On the Holloway Plan1
 
Well, I first found out about the Aviation Midshipman program from my father, Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr., who was very proud of the Holloway Program, [and] the Holloway Midshipmen, which had been the … a product of a board he served on after World War II. He was a Rear Admiral at the time, and the board was convened to look at the future Naval Officer education program. He felt very strongly that Naval Aviators were, during the war, and would be in the future, an elite group, and he felt that … and I hate to use the word “elite” because I think that the meaning has changed since he used those words. But he felt they were very special and they needed a very special program and it was on that basis that the Naval Aviation Midshipman Program was put together.
 
He later went to the Naval Academy, and while at the Naval Academy, people said, “How can you reconcile the fact that you’re [the] Superintendent of the Naval Academy, putting people into the Navy from that source, and at the same time you have sponsored the Holloway Program?” And his retort was, “We need fine young men going through the specially tailored programs to do things in the Navy.
 
And, when asked, “Was he pro-Academy, or pro-Holloway Program?” he laughed, and said, “I’m pro-U.S. Navy.” He said, “They cannot be compared. Each will produce their share of Admirals in the Navy.
 
And, before he died, he was very, very proud of the fact that so many of the ROTC officers and the Holloway Midshipmen were moving up into the higher echelons of the Navy as their time became due.
 
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1Recorded NAS Jacksonville, 4-07-88 at the Flying Midshipman Reunion by Lou Ives.