In 1939, the Second World War erupted in Europe when Hitler invaded Poland. By 1940 the Nazis had invaded France and began bombing Britain, both U.S. allies. U.S. debate over staying neutral gave way to a policy of "Lend-Lease," a program that allowed the U.S. to arm its allies against fascism and build what Franklin Roosevelt called the “great arsenal of democracy.” As war raged in Europe and Asia, the U.S. had not yet officially joined the war, so for a majority of the country, life carried on much as usual.[1]

For the students of Davis High, the 1939-40 school year began like any other school year. That September, the school calendar exclaimed "Victory! Victory!" not for the war in Europe, but for a Panther victory on the gridiron. And as students prepared for finals exams after returning from winter break, they were reminded to “Cram! Cram! Cram!.” The following school year proved to be much the same. However, as the war in Europe and Asia inched closer to home, many of the students who walked the halls of Davis that year would soon be called to service in the greatest war humanity has ever faced.[2]

During the 1940-41 school year, the impact of the war on the U.S. home front was becoming more evident. Although still not officially at war, the U.S. was sending aid to European allies. That Christmas, the Carlton Cadettes pep squad raised funds for the war effort in a "Bundles for Britain" benefit football game.[3]

As the U.S. government sent aid to its allies, it also began to mobilize an army. The following semester, the school paper reported that “Army Strikes Again; Gets Davis Teacher,” announcing that ROTC teacher Captain Anton Borecky had been “called to active duty” and remarking that other Davis faculty may be next. The following school year the war’s impact on the student body was also becoming clear. Just days after Davis beat rival Reagan High on the gridiron, the Dispatch reported that “Six Registrations Lose Eight Boys Within Last Year to Uncle Sam.” As December of 1941 approached, many of the Davis students who fought for victory on the football field would soon be called to the battlefields of Europe and Asia.[4]

The Japanese military attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor and other U.S. territories in the Pacific on December 7, 1941 brought the U.S. officially into World War II. The day after the attack, the Houston Chronicle declared: “Stunning Japanese Attack Welds Official Opinion Into Single One—Victory.” Throughout 1940 and 1941, Houston's shipping and petroleum industries had begun to mobilize around the war effort, but following the Pearl Harbor attack, Houston’s industry kicked into high gear, with schools like Davis High following suit. On the evening of December 7th, dozens of Davis students rushed to join the Navy, with the Chronicle reporting that “Paul ‘Frog’ Lott” and “his pal, James (Shorty) Mayfield, didn’t wait long after Pearl Harbor to get into the navy…he and ‘Shorty’ were among the leaders when 40 Jeff Davis youths stormed the navy recruiting office Sunday night, December 7, Pearl Harbor day.”[5]

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the school newspaper reflected a growing and increasingly unified war spirit. The war preparedness of the Davis student body leapt from the pages of the Dispatch with headlines like: “Defense Bonds, Stamps to Be Sold,” “Twenty-four Due to Leave Today for Navy; More Later,” “Fun and Patriotism Share Spotlight in School Corridor,” “Opportunity Knocks for Eligible Boys: Aviation Training With Pay to Be Offered,” “Davis Romeos Join Navy, Pretty Girls Weep, As Santa Spreads the Christmas Spirit,” “Davis Lettermen Leave Football Field to Help Defend America,” and “thirty-one Davis boys have joined or plan to join.” For the students of Davis High, many of whom would soon be drafted into the military and had family members working in war-related industries, the next several years of their lives would be shaped by the war.[6]

Throughout the spring of the 1941-42 school year, there was also a growing sense of volunteerism around the war effort. The Dispatch reported “that since the war began, Davis people have really been showing their patriotism in a variety of ways.” Other reports of “Defense Bonds and Stamps Take Steep Climb as Homerooms and Clubs Start Sales Contest,” and “1200 Students Answer Red Cross Roll Call” underscored the continued fundraising and volunteer efforts within the school.[7]

Just over a year after Pearl harbor, Davis High students, along with other Houston high schools, participated in an effort to raise money to buy guns for the newly rebuilt USS Houston. According to the Chronicle, “Each of the schools will attempt to sell $50,000 war bonds and stamps in the cruiser Houston campaign. If they do, a gun on the new ship will be named for each of the participating schools.” It took less than a week for the schools to meet their goal, with the paper reporting, “Schools Raise $267, 797 For Big Guns on Cruiser Houston” and that “Each of the schools will have a gun named for it on the new cruiser Houston.” Six months later, the U.S.S. Houston was ready for launch, in no small part thanks to the help of the students from Davis High and other schools around the city.[8]

Even with the war raging overseas and the war effort at home, Houston’s high schools continued many of their regular activities, with student daily life co-existing with the war effort. While high school attendance had been significantly impacted by the war, with many students leaving school to work, activities like high school football continued, with the Chronicle reporting in 1943 that “Houston High Schools Stick To Full Football Schedule.” At Davis that year the boys' basketball team won the state championship for the second year in a row. All-star athlete Steve Lobue had helped lead his team to victory in the previous 1942 state championships and as Davis celebrated its 1943 win, Lobue and other Davis alumni were preparing to ship out for military service. By the next school year, the impact of the war on Davis sports was becoming even more apparent, with the Chronicle reporting, “Jeff Davis will start the 1944 city schoolboy basketball race with only a skeleton of its past two great state champion teams.” The paper further noted that “the Panthers lost nine of their 11 lettermen through graduation and enlistments in the armed services."[10]

Steve Lobue and his classmates were among scores of Davis alumni drawn into the war effort. Several from the Class of 1941 played important roles in the war: William E. Thomas joined the U.S. Navy and was in Tokyo during the Japanese surrender in 1945, Valerie Luke was a Carlton Cadette and ended up in the Cadette Nurse Corps working at Jefferson Davis Hospital and Myrtle F. Case joined the Marine Corps for Women. Many other Davis alumni worked in key wartime industries like 1942 graduate James William Armour, who got a job at Brown Shipyard building ships for the war and then spent six months at Humble Oil before joining the Army.[17]

Jimmie Leach and the Battle of the Bulge

In the spring of 1945, with the end of the war against Hitler in sight, the school yearbook recorded that “Several small trees have been planted on the campus—a living monument to the service men from Davis who gave their lives for their country.” The Chronicle reported of the dedication ceremony that “1700 Gather at Jeff Davis to Honor 76 Who Have Died.” The article continued:

“Ahead, when the laughter of free generations rings forth again upon the campuses of this nation, and no one remains to tell of this proud fighting generation, seven trees will stand upon the green grounds of Jeff Davis High School…Students will loll about and dream in the shade…And at the main entrance a bronze tablet will give the names of those ex-students who died, that boys and girls of Jeff Davis might always sit and study in a free world, and carry out the immense responsibilities of a peace for which a generation of fighting students, and ex-students died.”[18]

As summer break came in 1945, so too did the end of the war. In May, the Allied forces finished off the Nazi empire and by August the Japanese empire surrendered after the U.S. used nuclear weapons on two Japanese cities. The following school year, the Beauvoir memorialized the seventy-seven known Davis alumni who had been killed in the war:

“To those who in the love of their country died that we might live, there is no tomorrow. But you and I live on to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice. They do not live on to laugh and frolic with us, they who died in the...hell that was Tarawa. But they are not forgotten! For all the glory of their deeds and the courage they knew, will forever grain the pages of history. May the memory eternally linger, that they who bought our freedom with flesh and blood, have given us the chance to build a new and better world. So in final commemoration, let us always cherish this thought that died upon their lips: ‘Our retribution will be your insurance of a pure and peaceful world for all time to come.’”[19]