Throwback Thursday: EWU ROTC’s Cadet Hall

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This picture shows Cadet Hall from the 1950s or earlier 1960s.  The doors pictured is still the main entrance into Cadet Hall today.  The double pullup bars in front of the building are still in place and regularly used by Cadets.  However, the large grass field where this picture was taken no longer exists.  This is because the Computing and Engineering Science Building was built over the field back in 2005.

Throwback Thursday: Eastern Washington Football Back in 1903

With the Eastern Washington University football team moving on to play in the FCS championship game, it is only fitting to show a historical photo this week of EWU football back in 1903.  Besides how well dressed everyone is, something I else I noticed was the people watching the game with horses and wagons.   I wonder if the people in the wagons were early tailgaters?

An old photo of people playing football

Back then the football team was called the Cheney Normal Football Team since the university was named the “State Normal School at Cheney”.  The below Google Maps image the gold rectangle shows approximately where the field would have been located at where the JFK Library and Williamson Hall are at.  The ROTC office would not have existed back then since the program was founded back in 1952.

Ariel photo of the Cheney campus

Thank you to Jerry Mellick and Jerry Jantz for sending the photo.

Throwback Thursday: 1962 Aerial View of Cadet Hall and the EWU Campus

Via an alumni tip, below is a 1962 aerial view of the Eastern Washington University campus.  For those that look closely on the mid-to-upper left of the image Cadet Hall can be seen on the hill above where the football field used to be.  Clearly the EWU campus has expanded significantly in the past 56 years.  If any alumni have any historical pictures they want to share on the site feel free to email them to rotc@ewu.edu.  Go Fighting Eagles!

Ariel photo of the EWU campus 1962

Throwback Thursday: Cadet Fred Wong Accepts Award as EWU’s Top Rifle Team Shooter in 1963

The below image from 1963 is of Cadet Fred Wong receiving an award as the top shooter of the ROTC Rifle Team. The award is being presented to him from the then Eastern Washington State College Professor of Military Science Colonel Erwin Nilsson.

Cadet Wong would go on to graduate in 1964 as a Distinguished Military Graduate and commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps branch.  Wong would later attend the Infantry Officer’s Advanced Course and serve as a Rifle Company Commander in Vietnam.  After serving in Vietnam, the then Captain Wong came back to EWU as an ROTC instructor where he completed his Masters degree in guidance and counseling.  Wong would serve a total 31 years in the Army before retiring in 1995 at the rank of Brigadier General (BG).  Watch the below video where BG Wong describes his career after being honored in 2016 by EWU for his Exceptional Military Service.