FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY

(Excerpts from a speech delivered by Secretary Knox to the
Touchdown Club, Washington, D. C., 11 January 1944.)

“We in the Navy definitely believe in the type of physi-
cal exercise and sports which involves bodily contact with
your opponent.

“One of the lessons we have learned in this war ought
to be that the building up of the physical side of young
Americans is one of our most important and crucial tasks
in the days after the war is over.

“In the organization of which General Vandegrift is the
Chief, only one man in five could pass the examination
required to get into that organization. That ought to
give us some sober thought, because, I think we all agree
—I am sure the Navy and Marine Corps will agree—that
the Marine Corps has the finest esprit de corps of any
fighting organization in the world. And you can’t have
that kind of esprit de corps unless you have a physical
base for it because, believe me, there is a direct relation-
ship between physical condition and physical courage.

“The price of freedom is the ability to defend it. We
are living through hours and months and years now of an

era when that truth is being forced home on us as never
before.

“But, remember men, that just ships isn’t the answer.
We have the ships now. Through a very miracle of pro-
duction, we have built in the last two years the greatest
fleet that ever swept the sea under one flag. But ships
alone don’t make the Navy. We've got to have men,
and to get an adequate force of men to man those ships
is a pressing obligation upon every American citizen.

“One thing I hope we’ve learned is that only those peo-
ples will survive free who maintain themselves in a posi-
tion where they can defend that freedom if it’s challenged.
That’s the price of survival. That’s the lesson that has
been bitterly burned into our minds and souls in the last
quarter of a century. That doesn’t mean we want to
embark on any era of imperialism.

“Let’s help, all of us, to build up that spirit in our coun-
try which will insure that if the time of testing ever comes
again it will find us ready. Ready spiritually, ready ma-
terially, and above all, ready physically, to play our part
in saving the world against such a danger as that which
now threatens it.”

FROM THE CHIEF OF NAVAL PERSONNEL

(Excerpt from Foreword in Physical Fitness Manual for
the U. S. Navy.)

“A primary responsibility of the Bureau of Naval Per-
sonnel is the education and training of officers and en-
listed personnel of the Navy. An important aspect of

this responsibility is the physical fitness of every person
in the naval service. This responsibility is discharged
through the administration of the Physical Fitness Pro-
gram which is designed to develop and maintain a superior
physical condition among all naval personnel.”

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF TRAINING

(Excerpt from BuPers ltr. 80 December 1944 to command-
img officers of training commands.)

“The ultimate objective of all our training is our effec-
tiveness and success in battle. All Command Echelons at
Sea and in the Field fully appreciate the importance of
physical fitness in inducing boldness, enterprise, and in-
telligence in combat, as well as insuring a greater capacity

to resist shock. All Training Commands must recognize
the importance of physical readiness for action in like
manner and insure that appropriate measures are inte-
grated in training programs, particularly in connection
with new personnel and in association with indoctrinal
training designed to develop firm discipline, enterprise,
and spirit of combat.”

 

 

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