Engineer Memoirs
N E P A - p r o v i d e d a new and productive challenge to the
In my view, the external
benefit of the Corps of Engineers and, in turn, to the stewardship of the nation's resources.
We may have objected and even resisted the change in direction, but time has proven the new
which was accepted with
mission to be good. Conversely the position of the
expectations or, better stated, with hopes, tends to distract rather than foster the Corps'
leadership ability to perform with greatest effectiveness. The latter is unfortunate because
to assist and advance the water resources program and
there is great opportunity for
the Corps' role therein and to the Army.
Deputy Chief of Engineers
Q ..
Shall we turn to the position of Deputy Chief of Engineers, which you moved into, I think, in
August
Well, let's see. How did all that come about? It was June, I believe, because I was doing both
A
jobs for a while.
Danny Raymond was the deputy, and when he decided to retire I had been in Civil Works a
full three years. I was available. Of course, I think and hope General Gribble brought me into
that job as deputy because he thought I would be helpful to him and the Corps. General
Gribble picked General Graves to be the director of Civil Works. Graves was not available
for some time, so for about 60 days I remained director of Civil Works and also the deputy.
During this same time, we had an unfortunate event occur. In June, West Point Dam was
finished. The Secretary of the Army was [Howard] "Bo" Callaway, whose home was near the
West Point Dam. So the dedication program highlighted a speech from Secretary of the Army
Callaway.
Since General Gribble was not able to go, it fell on the deputy to accompany the secretary. We
flew down,
and a group of congressmen, and were joined at the airport by General
LeTellier, the South Atlantic Division engineer, and another group of congressmen and their
wives. Altogether we were about 35. We were loaded into a magnificent, brand-new bus with
the elevated seats in front, a lounge area in the rear with tables with swivel chairs on each
side, sofas across the back, some mirrors, closets, and a refrigerator. It was very plush and a
nice way to go the 35 miles from the airport to the vicinity of the dam.
All the ladies and most of their husbands sat up front. The secretary-whose wife was in the
front-and the bachelors sat in the lounge. It was a rainy afternoon. A logging truck heading
in the other direction came over a hill, spun out of control, hit the bus head-on, killing both
drivers. The bus skewed around, and the back end slid halfway into a ditch. Fuel was spewing
to the ground, and glass and mirrors broke and flew all over the interior-a serious situation.
I was in the back with the Secretary of the Army, Congressmen [Bob] Jones, [Jack] Flynt, and
[Walter] Flowers, General LeTellier, and some others. None of those in the back were hurt
badly, although Congressman Jones seemed unconscious, General LeTellier had a cut on his
face from flying glass, and the secretary's face had been cut. I was uninjured.
Lieutenant Colonel Freeman Cross, who was Deputy District Engineer in Savannah and had
been a company commander with me in Korea, had been standing up when this happened.
Once he got to his feet, he crushed open the partition between the front and the back. I went
up front and found a real mess. I mean, it was bad news. People had been thrown all around,
the seats had been broken loose, the driver obviously was dying if he wasn't dead. I tried to
help him, but he was just smashed between the seat and steering wheel. Fortunately, the Corps
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