Tina Smith: “I join today with my friend and colleague Senator Gregg in offering an amendment to convey approximately 3.5 acres of…”

“I join today with my friend and colleague Senator Gregg in offering an amendment to convey approximately 3.5 acres of land to Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. This land is currently owned by the Army, but will soon be vacated upon completion of a military construction project that is authorized in this bill. Saint Anselm College is a liberal arts college that was founded in 1889. The college is conducted by the Benedictine Order, and has a longstanding relationship with the U.S. Armed Forces. In fact during the two world wars, Korea, and Vietnam, members of the Benedictine community volunteered to serve as chaplains in the military. During World War II, Saint Anselm was among the first colleges to participate in the military 'V-1' program to assist in training young men for military service. In March 1943, the college turned its campus over to the Army Air Corps which used Saint Anselm as a pre-flight school until the end of the war. Members of the faculty were used as teachers of the pre-flight cadets in mathematics and science subjects. In 1950, Saint Anselm College cooperated with what was then known as the 'organized reserve' to establish an Army reserve unit on campus. The organized reserve used college facilities, classrooms in storage facilities, and college students served as members of the Reserve in a field artillery battery. The U.S. Government incurred no costs for the use of these facilities which were provided willingly by the college.”