Training physicians for World War II battlefields was an important early mission of Southwestern Medical College. In the first few years of Southwestern's operation, all male students were required to be in the military, due to the nation being at war. Army Specialized Training Unit 1809 SCU--seen here in a photo digitized from the 1945-'46 College yearbook ("Caduceus")--was activated on August 21, 1943, and deactivated upon graduation of the 1946 senior class, since the war was over. The campus' prefabricated plywood buildings (often called "the shacks") are seen in the background on the left. Parkland Hospital is visible in the right half of the photo.