By and with permission to forward:
MacArthur's Speech to the Corps of Cadets
By Lieutenant General James R. Ellis, US Army (Ret)
Saturday, 12 May 1962
General of the Army MacArthur’s trip to West
Point had been well publicized and would be a
major event. The afternoon before, I called the
Academy Public Affairs Officer (PAO)(an
excellent officer with whom the Brigade Staff had
a good working relationship), and I asked him
about arrangements to record the General’s
speech. He said they did not do thatinstead they
would release a copy of the speaker’s written
remarks to the press after the event. This did
not seem satisfactory. I asked my roommate, Pete
Wuerpel, to see if he could do something so that
at least he and I would have a recording of the
speech. Pete was the Cadet Brigade Adjutant and
used the dining hall public address system at
every meal to make announcements. He borrowed a
reel to reel recorder from a fellow cadet and made the connections.
That Saturday was a perfect dayclear and sunny
but not too hot. As you remember, the parade
field was oriented differently than today with
the reviewing stand directly across the street
from the Superintendent’s House. The dining hall
had not been expanded and had not encroached on
the parade fieldconsequently the field was
larger than it is now. Spectators completely
surrounded the fieldthe Academy civilian police
(who worked with the MP’s and were responsible
for crowd control) estimated the number at
150,000. Remember, the Academy was wide open to the public at that time.
It was a full Brigade Parade. At the appropriate
time the Thayer Award was presented to General
MacArthur by the President of the Association of
Graduates, Lieutenant General (Retired) Leslie
Groves (who had directed the Manhattan Project in
WWII). Following the presentation, Generals
MacArthur and Westmoreland and I trooped the line
in a jeep driven by the Supe’s driver. A picture
of the jeep moving in front of the Corps appeared
on one of those two page displays in Life
magazine following MacArthur’s death in 1964.
After the parade, the Corps, Tac Officers,
Instructors and invited guests moved into
Washington Hall. Generals MacArthur, Westmoreland
and Groves took their places on the dais which
had been set up just inside the main door. Glen
Blumhardt, Cadet 1st Regimental Commander,
escorted Mrs. MacArthur and Mrs. Westmoreland to a table on the Poop Deck.
My table was immediately in front of the dais.
Cadet tables held 10 people. As Brigade Commander
I was table-com hosting nine active duty and
retired 4 Star Generalsminding my manners with every bite!
Following lunch, General MacArthur gave that
great Duty, Honor, Country speech. I’m sure you
have heard it many times. He had no notes except
one 3 x 5 card with one word on it“doorman”you
have heard the joke. The occasional ‘klunk’ on
the audio is the sound of the General’s ring
hitting the wooden podium as he shifted his grip.
When he finished he turned around and saluted his
wife on the Poop Deck. At the end there were no dry eyes on my table.
After the official party left, Wuerpel and I were
changing in our room (8½ Division which no longer
exists), we both had dates waiting–(I married
mine 7 weeks laterwe celebrate our 45th this
summer). Pete had recovered the recorder.
The phone rang:
PAO (in a panic), “The General had no written
text and the press is going crazy for a copy of
the speechsomeone told me you made a recording.”
Ellis, “Yes sir, it is here on the table”.
PAO, “My minion will be there shortly to pick it up.”
(Interesting title for the Captain who rushed in
10 minutes later and ran out with the tape). The
PAO took it to the Foreign Language lab and made
multiple copies. A secretary worked all afternoon
transcribing the speech to hard copy to release
to the press. Pete retrieved the original tape
and, to the best of my knowledge, still has it.
END