Posted by BG R.M. Ong (Ret) on June 1, 2021:

Greetings from Manila, Philippines! Memorial Day 2021 here is bright and sunny -- and a good time to remember my West Point classmate, Bob Metzger. Bob and I belonged to the same Company, during our entire 4 years together, so I really got to know him well. At one time he was even my roommate! I do recall him as a shy, but friendly fellow. And that he was tall, 6'3" at least, a superb athlete -- and a member of the famed Black Knights, the Army Football Team. In our room -- there was another football player with us -- Bob was the only studious one. He was never in hot water with the Academic Department, because he worked like heck to keep his grades a few comfortable notches out of danger. Perhaps his favorite subject was German, due no doubt to his ancestry, and his boyhood years in Lancaster, Pennsylvania -- a center of Amish culture. He once told me that his name "Robert" meant "red-beard" and "Metzger" meant "butcher." Bob came to West Point already well-prepared; he had spent his earlier years at the Manlius School, a private military-type institution. Little wonder that his leadership talents were quickly discovered by his classmates and Tactical Department -- and Bob spent his senior year as a Cadet Officer. Bob and I parted ways on Graduation Day, and our paths never crossed again. He joined the US Army while I served with the Philippine Army. I do know that we were in Vietnam at the same time, but somehow, we never met -- probably because I was always on the ground, while Bob was usually up in the air as an Army pilot. He did put in 20+ years of military service before he retired; and then continued working in the civilian sector -- when he wasn't busy buzzing the neighborhood with a 2-seater airplane. Well done, Bob. Be thou at peace! And now my final salute to my friend and classmate! Brigadier General Ramon M. Ong (Retired) Armed Forces of the Philippines

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