 by Colonel John Charles Woodward and his wife, Lucile Woodward, in the single three-story building which became known as Founders Hall. The building had been the site of a previous, short-lived military academy known as Southern Military Academy. The campus consisted of sixteen acres of unimproved scrub land. The first class of thirty cadets lived and worked in Founders Hall in its eight resident rooms. Founders’ Hall included ten classrooms, laboratories, a library and an armory. By the 1901 term, enrollment had grown to fifty cadets, the grounds had been cleared, a garden, hog pens and a small dairy had been added. By 1907, GMA had grown to one hundred and twenty cadets and ten teachers. The first major construction at GMA was Rugby Hall which was completed in 1902 and which contained fourteen resident rooms for teachers and cadets. A gymnasium was added in 1907 which later became known as the “Old Gym.” In 1908, at the order of President Teddy Roosevelt, a Regular U.S. Army officer was posted to serve as a full-time military instructor. In that same year, a football field was constructed and dedicated.

The years 1911 to 1925.
During the years leading up to and immediately after World War I, GMA continued to expand and took on greater importance in Georgia and National history. In 1914, its founder Col. Woodward was instrumental in launching the Association of Military Colleges and Schools (now known as AMCSUS) of which GMA became a founding member school. In 1916, GMA was established as a Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corp (“JROTC” or “Junior ROTC”) under the National Defense Act of 1916. Six hundred GMA alumni served in World War I and most served as commissioned officers. Thirteen GMA alumni were killed in WWI and are memorialized in Monument Row along the central avenue of Woodward Academy also honoring alumni killed in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and in military conflicts since 1973. The campus grew to over twenty-five acres and other iconic buildings were added, all in the same red brick with white column architectural style including Memorial Hall, the Founders Hall Annex and the New Gym which was believed to be the largest gym of any prep school in the country. The New Gym was renovated to administrative offices in 1943 and continued in use until 1975.

GMA was designated as an Honor Military Academy in 1925. In June 1925 GMA was notified that it had achieved the designation of Honor Military Academy in a letter from then Major General Douglas MacArthur who would later become famous as General of the Army in World War II. Every year from then forward the Corps of Cadets prepared for its annual Army inspection to decide whether the “Honor” designation could be maintained. GMA Cadets painted, cleaned, mopped, oiled, policed, polished, mended and drilled for weeks in preparation. In the military tradition of preparing for inspection, no outside help ever received. This annual ritual exemplified the Academy’s emphasis on personal self-reliance and attention to detail. The Honor Military Academy designation gave GMA the right to appoint one cadet to each of the four Service Academies.

Challenging years – the Great Depression.
The years beginning around 1926 were financially challenging for GMA. The day student population had declined to seven cadets by 1926. Colonel Woodward cultivated a relationship with Cuban friends and persuaded Major N.J. Castellanos and his wife Maria to join the faculty. Recruitment of Cuban students and other full-tuition-paying students from other countries helped keep GMA going. During these years, teacher salaries were low and some teachers were working for room and board(14). The iconic Memorial Gate was dedicated by the Class of 1929-1930 and the band got their first uniforms. Lucile Woodward, co-founder of the GMA, passed away in 1931.

The Great Gesture – 1932.
In 1932, in what became known as the “Great Gesture,” Col. Woodward transferred all his ownership to and became a co-founder of the non-profit corporation known as Georgia Military Academy. The Academy, now a corporation with a governing board, remained in College Park, Georgia and was founded “not for pecuniary gain to stockholders, but for the purpose of conducting a charitable and educational institution.” Other founders included William Roe Brewster, who was to replace Col. Woodward in the 1930s, Robert W. Woodruff, R.S. Rosser, D.C. Woodward, George W. West, C.D. Woodward, Glenville Giddings, Mrs. Mildred C. Woodward, Mrs. Ruth Gladys McQuarrie, Mrs. Elsie Gore Woodward, Grace Charles Woodward, Majorie Lucille Woodward and others.

Col. William R. Brewster becomes President of GMA.
In 1939, Col. Woodward passed away and Col. William R. Brewster, Sr., son-in-law of Col. Woodward, was elected by the Board of Directors to become the second president of GMA. Col. Brewster, a 1920 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and been a professor of mathematics and commandant of GMA. He guided GMA’s growth from 400 cadets to 1,000. He founded a Junior School (primary school grades) that grew from 50 cadets to 300. He founded the GMA Junior College in 1940 and initiated its termination in 1953 when draft deferment was ended for junior college students. He planned for and supervised the construction of the Junior School building, the Administration Building (West Hall), the Rugby Hall Annex and the Gymnasium.

