USMA 1970-73

Fake Take Offs
1. One Christmas we went to the Muscle Shoals airport to leave for WP. It had been snowing and there was ice here and there but the plane loaded anyway and we taxied to take off. After revving up the engines (DC 3 with 2 props known as the Silver Falcon) we began the take off only to suddenly stop the effort and head back to the terminal.
2. When we reached the terminal it was announced that the conditions were not safe for take off.
3. My parents were waiting for me and explained that they had overheard our pilot say that he was going to make a big show about taking off but he was not going anywhere.
Lynwood Yarbrough
1. One day at the Newark Airport I approached the gate for the plane leaving for Atlanta. When I got there I saw a strange looking guy with a heavy beard. His eyes looked familiar and it dawned on me that he must be Lynwood Yarbrough who had worked at Krogers with me in Florence some 10 years earlier.
2. . I asked if he was LY and he confirmed that he was. He said that he was working in the Albert Einstein Laboratories in the area.
Ranger and Rangerette
1. Supposedly a Tactical Officer had a son and daughter that he routinely referred to as Ranger and Rangerette.
2. He is also said to have called home to his wife saying “Negative on supper tonight. Messing with the troops. Out.” “Messing” is Army lingo for eating food. “Out” is radiotelephone procedure word for I have finished my transmission and don’t expect to get a reply from you.
WP Gym
1. Has inscription from some WWII general: “I have a secret and dangerous mission. Get me a West Point football player.”
Bully Boy Restaurant
1. North of NYC. Lots of pictures of Broadway people on the walls.
2. Seemed to have one waiter per person. Only went there once.
Justice Blackmun
1. US Supreme Court justice, junior one at the time.
2. I was picked to go with a driver to JFK Airport to pick up his two daughters.
3. He told a story about how nobody can enter the room during Supreme Court deliberations. So, as junior Justice, he got to go get drinks and candy for the others.
Hell Cats
1. Group from the Army band contingent that was a sort of fife and drum corps. When the cannon went off for revelie they started playing marches as cadets came to formations for breakfast. They did this regardless of the weather. I could hear them and the cannon from my room.
Four Plex Scattering
1. One the newer family housing areas was composed of 4 plexes. One weekend an entire 4 plex was cleared with the occupants scattered to very distant locations. Wife swapping was the cause it was said.
Son of the Registrar
1. COL Manley Rogers was the Registrar for many years. He had a teenaged son who had long hair and was wearing an Army field jacket. Some MPs decided to hassle him one night about wearing unauthorized Army clothing, not knowing who he was. They were gone the next day.
CPT Buddy Bucha
1. Medal of Honor winner. There was a second MOH winner but he was all but invisible. Can’t recall his name even.
2. Wore hair long and wore only one ribbon, the MOH
3. Held a press conference and resigned his commission saying he was ready to be a major and promotions were way too slow.
4. Went on to law school
Noontime Basketball League
1. Dept of Law was a force with CPT Bausch who played for Creighton’s freshman team and CPT Caden who played for a NYC college and could tip the ball in from a radius of 5 feet of the goal.
2. Sometimes had two Medal of Honor winners on the court at same time.
3. Also had two of Chief of Staff’s (Creighton Abrams) sons on court at same time.
Pete Dawkins
1. The Lonesome End
2. Came back for the Army Navy Game pep rallies. Rode a motorcycle dressed in a spiderman like suit with a cape and a large A, for CPT America
3. Became a BG at very young age and retired.
Classes
1. Thayer Method – Small classes (12 when I got there, some with 16 as I left)
2. Cadet Class leader took roll and called class to attention as you entered.
Summers
1. When I first arrived most came in about 10, went to the gym, ate lunch, went home by 2. There were no summer classes for us to teach.
2. Later, they at least required all to work full day
3. Decided one summer to have us work at Camp Buckner. CPT Bausch and others complained since there was regulation requiring that JAGC officers be used only for legal duties. So they sent people to Ft Dix and elsewhere to help SJA Offices. CPT Cooperman drew Ft Dix but I took his place since he had a child either newly born or about to be born.
