Bill Jenna x55

[22 JAN 1931 - 600578 - 9 NOV 2011]



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2015 AOG Online Register
(Updated JUL 2019)

00

Register Glossary


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William Wallace Jenna, Jr was born in New York on 22 January 1931 and was appointed to West Point from the 1st Congressional District of Iowa. He was admitted to West Point on 3 July 1951, was a member of the 1st Regiment, and was discharged on 30 November 1951 for deficiency in conduct.



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Fred Woerner reports that Bill Jenna died 9 NOV 2011 in Bel Air MD.



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As a matter of interest in the book world of '55, I have an original manuscript sent to me by Rod Vitty which was written by our now deceased ex-classmate, Bill Jenna, who went through Beast with us. His original 'claim to fame' was that he made it through Beast and accumulated the most demerits in West Point's history, breaking Edgar Allen Poe's all-time record which had stood for 120 years until Bill entered USMA with us in July 1951. From his official record upon elimination after the Army-Navy game, 1951, he states in his manuscript, 'The Gung Ho Man', final draft as of 1969, he had 672 demerits for his first two months at the end of Beast. Those were erased at the end of Beast when he joined his regular Cadet Company/Hospital. He then accumulated 589 demerits in the first two months of the Academic Year, whereupon, he was dismissed from the Academy, avoiding departure by hiding out in the hospital until he went to the Army Navy game on the train with us. He turned himself in to the MP's the next morning, was immediately ushered off post and returned to live with his parents, COL William Jenna, Class of 1917, who commanded the 3d US Infantry, the Old Guard, which was also commanded years later, in 1977-78, by our classmate Don Hilbert.

He then went to OCS at Fort Benning, flunked out, then to ROTC, flunked out and holds the distinction of being the only soldier ever eliminated from West Point, OCS and ROTC, within a 12 month period.

Bill Jenna, our ex classmate then went on to lead the life of a soldier-of-fortune, including a tour as an enlisted soldier, then allegedly some undercover work for federal agencies, and finally ending up at Aberdeen Proving Ground where he was Tech Writer at the Army Test and Evaluation Command - quite a story.

To add further credibility to his story, his Beast Barracks roommate was Fred Woerner, who went on to become the only four star General in our class - so 'go figure.' In Jenna's own words, he said that Fred Woerner had read his manuscript and would tell you that Bill was 'a little weird but not completely insane.' Not sure you ever met or would remember Bill Jenna, but he was for real.

Carl McNair
18 AUG 2013


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