Frequently Asked Questions
Question 1: Does the Database list all Officer Candidate Schools and Classes?

Answer: No, the Database does not list all OCS Schools and Classes. It includes only those schools and classes for which we have obtained graduation records. Information varies based on what we’ve been able to verify.

  • Infantry OCS Ft Benning, GA: 1941-1947 and 1951-1973 all classes
  • Branch Immaterial/Federal OCS Ft Benning/Moore, GA: 1974-2022 all classes
  • Artillery OCS Ft Sill, OK: 1941-1946 and 1951-1973 all classes
  • Signal OCS Ft Monmouth,NJ: 1941-1953 all classes
  • Signal OCS Ft Gordon, GA: 1966-1968 all classes
  • Armor OCS Ft Knox, KY: 1966-1968 all classes
  • Engineer OCS Ft Belvoir, VA: 1966-1971
  • Quartermaster OCS Ft Lee, VA: 1966-1968 all classes
  • Transportation OCS Ft Eustis, VA: 1966-1968 all classes
  • Ordnance OCS Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD: 1966-1968 (5 of 36 classes)
  • WAC OCS Ft McClellan, AL: No information yet found.

With the exception of Infantry, Artillery, and Signal OCS, other classes during WWII conducted at main branch schools have not yet been accounted for. Additionally, there were Officer Candidate Schools activated during WWII in the continental United States for Coast Artillery, Cavalry, Tank Destroyer, Medical Administration, Finance, Judge Advocate General, Adjutant General, as well as overseas OCS’s conducted in locations such as Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji Islands, England, and France.

The Army Ground General School at Ft Riley, KS (1947-1951) is also yet to be accounted for.

Question 2: Where do you get the class and attendee names for the database?

Answer:

  • School Academic Records: Provide class, graduation date, academic honors, and numbers recycled or relieved. (Note: Records from 1941-1970s are mostly unavailable or in bad shape).
  • Class Books: Provide names of attendees and occasionally their branch of commissioning. Not all classes had books, and books were often outdated by the time they were published.
  • Graduation Programs: Provide graduation dates, names of graduates, and sometimes academic honors and branches commissioned.
  • Branch OCS Associations: Associations like Artillery and Signal OCS have documented their classes thoroughly from 1941 until their respective schools closed.
Question 3: What type of data is documented for each graduate, and how is this data obtained?

Answer:

We begin with Name, Graduation Date, and Academic Honors from the sources mentioned above. We use Army Registers to obtain Service Numbers, Basic Pay Entry Dates (to determine length of service), education levels, and birth dates (to estimate age at graduation).

While all information in the Army Register is public domain, we do not use exact dates, only generalized data such as years of service or age in years.

Two versions of Army Registers are used:

  • Volume I: For Regular Army officers.
  • Volume II: For Reserve Officers, which includes most OCS graduates starting in 1968.

These Registers, published annually until 1970 and biennially thereafter, are now only available at select libraries due to privacy concerns. We use these as time permits to enrich our data.