MAJ Jerry X. Lewis
1. Deceased
2. Wrote note on blackboard “Get a hair cut. You know who I am talking about.” Jim Bausch wrote a note in reply”Look at my hair. Look at the pictures in AR 600-20. If I am not within the regulation, charge me.”
MAJ Dan Shimek
1. The peacemaker between the company grade and field grade officers.
2. Later was Legal Assistance Officer as DAC at WP
MAJ Barrett S. Haight (Chip or the Chipper)
1. Once “ordered” Jim Bausch on the basketball court to “throw me the ball, captain.”
2. Was the SJA at Ft Jackson just before I got there in 1989. The Ft J CG demanded that TJAG replace the Chipper so TJAG sent Dick Boiler, the most cantankerous of all JAG officers as the replacement.
MAJ Henry Hunter Holmes Clarke
1. Told he could stay 4th yr to let child finish school, then told he had to move
2. . He protested and was told he had to move. Asked for 72 hours to think about it. Flew to VA and found a job over the weekend. Resigned on the Monday.
3. Cousin Edward took a deposition with him in VA in 2002. Remembered me and Joe Collins.
MAJ David Gray
1. CPT John Caden – The Count (from the Army’s “count cadence, count cadence, count cadence, count”)
2. Deceased
3. Played basketball for Catholic college in NYC
4. Later a US Magistrate
5. Tent mate of Howard Andrews, only JAG officer to be killed in VN
  1. Andrews was from Huntsville and lived in Friedman Hall with me (Joe Battle was the Resident Advisor)
  2. I met Andrews and his fiance for supper at Mr. Steak as he was reporting to the Army after being drafted. He had gone to Georgia Tech and was an engineer before going to law school. As a result, he was almost two old to be drafted. He was a swimmer and a private pilot.3. Andrews began as an EM in one of the Airborne units, 101 st I believe. When he was sent to VN, he decided to take a JAGC commission, even though it meant more AD time, as it would be safer. He was about to leave VN when he decided to make one last trip to see his court martial clients in the Long Biehn Jail one last time, no necessity for him to do this. On the way back, the helicopter pilot decided to buzz some Vietnamese near a river. This was against the flight rules. As he did so, the helicopter struck a ferry cable across the river. Andrews (who was a very good swimmer and a private pilot) drowned in an aircraft crash while making a trip he didn’t have to make while in a safer job after being drafted when he was almost too old to be drafted, being the only Army JAGC killed in VN.
6. Wife talked to her mother in NYC for hours every day
7. When secretary said that his wife was on the phone, his standard response was “Who does she want to talk to?”
CPT Wynn Morse
1. Nephew of Senator Wayne Morse
2. Harvard Law School grad drafted out of Wall Street firm
3. Defended Cadet Lucian Truscott. Morse was model for the lawyer in Dress Gray and sequel (Full Dress Gray?) where is head of Law Dept. I verified this via email with Truscott. Truscott is descendant of WWII General Truscott and of Thomas Jefferson (active in group to admit black relatives to Jefferson reunions).
4. Died of cancer in the 80s
5. Called cadets Cretins
6. Center on football team put boxing gloves on M’s desk. After reporting the class, he requested that Μ meet him at the gym. M’s respons was he never questioned the physical prowess of cadets, only their mental capabilities.
CPT Daniel Labowitz
CPT Art Lincoln
1. One of main spokesmen for the defense in the cadet cheating scandal of 1974.
CPT Francis T. O’Brien
1. Yale undergrad, Boston College Law School
2. Lived down street from John Kenneth Gailbreath, the economist
3. Father was MD, Harvard, Harvard
4. Went to Hawaii and stayed there. I could have gone there as well.
5. Became a criminal defense lawyer in Honolulu. Head of his firm was defending a mafia like guy who came in and put a large back of money on the desk and said I don’t want to go to jail. If you need more money just let me know. He was convicted and went to jail. The firm head’s house burned that same day. O’Brien left the criminal defense business at once.
