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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Jul '56
Samuel Grier, III NO. 15888
Class of 1946 Died December 19, 1955, in an Air Accident
in Tampa, FL, aged 3O years. |
Just before Christmas I received a phone call
from McDill Air Force Base in Florida. Sam Grier had answered
that last roll call. Following a mid-air collision, his
and another B-47 crashed on the outskirts of Tampa, Florida.
After the initial shock had passed, thoughts of my association
with Sam through the years passed through my mind.
I first met Sam plebe
year, rather unhappy with New York winters after spending his
life, until that time, in the tropics of the Canal Zone. No,
he was not an Army Brat. His father, who died only a couple of
months before Sam, had gone to Panama when the canal was being
built and had stayed on to raise a family of two boys and a girl.
Sam was the youngest of that family.
Yearling year started our deep friendship
and my respect and admiration for Sam because it was then that
we became roommates as well as classmates. At this time, I obtained
an insight into Sam’s character and the thoughts and dreams
that ran through that young cadet's mind. His association
with government service and the Army convinced him that a military
career was what he wanted. He tried for several years before
successfully receiving an appointment to enter the Military Academy
on July 1, 1943 with the class of 1946. He was truly proud
of this accomplishment, of the Corps, and his being part of the
Corps. Academics were merely a means of passing time until
he could reach his next goal, to receive a commission in the
Regular Army. During this year an opportunity was offered
to the class to join the Air Force at graduation by taking flight
training at the end of the year. Sam and I talked this over --
Sam's opinion was that he knew he liked the Army but he wasn't
too sure about the Air Force. He wanted more time to think about
it. The opportunity was always there should he change his mind.
I believe that it was at this time that Sam started to think
seriously about the Air Force because when those cadets who selected
flight training returned to West Point, Sam was more than ordinarily
curious as to their reaction, both those who found they liked
flying and those who did not. It was also during this year that
I first heard the name Brooke Smith, a high school girl in the
Canal Zone.
First Class Year was uneventful.
His approach to academics was the same, but he enjoyed Cadet
life even more than he had the previous year, and if possible
was even more proud of being a Cadet. Cadet Sergeants stripes
and the position of guidon bearer for E-1 Company meant much
to Sam during this year. More and more often Brooke Smith's name
came up in conversations -- only now it was fortified by a picture,
and Sam's proudest possession.
Just before graduation, he and I had a
talk about West Point. His ideas were, yes he was happy to graduate
and eager to get out into the army and practice what he had learned,
because he had planned on it so long, but during his stay at
the Academy, he had grown to love the place and had a sincere
hope that he would return some day for at least one tour of duty.
At graduation he chose Field Artillery for his branch and received
orders to the basic course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Before
this course was completed, Sam was engaged to Brooke.
Soon after my arrival overseas, I received
a letter from Sam in Japan asking me to be best man at his wedding.
It was during this visit that the Air Force again came up in
conversation. Sam had just about made up his mind.
Soon after his marriage, he transferred to the Air Force as a
ground officer. While in Japan, John Kenyon Grier was born,
the first of Sam and Brooke's three children.
After his return to the United States, he applied
for and received flight training. This step had been well
thought out through the years, starting back in his Yearling
year and it was something he wanted to do just as eagerly as
becoming a Cadet and graduating had been. During the Korean Conflict
he flew his combat missions in B-29s based on Okinawa.
On his return from the war, he went to school and was qualified
to fly B-47s. He was then assigned to McDill Air Force
Base, an ideal assignment as far as he was concerned. The climate
resembled that of the Canal Zone. His parents had retired to
a nearby town and Brooke's parents, Colonel and Mrs. J. K. Smith,
had also retired nearby. This ideal assignment lasted all
too short a time, for it was here that the tragedy occurred.
The following is a portion of an editorial
from a Tampa, Florida newspaper following the accident. "The
crash of the two B-47 bombers on the outskirts of Tampa left
some $4,OOO,OOO.OO worth of airplanes scattered over the countryside,
but that figure does not begin to represent the loss in terms
of lives taken in such a stunning disaster. Eight well
trained men died -- men who specialized in flying the world's
most important aircraft, men who left sorrowful families behind
to suffer a loss that is far beyond the calculations of dollars
and cents. . . There is nothing that can be said to ease the
anguish caused by the crash. But the public can be thankful that
such men as Grier, . . . lived. Thankful for men who would rather
probe the Stratosphere with the gleaming nose of' a B-47 than
rest securely on the ground."
Sam returned to West Point for his last long
tour on December 2, 1955. His infectious grin won't be
seen any more, but it will always be remembered by his family
and friends along with the thought that there was a person who
truly lived the motto: "Duty, Honor, Country", and
who loved and was proud of' both his work and his family. A happy,
contented man.
Sam was survived by his wife, Brooke, his son
Ken, aged seven, his daughter Patty, five, and Kitty aged one
month.
----- John D. Gillespie, Jr.
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