Posted by William Bathurst on February 22, 2004:

I had known Ben was on the edge with his continuing arterial disease. His many appearances in the ER starred his beloved Liz. Together they defied doctors and diagnoses and always pulled through. I believe there was a reason ? and I will come to that - eventually. My life would not have been the same without Ben Schemmer. It certainly will not be the same without him. But first I will ramble, amplifying some of what was included in his obituary published on 16 October in the Washington Post. That was merely a log of his locations and tasks. There were no adjectives or adverbs. There was no reflection of the Ben?s spirit and purpose. And my emotions are still raw and in rage. I first met Ben when we were assigned as roommates in our second year at the military academy. Ben was a great roommate. In December of that year I was having my usual problems in gaining the Russian Language instructors understanding of my use of the language. Ultimately, I was ?found?. Now, some may recall that in days of yore when real men trod The Plain; Plebes did not leave the academy for Christmas. So this was the first Christmas for our class to return home. Those of us who had been found deficient in one or more subjects were invited to stay for Final Examination. But this year there was one voluntary exception. Ben Schemmer remained and pushed and pulled me through the final examination. That was the first of many instances of Ben?s uncommon spirit that I observed. The Army Football Team had been upset by the Navy in 1950 and then the Army team was decimated by the subsequent cheating scandal in the summer of 1951. Army lost is 1951 and 1952. So where was Ben in the fall of 1953 as Army?s football fortunes began to rise? He was the cheer leader in action. He managed the kidnapping of the Navy?s mascot, the goat, in a commando type raid at Annapolis and brought it to West Point. I doubt that anyone who was there will forget that Sunday dinner when huge plywood boards were pulled away from the PT stand in the middle of Washington Hall. There stood Ben and that goat. Magnificent! Pandemonium. Spirit zoomed, and isn?t that what cheerleaders are for? While the cadets were delighted and excited, the academy administration was alarmed and stern. The plan had been to return the goat to the Navy in Philadelphia at the Army-Navy Game the subsequent Saturday. But the Tactical Department ordered that the goat be returned to Annapolis immediately. This order caused disorder and a great demonstration vigorously led by Ben in Central Area in front of the Headquarters of the Tactical Department. (This event was headlined in one New York newspaper as ?Goat Rebellion at West Point?.) But where was the goat? Once the Cadets were in classes for the afternoon and to avoid any honor violations or further disciplinary actions, the goat?s location was revealed. Wisely the kidnappers had placed the goat in the hands of the Post Veterinarian to avoid any charges that this animal was being maltreated. Some poor Tactical Officer whose name escapes me, but probably rather junior had the task of returning the goat to Annapolis. For Ben?s spirited actions, he was demoted to Private and transferred from L-2 to (oh horrors!) B-1. So, of course, Army won the game. The fact of the matter is that Ben was on the brink of expulsion from the military academy. But a young Tactical Officer, a Captain, spoke up at the Disciplinary Committee hearing and defended Ben. Reduction in rank and transfer from L-2 was considered adequate punishment. Years later in his autobiography that General, then Captain, Alexander M. Haig, stated that Ben was just the sort of officer he would want in his unit and expulsion was not in the best interests of the service. His view prevailed. As roommates we understood that Ben was going in to the Air Force and that I was going in to the Army. What with one thing and another including Ben?s eyesight, it was reversed, and Ben entered the Army. However, I knew that Ben would not stay in what appeared to be a stultifying post Korean War army. He resigned his commission and moved in to a series of positions which permitted him to make contributions to the nation in line with his abilities and his spirit. Ben progressed from Boeing as Manager of Advanced Systems for Boeing Vertol, then as a consultant to the Army, and then as Director of Land Warfare systems in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Unfortunately for me, we seldom worked side-by-side in those days. In fact when he was in the Pentagon we found ourselves across the table from each other. I was the Special Assistant for Systems Analyses to the Commander of MATS. All of us were wrestling the airlift problems in trying to achieve some balance between the land forces and the airlift forces. Our meetings were, I believe, always professional, and he never once made me speak Russian. Ben was offered the opportunity to buy The Army-Navy Journal. Buy it he did and turned it from an historic, social journal (my wedding story was included, for Pete?s sake!) into a meaningful force as Armed Forces Journal International. Within and without all of this activity; Ben wrote, wrote, and rewrote. His pen never stopped moving. I recall a feature story Ben wrote for Look magazine. (At least I recall it as Look - but it was a similar magazine.) It was a biographical sketch of Howard Hughes. Ben?s wife Cynthia did the cover, a portrait of Hughes in his future at 80 years of age; and his young son Clinton did the photography. It was a superb family project. I would later remind Ben that Look folded within two months; but that, of course, he had absolutely nothing to do with that. Yes, right. And his pen moved on and he made his Armed Forces Journal International a widely read and deeply respected authority on all things military. He was a force in the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 which created a dramatic reorganization of the military establishment. It was his continuing ventilation of the ineffectiveness and the inefficiency of the establishment of military at that time. He also operated as an insider in the cause. That must have been a delicious experience for our Ben who savored such roles. Ben would have been an extraordinary Secretary of Defense. Of course, he would be serving under President Elizabeth Schemmer. After selling the Armed Forces Journal International, Ben moved to Florida and retired. He may have retired, but he certainly did not quit. While a spirited competitor, Ben never tired of helping others in their writings. He mentored, edited and greatly assisted other writers in their literary endeavors. Ben?s interest in covert operations, commando actions, and special operations spring from his youth. He read of Otto Skorzeny and he corresponded with J. Edgar Hoover, then Director of the FBI. The goatnapping fits right in. Upon commissioning he earned the precious Ranger tab ? a natural. One of his early instances of this interest and his journalist skills was his publication of ?The Raid?. First published in 1976, Ben?s account of the 1970s special operations mission to rescue 61 American POWs held in the prison camp at Son Tay, North Vietnam just 23 miles from Hanoi is the authoritative account. Ben did not accept the apparent, but examines all facets of the operation ? and at all levels. His work revealed great intrigue and mischief at high government levels and the Central Intelligence Agency. The book is still, almost thirty years since its publication, a must read for anyone interested in special operations. The on site commander of the Son Tay Raid was Colonel ?Bull? Simon. Ben was again an operator in forming the Bull Simon Foundation which became the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. The Foundation provides children of Special Operations forces the college education their fallen parent would have wanted for them. Please see; www.specialops.org As the Founder, this worthwhile cause was a strong life force for Ben. His editorial efforts culminated with the publication of a monumental book "U S Special Operations Forces". It was only after, just after, its publication that Ben?s course was run. And what a course it was... On Ben's way out the Hellcats played ?On Brave Old Army Team?!!

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