CPT Edwin M. Cooperman
1. Multi-millionaire with trotters that he races in NY and FL
2. Daughter Dori runs with Paris Hilton and such.
3. Helped him with seder for Jewish Chapel Squad
4. Went to Army-Navy Game with him and Joe Colaggio (mafia)
5. Cooperman’s father was labor lawyer who represented unions/mafia
6. Rode to game on bus. Some jerk tried to pick a fight with Calaggio. Coopeman whispered “He doesn’t know who he is dealing with. He could have that guy killed.” Later saw Colaggio in NY Times re criminal investigation.
7. Stayed at Cooperman’s house on Friday night before going to game on Saturday. Had sisters over and brother. It was my son the doctor, my son in law the dentist, etc all around the table.
CPT Magasin popping tires off his car coming over Storm King Mtn when car spins on the ice.
1. Magasin from LA
2. Parked cars in LA for restaurant and could parallel park in an instant.
3. His father was lawyer who represented Marlon Brando’s wife in divorce from Marlon.
CPT Kevin Ryan
CPT John Conderman
CPT James Bauch
1. Played on freshman basketball team at Creighton
CPT Fletcher Belcher
1. Blackmailed the housing office to get house he wanted by threatening to write to HQDA about the illegal way WP assigned quarters.
2. Was generally thought to be the one who sent a copy of Pres Nixon’s letter to the judge in the Chapel Case to the New York Times. As a result, files were locked and you had to go through Helen A. Clark (НАС the DAC) to get files. ’
3. Referred to as “good riddance to bad rubbish” by Mrs. Lough at Hail and Farewell. Wore paper name tag with “CPT Rubbish” at work for several days.
CPT John Watz
1. Referred to as “no great loss” by Mrs. Lough at hail and farewell
2. Wore paper name tag “CPT No Great Loss” at work for several days.
CPT Frank Pappalardo
CPT John McGuirk
CPT Tom Mitchell
CPT John Depue
1. Fingernails chewed off, finger tips puffed like had been washing dishes
2. Later a BG in the USAR
3. Over ruled case set up
  1. Bausch and Conderman were taking courses at NYU where the Law Library had advance sheet not yet in our Dept library.
  2. Waited for DePue to “bird dog” them in our library. Bemoaned how the case they were looking (which they knew was recently overruled.) was against them.
  3. DePue cited the case at Bd proceeding at which time, Conderman and Bauch produced a copy of the decision from NYU which over ruled the case.
4. Had his law review article cited by US Supreme Ct in O’Callahan v. Parker decision
5. Introduced his wife – This is my fat wife. She weighs pounds. When I married her she only weighed pounds.
6. Volunteered for VN and told his wife his number came up
7. Rode as door guner on heliocopters in VN when on leave
CPT Joe Collins (later learned he was my distant cousin)
1. Spins on the Ice coming back from NYU
  1. In mountains with sharp drop off into ravine
  2. Cooperman first advised don’t brake. Collins lifted feet off floor. Then advised let go of wheel, Collins raised hands to the roof. We spun around about 3 times coming to rest on the edge of the road just short of the ravine.
2. Collins quit NYU, never returning
CPT Millard (Mike) Peck
1. Above me in the BOQ
2. Went out with Ruth Hoetzler in the office. Bushell and a Peck
3. Had been in CIA assignments and went through French Foreign Legion training
4. Carried pistol in holster in small of back, wore sport coat to conceal
5. Had extra locks on outside of door of BOQ and checked closets, under beds on entering
6. Model for “Marvin Military” in book “The Lionheads”
7. Got into letter writing contest in NY Times and was sent to France for a year to study French. He has exceptional ability to learn languages. He was moving back into the BOQ the day I left.
8. Later (as COL) headed group looking for POWs left in VN. Resigned in protest that enough was not being done
LTC Josiah Bunting
1. Resigned in protest of the Viet Nam War
2. Wrote the Lionheads
3. Mike Peck was the model for character in this book known as “Marvin Military”
4. Later a VA General and head of VMI when it admitted female cadets.
MAJ Wesley Clark
1. Talked with him once about how our classes related to classes taught in his department (social science as I recall).
2. Later a 4 star general in charge in Kosovo/NATO
Cadet John Abizaid
1. Now a 4 star who replaced GEN Tommy Franks at Central Command
2. Earlier was USMA Commandant of Cadets
3. I recall him as student because of the unusual last name. He was in one of the lower sections, academically, in the law course at least.
