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Classmates--
I am dispensing with showing cadet companies. Information most do
not need. However, if you need help with this, send me an email
with NEWS about yourself and I will respond.
Some administrivia about the class for those who may have
forgotten these factoids. We had 573 who graduated in June 1958 on
three different days – 4 June (570), 5 June (one – Bruce Davenport,
who died 21 Oct 2011) and 7 June (two -- Jack Tierney, who
died 3 Jan 2010) and Mark Sigurski). An observation,
the First Regiment did not do well with respect to graduating late,
after 4 June. All three were First Regiment files. Scribe
remembers well Jack Tierney’s remark that “I was the first man in my
class.” Of course, the last man to graduate on 7 June 1958 was
Mark Sigurski. If Jack was first man in his class, Mark was the
second man. I believe that Mark also was our first battery
commander in the class. His was an Air Defense battery in the
Baltimore area. And, Mark was also among the first to resign on 31
Aug 1961 according to the Army Times of 6 Sep 1961 and the 1962 Register
of Graduates and Former Cadets. Scribe is simply trying to impress
you all with my years-old data.
In fact, our last man in by his class standing was Bill
Kelley who graduated on 4 June 1958 before Bruce (5 June) and
before Jack and Mark (both on 7 June). Bill Kelley went into the
Air Force and later resigned as a captain in 1965 before going on to
become a Captain with Continental Airlines. The bottom man to
serve a full career was Buck Griffin (who died 10 Sep
2011). Buck resigned in 1964 as a captain and then returned to
active duty and served a full career, retiring as a colonel in 1985.
Too many of those who graduated at the bottom have left us too soon.
We are fortunate that Bill Kelley and Mark Sigurski are still with us.
We all know the first man in the class was George Walker.
Sadly, George died in an aircraft accident on 31 Jan 1959 after Ranger
School. He was enroute to West Point for the wedding of
Dodie & Dale Hruby. As you can imagine, the accident was
hard on the wedding. Meanwhile, another three of the top five men
in the class also left us too soon. In addition to George Walker,
we have lost Dan Brookhart (second man: who died 12 Nov
1963), Jim Hall (fourth man and my roommate First Class
year: who died 22 Aug 2015) and Dick Groves (fifth man,
who died 6 Mar 2006). I am happy to report that Tony Smith
(third man) is still vertical. He is a regular at DC social
gatherings with his lovely wife, Bonnie. Bottom line, we have one
of the top five and two of the bottom five still with us. Only
three of ten. Not good. Time to be thankful that you (we)
were not among the very top (lost four of five) or very bottom (lost
three of five) of the class.
As well as graduating over three days in 1958, we graduated over
three years or three classes as well: 1958 - 573, 1959 - 29 and 1960 -
one). And, we also entered over three years. The first who
entered in 1952 was Bud Davenport, a turn-back from 1956.
Bud was our first six-year man (’56, ’57 and ’58). I am happy to
report that Bud is still with us. There were 21 turn-backs who
joined us from 1957 (not sure I can name them all, therefore, Scribe
will not even try) who entered in 1953. Another six-year man was
Tom Fletcher, a turn-back from 1957 who then graduated in
1959. The mathematically gifted realize that Tom was in three
classes (’57, ’58 and ’59). Sadly, Tom died on 22 Sep 98. We
entered 752 in July 1954 and graduated 551 in June 1958 (plus Bud from
‘56 and the other 21 turn-backs from ’57) which makes 573 total grads in
June 1958. We had a total of 29 classmates, including Tom
Fletcher, who graduated on 3 June 1959 (see the 50-year book) and one,
Tom Taylor, who graduated on 8 June 1960 (’58, ’59 and
’60), our third six-year man. Sadly, Tom Taylor joined the Ghostly
Assemblage on 1 Oct 2017. Therefore, we have lost two of our three
six-year men. Bud must hang in for many more years; he is our one
and only remaining six-year man. For the record, Bud and I were
neighbors at Ft Leavenworth as kids in 1947-48 or so. Bud was in 9th
grade and I was in 6th grade and we lived in Artillery
Barracks while our fathers were students. Long ago and far away…
Founder’s Day for West Point Society of DC. We had six
classmates and three wives and one daughter attend on 10 March the WPSDC
affair. The classmates were Andy Andreson,
Dick Reynard, Alan Salisbury, John Schaffer,
Bill Serchak and your Scribe. Think this may be the
last one for me. The wives were Artie Andreson,
Bibs Reynard, and Florence Salisbury. The
one daughter was Bridgett Serchak. With some luck
this adds up to ten attendees for 1958 Fortunately, Alan and former
Choir and Glee Club members led us in singing the Alma Mater.
Another Founder’s Day had the West Point Alumni Glee Club singers and
Palmer McGrew – oops, cannot find it. Anyway, Palmer
did attend Founder’s Day dinner somewhere else where the Alumni Glee
Club was invited to sing. We could have used Palmer and the Alumni
Glee Club at our affair. Good think Alan Salisbury and pick-up
group of singers was there to lead the rest of us.
Here is an email from George Lawton (which I can
find): “Do I have a good deal for you all! We have a large (41X33)
framed picture of West Point taken in the ‘60s that we are donating to
whomever might want it. I’m giving classmates in the area first crack at
it. If you’re interested, please contact me.
Time to wrap this up and launch it. I have more, but that will
have to wait till next month.
George as in your friendly Class Scribe.
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