Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
away from the lights because Tecumseh can be seen easily with the lights coming out of
Bancroft Hall, and it was really lit fairly well. We contemplated for a minute, and then it was
apparent, after we checked it out, that we could get up inside the canvas. That was the
advantage; we could work without being seen.
We matched out, and I came up with the first draw, which meant I got to paint first. I crawled
up inside the canvas, pushed it away, and we then spray-painted Tecumseh black, gold, and
gray from top to bottom. Meanwhile, while one painted the other two stood watch plus took
the stencils and spray cans and painted "Go Army, Beat Navy" on some of the benches and
other things around the area.
We finished painting Tecumseh and then exfiltrated back out the way we came, by leaps and
bounds, back up over the wall. Before leaving town we drove back to the restaurant and
walked in to speak to the same guy, this time sporting paint splattered all over our parkas,
and said, "We just wanted to let you know we are not midshipmen. We're really cadets from
West Point. We just painted the Indian." Then we took off and made our way out. We then
sent a message back to the first captain, to be read at the mess hall at dinner, saying, "Sighted
Indian. Sank same. Tecumseh now clad in war paint of Army." And signed it "I1 firsties."
Well, we thought we'd come home heroes. Instead, we had to quietly sneak aboard because
Lieutenant General Blackshear Bryan, the superintendent, thought that our actions were
really bad. He'd promised the superintendent of the Naval Academy there wouldn't be any of
this messing around that year, and he was looking for those people who had done this
dastardly deed. Everybody was quiet, and our names were not revealed.
We'd always known if we'd been caught on the grounds we'd probably have gotten a haircut,
been made to clean it up, been exposed to ridicule and such, but little did we know that we
would have to sneak back into our own academy grounds and keep it quiet. We had only our
great sense of satisfaction from that mission accomplished.
Q:
The ArmyNavy game seems to be a perennial as a memory of West Point years, a really big
event. You graduated, then, in June of '56.
A:
Yes.
Q:
What was your next assignment after that?
A:
My first assignment, of course, after schooling, was with the 3d Armored Division, 23d
Engineers, in Hanau, Germany. To get there, we went to the basic engineer course at Fort
Belvoir, reporting in there at the end of August, and then on to Ranger and Airborne Schools.
Of note, the Army was changing uniforms to Army green. We were fitted for pinks and
greens when we left the academy. I was in the brown shoe army for a couple of months.
Brown shoes went out the 1st of October and black shoes came in. Pinks and greens carried
on yet another year. So, I entered the Army in a brown shoe era, and I leave now two months
into the black epaulet era.
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