Accent
1. Gave short summary of what we covered in Constitutional Law to group of faculty members. Afterwards two came up and said they a question for me. I assumed it would be about some legal matter.
2. Instead, one said I say you have a South Carolina accent and he says you have an Alabama accent. Which of us is correct?
Lynwood Yarborough
1. At Newark Airport. Saw bearded man with familiar eyes. Checked and he was LY who had worked with me at Krogers. Was then at Albert Einstein Laboratories
Cadet Jim Pelosi
1. Defended by CPT Dave Hayes – Was night club comedian on the weekends.
2. Story made into inaccurate tv movie. Pelosi received award for bravery for pulling people out of burning car in Germany
3. Pelosi was accused of writing in the answers on a math exam using a pencil lead taped to his finger as cadets graded their own papers in class. After reading the statements of the cadets who accused him of this and looking at the paper with answers written in two different styles, a member of the commandant’s office put a note on the case file “Open and shut case. Expidite.” and sent it to the Honor Committee. Pelosi was “found” by the cadet honor committee and appealed to a board of officers. Dave Hayes represented Pelosi and routinely asked members of the honor committee if there was anything unusual about the case. They said there was – a note saying open and shut, expidite. But, they said, the note did not influence them and the facts were clear. Dave Hayes made a motion in the nature of unlawful command influence. The Superintendant, with SJA advice, declared the cadet hearing a nullity due to command influence and sent the case back to the honor committee. The honor committee refused to act further saying they had done their job and it was clear that Pelosi was cheating. At that point, the case was stuck. The regulations said that the honor system belonged to the cadets and the cadets refused to act. Pelosi stayed in the corps. Then the honor committee president called for a vote on silencing Pelosi (not to speak to him). The first vote was taken in his regiment and failed. A vote was then taken corps wide and he was silenced. Pelosi graduated and appeared on a noon news show in NYC with Dave Hayes. Several of his classmates called in to the show and said “Remember me, I still talked to you, remember?” Pelosi admitted they did.
Cadet Hereford
1. Went through two findings by cadet honor boards, neither supported by board of officers.
2. Chance to Fly in Jet Fighter with AF Pilot Living in BOQ where I lived (BOQ 149-36?)
3. Turned down the offer thinking any AF pilot assigned to WP would not be the best
4. Offeror went from WP to become an AF test pilot
Constitutional Car Pool
Chapel Case
1. Nixon letter leaked to NY Times, probably by CPT Fletcher Belcher
2. Led to locked files and rule that no CPT could get own files
Pete Seegar’s Ex Wife’s Body Dumped on WP Reservation
1. Call from MAJ Shimek to come with him. This call was just after I had gotten to the BOQ around 5:15 or so.
2. We were reading maps on way to body location to see if the body was located on USMA or not.
3. Met ambulance as we were going to the scene, turned out it took the body to NY coroner location.
4. I was asked by Shimek to call OTJAG to see if we could demand the body back since it had been found on USMA.
5. Wrote memo of results of that call saying OTJAG said not a good idea to try to retrieve the body..
6. New Rule: CPTs can’t call OTJAG
Pass Me the Ball CPT (on basketball court)
1. Order from MAJ Chip Haight to CPT Bausch
2. Reply was something like Make me, Major.
NYU
1. Cooperman parked in no parking zone with 4 police standing there watching. No ticket
2. Would cross the street to avoid running into Hells Angels
3. Happened upon Electric Lady Land Studios where Jimi Hendrix recorded some
4. Ran into Cumberland classmates – JoAnne Furner and some guy from Florida whose name I do not recall.
5. Ran into Libro Marinelli who had been in JAGC at RSA one summer
6. Going there was musical: Down Pallisades Parkway by Pallisades Park accross George Washington Bridge, down West Side Hiway, east on 14th Street, south on Fifth Ave, then around Washington Square to Vanderbilt Hall.
