Enaineer Memoirs
Besides the outstanding people, there were events that made marks in my memory. First, of
course, was the operation of the 1st Cavalry Division. Our commanding general was
General Charles Dodge, an excellent division commander with a lot of esprit and good leadership.
He taught all of us. His deputy commander, [Major] General Frank Britton, succeeded him about
halfway through my tour. The battle group commanders were also quite outstanding.
Bill Blakefield commanded the 7th Cav and later became a general officer. I remember going to
see him one day. He had a picture of Custer's Last Stand behind his desk. I asked him why he had
that picture up there. He said, "Well, I have to be reminded that the 7th Cav can't win them all."
The purpose of my visit to Blakefield was to announce that I was going to put Second Lieutenant
Moellering in charge of preparing a site for a TOW [tube launched, optically tracked,
guided] missile demonstration for the president of South Korea. The 7th Cavalry had the mission
to arrange the demonstration on a hilltop somewhere in the division area of operation. Blakefield
thought that a second lieutenant was probably not up to this responsible job involving the
president of Korea. I convinced Blakefield that he could depend on Moellering. He conceded, at
least, to let me try, with the promise that I'd keep my eye on it. Of course John did an outstanding
job. I think Moellering was probably the best second lieutenant I saw in my whole career in the
Army, and that particular assignment was his first major challenge.
The company commander of A Company was first Captain [Freeman] Cross followed by Wayne
Hoey, both of whom show up later in my duties. The company commander of C Company was
Bob Tener, a West Point graduate, as was Cross. Tener later became the executive to the
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and district engineer in Nashville. Jim Miller,
graduate whose last tour of duty was also
the commander of E Company, was also a West
on the Army staff as executive to the Secretary of the Army. My battalion executive was Major
Hawthorne, an excellent soldier and perfect for his duties.
I finally quit smoking cigarettes 8 August 1960, the day that I woke up to find that I'd smoked
a carton of cigarettes in three days.
In late November I began to feel bad in the evenings. I found out later it was hepatitis, and the
doctor put me in the hospital the 31st of December, New Year's Eve. I had already arranged a
battalion commanders' New Year's Day reception. The officers enjoyed the affair and showed
up at my hospital bed later on New Year's Day. Each had a plastic cork from a champagne bottle
on his little finger. They wanted to wish me a Happy New Year. I appreciated the gesture but I
doubt it made me feel much better. I was the senior patient so I had a private room even in a
MASH hospital. There was a ward full of hepatitis patients across the corridor. Hepatitis patients
were not allowed to work. They had to stay in bed, eat a lot of high-caloric food, and gain weight
as a result.
I was discharged on the 15th of February 196 1 and on a strict, nonalcoholic and controlled caloric
diet until I could get my weight down. By May I had lost 45 pounds and the doctor told me I
could drink alcohol if I wished. I wasn't happy with my weight so I decided to wait another
month. I put a notice in the daily bulletin that 15 June would be "M-Day."
About the 1 st of June I announced an officers call for the 15th of June without any agenda. All
the officers were curious until the officers call when I told them M-Day stood for "Morris's
Martinis Day." Martinis were on me; anything else they'd have to pay.
As it turned out, we got to bed quite late that night. That M-Day was the beginning of a tradition.
Henceforth
June would be the day the battalion commander of the 8th Engineer Battalion
bought all of his officers martinis. When I got to Vietnam eight years later, it was still going on.
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