Engineer Memoirs
Military Retirement, 1973, and Retrospection
Q ..
When you finally retired from the military service on1 October 1973, and reflecting
from the present, how did you feel about the way your career had gone in the military?
Were there any major things, or even minor things, that you had hoped to do that you
had not been able to do in the way of assignments?
A ..
Oh obviously I would have loved to have been Chief of Engineers, but not everybody
can do that.
Q ..
Was there a particular time when you felt that might have been a possibility?
A ..
There were only two times that would have been possibilities. I would have been a
competitor of Clarke's and a competitor following Clarke. However, I would have been
a little old at that time. So I was not surprised by what happened and had no objections,
and found no fault with those chosen. Other than that, I can't really say that I have any
regrets.
Q ..
Do you have a favorite assignment of all those that you had?
A ..
I expect, in
time frame in which I had it, the assignment I look back on with the
greatest degree of satisfaction, all things considered, was the assignment as director of
the Waterways Experiment Station. This put me in charge of a major activity at a
relatively young age in an area that I knew well. It was an assignment that I thoroughly
enjoyed.
Q ..
Would you have some general reflections about your engineering experience as a
whole? You made the decision as to a career when you finished your undergraduate
education, this rather than making it before you started school. Instead of going to
West Point, you had gone to the University of Illinois. You had considered several
offers from industry at that point-had even accepted one job-and then when there
was an opportunity for a commission, because the Army was seeking engineers from
civilian life, you had taken advantage of that. How did you feel about your choice?
A ..
I don't have any regrets. I think that in the outcome of events I've been extremely
fortunate in the decision to go in the Army. One factor to remember was my feeling that
something was going to happen and I would be in the Army anyway, so I might as well
go in to start with. Maybe it was not quite as calculating as that might sound, but
nevertheless that was part of my decision. Obviously, as events turned out, things got
very active. There is certainly no question that had I not gone in the
in 1938,
instead of being a battalion commander in World WarII, I would have probably been
a platoon or company commander called up as a Reserve officer Certainly, my civilian
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