I will talk about classmates – some anecdotes humorous, some serious. I’ll talk about leadership – of our classmates, of other classes, of Black Jack Pershing in WWI, and some who served with him, of some modern day examples, finally, I’ll talk about my choice for distinguished graduate.

On the humorous side right after graduation, at Ft Benning, Walt Russell, Arlie Sherman and I rented a little apartment from a man named Firm Roberts who advertised the coldest beer in Georgia. All we knew how to cook were steaks and fried chicken. The one whose turn it was to fry the chicken always wore a poncho to protect himself from the splattering grease. Ingenuity in action.

Years later after the Korean War – in 1958 – Cecil and I were ordered to Hollywood for six months duty as a technical adviser for the movie, Pork Chop Hill. At the time I was a rifle company CO in the 101st Abn Div as was Shy Meyer. He and Carol volunteered to take care of our black standard female poodle while we were gone. A few months later, in Hollywood, we received a telegram: “Priss had nine pups this morning. All doing well. Love, Aunt Carol and Uncle Shy.” And they didn’t even have a dog.

While we were there, one morning Cecil arrived at the studio, perspiring freely, all upset. When I saw her, I figured that she had had a wreck with our car. Not so. On her way she had pulled up to a stoplight next to Clark Gable in his Maserati convertible. She managed to keep abreast of him for six blocks, shouting,” I’ve seen Gone With the Wind Ten Times.”

Back to reality. When Ted Atkeson asked me to make this talk, I asked for suggested topics. He mentioned the art of leadership – what it is and how some people have attained the necessary skills. Or talk from your own experiences, describing strengths and weaknesses you have witnessed along the way, perhaps identifying the officers or people you have come to admire for some particular trait you have noticed.

So, for my research, I turned to Andy Chacon’s list of Our Generals – some thirty of our classmates who wear stars. And at the top of the list were three infantry officers with four stars: Shy Meyer, Bill Richardson, and Roscoe Robinson. I had served with Shy in the 101st Abn Div under Gen Westmoreland. We were both rifle company commanders in the same battle group. I had served with Bill Richardson in the Pentagon in the Asst Vice Chief of Staff’s office when we were both newly promoted colonels and again in Viet Nam when I turned over to him command of the 198th Brigade, Americal Div in 1970. Roscoe Robinson and I were in the same infantry battalion in the 31st Inf, 7th Inf Div during the Korean War. Later we served together at the Airborne Dept, The Infantry School as instructors in the Pathfinder Committee. Looking back on this service with these three four star generals, I tried to note the necessary skills that enabled them to reach the pinnacle of stardom, so to speak. They were all three hard-working and capable – Shy was an outstanding golfer, Bill was an outstanding tennis player, and Roscoe was an outstanding handball player. So go figure!

On the serious side, while I commanded the 198th Infantry Brigade in Vietnam, one of the outstanding Bn CO’s was a LTC named Norman Schwartzkopf. He was a large man who filled up the small LOH (light observation helicopter) assigned to BN CO’s for transport. He had a can-do attitude and a cheerful countenance, two important leadership qualities. Later, as commander of Desert Storm forces he was sometimes known as Stormin’ Norman. I like to say that I trained him right. Incidentally, he thought leadership is an art not a science.

My younger son, Gordon, gave me a book for Christmas titled “ To The Last Man” written by Jeff Shaara. It is about World War I and he bases his narrative on four principal characters: General John “Black Jack” Pershing, a young Marine rifleman , a pilot named Raoul Lufberry, and the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. I always wondered where the nickname “Black Jack” came from. According to the author, it derived from his command of a Negro unit in the 10th Cavalry in Montana. The horror of fighting in the trenches is seen through the eyes of Roscoe Temple, the Marine, as he fought in the battles of Chateau Thierry, Belleau Woods and Verdun.

For you pilots in the class, I think you would be interested in the description of aerial combat from the standpoint of an American, Raoul Lufberry, serving with the French escadrille against von Richthofen and the German forces. Neither survived the war, both being shot down.

The author describes the difficulties Pershing had with his French and British counterparts who wanted to use the fresh American troops as replacements for the British and French. To his credit Pershing insisted that they fight as an American Expeditionary Force with their own sector of operations.