Commander (later Captain) William R. Brewster, Jr., U.S. Navy Reserve, becomes President of Georgia Military Academy.
In 1960 Commander William R. Brewster, Jr., U.S.N.R, became the third president of GMA from 1959 to 1979. “Commander Brewster,” as he was known by cadets, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with the class of 1942 days after Pearl Harbor on December 19, 1941. In Operation Torch in North Africa his shop, the BERNADOU, was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation and Brewster as its Gunnery Officer the Silver Star Medal. In October 1944 off Okinawa, his ship USS Prichett (DD 561) was attacked and he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with a Combat “V.” He was a Naval Aviator, remaining in the Naval Air Reserve. Commander Brewster taught mathematics and science and served as commandant at GMA. During the next thirty-three years he worked up the administrative ladder. His wife of 57 years, Kathryn (“Kitty”) Cummings Brewster, was a beloved figure to GMA Cadets for her warmth and charm. She was active in the school’s administration, including interior design for new buildings, approval of weekly menus, landscape design and supervision, purchasing and distributing textbooks and supervision of school opening and social functions. During his tenure as President, he initiated the school’s first fundraising effort in its 65-year history which raised enough capital to renovate many old facilities and build necessary new ones. Between 1965 and 1966, he carried out the transition of GMA from a military academy to a non-military college preparatory school and brought many other changes including phasing out the Army ROTC program.

War service of GMA alumni.
During the Second World War and the Korean War, GMA offered continuous school which allowed graduation in two and one-half years. An estimated 1,500 alumni served in the armed forces during those wars with over fifty percent serving as commissioned officers (26). About 600 GMA alumni served in World War I and many GMA alumni also served in the Vietnam War. The entry to the campus along East Rugby Street is lined with memorials to GMA alumni who died in each war of the 20th and 21st Centuries.

Traditions of GMA.
The military traditions of GMA in some cases mirrored those of the U.S. Military Academy. Some of those traditions are summarized here:


 * Bull Ring - Cadet infractions could bring on an “award” of demerits by military members of the faculty for violation of Cadet Regulations, failure to properly maintain uniforms, rooms or equipment and for other infractions too numerous to repeat here. A cadet who received ten or more demerits in one week would be required to “walk off” those demerits on Saturday or after church on Sunday by marching around the East Rugby Avenue oval which circled the War Memorials (the “Memorial Oval”) for one hour to remove each demerit. This was known as “walking off demerits” or “walking bull-ring” and was supervised by the Commandant’s office. There was no appeal from the Commandant’s determination that an infraction had occurred.
 * Morning Formation - The entire Cadet Corps of the Senior School (Grades 9-12) would assemble each morning at 07:30 hours on the south side of the Memorial Oval for inspection and announcements. The Corps assembled in platoons three ranks deep and each platoon leader inspected for shave, haircut, shoeshine, tie, collar spiffy in place, clean starched shirt and trousers, shirt seam aligned with trouser flap (i.e., “gig line” correct). The Commandant would then make announcements over the public address speaker system. Any cadets whose names had been called would assemble at the required locations (the “South Sally Port” was favorite assembly point) for any required administrative purpose. The formation would then be dismissed so cadets could attend class.
 * Bugle Calls - The lives of cadets were regulated each day by standard U.S. Army bugle calls which came from the Commandant’s Office in Rugby Hall. A scratchy record announced, in turn, First Call, Reveille, Attention, Mess Call, Assembly, School Call, Recall, Retreat, Taps.
 * Springtime Sunday parades - GMA held full Cadet Corps parades each Sunday in the Spring to which the public was invited. The Robert W. Woodruff Cadet Band led the Cadet Corps onto the field with John Phillip Souza marches including High School Cadets, King Cotton, The Thunderer, The Washington Post and El Capitan. After Adjutant’s Call, the whole Corps passed in review.
 * Presidential Inaugural Parades - The GMA Cadet Corp participated in Presidential Inaugural parades including those for Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson

Notable Alumni

 * Robert W. Woodruff, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company 1925-1955
 * Stephen W. Pless, Major USMC; awarded Congressional Medal of Honor 1969.

Reference Information
Excerpts from “The Woodward Story, A History of Georgia Military/Woodward Academy 1900-1990", by Robert Ballentine, published 1990 by Jostens Printing and Publishing; content used with permission of the copyright holder, Woodward Academy Inc., College Park, Georgia, USA.


 * Cadet Regulations of Georgia Military Academy, College Park, Ga. August 1961
 * Catalog, Georgia Military Academy, 1956
 * Woodward Academy History