Westmoreland to a table on the Poop Deck.
Glen Blumhardt, Cadet 1st Regimental Commander, escorted Mrs. Generals MacArthur, Westmoreland and Groves took their places on the dais which had been set up just inside the main door. 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.Īfter the parade, the Corps, Tac Officers, Instructors and invited guests moved into Washington Hall. Following the presentation, Generals MacArthur and Westmoreland and I trooped the line in a jeep driven by the Supe’s driver. 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).
Remember, the Academy was wide open to the public at that time. Spectators completely surrounded the field – the Academy civilian police (who worked with the MP’s and were responsible for crowd control) estimated the number at 150,000. The dining hall had not been expanded and had not encroached on the parade field – consequently the field was larger than it is now. As you remember, the parade field was oriented differently than today with the reviewing stand directly across the street from the Superintendent’s House. That Saturday was a perfect day – clear and sunny but not too hot.
He borrowed a reel to reel recorder from a fellow cadet and made the connections. Pete was the Cadet Brigade Adjutant and used the dining hall public address system at every meal to make announcements. 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. He said they did not do that – instead they would release a copy of the speaker’s written remarks to the press after the 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. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur’s trip to West Point had been well publicized and would be a major event. General Westmoreland and Jim Ellis Parading the Corps with the General. MacArthur’s Farewell to the Corpsīy Lieutenant General James R. The Farewell – (and I have never felt it was a speech – I always felt that he was talking to us – telling us what he expected from us, of me) is at the end of this page. The recording of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur‘s Duty Honor Country Farewell on was accomplished only because Jim Ellis Class of 1962, Cadet Brigade Commander did not feel it was satisfactory to have only a written record.īelow the discussion of the events leading to the recording is a short discussion of the painting of the Pictorial of General MacArthur talking to us less than 4 weeks from Graduation.
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