Bob Pheiff

3 JUL 1930 - 23 APR 1998



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E - 2

1st Row: Axup - Dorward - Lilly - Pheiff - Murray - Chikalla
2nd Row: Hansell - Gallup - Pemberton - Troyan - Ewing - Black
3rd Row: May - Hoeferkamp - Donaldson - Tebben
4th Row: Seay - Shideler (Absent: York)



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Bob Pheiff was a Pilot's Pilot, - an Airmen's Airman who forgot more about flying than those of us who strived so hard to keep all the figures and charts and numbers in the forefront of our memories. In a tense situation - with the whole world falling apart around - Bob would gently stroke the throttles and keep a soft hand on the yoke and usually whistle--not to show his calmness - but to show his disdain for causers of the fracas and to show that he was not going to be rattled - or set back by any amount of chaos. At one with the airplane - that's the way I will always remember him, with the airplane and with life - or whatever follows. Rest well - old friend; Well done! Charles W. Roades August 18 - 1998 ********************** Much to our sorrow - on 23 April 1998 - Bob Pheiff departed our ranks. He leaves an unreconcilable void in the formation of life's flight - but his memory shall live on and he will always be remembered. After family and country - Bob's great love was flying. All his cadet days - he aspired to "Go Air Force". He realized that dream and served with great honor and distinction on the "Blue Team". Not long after West Point - as part of our Nation's deterrent force in the grim - covert battle of the Cold War - he flew for nearly a decade with the Strategic Air Command. Later - in Vietnam - he bravely flew endless low-slow missions laying down Agent Orange with the Air Force's "Ranch-hands". With relentless and consistent valor - he always brought crew and plane back--even at times in shot-up aircraft that had been declared not flyable. Appropriately - he was awarded two Silver Stars for distinguished gallantry in action - twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism or extraordinary achievement while performing aerial flight - and received ten Air Medals for meritorious achievements beyond that expected while participating in aerial flight. Now Bob has shed his union with us and taken his place with the Long Gray Line in the Sky. He has "slipped the surly bonds of this Earth and dances high above on laughter-silvered wings. Going up - up the long delirious blue - beyond wind-swept heights - he has climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds. Now he flies forever...where never lark or even eagle flew..." [Variation of High Flight - J.G. Magee - Jr.] Dan Troyan - USMA '55 Wednesday - May 31 - 2000 ********************** I met Bob after beast barracks when company assignments tossed him and Dan Troyan and me into a room together. I was too busy even to think about it then - but I later came to see that not much in this life is stronger than the bonds formed among plebe year roommates. We mucked through the shared privation - the dread of Firsties - the demands of the Tenth Avenue crowd - the rare thrill of ducking the Boodler soiree - all the gross agonies and wee triumphs of plebe year. After the first week of academics - I figured Bob would be gone in a month. I made that judgment on the way he squawked every tasking -- to his roomies -- throwing his hands up and declaring all at an end. But the month went by and he was still there - laughing at a lot of things that didn't look very funny to me. The fulmination was just prelude to function - and function he did. Night after night he closed his books while I was still out in the hall - but he was never in trouble - never got turned out - and though he made a great show otherwise - he wasn't even worried. It took me a long time to recognize that this wasn't hard for him at all. Whatever it was - Bob could cut it - and when I got turned out at Christmas he was one of those who came to help. One of the highlights of graduation leave was the gathering at that great old hotel in Allentown where I joined Dan and Chick and Ken and a squad of others who helped marry Bob to his beloved Anne. The cruelest thing is that our paths never crossed again. The sweetest thing is that I get to remember him as he was on that blissful day in the summer of '55. Wiedersehen - Bob. Chuck Ewing July 11 - 2002

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USMA 1955 Roster

USMA 1955 Pictures