7. NYU -1 was happy to go through NYU with the firm belief that it did not matter if I passed or graduated
8. In class called Computers and the Law, the teacher was giving what I viewed as ridiculous risks of data loss in computers so I suggested throwing an electric eel into the computer might cause data loss. He accepted the suggestion affirmatively, then thought about it a minute before changing the subject.
9. In a Labor Law class I told the teacher that in Alabama we did not recognize federal laws. This was in response to his comment about my being from Alabama.
10. In that same Labor Law class, the teacher told about leaving election materials in a car on the street and asked what we thought was missing upon his return. My response was “Your camera.”
Goat – Engineer Football Game
1. Goats are bottom of the class while Engineers are from top of the class
2. Tradition is that if Goats win, Army wil! beat Navy
3. Players wear class standing as jersey numbers. 1 9999
4. Goats come out to warm up led by the Commandant of Cadets. They are total chaos
5. Engineers come out to warm up led by the Dean. They are in rigid order with slide rules
Fog on Storm King
1. So dense you had to open car door and follow the lane dividing line.
Report of Survey for CID Sedan Colliding with Dempster Dumpster
1. Hit DD while running without lights in parking light checking for drug deal
Noon Time Basketball League
1. Two Cong Medal of Honor Winners on the court
2. Two sons of CofS Creighton Abrams on the court
3. Law Dept a force with CPT John Caden (played at St. in NYC) and CPT James Bausch (freshman year played at Creighton)
Get a Haircut, you know who I mean
1. Note on black board by MAJ Jerry X. Lewis
2. CPT Bausch wrote note in reply- Check my hair, check the regulation, charge me if I do not meet it.
Howard Hughes
1. COL Frederick Lough’s nickname
2. All you saw was a NY Times behind a desk. He may or may not have been behind the paper
The Eunuch
1. COL Oldham’s nickname, Based on his apparently doing anything COL Lough said
CPT Rubbish and CPT No Great Loss
1. Based on comments by Mrs. Lough at hail and farewell
  1. Said CPT Watz is leaving and he is no great loss. CPT Belcher is leaving too and that is good riddance to bad rubbish
  2. Both CPTs put their new names “CPT Rubbish” and “CPT No Great Loss” over their name tags the next week.
  3. I agreed that Belcher was bad rubbish.
Dead Soldier with My Office Number in Billfold
1. Call from CID one morning asking if I knew a Specialist something.
2. I said did not but he could have been a legal assistance client. Checked, no record. Told CID no idea who he was and asked why they asked.
3. Reply was he had been found dead with my name and office phone number is his wallet.
Defense Counsel in Rape Case
1. CPT Michael Magasin was TC
2. Managed to have Art 32 Officer recommend case be dropped. Took very low key approach, not attacking the complaining witness, merely pointed out that was said to have occurred in parking lot with passerby not called to and that she went back to bar where they met before the event immediately after it happened.
3. He later started special program in Los Angelos to prosecute rape cases. Said the case with me at WP inspired that effort
Ghost in Eisenhower Hall
1. Story in NY Times quoted cadets saying they had seen ghost there
2. Led to Honor case on theory there are no ghosts so anyone claiming to see one is lying.
The Cadet Wall …
1. In Highland Falls on a steep curve
2. Several cadets killed there speeding back to WP to meet curfew
Cadet Cars in Parking Lots in Spring
1. Standard loan of $5000 by Marine Midland Bank in HF to all cadets. Enough to buy a Corvette.
2. A and C Chevrolet in HF sold almost a thousand Corvettes each year
3. Cadets could not leave WP so there would be lines of Corvettes driving around its roads in May
4. Parking lots full of Corvettes and other sports cars.
CPT John Hoffman’s Wedding at Trophy Point
1. I was out taking pictures. Saw Hoffman and Theo (girl friend) standing in amphitheater on Trophy Point.
2. Learned with telephoto tens they were being married, just the two with Margie Verrell as matron of honor/witness and the chaplain.
