Robert Henry Schwarz

West Point, 1949

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Joe Gilbreth on June 24, 2005:

(From The Idaho Statesman. May 09, 2004.) Robert Henry Schwarz, 76, beloved husband, father and grandfather, died Thursday, May 6, 2004 after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born an Army Brat to Henry and Ethel Schwarz on Aug. 2, 1927 at Fort Sill, Okla. and accompanied his Regular Army officer father at duty tours at Fort Sill, Fort Sam Houston, the Presidio of San Francisco, Fort Ethan Allen and Fort Devens. In 1937 his father was assigned as Senior Advisor to the Idaho National Guard and the family moved to Boise where they made their permanent home. The pristine beauty of Idaho, the character of its residents and the quality of life there became Bob's standard for comparison throughout his life. His Boise boyhood and schooling were joyous and fulfilling experiences and his leadership qualities developed. His high school senior year he was Boise High School Student Body President, ROTC Cadet Battalion Commander, named an All-State football player on the Boise High State Championship Team and was a member of the National Honor Society. Bob had visited West Point as a boy in 1940 and was deeply impressed by the institution and its traditions and heritage and the outstanding merit of the graduates he had met as an Army Brat. His consuming aspiration was for a West Point education and a military career. He entered the academy in 1945 at age of 17 and thrived on his four-year cadet experience. He was on the new cadet detail each summer and he believed that the first days of indoctrination into the West Point system were especially important and that he could make a difference. Bob particularly valued the camaraderie and friendship of his West Point classmates whom he regarded "special lifetime gifts." He graduated in the Class of 1949. In 1950 he married his beloved Margie, a Boise girl. She was always the greatest joy of his entire life; he completely adored her and proudly and continuously said,"She was the best thing that ever happened to me." Four children were born to them over the next years: Katie (1952-Frankfurt), Robert (1953-Fort Belvoir), Matthew (1957-Fort Belvoir) and Jonathan (1960-Boise). Bob's family was the center of his life and his special goal was for Margie and him to nurture and rear their children to become compassionate, educated and productive citizens who contributed to the benefit of our American society. Bob's early Army career was typical: a two-year combat arms tour in Germany with an armored cavalry troop of the U.S. Constabulary in the Fulda Gap; a year in Oberammergau studying the Russian language and teaching Soviet Order of Battle; company command and battalion level staff assignments with units at Fort Story and Fort Eustis and a tour with the Army Transportation Engineering Agency. In 1960 he was in Korea on the Imjin River with the First Cavalry Division as Division Transportation Officer. In the Cuban Crisis of 1962 Bob was at Fort Meade as Second Army Movements Officer responsible for assuring the mobility readiness of Army units slated for Cuban invasion deployment. His schooling over the years was that of a successful traditional career pattern: Basic (1950) and Advanced (1956) Branch Courses, Command and General Staff College (1959), Armed Forces Staff College (1963) and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (1969). He earned advanced graduate degrees from Yale University (MS-1954) and the George Washington University (MBA-1969). As Chief of the Transportation War Plans Branch of U.S. Army Europe in Heidelberg in 1964, he traveled frequently to NATO capitals to integrate deployment plans for U.S. ground forces into NATO war plans. Bob was next designated Transportation Officer of the Berlin Brigade in 1965 and was routinely involved in Cold War dust-ups involving Soviet interdiction of the sealed trains he operated from Frankfurt and Bremerhaven into Berlin and helicopter incursions on the East German border. He advanced to G-4 of the Brigade and was in charge of the coordination for all logistics support of U.S. Army Berlin. In 1967 Bob assumed command of the 25th Support Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, Republic of Vietnam (RVN). His battalion provided combat services support for the division and all attached units and was also assigned the mission of maintaining all the isolated rearm-refuel locations for helicopter operations in the III Corps Tactical Zone of RVN. Bob was rewarded with an early promotion to full colonel and in 1969 was again in RVN as Commander of the 48th Transportation Group at Long Binh responsible for clearance of the Saigon Port terminals and line haul truck support of the III and IV Corps Tactical Zones, south into the Mekong Delta, north into the Central Highlands and northwest into Cambodia. He commanded both his Battalion and Group for the entire one-year duty tour and he believed that no future military assignment could ever again offer the personal and professional fulfillment of that time. His two commands in RVN were awarded four U.S. Meritorious Unit Citations and two RVN Cross of Gallantry Unit Citations during his two years of command; he believed