COL Redmond V. Forrester, Jr. USA (Retired)

Cullum: 18295

Class: '51

Cadet Company: I2

Date of Birth: November 8, 1927

Date of Death: July 14, 2008 - View or Post a Eulogy

From the '51 50th reunion book:

Redmond V. (Red) Forrester Jr. 1-2

At about the age one I started thinking about a career, several factors intervened in my case to point me toward the military. My father had served in WWI, WWII was underway, and three of my mother's brothers were serving because of the war. The Military was the main topic of conversation in our family and it seemed natural to think in terms of a military career. It took three years after high school to get a congressional appointment, so the intervening years found me at North Georgia College, at Millard's Prep in DC, and then an enlistment in the Army where I eventually wound up in the Army prep School at Stewart Field, NY.

Commissioned in the Field Artillery, my first duty Station following the Basic Course was Fort Benning, GA. I was there only a short time before I was off to Fairbanks, Alaska where my unit provided support for an infantry battalion which had the mission of defending a SAC staging area. Patsy Lane, my long time sweetheart, joined me in the far North and we were married in Fairbanks in 1952 subsequent assignments were the normal ones for a company grade officer-battery command; advanced course, battalion staff, and divarty staff in Korea. During this period we also had three children: David, Patrick (Cl of '79), and Rebecca Jill. In the great experiment to make all artillery officers proficient in both Air Defense and Field Artillery, I got cross-assigned and attended the Guided Missile Staff Officer's Course at Fort Bliss. When the Army decided it wouldn't work, I was returned to Field Artillery. I later commanded a 105 mm battalion in Vietnam and a Field Artillery Group in Europe. Interspersed throughout the thirty years were assignments to the Army Staff (DCSOPS), the faculty of the Industrial College, and as Chief of Staff, US Command Berlin. Also along the way were graduation from the Air Command and Staff College, the University of Pittsburgh where I received a Masters Degree, and the Army War College, My final assignment found us in Jackson, MS where I retired from the military in 1981.

I then worked for the Mississippi State Tax Commission until moving to Florida. Four years with H & R Block in Ft. Walton Beach convinced me that playing golf, and visiting grandchildren were a lot more fun and so I retired altogether. Patsy and I have enjoyed retirement and doing volunteer work both in the community and in the church.