Hostilities ceased on November 11, 1918, and USC slowly returned to its normal peacetime endeavors.  Six months later, Carolina held a special memorial service in which elm trees were planted as living memorials for each of the 28 alumni who gave their lives in the Great War.  In 1927, the American Legion Auxiliary sponsored the placement of markers at the bases of the trees.  The Auxiliary also placed  a granite boulder honoring the surviving veterans on Greene Street near Melton Observatory.  Sadly, many of the trees and markers have been removed or destroyed as the campus landscape has changed over the years.

The most visible Great War memorial on campus was not actually built by the University. 
The World War Memorial Building was constructed in 1935 to honor all South Carolinians who served and died during the Great War.  Construction was funded through private subscriptions and a federal grant from the Works Progress Administration.  The University’s board of trustees donated the use of the land at the corner of Sumter and Greene Streets, which required moving a University building, Flinn Hall, back approximately 50 yards to its present location.  

Many of the University’s administrators, supporters, and students saw no need to retain military training on campus during peacetime, so in 1921, the Board of Trustees abolished the ROTC program, stating it was “inconsistent with the tradition of the University.”  ROTC did not find a permanent place in the campus curriculum until World War II once again strained the University’s normal operation.  The Naval ROTC was established in 1940 and was continued after the war.  The Air Force ROTC was added in 1949, and after almost 60 years, the Army ROTC finally returned to Carolina in 1980.

The most lasting effect of the war was on the makeup of the student body.  The depletion of male students during the war increased opportunities for women to attend the University.  Prior to World War I, University administrators were not supportive of coeducation; only a handful of women attended USC each year and the institution did not provide them with on-campus housing.  As the male students left school to enlist, however, the administration decided to allow more women to enroll.  The number of coeds grew to one-fourth of the civilian student body in 1918, and the University provided housing for them in one wing of DeSaussure College.  The increase in female students that began during World War I continued throughout the decades; since 1981 there have been more women students than men.