Engineer Memoirs
Q ..
How long were you actually at Western Maryland? One year?
A ..
Yes.
Q ..
I understand that your mother was interested in your going to West Point. Why was that?
A ..
Well, it seemed that way to me. It's been a long time, of course. I don't think my father was
against it, but my mother associated more directly with my day-to-day training than my father.
They were good, strong people. You look back over all the things, and you wonder, well, what
was the chemistry that made things work? I'd have to say that I was fortunate to have been born
and raised in a small town with good, solid parents. Some credit must go to the Depression, I
life, people, responsibility, natural things,
think, because it imposed an appreciation of
et cetera. Princess Anne is in a rather isolated area.
I don't know when or why West Point became attractive to my parents, but I have a feeling that
it was my mother who fostered my attendance.
Q .. Was the Naval Academy ever a consideration since you were a native of the Eastern Shore?
A .. Too close to home! I don't know the reason, really. Many have asked me the same question: Why
are you going to West Point?
I was only the second person in my area to go. The other man was Bill Quinn. He became a
star general. General William [Bill] Quinn is well known and greatly liked in Army circles and
filled an important role in World War II. His father and uncle and my father were very close
friends. Maybe that had something to do with why I went to West Point.
Q .. Were you enthusiastic about going?
A .. Yes, when I failed the exam the first time, it became a challenge. I was delighted to go. We were
just getting out of the Depression, the war clouds still didn't seem too dark, and the education
was most attractive.
The attitude in those days was rather patriotic. My going to West Point was a well-publicized
local event. Everybody in the town seemed involved and behind it. A community effort, you
might say.
Q .. How about brothers and sisters?
A .. I have no brothers and sisters. I did have a very close extended family, however. My father's
brother had four children, and my mother and father helped raise them because of some family
problems. We were all very close.
Q .. What kind of interests did you have in high school? Sports? Were you an outdoors man? Maybe
your father was-1 don't know.
A
My father was an avid baseball fan, and he very much enjoyed horse racing. He was also a
baseball manager. The day I was born, he was managing the Princess Anne semi-professional
baseball team which was playing for the state championship against Frederick. Frederick won
10
You know, you hear these stories from your parents all your life. That was his thing. He was not
an athlete. He was a very smart man, though. Good head on him, good businessman, very
compassionate, well liked-extremely well liked-and a generous person.
My mother's family, though, was more of a hands-on kind of a family-farming, well drilling,
pump business, mechanical kinds of things. My father's family was strictly a business family,
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