Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories

Browne–12
was in English. So I spent a lot of time [doing that]. Then, because I had the chemistry/biology
background, I was deferred from the army, a 2-A deferment.
COHEN: OK.
BROWNE: I got a 2-A deferment. I didn’t have to go right away. I didn’t have to go until ’44 or
’45. And then I took the Eddy test. I got a ninety-nine on the Eddy test.
COHEN: Eddy test?
BROWNE: That was an electronics and electrical engineering program where they would check
you out to see how you’d do in math and whether or not you knew anything about scientific
notation and stuff like that.
COHEN: Yes.
BROWNE: So anyway, because of that I was bypassed by the army. And I went to the navy, who
took me in, in the non-segregated branch. I was one of the first fifteen African Americans to
ever go into the navy that was eligible to become an admiral. Most of them were cooks, bakers,
and stewards. But I was in the admiral branch, which I thought was something at the time.
COHEN: Yes.
BROWNE: Anyway, I went on. And I took that test again, or some other test, and went to the
navy V-7 Program, which was at the University of Pennsylvania. And I was very impressed
with that, because here was a non-segregated school in its own right, but there were only two
African Americans in that company of 1,500 people.
COHEN: Oh, wow.
BROWNE: In the V-7 Program.
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