Clyde Jr Massey

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Charlie Bagnal '56 on November 7, 2003:

Skip Massey was Clyde Massey, Jr., son of Clyde Massey, who was Class of 1924 and retired as a Brigadier General. Skip entered West Point from Brownsville, TX. It was good fortune for us in the Class of 1956 to enter G-1 and to have as a yearling in our company Skip Massey. Skip roomed with Bob Blitch, also from Texas, and a great man also. Skip was on the West Point boxing team and was also a champion AAU boxer. I believe he fought in the 155 lb. category. If he ever lost a bout, it was rare. Skip ended up near the very end of his class because of academics. His bathrobe was adorned with turnout stars (I believe that's what we called them). By the time Skip graduated no one had ever seen so many stars on one bathrobe. Some plebes who were having academic trouble would be brought by upperclassmen to see the stars on Skip's bathrobe and to talk with Skip for encouragement. The good fortune in being in the same company with Skip Massey and Bob Blitch came from the fact that not only did they help make Plebe year tolerable, but they helped make it downright enjoyable, most of the time. Skip and Bob both played the guitar and sang. They knew all sorts of entertaining songs and stories and would share them with us as often as they could until one of the firsties had enough. All of this would lead you to conclude naturally and accurately that Skip was at the bottom of his class only because he had too much else to do. When Skip graduated in 1955 he chose infantry and also became an army aviator. Prior to 1979 I saw Skip only one time and that was in Vietnam in 1966 or 1967. I was Deputy Superintendent at West Point from 1977-1980. On July 1,1979 the day prior to the Class of 1983 entering the academy, when I arrived home that evening, sitting on our front porch with Patsy Bagnal were Skip Massey and his son, Kenneth Joseph Massey, who was to enter with the Class of 1983 the next day. He looked like his Dad except he had red hair. Patsy knew Skip from our days as cadets and she had been entertaining them for a couple of hours when I arrived. We continued talking and getting up to date for a few more hours. The next day another Massey entered West Point and graduated in 1983. He became an Army Aviator following in his Dad's footsteps. That evening of July 1, 1979, when Patsy and I went to bed she told me a remarkable story that Skip had shared with her. He told Patsy that as she knew when he was a cadet he didn't care about religion, and he believed that there was a God but it didn't make any difference to him. He said he slept through most of the cadet chapel services. He said his attitude about religion remained the same until he went to Vietnam. On one of his flights he was shot down and wounded. He said that he had to evade for some days and that he was near capture more than once. Early on during this time he was very scared and all of a sudden the Cadet Prayer popped into his mind and he said it over and over again. He said he had not thought about the Cadet Prayer since graduation, but he remembered every word of it. He said he had never prayed but wanted to talk to God at this time and seek his help and the Cadet Prayer just popped out. He said he learned to pray during this time and told God that if He would help him get free that he would be His servant. He told Patsy that since that day he had thanked God every day that he had to learn the Cadet Prayer at West Point. I just thought all of you would like to hear that story at this Thanksgiving season. I hope it is meaningful to you also. Grip hands and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families, Charlie Bagnal

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