Enaineer Memoirs
James had accumulated almost a year of sick leave. Actually, it turned out to be enough so he
could go on sick leave for the period of time necessary to reach permanent retirement and
certain benefits.
When I mentioned this to James' doctor, he predicted James would be lucky to live the year.
Well, he made his retirement date by jus t five days. It was sad. I lost a good friend.
Then Jeff came up, and I have to say Jeff was excellent and is still a good friend. Those
drivers were a great part of the Corps family. Not many people realize that, but you know,
when you're going to a tough meeting or congressional hearing, it's nice to have a driver who
will listen-and not argue.
Chief of Engineers: International and Military Projects
Q ..
Let's begin talking about the major projects that occupied your attention when you were
Chief.
A
Well, we're down to projects. Let's take some of the easy ones first. Russia. While director
of Civil Works sometime during President Nixon's Administration a protocol was set up with
the Russians called "housing and other construction. "Other construction" was everything
except housing and therefore was the most diverse and often biggest piece of this package.
It included waterways, dams, tunnels, highways, ports, and all things except housing. The
chairman of the group was always the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development [HUD].
That was Patricia Harris during our time.
In December of 1977 I went to Russia as part of the housing and other construction group and
took the chief of Operations of the Corps, and several engineers from CRREL. We had asked
before we went if we could visit the railroad tunnels they were digging and also to go to one
of their laboratories to visit their dam and hydraulic design facilities. The Russians wouldn't
show us the tunnel because they'd had some problems with it.
That meeting was quite interesting and they later sent a delegation to the United States, but
nothing, to my knowledge, ever came of any of our initiatives with Russia, either from the
HUD's or from the Corps' standpoints. There was a lot of activity between CRREL and the
Russians which from a scientific standpoint was productive. To my knowledge, very little in
the engineering field other than research and development materialized.
On the other hand, a similar situation arose with China during my tour as Chief of Engineers.
Vice President [Walter] Mondale had been to China in August of 1979 and as a result of that
trip had agreed to send a delegation of American engineers back to China to discuss water
resource development and hydropower, specifically the Three Gorges Dam. That delegation
left in late February of 1980 and came back in about three weeks. The delegation consisted
of Dave Freeman, the chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Assistant Secretary of the
Interior Martin, and a group from the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bonneville Power
Authority, and the Corps of Engineers. The principals were allowed to take their wives. Gerry
was allowed to go with the wives of other chief delegates.
The Corps also provided the exec and secretary for the whole group. Our highly qualified
group of engineers included Duscha, Murden, and Robert Bruckner.
We arrived in China and were divided into several groups. Mine included one Tennessee
Valley Authority man, a couple of Corps people, and several Chinese engineers. Our host was
the Minister of Water Resources and
a Mr. Li Rei. He was a Mao supporter and
had had a very tough time in the Nationalist prison before he was released. He was a top party
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