After the fall of France to Germany in June 1940, the growing possibility of United States involvement in World War II created an urgent need for naval aviators and the air stations to train them. Coastal south Texas was chosen as an ideal site because of its flat terrain, favorable year-round flying weather, available fuel, and access for seaplane training. Construction followed, and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi was commissioned on March 12, 1941. The first cadets arrived that month and received their wings on November 1, only weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Before World War II ended, the station graduated 35,000 aviators, more than any other airfield, and became known as “The University of the Air.” Among those who earned their wings there during the war were future President George H. W. Bush and future astronaut and Senator John Glenn. Trainees also came from Canada, England, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Scores of W.A.V.E.S. served at the station and its auxiliary fields as link trainer instructors, pressure chamber technicians, air traffic controllers, and gunnery instructors. Auxiliary airfields expanded training at Rodd Field for primary flight training, Cabaniss and Cuddihy for intermediate flight training, Kingsville for advanced flight training in fighters and dive bombers, Waldron for torpedo bombers, and Chase Field in Beeville for instrument flying, while twenty-five additional outlying practice landing fields dotted the surrounding countryside. In 1945, the station established a camp for German prisoners of war. It became a vital military training facility and a catalyst for postwar economic activity in the area.