Memoirs
Savannah District until he said, "You haven't seen any dams yet. Wait'l1 you see these." He was
right. Fort Peck is special. You know, it was a make-work job by President Roosevelt-30,000
people worked out there. A theater ran night and day for like five years. Today, billboards of early
movie actors--Clark Gable and Myrna Loy-remain on display. The small lodge is very
interesting also.
Gerry was able to travel with me quite a
bit, and she worked at helping me with
the job. She deserves a lot of credit. She
was heavily involved with the engineer
wives activities and we became very close
to the civilian staff.
Soon after arriving I needed a chief of
engineering, so I searched the Corps and
discovered Lloyd Duscha. A graduate of
the University of Minnesota, he had
worked on Garrison Dam earlier. At that
time, he was in Philadelphia District
working for Colonel Jimmy Johnson, who
later became Deputy Chief of Engineers.
I called Duscha and he wasn't all that
thrilled about moving. Lloyd never did
like to move, I guess, but he came, and
that was good for me.
I had an excellent deputy, Jim Fuller. He
retired from that job later and went to
work for Chuck Durham at HDR. He and
his wife Norma have become an active
part of Omaha and are still there. He was
from Wyoming.
I had to buy the division a new airplane.
We ran a contest to name it. Everybody
General and Mrs. Morris at a banquet in Omaha in
was involved and selected the name
March 1972.
"EMARDEE."
When I went to the Missouri River Division I did not realize that my next assignment would be
director of Civil Works, of course. I think General Clarke may have had that in mind because he
told me early in my tour in MRD that he was thinking that I might fill that job when General
Koisch left it. That's the way it turned out and may have been the biggest impact of MRD on my
career. While at
I started testifying before the committees of Congress and became
familiar with the members of the committees and the staff people that I'd be dealing with later.
My promotion to major general occurred while I was in the Missouri River Division-a very
simple ceremony in my office attended by Gerry and our son John plus Jim Fuller and a few
others.
So in hindsight, the environmental program, "The Corps Cares" endeavor, urban studies program,
staff changes and training in MRD, hearings, promotion to the proper grade, made moving to
Civil Works a reasonable next step, let's say.
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