John W. Morris
the Chief of Staff of the Army had already approved the move for me to be the deputy chief,
Legislative Liaison. My boss was to be Howard Penney, Major General Penney.
That part was fine because Penney had been my predecessor in Tulsa and was an engineer officer,
but I still had an uneasy feeling about the move, a feeling without substance as time would prove.
General Bennett, superintendent, later claimed credit for my becoming Chief of Engineers, based
on letting me go to Legislative Liaison.
Gerry and I bought a house in Arlington. We left John and Susan in the north and arrived in
Washington from West Point on 27 November in the middle of a blizzard. We managed to get
the furniture into the house the second day. Soon thereafter, I reported to work as the deputy
chief, Legislative Liaison, for the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army.
Q:
I wonder if I could interrupt you just briefly on a couple of things about West Point. You were
there just as the Vietnam build-up was beginning, the build-up of troops?
A: Yes.
Q:
What kind of impact did that have on the cadets?
A:
It had quite a bit. Colonel [Alexander] Haig, for example, had been to Vietnam as had many other
of the tactical officers. Vietnam was a subject of discussion on the military training side and
many of the lecturers that came to West Point talked about Vietnam.
That war would affect me personally as our cadets went off to Vietnam as young officers. Tommy
Hayes [West Point,
an outstanding cadet, was the son of Major General Tom Hayes, Corps
of Engineers. Thomas Hayes IV, I believe, was deputy cadet brigade commander. Everybody
liked him and he was a very strong young man.
He came to see me before branch drawing and asked if I thought his father's being a major
general in the Corps should have an effect on his choosing engineers. I told him, "No." He chose
the Corps of Engineers, went off to Vietnam and was killed. Very sad.
Cadet [William] Booth, a company commander of F Company, 3d Regiment, graduated in the
class of 1966. While in Vietnam, I suggested that [Major] General [John A.B.] Dillard select him
as his aide. He did. They were both killed in a helicopter. There are too many memories of similar
events involving Vietnam and the cadets during our time at West Point.
There were many, many small things at West Point that were interesting-you could write almost
a book. One year a group of cadets stole the Navy goat. Cadet [Thomas]
was the
motivator. There'd been an agreement between the superintendents they wouldn't do that sort of
thing that year. As deputy commandant, I had to head up the investigation and recommend
appropriate disciplinary steps.
There was no question about the fact that they stole the goat. So punishment had to be meted out
even though everyone was pleased with the achievement. The punishment, while minor, wasn't
too popular with the corps.
As deputy commandant, I also was chairman of the Uniform Committee of nine members,
including the chairman. The cadet bathrobe in
was a long, heavy bathrobe, for which
the Army could no longer get the material. So a short, knee-length bathrobe was selected. A
question arose over the color of the single stripe to put on the sleeve. Well, we voted and got
three votes for black, three for gold, and three for gray-the
colors.
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