A ..
Yes, Conway knew what had gone on in the 92d Division and knew of my
experience with the ill-fated Cinquale Canal operation. When Conway took
command of the 82d Division he brought into the division two assistants. I was the
youngest brigadier general in the Army. The other assistant division commander,
Bruce Palmer, was the most senior brigadier general in the Army.
I became the assistant division commander for support. General Conway had a
rotation policy. After a year, if the junior general did well at logistics, he would
take over the job of operations. Accordingly, after a year Conway moved me up
to become the assistant division commander for operations.
This move was prejudicial to Bruce Palmer, but he accepted it with grace. We
have remained friends over the years. General Conway was a very energetic and
innovative officer-one of the most imaginative officers I have ever known. He
was a fanatic when it came to physical fitness and insisted that his officers set an
example for their men. You may have heard about his famous Winged-Foot
Society which sponsored a 10-mile run every New Year's Day. He believed that
his officers should not sit around and watch TV and drink beer, but instead run a
ten-mile race on the holiday. We not only benefitted from running but from the
fact that we had to train for the race and therefore drank little, if at all, on New
Year's Eve.
Member, Howze Board
A month or so after becoming the assistant division commander for operations, I
was shifted over to work for General Howze, who commanded the 18th Airborne
Corps at Bragg. The Department of Defense, unhappy that the Army was not
moving rapidly enough to capitalize on the advances in aviation technology,
especially in the helicopter field, issued a memorandum to the Secretary of the
Army.
It wanted a bold "new look" at land warfare mobility and firepower. The
Department of Defense directed that the Army examine how to substitute air mobile
systems for traditional ground systems. That gave rise to General Howze forming
the famous "Howze Board" of which I was made his director of tests. This
amounted to my wearing a second hat since I kept the job of assistant division
commander for operations in the 82d Airborne Division.
This didn't sit too well with General Conway since General Howze employed most
of the troops of the 82d Airborne Division to carry out his tests. Generals Conway
and Palmer, in effect, became administrators and housekeepers for the troops. For
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