Engineer Memoirs
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on my salary and she invested hers, buying IBM stock when it was quite cheap.
As a result, we always had money to send our children to the best of schools. I
could not have paid for that kind of education on my Army salary.
Q ..
What prep schools did they go to?
A ..
In the States my daughter went to Holy Trinity and in France went to Sainte
Clotilde Academy. This preparation allowed her to win a scholarship to Smith
College. Two of my sons went to Landon Prep School and Priory in the States.
Overseas three of my sons went to Haute Savoie in France and two went to
Montana Zugerberg in Switzerland. These schools were among the very best.
Q ..
And did they become linguistically proficient in French and German?
A ..
Yes, except for my youngest son. He spent the first three years of his life in
France and spoke only French when we returned. But he was made fun of by his
classmates and abandoned French when he was about five. Later it came back to
him.
Q ..
Thank you, Ambassador Rowny. I consider one of the more important parts of an
officer's career the support he gets back home. Obviously you were supported and
your family turned out well.
A
Yes, I was very fortunate.
Commanding General, 24th Infantry Division
Q ..
On June of 1965 you took command of the 24th Division in Germany and kept that
job for over a year. Can you tell me something about the time you spent with the
24th?
A ..
In the first place, I was pleased that the new policy was that commanders overseas
would serve for two years There had been too much rotation and the new policy
was designed to stabilize command tours. Second, I took command of the 24th
Division when it was at its lowest point in terms of training and morale. I had
nowhere to go but up. The previous commanding general, a personnel specialist,
had had very little experience with troops. He believed that he could build morale
by coddling and babying the troops. He gave them lots of time off and did not
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