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Jason H. Samuels

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Jason Samuels in whites

Jason Samuels in Whites 1944

The Whites, formal Navy uniform, were worn when the class of 1945 NROTC was commissioned at Tufts in February 1944

Patriotism was my most important reason to join the Naval ROTC at Tufts in 1941

Jason H. Samuels

Jason Samuels "wanted to be an engineer from the ninth grade onward." He prepared for this ambition by participating in a special technical program in high school and was accepted to Tufts Engineering School.

His war experience started from time he first arrived at Tufts for class selection and registration in 1941. Moved by patriotism, he decided to apply for the NROTC unit and was selected.

The first two years of engineering school were tough and NROTC meant much more additional work: three additional credit hours in Naval Science and one afternoon a week for military exercises.

In February of 1944, at the end of his junior year, Jason received his commission. After additional Sub Chaser training at Navy bases in Maine and Florida, he was assigned as executive officer to convoy duty on board a 128-foot wooden-hulled Sub Chaser (SC - 1298). Samuels' ship accompanied convoys in the Caribbean Sea and South Atlantic and he saw action in the titanic battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

After the World War II, Samuels completed a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tufts and moved on to building a civilian career. "Lt. U.S. Naval Reserve - Active Duty World War II, since leaving college, have specialized in all areas of the packaging machinery industry, such as designing, sales, service, and administrative. I am presently self-employed and have been for forty years a manufacturers' representative of diversified lines of packaging machinery and consultant in same and consumer manufacturing operations."

Jason Samuels believes that NROTC provided him with experiences that were very valuable in civilian life. Those years gave him an opportunity to develop leadership qualities and an understanding of people from various places in this country and the world. He likes to say, "We got a lot of rough edges smoothed off us. One of the things we were taught to say was "Yes, Sir!" The wartime experience provided us V-12/NROTC men with the basis for success in business. We were forced into a situation where you had to work as a team as part of an organization. This is something a lot of people now miss."

Jason Samuels in Sub-Chaser Training Cente

Jason Samuels in Sub-Chaser Training Center, Miami, Florida

Sub-Chaser Control 1298

Sub-Chaser Control 1298

Jason Samuels was Executive Officer aboard this vessel. The Submarine Chaser 1298 was one of 400 or more ordered since 1940, duplicates of the experimental 128-footers built under the 1938 program. They had two diesel engines, dual screws

Jason Samuels with others at Naval Base

Jason Samuels with Dick Rome and Bob Wehrman at Naval Base in Saipan, Marianas Islands

Campaign ribbons

Campaign Ribbons1941-1956

Jason Samuels, Graduation

Jason Samuels, Graduation

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