Join Us! CDH JROTC to Celebrate Its Centennial

May 17, 2017

The JROTC program was established at Cretin High School nearly 100 years ago. This centennial will be celebrated over the next year at Cretin-Derham Hall.

Join us on Thursday, September 14, 2017, at 2p.m. for the Fall Review on Wingerd Field on the CDH campus. This year's parade will commemorate the centennial of the founding of our JROTC program in the fall of 1917.  All alumni of Cretin and Cretin-Derham Hall JROTC are invited to join the pass in review at the end of the parade. The guest speaker will be Brian McMahon, Chair of the CDH Board of Directors.  All are welcome.

A century ago, as the United States went to war in 1917, the nation responded with a surge of patriotic fervor.  Many local high schools obtained uniforms and organized students for military drill. In the fall of 1917, Brother Justinus Elzear, the principal of Cretin High School, arranged to have two National Guardsmen train students to march and drill.  Based on their success, he formally requested uniforms and War Department authorization for a JROTC program the following fall.  The uniforms arrived in October and the entire student body, with marching band, participated in the November 1918 Thanksgiving Day parade through downtown St. Paul. A few days later, the Corps passed their first inspection.  In February 1919, they received orders officially authorizing the JROTC unit. 

In the coming months, we will remember the establishment of the "Military Program" at Cretin (and later Cretin-Derham Hall) High School.  Special parades, commemorative texts, and memorials will all serve to honor the tradition of excellence found in the participants of JROTC through the last 100 years.

Please share your JROTC stories or memorabilia! Contact the JROTC office or call 651-696-3350 to learn more.