SAMPSON-TRAINED MEN FIGHTING ALL OVER WORLD

The second year of Sampson's history ended Tuesday, 17 October, with enough bluejackets having been trained at this gigantic Naval Center to operate two navies the size of the peacetime fleet of the United States.

Thus, all over the world today, afloat and ashore, are fighting men who got their first taste of Navy life right here on the shores of Seneca Lake.

Opened at a time when the Navy was desperately in need of men to turn back the onrushing Japs, Sampson has expanded five-fold since 17 October 1942, when it had only one training unit in operation.

New Facilities Developed

It has improved its facilities to suit the latest developments of naval warfare by concentrating on airplane recognition and anti-aircraft training devices. It now boasts one of the finest Fire Fighting Schools in the country. The only Physical Training-Rehabilitation School in the service was opened here recently by Commander Gene Tunney, USNR, Officer-in-Charge of the Navy's Physical Training Section.

Roads, Grounds Improved

An entire new unit for recruit training was constructed here during the past year, including barracks, mess hall and Ship's Service. Among other new buildings finished or virtually completed at Sampson during the year are two dispensaries, a dental prosthetic laboratory, two officer's barracks, an extension to the Main Administration Building as large as the present one, a new building to handle men being transferred, and a banking facility.

The 55 miles of muddy roads that marked Sampson when Commodore Harry A. Badt, USN, Center Commander - then a Captain - opened the Center, have been paved. Smooth lawns now cover a large proportion of the former farmland.