3. Gave them pictures, the only ones they had of the wedding.
4. Hoffman used play tapes of animal heart sounds at night practicing his diagnostic skills.
Army Navy Game
1. Fake Army Team (composed of Midshipmen) came running out
2. So real it fooled Cadets who fired off cannon and cheered. Could not reload in time to fire when real team came out
3. Fake team began falling all over each other shortly after reaching the field.
4. Fan Photo in NY Times Sports Section
  1. Sold ticket to guy with Army buttons all over hat and jacket
  2. He was on front page of NY Times sports section, I was not visible, though sitting next to him.
  3. Bus Trip to Game with Cooperman
    1. Supper the night before, staying with Coopermans in Queens
    2. My son the doctor, the dentist, the lawyer
5. Joe Callozzo
  1. Mafia union boss later in NY Times
  2. Got into argument with another rider on the bus
  3. Cooperman noted that Callozzo could have the guy killed.
Trip to Greenwich Village after Wedding
1. Wedding for one of BOQ dwellers with 4 of us as ushers in white suits.
2. Went to the Village afterwards in pink Cadillac convertible, still in white.
3. Hippy on corner looked at us with Far out man, far out.
Mama Leone’s
1. Family restaurant at the time
2. Newphew of Mama had been officer assigned to WP
3. Any active duty military member went to head of no reservations line, WP military went to head of the reservations line.
Restaurant with Opera Singers – in Greeniche Village
1. Waiters and waitresses would periodically put down trays and sing opera
2. One waiter claimed to be a Polish count as well.
Meteor?
1. After midnight driving on New Jersey Turnpike when light streaked over me and at that same instant the hood of the car popped open to the safety catch.
2. Never before or since has hood popped up on any car that I have driven or heard about.
Rainbow
1. Driving to Newark Airport when it appeared the end of the rainbow was about 50 feet from the road at a point in the marsh.
Eating Places at NYU
1. Smokehouse Deli
2. Matera’s
  1. Cooperman broke a tooth off eating a tuna sandwich containing part of the metal from the tuna can twist off strip.
3. Western Sizzler like place
  1. Homeless men used to move from table to table eating left overs on plates before tables were cleaned off
President Nixon’s Visit
1. Nixon came to speak at at WP graduation ceremony.
2. Secret Service was on all the roof tops and had locked the stairs to the roof top in the BOQ.
3. The day before, a heliocopter had made practice landings on Trophy Point each time coming up the Hudson and sweeping down on the point.
4. On the day Nixon came, we all looked over to the Hudson for his arrival. Instead he came from the west and landed on an athletic field. As I was walking back to the BOQ, Nixon (in his limo) came by within about 12 feet away, again in an area where he was not supposed to be.
5. Several former cadets on the faculty recalled that when they were at WP Pres. Eisenhauer came to give a similar talk. They were in the Cadet Glee Club which performed for Ike. They noticed several strange cadets who were not familiar who joined them in the Glee Club formation. They were found to be Secret Service agents wearing cadet uniforms with submachine guns hanging beneath the capes of the uniforms.
Hagopian Case
1. Hagopian was a soccer player as I recall. He and others on the team he was on were charged with an Honor violation for cheating in a class.
2. I heard the group of them drawing the name out of the hat to see which would be the named cadet in their lawsuit. Their case is still cited for the law on due process in administrative proceedings.
Gimme Shelter – the movie
1. Was walking around Times Square area when I saw a theater showing Gimme Shelter, a movie of the Rollings Stones tour that ended with people in the audience killed by motorcycle gând members who were guarding the stage at Altamont, CA. As I was watching the movie, the car with the RS suddenly started passing signs for Alabama Farm Burea Insurance Co.
Show you my bruises
1. Female client came in to see me in LA about her husband beating her up. She offered to show me her bruises and stood up as if to being taking off clothing to make bruises visible. I quickly told her I certainly believed her and that she need to go to see the doctor at once to get her condition into her medical records and to get a friend to take pictures as soon as possible.
2. Later learned that she was said to be driving around USMA in a station wagon with a mattress in the back picking up cadets at random

People

William B. Woodward Jr.

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