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Call of duty

Photo by Ben Smidt

In honor of Memorial Day, Marquette Magazine took a look at the numbers related to men and women graduates of Marquette's ROTC programs who have committed to serve our country.

1940: Year Marquette established its Navy ROTC program, becoming the first Catholic university to host ROTC.

890: Of the approximately 3,000 males on campus in 1942 were in military training.

208: Students in the first class of Navy ROTC.

318: Students in Marquette's Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC units during the 2009-10 school year.

1: Propeller from an Japanese torpedo bomber on campus. The propeller landed in the backyard of a 1925 graduate of the School of Dentistry, Lt. Cmdr. C.W. Shantz, on Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor. He later donated it to the NROTC unit. Shantz completed his naval career as a vice admiral and three-star chief of the Naval Dental Corps.

5: Marquette's national ranking for number of students who participate in ROTC, according to Washington Monthly's 2009 rankings.

27: Credits for the Military Science minor.

30: The number of jumps six Marquette Army cadets will make during U.S. Army Airborne School this summer.

$166,000: The value of an Army four-year scholarship to Marquette, which includes tuition, room and board, books and monthly stipend.

At least 25: The number of Marquette Navy and Army ROTC alumni who have died on active duty. That includes alumni who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Shield. The ROTC units do not know of any alumni lost during the most recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.