MEMORIAL ARTICLE Published Assembly Sep '92 Andrew Burton Talbot   No.15290  Class of 1946  Died 19 September 1969 In Mexico City, Mexico, aged 43 years.

                                            
Andrew Burton Talbot was born 12 February 1926 in San Francisco, California. Known to his family and friends as Andy, he grew up in a home overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just above the Golden Gate Bridge. A childhood friend. Robert E. (Bob) Drake '44, recalled that Andy attended The Bates School in San Francisco. Bob often would go to Andy's home, where Andy would show him chemistry experiments or other scientific endeavors. Andy graduated from high school at Manlius School in Manlius, New York. The headmaster of Manlius wrote that Andy had the highest academic standing in his class. Andy entered West Point with the Class of 1946 on I July 1943.
        
Cadet life was an entirely different way of doing things for Andy. Academically, he demonstrated a brilliance that boded a potential of truly great things ahead. However, as a cadet, and as was to be seen in later life, this powerful potential was never tapped. Andy was a generation too early to have found his niche in life. He would have been in his glory with electives and advanced study programs such as those now in place at West Point. His mind and nature were a natural for the computer age. As it was, he managed easily to be a starman each of his three years at West Point. His roommates all remember that Andy would glance at his books for about 20 minutes before going to class each morning and then max that day's lesson. He possessed a photographic memory and a phenomenal ability to reason through a problem to derive a correct solution. Unfortunately for Andy, this brilliance and ability left him much too much time on his hands with no constructive outlet for his creativity. This, plus his youth (he was the 25th youngest out of a graduating class of 875), found him in constant hot water with the Tactical Department and others in authority. Andy channeled his creative ability into mischievous escapades for the benefit and amusement of his classmates. One of his most famous was immortalized in a movie about West Point filmed in the 1950's. He had calculated that if all the commodes in South Barracks were flushed simultaneously, the plumbing in that area would not handle the load. With a plebe at each commode in several sub-divisions, Andy gave the command "flush" and his calculations proved correct. Classmate and friend Kenneth (Ken) Van Auken recalled that he and Andy worked on a "Beat Navy" sign to be hung above the entrance to Washington Hall in November 1945. It was a large sign that alternately blinked. Ken recalled that Andy did all the design and construction planning. A roommate, James (Jim) Day, recalled that Andy was an excellent roommate. He also recalled that Andy often irritated the tactical officers with such pranks as placing an Easter Bunny outside their door to celebrate Easter. Another roommate, Harlan Koch, recalled that Andy often coached his less talented classmates, but had trouble gearing his mental processes to the level of the "goats" he was coaching. Harlan remembers asking Andy if he would choose Engineers as his branch. Andy's reply was indicative of his true nature: "If I had wanted to be an engineer, I would have gone to Cal Tech and gotten paid for it. I came to West Point to be a combat officer, and I'm going Armor....You can't do that in civilian life." Harlan also recalled that Andy emulated the spirit of "Benny Havens Oh" in that he was a frequent after taps visitor to the haunts of Highland Falls. For these and his other tilts with the system Andy spent most of his free time walking the area and confined to barracks. When graduation arrived in June 1946, Andy graduated number four in a class of 875 academically and put on the second lieutenant bars of the Cavalry-soon to become Armor.
         
Perhaps it was the ending of World War II and Andy's dream of becoming a combat officer or for another reason, but Andy again failed to find a channel for his brilliance as a lieutenant of Armor. His time at the Armor Basic Officers Course followed pretty much his pattern as a cadet. He was unable to find the challenge necessary to bring out his potential. His first assignment after school was to the Fourth Constabulary Regiment with headquarters in Linz, Austria.  As with most of his second lieutenant Armor classmates at that time, Andy moved frequently in Austria to get a feel for different type jobs. About halfway through his three-year tour, Andy was assigned as communications officer for his squadron. This assignment interested him and he stopped his "wine, women and song" life. He began to date a Special Services librarian assigned in Austria; they were married in 1948 at one of the Officers Clubs in Linz. Andy's mother and younger sister came over from the States to attend his wedding. In 1949, when Andy's obligated service was complete, he resigned from the Army and returned to civilian life in California.
 
While Andy was on active duty, he received a relatively large inheritance from his grandfather. So, upon entering civilian life, Andy was not required immediately to search out a second career. Once again, circumstances precluded Andy from finding an outlet for his untapped potential. Instead, he dabbled in first one and then another endeavor. In 1967, his former roommate, Harlan Koch, contacted him in the hopes of renewing their friendship. Andy had just given up on a bar he had operated in San Francisco. Andy moved north of San Francisco to a country place in Sebastapol, California. There, he and his second wife raised show dogs. In 1968, Harlan invited Andy to attend a party in San Francisco; Andy planned to attend but had to cancel at the last minute due to the difficult whelping of one of his show dogs. The next Harlan heard of Andy was news of his death in Mexico City, Mexico on 19 September 1969. Harlan wrote the Chief of Police in Mexico City but was unable to discover the cause of death and place of interment.
          
Andy Burton Talbot's life was an enigma. Possessing a brilliant mind with the ability to create, Andy was the victim of circumstances at each juncture of his life and never fulfilled the enormous potential within him. His friends and classmates remember him as someone who was always glad to see a classmate. His charm and wit were his mainstays throughout his life. His classmates will always remember Andy. Those who remember him for the right reasons know that he was proud to be a West Pointer. He may not have epitomized what Sylvanus Thayer strived for, but Andy Talbot was a remarkable person. Rest in peace, Andy.

                     '46 Memorial Article Project
 
 
 
 

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