the procurement of fifteen hundred officers for civil affairs work in the far east was provided for in war department circular no. 136, 8 april 1944. the first exclusively far eastern class at the school of military government, charlottesville, virginia, opened 12 june 1944 at the [university of virginia]. while the civil affairs division in washington was busy coordinating the planning activities of the numerous agencies concerned with civil affairs, the school of military government in charlottesville, va was developing an informal civil affairs planning staff. colonel boekel wrote to general ferris, 23 january 1944, that he would be in charlottesville to interview 4 officers 'earmarked' for asiatic theater duty and to lay the foundation for the organization of the nucleus planning staff, which initially consisted of 4 army and 3 navy officers. a week later, colonel boekel wrote, that an embryonic planning section had been set up at the school of military government in charlottesville,va consisting of five u.s. army and three u.s. navy officers and that lt. col arthur dobson was tentatively earmarked for general albert wedemeyer but was to be retained at the school of military government pending determination of the larger question of policy as to the extent of participation in seac (south east asia command). colonel boekel summarized personnel in the initial planning group as follows: