Engineer Memoirs
The net result of giving up our best men each month not only meant giving up our
best men, but resulted in our being left with the worst ones. One Saturday
morning, at an officer's call session with his 2 battalion and 12 company
commanders, the commanders complained bitterly that they were being forced to
command the dregs of the Army.
"All the best men you sent off," they said, "and we're left with the stupid, inept,
lame, and blind. All we're left with are misfits. The worst 10 percent of our units
take up 90 percent of our time."
"Can you identify the misfits?" Wood asked. "Write down the names of ten
soldiers you hope never to see again." When they had done so Wood told me to
pick up the lists of names. I collected them and started to put them in front of
Colonel Wood, but he didn't accept them. Instead, he put them on the table in
front of me.
"Lieutenant Rowny, he said, "I appoint you commander of ' J ' Company, our new
special training unit. These are your men." J Company doesn't exist in the Army.
It was stricken from the rosters after a mutiny had occurred in a J Company during
the Civil War.
I protested that I had no staff, no one to help me train the men. " F o r those," he
said, " y o u can pick a man from each of the companies. Pick any man you want."
Naturally, I picked the best.
This time the commanders complained. "It's only fair," Wood said, "that if you
lose 10 misfits you have to give up one of your best. Transfer the men this
afternoon," he said, "to J Company. I'll be around to inspect J Company Monday
morning.
It was a challenge I never expected to have to meet. The men assigned me had low
IQ's, they were slow, and many of them had physical disabilities.
But told repeatedly that they were the "41st's Finest," and drilled eight hours a day
by the best noncommissioned officers of the regiment, they turned into the unit's
elite company. Three months later, of 12 monthly competitions for best soldier,
best driver, and the like, J Company captured 10 first places, 1 second place, and
1 third place. A month later, J Company was disbanded and the men sent back to
their original companies. Wood had proved his point. "There are no good units
and no poor units; only good commanders and poor commanders."
We were the first unit to go overseas in World War II, mostly because Wood told
Washington we were ready. We weren't; but because Wood had trained us hard
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