Crosbie Edgerton Saint

West Point, 1958

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Gerald P. Schurtz on May 9, 2018:

Butch and I were in different Regiments, he is the First and I in the Second. We also were not ever in the same Company or organization during Summer Training. My first contact with him on a personal basis was when I was assigned to the Personnel Branch of the Army in Officer Assignments. I was to be under his direction as Assignments Officer for Company Grade Officers, specifically captains and promotable first Lieutenants. We were in the same office, thus we could monitor each other's conversations on the phone. One afternoon I heard him tell someone on the phone that his father had been lost on a Hellship as a POW of the Japanese in the Philippines. When he hung up, I told him my father had also been lost on a Hellship, carrying American POWS from the Philipines to Japan to work as slave labor. It turned out they were o the same Ship! SMALL WORLD!! This bond lived on the rest of our lives, enhanced by the thorough and proficient way in which he welcomed me and my family to Washington DC. In the 1990s Butch was CINC,USAREUR and I had the opportunity to drop by his office while visiting our enlisted son, stationed in Germany. He was his normal congenial self and we enjoyed being with him.(Butch remembered son Paul from when he was a little boy in DC) A truly fine gentleman and classmate; we will all miss him. Our condolences to his wonderful family. Bonnie and Gerry Schurtz

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