ication to "stewards duty only" status had to be made at the
request of the recruit. In August 1947 three men enlisted under the
first enlistment program for stewards refused to execute a change of
enlistment contract after basic training.[10-24] Although these men could
have been discharged "for the good of the service," the commandant (p. 260)
decided not to contest their right to remain in the general service.
This action did not go unnoticed, and in subsequent months a number of
men who signed up with the intention of becoming stewards refused to
modify their enlistment contract while others, who already had changed
their contract, suddenly began to fail the qualifying tests for
stewards school.

[Footnote 10-24: Memo, Dir, Div of Plans and Policies,
for CMC, 15 Sep 47, sub: Disposition of Negro
Personnel Who Enlisted With a View Toward
Qualifying for Stewards Duties..., 01A25847.]

The possibility of filling the quota became even more distant when in
September 1947 the number of steward billets was increased to 380.
Since only 57 stewards had signed up in the past twelve months,
recruiters now had to find some 200 men, at least 44 per month for the
immediate future. The commandant, furthermore, approved plans to
increase the number of stewards to 420. In December the Plans and
Policies Division, conceding defeat, recommended that the commandant
arrange for the transfer of 175 men from the Navy's oversubscribed
Steward's Branch. At the same time, to overcome what the division's
new director, Brig. Gen. Ray A. Robinson, called "the onus attached to
servant type duties," the commandant was induced to approve a plan
making the rank and pay of stewards comparable to those of general
duty personnel.[10-25]

[Footnote 10-25: Ibid., 26 Dec 47, sub: Procurement of
Steward Personnel, A0-1; see also Ltr, CMC to Chief
of Naval Personnel, 6 Jan 48, sub: Discharge of
Steward Personnel From Navy to Enlist in the Marine
Corps, MC 967879; Memo, Chief of Naval Personnel
for CMC, 28 Jan 48, sub: Discharge of Certain
Steward Branch Personnel for Purpose of Enlistment
in the Marine Corps.]

These measures seemed to work. The success of the transfer program and
the fact that first enlistments had finally begu