John W. Morris
need and if justified by the required
and other analyses, then it could be built without
further authorization by the Congress. I don't recall the exact wording so I can't be too
precise, but that was the thrust.
The review by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors was a very touchy subject too,
wasn't it?
Yes, and as indicated above, the problem became more sensitive when I was Chief. This entire
A
Lock and Dam 26 subject might have been handled here as a separate topic, not piecemeal as
part of the various positions that I filled.
What other duties did you have as deputy?
Also as deputy, I represented the Chief frequently on command inspections and at staff
A
meetings in the Pentagon. Every major element got a command inspection by one of the
directors or the deputy. General Gribble used the deputy on those of particular interest to him.
He sent me to Europe to look at EUD, which was relatively new as a division.
Frank
was the engineer who precipitated the engineer command's becoming the Corps
of Engineers Europe Division. When I first arrived as deputy, Major General Lou Prentiss was
the division engineer. I spent a lot of time on this particular visit with the senior military
people. General [Fritz] Kroesen had the VII Corps. He and I had been classmates at Carlisle.
You may recall General Ken Cooper was the deputy CINC, USAREUR [U.S. Army, Europe].
Our principal concern was the condition of maintenance of military facilities in Europe. I'd
visited General George Patton, Jr., commanding general of the 4th Armored Division. The
tanks were in the mud, and the barracks were beat up. I'd been in Europe, of course, in 1949
years earlier. The facilities really were no better-perhaps worse in 1975.
to
So I came back with a fairly bleak report on the facilities situation and the command's
concern about it. Cooper advocated a strong new program to upgrade facilities in Europe. I
had little to do with the program, but that trip helped General Gribble to support it.
What were your impressions of EUD as an organization?
A
Let me think about that. I liked it. It was under some unique contracting and management
constraints because of the way construction was handled in Germany. Also, a number of the
staff had been in Europe since the war. Too many. So Lou and his successors,
Donovan and [Norman] Delbridge, dealt with this problem and corrected it. Initially that was
a concern.
The workload grew as the program to upgrade facilities was financed. When Delbridge
arrived in 1977, he asked for and was given a couple of hundred more people. I was Chief and
Graves was the deputy at the time. The Europe Division grew and became a very active
division with a nice
and numerous contracts. Morale was good. I happened to be in
Frankfurt on Engineer Day one year, and they had a very well attended and enthusiastic
evening celebration of that event. It was a good division with a large unique job.
had no
districts.
Q..
It had been established in 1974. Until then, USAREUR had taken care of its own construction,
so it only had a couple of years under its belt
had to prove itself, I think.
A
That's what happened. As mentioned, when I first visited Prentiss, he was really working hard
to build the foundation for good U.S.-German contractor relationships. While in Europe, I
visited every commander we served, Army and Air Force, just because of what you said. I
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