HUGH WYNNE

Hugh Wynne was born in Hanford, CA, a small farming community in the San Joaquin Valley. Although he wasn't from a military family, his mother's brother was a member of the West Point Class of '17, and when Hugh was specially good, he was allowed to put on his uncle's mess dress uniform. He had a sister, six years older, who, as Hugh would say, taught him the important things in life, like how to drive, how to play jacks, inhaling, and all the other essentials. His sister called him "Bud," and so he was known, but when he graduated from West Point, his friends also called him "Dad."

Bud graduated high school in June 1942 and entered the University of California at Berkeley. He completed the summer semester and part of the next semester before entering the Army Infantry in 1943. He was in the South Pacific when he received his appointment to West Point. Bud then was sent to Lafayette College as part of the West Point preparatory program and entered the Academy in June 1945.

Bud had no problem adjusting to the rigors of Academy life. The hardest course for him was French. He often said that he should have taken Russian, as the language was new to the West Point curriculum and the instructors were learning the language along with their students. Bud suspected grading would have been more lenient.

Bud's interests were varied. He pole-vaulted on the track team, beat The New York Times chess journalist as a member of the chess team, and led Company I-1 to the intramural golf championship during his First Class year. His intramural football career was short-lived when he broke his ankle during Plebe year. Although it was difficult using crutches in the snow and ice, he was just thankful there were no parades during the winter. He also played poker, gin rummy, cribbage, and bridge. With Bill Ross as his bridge partner, they would take on all challengers. He had many friends, was known for his wit, and gained well-deserved respect thanks to his quiet, efficient manner.

Bud considered himself very lucky to have had three roommates for his final three years at the Academy. His room was the only one in Company I-1 with four cadets. Dick Carvolth, first in the class academically; Jimmy Schmidt, who dated the model in the Miss Subway ads of the NYC subway system; and Bob Owen, Bud's best friend, rounded out the quartet.

The day after graduation, Bud married Bonnie Howison. Theirs proved to be a solid and happy marriage, lasting 54 years and producing two lovely daughters and four grandsons. The firstborn daughter has a master's degree in electrical engineering from University of Southern California, and the younger is a graduate of the Air Force Academy.

Bud and most of his non-flying classmates who entered the Air Force after graduation went to the Tac School at Tyndall AFB, Panama City, FL. Roommates Bobby and Jimmy were also in attendance (roommate Dick was at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar). Bonnie had to adjust to many of Bud's bachelor habits during the Tyndall assignment and had to adapt to Bud's friends, as well. She remembers a Halloween costume party when Dave Arnold came to their apartment wearing only a jock strap under a raincoat-dressed as a flasher. It was quite a shock for Bonnie, but she learned to cope and to flourish.

Bud's career was almost exclusively in research and development. He was assigned to Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, NM, after completing Tac School. That was the start of his career as a leader in the evolution of our ballistic missile and space programs, beginning with the V-2 firings at the White Sands Proving Ground in 1950. He received a master's in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1953 and later attended and graduated from the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College.

After serving as the program manager for several experiments in the last nuclear tests series conducted above ground (Fish Bowl) at Johnston Island in the Pacific in 1962, Bud was assigned to the Defense Nuclear Agency at the Pentagon for four years.

In May 1973, he became the commander of the 6595th Missile Test Group at Vandenberg AFB, CA, where he was responsible for the checkout and launches of Minuteman I, II, and III ballistic missiles and the Atlas F in support of ABRES, Safeguard, and Space Test Programs. He also was responsible for the continuing development of the Minuteman Weapons System. He then served as the program director for the Medium Launch Vehicles Program Office (Atlas, Thor, Burner II, Scout, and Agena) at the Space and Missile System Organization (SAMSO) in Los Angeles. His last assignment was as the system program director for the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) at SAMSO, Air Force Systems Command. Under Bud's direction, the DSCS achieved operational readiness.

Bud retired as a colonel in 1978. In retirement, he worked as a consultant, played golf, fished, did oil paintings, and did all the things one does to keep busy when retired. Bonnie thought he stayed too close to home, but his family was his life. She again adjusted as she had so many years ago when Bud was in Tac School at Tyndall. In the 49 Howitzer, Bud wrote for the I-1 Company write-up: "Some will be fliers, others will walk. Some will shoot guns, others just talk. Some will advance and go quite far. Some may even wear a star. But if they do, you can give a wink. And remember the times they cleaned the sink."

Before he passed away, I heard Bud say, "No tears, just laughter. Well meet in the hereafter."

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 TAPS 39

Personal Eulogy