Engineer Memoirs
Anyhow, General Holle sent the recommendation to Washington. My old commander, Armogida,
was in the Chief's office. When Frances told me the status, I called Colonel Armogida on the
phone and explained to him that this paper was on the way. Timing was relatively tight. He said,
"Don't worry, I'll keep my eye on it for you." As luck would have it, Armogida personally took
it up to General [Sam] Sturgis, then the Chief. He got the Chief of Engineers to sign off. Well,
that was it. I mean, that fixed it right there. I didn't need more than the top engineer. I made the
.
.
Interesting enough, there was another person on that list of some importance. His name was
Bernard Rogers, my classmate, who later became Chief of Staff of the Army. The effect of that
promotion was significant. I'd only been a major since June 1951 and this list was published in
August 1953. Also, I caught up with my peers who had gotten ahead of me during World War II
and it put me back where I would have been had the promotion from captain to major not been
delayed. So that worked out pretty good.
Of course, an August 1953 date of rank put us behind the 7 July 195 1 promotions to lieutenant
colonel, which include practically all of the classes of 1940, 1941, and 1942. That didn't bother
me too much in 1953. Gerry and Colonel Wilhoyt pinned the leaves on me; our children were
present. My wife was so enthusiastic about it, she came to Wilmington one weekend and picked
out a car for us to buy that cost ,500. Now, that may not seem costly today, but in 1953 that was
expensive. So anyway, I made lieutenant colonel, thanks to Frances Hambrick's reading those
regulations, and I'll never forget her.
Savannah was really an important time. Again I was lucky to work for great people who desired
to help individuals who worked for them. I learned a lot from all of them-from Armogida, from
Jewett and Wilhoyt-all outstanding men who made it easy to be good, really. You couldn't do
too badly. They wouldn't let you.
Savannah clarified some objectives for me and it gave me the opportunity to meet some top
people who later became very important in the Corps of Engineers. At the time I probably didn't
realize how valuable that assignment was.
From there we were assigned to Fort Leavenworth, to Command and General Staff College
Q:
Could I go back for a couple of questions there? You were doing a lot of work for the Air Force
during this time period. How was that going?
A:
We got along with the Air Force fine. Actually, the Air Force had been a separate service only
about five years, and they were getting their turf established, beginning to want to take over their
own engineering. The effect of that caused the Corps to do a better job for the Air Force than they
might have otherwise.
One of the big issues was housing. We were building Air Force housing every place and the
housing was not as good as it should be. Ultimately, the Air Force got its own housing, and one
of the reasons, I think, was that the Corps design produced a house which was not all that great.
I believe that was the seed that ultimately ended up in the Air Force's doing its own housing and
the Army using contractor designs.
Q:
Well, you had some big construction on the Army posts. You had Fort Benning and Fort Stewart.
In the post-Korean war period, those were big programs.
A
Stewart was an interesting one, now that you mention it, because the Air Force was at Hunter Air
Force Base and the Army was out at Fort Stewart, and Stewart was in very bad shape.
We were doing quite a bit of work at Benning. I don't remember the specifics.
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