Edward L. Rowny
what a difficult job it was to change the Army's old methods. As a result, I was
only one of a number of officers who were not fully supported from the top but left
to fight our own battles.
Family Life
Q ..
Now let me ask you a few personal questions. First, when you came back from
Vietnam was your family still living in Washington?
A ..
Yes. I had put my family into a rented house in Washington because I thought it
would be easier logistically for my wife. It would be simpler to get the five
children to and from school and my wife would not have to take care of our big
house in Virginia. But when I got back from Vietnam we moved back into our
Virginia home.
Q ..
When you received orders to go to Germany, what did your kids say?
A ..
The older children did not want to leave their friends The younger two were
eager to move. The middle child was ambivalent.
Q ..
And your wife, what did she say?
My wife was a good soldier and accepted my assignments philosophically. She felt
A
that an Army career was a mixture of good and bad and was ready to take
whatever came along. She always considered herself a part of the Army team and
always highly supportive of whatever I had to do. But this time she was ready to
get out of Washington. She thought that I had to pay too big a price in my fight
to see new ideas, like air mobility, adopted. She didn't like the internecine warfare
within the Army and thought my battles with Johnson, Harrel, and others had taken
a heavy toll on my disposition and outlook on life. She didn't like to see me
constantly fighting in the bureaucratic trenches. She also wanted our children to
have the benefit of a normal family life and felt I worked too hard and neglected
them.
Q ..
I understand you sent your children to good private schools. How could you afford
it on an Army officer's salary?
A
I was very fortunate. During the early days of World War II my wife went to
work as an engineer at General Electric and made more money than I. We lived
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