Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
the action was. That manifested itself in a couple of ways. One was the fact that I never did
get to be a company commander. I came back from Vietnam and they asked me what I
wanted do and I said, "I want to go somewhere and be a company commander." Even then
you understood you needed to be a company commander. Then they sent me to the Chicago
District. I said, "There's nothing wrong with the Chicago District but, guys, I need to be a
company commander." They said, "No, you have plenty of time for that."
So, my friend Jim Ellis, who, as I mentioned, had almost a comparable career to this point,
got ready to come back and they said, "You need to be a company commander." Wait a
minute! So, classmates at West Point, 3d Armored Division together, Vietnam together, civil
school together, I mean, how can what you've "got to do" be so different? Besides that,
though, they were correct with him, but not with me. So, anyway, I went to the Chicago
District. He went to company command.
The second manifestation was that it was okay and a good assignment because after I'd been
in the Chicago District for a couple of years, the promotion list to major came out and I was
on it, below the zone, as was Jim Ellis. So, you say, "Well, what about company command?"
The answer was, I was an adviser in Vietnam, and so there was a recognition of that
experience at that time. I'm not recommending that today--not commanding a company is a
very precarious position to be in. It is that important. In those days, with Vietnam being what
it was and because the battalion adviser was recognized as a very close to the action kind of
role, it was a good assignment. As I mentioned earlier, it was a good assignment from the
standpoint of satisfaction and feeling of contribution.
Chicago District
Q:
The Chicago District was your first civil works assignment?
A:
Yes, as I mentioned before, I met my wife Ann when she was coming from Illinois to
Germany. So, we met in Europe. "Join the Army, see the world," the saying goes. Then she
spent our first three assignments back in Illinois, her home state, that being the University of
Illinois, then she stayed at home in Waukegan the year I was in Vietnam, and then we were
reassigned to the Chicago District. So, her first three assignments were right in Illinois.
Q:
So, you got there, then, in March or April?
A:
I think it was still March when we reported in.
Q:
Of 1963. Went in as executive officer?
A:
Yes.
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