he had made a difference. Although he recognized and executed his responsibilities as a professional career officer with dedication and distinction, Bob was profoundly critical of the Vietnam era U.S. national political leadership whom he believed was unwilling to spend the political capital necessary to finish a foreign civil or "peoples" war we had questionably entered. He held strong doubts about increasing the buildup of U.S. troops when a victory in Vietnam was dangerously illusionary under the U.S. "graduated response" policy. He believed continuing that course as our country's mood became significantly anti-war was resulting in questionable loss of blood and treasure while the U.S. belatedly tried to extricate itself with honor from a war we had never committed to winning. Bob was especially disappointed by the degradation in the professional quality, the diminishing moral character and the prospective grim future imposed on his beloved U.S. Army by the malaise of lack of national resolve and absence of political leadership. Upon his return from Vietnam in late 1970 he was unable to reconcile this deep frustration and believed that he was overstaying his usefulness and even compromising his oath as a Regular Army officer when he could not agree with national military policy. Even though he was assured his career zenith was in the future, he chose voluntary retirement in 1971. His military decorations were: the Legion of Merit (four awards), the Bronze Star Medal (two awards), the Purple Heart, the Air Medal (three awards), the Army Commendation Medal (three awards) and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm. His service medals included the Vietnam Service Medal with six campaign stars. He was designated an Army Logistician, earned the General Staff Badge and wore Paratrooper Wings. He believed his career had made a difference. Bob came home to Idaho with his family and completed a full second career of 17 years with Boise Cascade Corporation. There he continued the application of his knowledge and experience in larger scale logistics to the management of the transportation, energy and purchasing staff and operating activities of the company. He was promoted to corporate vice president in charge of a headquarters logistics staff and managed operations including a large trucking division, the corporate jet and helicopter fleet and international ocean shipping and terminals; he was the president of three company-owned short-line railroads. His professional associations were with the American Paper Institute, the National Industrial Transportation League, the National Freight Traffic Association and the Institute of Transportation Engineers; Bob assumed leadership positions in most of these activities and represented them and his company in the development and presentation of national transportation policy recommendations to many legislative and regulatory bodies, to include the U.S. Congress and the Interstate Commerce Commission. He retired from this second career in 1987; he believed he had made a difference. Bob enjoyed his permanent retirement in Boise immensely. He especially savored the freedom from a structured environment and being independent of schedules, meetings and deadlines. He was devoted to his children and 13 grandchildren. He joyously pursued his golf game and his computer internet "window to the world," as he called it. He read and researched voraciously and acquired an extensive music and video library. Bob and Margie traveled frequently and enjoyed many happy family times at their idyllic lakeshore cabin in Idaho's mountains. Bob was a member of St. Michael's Cathedral, Crane Creek Country Club, The Military Order of the Purple Heart and was a past member of the Arid Club. He is survived by his wife Margie; his daughter and son-in-law Kathryn and Jarrett Cross of Union Bridge, Md., their sons Nathaniel and Kevin Brooks and Matthew Cross, Nathaniel's wife Katrina and their sons Zachary and Joshua; his son and daughter-in-law Robert and Dale Schwarz of Singapore, their daughters Kristin and Erin and son Adam; his son and daughter-in-law Matthew Schwarz and Molly Mannschreck of Boise, their daughter Olivia and sons Samuel and Lukas; his son and daughter-in-law Jonathan and Diane Schwarz of Seattle and their daughters Alexandra, Hannah and Emma; and his brother Richard's widow, Margaret Schwarz of Idaho Falls. He was preceded in death by his parents Henry and Ethel Schwarz; his brother Richard Schwarz; his son-in-law Stephen Brooks; and his grandson Benjamin Brooks. The West Point motto of "Duty, Honor and Country" was the continuing beacon which guided his way. Bob believed he was a decent and honorable man, a devoted husband and father, a dedicated soldier and a contributing citizen. And, that his life had made a difference. The family wishes to thank Dr. William Kreisle, the staff at MSTI and DeAnna Root and the other care providers at St. Luke's Hospice for their expertise and loving care which made such a difference in the last months of his life. A memorial service will be held at St. Michael's Cathedral on Tuesday, May 11 at 2:00 p.m. Services are under the direction of Summers Funeral Home, Boise Chapel.

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