St. Aloysius/Brother Martin Navy Junior ROTC is one of the oldest Navy programs in the United States. Congress authorized the expansion of the JROTC program in 1964 to include a program based on the Navy. All other units before then were Army. In the fall of 1966, the 16 Navy Junior ROTC programs started throughout the country. Only two remain at Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida and First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
In the fall of 1967, more NJROTC units started throughout the country. On October 27, 1967, the Chief of Naval Operations presided over a ceremony on the flight deck of the USS Lexington at the Port of New Orleans, commissioning the St. Aloysius Navy Junior ROTC. In the first year of operation, the unit earned the title of “State Champs.” More than 50 years later, Brother Martin’s NJROTC remains one of the first 20 units in the country still in existence. As of 2018, there are 619 Navy units across the world with more than 89,000 Cadets.
Throughout the years, the award names have changed for the recognition of the top schools nationwide. The St. Aloysius/Brother Martin NJROTC earned multiple honors throughout the years. State Champs, President’s Awards, Bravo Zulu, Naval Honor Unit, Unit Achievement, Distinguished Unit with Academic Honors. As we put together our history from the past, we count at least 35 accolades throughout the years.
The NJROTC office contains decades of pictures from our commissioning up to the current years. Competitions, dances, field trips, and even a Presidential Inauguration parade fill our scrapbooks. Over the next couple of years, we have a project to digitize and preserve all of the memories of our history. Some years have been documented well. But we need our Alumni’s help. We will continue to improve and update our history page and list of accomplishments. We are currently looking for information on the awards we won throughout the years. If you were on a winning team, please send us your information. We would love to know what teams won what championships each year. Please email us at njrotc@brothermartin.com.
And be on the lookout in the near future about our Alumni Veterans’ project gathering information on any Cor Jesu, St. Aloysius, or Brother Martin Alumni that served in the military.
