Madden Photo Album:The Big Game

1947

 Notre Dame - The Game

James H. Madden - Notre Dame

Some thirty years ago, Dad contacted Notre Dame asking for verification of the fact that he had been an instructor there.  They responded that they had no official documentation of the fact.  I was therefore very pleased when I found a notice in the school newspaper announcing his appointment as a part-time instructor.  How could a University lose the documentation.  Did they ask the archives?  There must be class lists that show the instructors.  

I'm guessing Dad was not a really "popular" instructor.  He firmly believed that if you wanted an "A" you needed to earn it.  None of this grading on the curve where 50% right might earn an "A."  He felt that the students coming on after the war veterans didn't know how to work.  

I remember hearing this many many times as I grew up. It definitely served as an impetus to achieve that "A", without either Dad or Mom stressing that we needed to.  Imagine my surprise when I found my Dad's report cards one day and found more C's than A's.  

Struggling to feed his growing family, Dad not only earned his Master's in Aeronautical Engineering and taught part-time, he also drove a taxi and occasionally played a game of golf with a bit of a bet!  The family struggled a bit but thrived.

Here is the 3rd installment of Dad's Story - The Notre Dame Years.  This volume is heavily annotated by my Mom, Jean Ann English, as it is also her story.  Here my sisters Maura and Colleen first appear in the family story and I am there "almost", arriving less than a month into the next adventure.

The Notre Dame Years

Notre Dame Archives- Vetville 
University of Notre Dame Archives on Facebook
Hesburg: A Biography

White Sands - 1950 Missile Launch
White Sands - Missile Range History
US Navy at White Sands

Bendix Corporation - Wikipedia
Center for History - Bendix

James H. Madden - The War Years

My Dad was eager to join the war effort.  He had hoped to be able to fly, but his eyesight was not good enough.  So...he enlisted in the Navy and left Duluth as soon as he had finished his final class...before graduation.

He was immediately put in officer's training, going from Marquette in Milwaukee, WI to Notre Dame and then eventually ended up in Midshipman School at Fort Schuyler.

After finishing training he was assigned to "Codes" supervising a department of women.  Now, many of these women were probably "much" older than their 21 year old supervisor and if you knew my father you would know how much he hated "cattiness."  Well, war is war.  You serve where you are needed....  So here it is in his own words the second installment of Dad's Story with a few additions from his "future wife".  I've added links to some of the places where he trained.  


Dad's Story - The War Years
V12-Navy College Training Program
Special Collections- Marquette - Navy Training
How the Navy Saved Notre Dame after WWII