Engineer Memoirs
know, only general officers stayed longer than a year. This provided some continuity.
Nevertheless, yearly rotation had a distinct adverse effect on the war.
of the Chief of Engineers, 1967-1969
Military Construction,
Q ..
I bet you were happy to be going back to Washington.
A ..
Yes, I was happy to be getting back to my family, and I was not averse to going to
Washington. The change, however, came as a surprise. I had talked to General
Westmoreland a few weeks before-approximately six, I guess-about how long he
wanted me to stay in Vietnam, and he had asked that I plan to stay at least until
sometime in 1968. This was what I anticipated; finishing at least two years in Vietnam.
The request for my reassignment to OCE as director of military construction caught me
a little bit by surprise, but General Westmoreland allowed me to leave.
Q ..
Again, do you have any insight into the background of this assignment?
A ..
I don't know what really took place. Of course, other requirements were coming up,
and I replaced General [Andrew
Jr., who then went to Vietnam as director
of construction to replace General Raymond, I believe. I assume that the job at OCE
was open, and General Cassidy felt that it was time I was coming home and that this
was a good assignment for me.
Q ..
.
So that for a period of roughly 21 months you'll be director of military construction in
then become deputy chief and then go to the Defense Nuclear Agency. The rest
of your Army career will be spent in Washington, although you don't know that at the
time. In the Directorate of Military Construction from 1967 to 1969, with what major
areas were you involved?
A
Of course, the first thing was catching up on where we were. Shortly after I got to
I made a trip to the Middle East to review the work being done by the
Mediterranean Division in Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Italy. Out of that
came a question that General Clarke and I discussed at some length related to our
continued activities in Saudi Arabia and just how heavily we should be involved. We
were at that time building communication facilities, TV facilities, and later some
military cantonments.
I think the major activity was attempting to keep the Army requirements for military
construction, other than in Vietnam, moving forward. The continuing support of Saudi
Arabia was somewhat of a drain on our personnel resources, although not on funding,
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