Engineer Memoirs
Democratic Administration and its philosophy towards the Corps settled into place in early
1977.
An early requirement was to select a deputy. That crucial decision proved to be more of a
challenge than I had anticipated. There were many outstanding choices, but I needed to find
a man with strengths in areas where I had weaknesses or limited experience.
I listed the areas where I did not feel I needed deputy strength and the areas where I thought
I needed an experienced second-in-command. I then reviewed each major general of the
Corps without concern about seniority. After analyzing each person's strengths against the
weaknesses in my experiences, I chose Bob Marshall, Major General Robert C. Marshall.
Bob had been senior to me until that moment I became Chief of Engineers and a year ahead
of me at the Military Academy. Bob had an outstanding background in military duties, in
special weapons, in the space program at that time. He knew the Army staff very well. He
had a good solid background in civil works, which I didn't need, but in the Mobile District
he had a large military construction program which I considered valuable. I asked Bob if he'd
take the job, and he said he would take it if after one year he could become president of the
Mississippi River Commission and division engineer of the Lower Mississippi Valley
Division. On that basis, I accepted him. I know I picked the right man. Perhaps I should not
have agreed to the one year, because that led to his leaving at a time when I wished I could
have kept him. We made a good team, I think.
I also had to select an executive. Colonel Lamp agreed to stay, but he didn't want to stay too
long. Russ Lamp was rock solid. He was an aggressive and extremely capable person. I
ultimately selected Roger Peterson to take Russ's job. My secretary in Civil Works had been
and I considered her briefly for the Chief's secretary position. I elected to
Jeanine
keep Helen Velsmid, General Gribble's secretary.
Q ..
Did you have a civilian assistant to the chief of staff at that point?
A ..
Yes, Jack Quinn. Actually, Russ Lamp selected him. Jack had a lot of growing up to do in
that job, which he did. Now I suppose Jack is looked upon as an old head that knows
everything about everything, but he had to start off just like everybody else. I can honestly
tell you that-he'll tell you- t h e first year or so wasn't easy for him. I didn't lack for ideas
of things I wanted to do, and many, particularly internal stuff, drifted down to him to execute.
So Jack had his hands full.
Q ..
What about the major directorates?
A ..
Civil Works was headed up at that time by Ernie Graves. Bates Bumell was the director of
Military Construction. Walt
was the director of Facilities Engineering. Major General
George Rebh was still there in the Postal Program-not a directorate.
Manning Seltzer headed Legal and Woody Berge was in Real Estate. Woody and I had
known each other since I was in Tulsa. I'd known Manning since then also. I had to replace
them all, though, during my term. Who else? What else did I miss? Personnel was Bob
Jacobs, but he was getting ready to leave. I think Ralph Loschialpo was either in the saddle
or getting pretty close.
Public Affairs was Bob Benning and then Sam Kern.
Q ..
Had the Resources Management Directorate been established?
A
I established that.
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