nd Fort Belvoir, Virginia, were integrated;
two others, the Naval Air Station school at Pensacola, Florida, and
Reese Air Force Base, Texas, had been closed; the remaining seventeen
would be fully integrated by the September 1955 deadline.[19-78] Lee
Nichols, a prolific writer on integration, reported in November 1955
that schools segregated for generations suddenly had black and white
children sitting side by side. This move by the armed forces, he (p. 494)
pointed out, could have far-reaching effects. Educators from
segregated community schools would be watching the military experiment
closely for lessons in how to comply with the Supreme Court's
desegregation order.[19-79]

[Footnote 19-78: Memo for Rcd, Chief, Morale and
Welfare Br, ASD (M&P), 17 Dec 54, sub: Integration
of Certain Schools Located on Military
Installations, OASD (M&P) 291.2.]

[Footnote 19-79: UPI News Release, Incl to Memo, Dir,
DOD Office of Public Information, for ASD (M&P), 10
Nov 55, OASD (M&P) 291.2.]

Strictly speaking there were more than twenty-one segregated schools
operating on federal installations. A small group of institutions
built and operated by local authorities stood on land leased from the
services. At the time of Secretary Wilson's order this category of
schools included three with 75-year leases, those at Fort Meade,
Maryland, and Fort Bliss and Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, and one with
a 25-year lease at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas.[19-80] The Air
Force's general counsel believed the lease could be broken in light
of the Wilson order, but the possibility developed that some
extensions might be granted to these schools because of the lease
complication.[19-81] The Secretary of the Army went right to the
point, asking the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Carter L. Burgess,
for an extension in the case of Fort Meade pending Maryland's
integration of its schools under the Supreme Court's decision.[19-82]
In response Burgess ordered, as of 1 June 1955, the exemption of four
schools. "No attempt shall be made," he informed the services, "to
break the lease or take over operation of the schools pending further
instruction from the Secretary of Defense."[19-83]

[Footnote 19-80: Ltr, Col Staunton Brown, USA,
District Engineer, Little Rock District, to