An official War Department training film produced by the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Forces in 1943, “Three Cadets” stars Craig Stevens (later of “Peter Gunn” fame), Kent Smith, Ralph Byrd, and William T. Orr. The premise was simple: to inform young recruits of the inherent dangers associated with their inevitable promiscuity. The training film presents three cadets who go into the Air Cadet Training Center together. Following one of the men’s “liaison” with a local girl, the narrator reminds the viewer that venereal disease (VD) costs the Army Air Corps 40,000 man days a month, as the film shows various posters reminding men that “No’s the best tactic … the next, prophylactic,” “Prophylaxis prevents V.D.,” and “Syphilis Strikes Without Warning.” One careless pilot fails to use his “prophylactic kit” before he engages in a sexual liaison with “a nice girl whom he met at a soda fountain” at a bus station. A few days later he had an “itching, burning sensation” when he used the latrine. “And he had a discharge.” He realizes he has contracted syphilis and when symptoms set in, he visits a medical officer, who explains how to use a chemical prophylaxis to prevent VD (as the film quickly cuts to a person thoroughly washing his penis, injecting a silver solution into his urinary canal, and massaging a mercury ointment to his penis and testicles). Another pilot was not as wise. Although he suspected he had syphilis, he treats himself with a quack cure, reports for flight duty, and crashes his plane when he becomes dizzy while flying. Only one of the cadets we meet in the film was ready for duty. “Which one do you want to be?” asks the narrator in the film’s closing moments.
The outbreak of World War II in 1939 brought about renewed interest in sex education by the public and the U.S. government. During this time period military maneuvers and activities, sexual hygiene and conduct had proven to be a major problem for Allied forces. Soldiers and Sailors on assignment overseas were often lonely, had time to spare, got homesick, or were just looking for female companionship. Due to this many men and women started to have multiple sex partners and as a result sexually transmitted diseases were again another major health concern. During the Great War, Venereal diseases had caused the Army to lose the services of 18,000 servicemen per day. Although by 1944 this number had been reduced 30-fold, there were still around 606 servicemen incapacitated by V.D. every day. This drop in numbers was partly because of the Army’s effort to raise awareness about the dangers faced by servicemen through poor sexual hygiene, but also because of the important developments in medicine in the area of treatment of the disease. In late 1943 a case of gonorrhea required a hospital treatment of 30 days, and curing Syphilis remained a 6-month ordeal – by mid-1944, the average case of gonorrhea was reduced to 5 days, and in many cases the patient remained on duty status while being treated.
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