Under Pershing’s command was LTC George Patton, who he assigned to the tank forces. In the battle of the Meuse-Argonne, Sept 26, 1918, Patton was in charge of a brigade of tanks – some 140 Renault tanks, each with a driver and a gunner. Patton’s commander had ordered him to stay well behind the advancing tanks in a command post that depended on runners to deliver orders to the tank platoons and carrier pigeons to keep his higher HQ informed. Of course, Patton couldn’t stay behind and ended up with the attacking elements, shrouded in thick fog. He led the successful attack but sustained a serious leg wound. Nonetheless, he stayed in the battle for three hours before being evacuated. His commander, rather than being displeased at his ignoring his orders recommended that he be promoted to colonel and receive the Distinguished Service Cross.

To digress. Recently at a Lenten service that Cecil and I attended, the Reverend Gray Temple talked about how Jesus, an ordinary human at the beginning of his ministry, was able to persuade the fisherman to throw down their nets and follow him to be fishers of men. The priest described growing up on the Carolina coast where the fishermen were rough men, smoking, using profanity. His father forbade him to have anything to do with them. He describes one fisherman smoking a cigar who to show how tough he was, put the cigar out in the palm of his hand and then popped it in his mouth and chewed it. Then comparing this type of person to the fishermen at Galilee, Rev Temple offered that it was Jesus’ command presence that inspired Simon and Andrew and James and John to throw down their nets and follow him. Command Presence!

Gray Temple then turned to an article by Garrison Keillor, entitled “Fit To Command” and read the following compliments for the military that few priests offer: “I met a West Point cadet once, and in her I could see what I’d missed out on, a keenness of focus, a great sense of poise. She embodied the word “capable.” I would’ve followed her into a burning building. Had she skipped the Army and swanned around amongst the perpetual adolescents, she might have missed out on her life entirely.

Whenever I meet military men and women, I’m struck by their bearing and temperament. I sit down to dinner with a Marine captain just back from Iraq and immediately feel a little childish in his presence, though he’s 30 years younger. He is friendly, polite and tremendously focused. What might appear at a distance to be rigidity is really heightened attentiveness. Everything he says is appropriate and precise. When you ask about his experience in Iraq, he tells you, without spinning the story. He is no tin soldier, no flag waver. There’s no bombast in him. Like dancers, or pilots, or violinists, or lion tamers, he is a man trained to operate consistently at a high level of attention.”

So what were the common traits of these outstanding leaders: Myer, Richardson, Robinson, Schwartskopf, Pershing, Patton, the West Point cadet, the Marine captain? Command presence and fitness to command!!

And, finally, I want to tell you about my distinguished graduate, my classmate, my brother-in-law, Walt Russell. He and I were both in the same division in Korea – different regiments. In the April 1953 battle for Pork Chop Hill, his company was sent up on the hill to reinforce my unit.

We’ve never told anyone about the following incident. We were checking the trenches and bunkers when we found several men in the large bunker on the reverse slope of the hill used to feed the troops. We told them to move up to fighting positions on the hill. They declined to move, We gave them direct orders which they declined to obey. So we pulled out our 45 cal pistols and threatened to shoot them if they didn’t move. As I remember from our training here we were told that this is a last recourse and don’t use it unless you’re prepared to shoot. I don’t think that either of us would have shot but it worked and the men moved up the hill.

Walt and I both got through the Korean War unscathed but in Vietnam with the First Air Cav Walt was wounded in the head while flying a helicopter on one of their first operations in October of 1965. His life was saved by flying him to a MASH hospital with a neurosurgeon. He then spent a year in the hospital at Walter Reed. His doctor told him when he was discharged from the hospital that he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Well, Walt determined to make that man eat his words. With a brace on his leg and his paralyzed left arm in a sling, Walt graduated from Emory law school in Atlanta with a law degree.

As he left Washington to go to Atlanta, George Meighen showed up for Walt’s send-off in a Daddy Warbucks mask to match Walt’s shaved head that resulted from the plate implanted in his head. Walt was also wearing shoes with Velcro closures and George wanted to know where he got those fruity Pilgrim shoes.

Well, Walt was elected to the Georgia state legislature twice and to the DeKalb County commission in Atlanta as Chairman. After that he continued to practice law until his retirement. I remember seeing a photograph of Walt in the Georgia state legislature holding up a Navy B-robe he’d won from Jimmy Carter who I think was probably governor at the time.

I have never heard Walt complain about his wound and handicap. To me Walt exemplifies the traits of leadership, is a distinguished graduate and a true hero.

(Joseph G. Clemons, Jr. Colonel Retired, USA {Cullum 18024}{DSC})

God Bless America



Joseph G. Clemons, Jr. Colonel Retired, USA {Cullum 18024} was my candidate for the Distinguished Graduate Award and he got it, by golly.