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View a eulogy for William Brown Mitchell, USMA '65, who passed away on October 13, 1997.

William Brown Mitchell

West Point, 1965

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Robert D. Thompson on February 4, 2005:

The Eulogy of William B. Mitchell was published in the "Assembly" on or about the April 2000 issue or the next issue after that date. It is set forth below:

WILLIAM BROWN MITCHELL MEMORIAL ARTICLE


He was known by many names by his family and friends: Billy, Bubba, Mitch, and probably his favorite, Daddy, Sir. William Brown Mitchell came to West Point in 1961 from his home in Paris, Tennessee, a true son of the south. From the 6th New Cadet Company he moved to Company M-l where he and his classmates endured a rougher than average plebe year. Even as a plebe, Mitch excelled in boxing, fighting in the l35 pound weight class. He was an excellent boxer; quick and tough in a very deceptive way with good endurance. He did well in intermural competition and later won his weight class at Buckner.
One of the highlights of plebe year for Mitch was his parents? visit to West Point over Plebe Christmas. He proudly introduced his parents and his brother, Joe. To his classmates.
Mitch is probably most famous in the Class of 1965 for a stunt that became legendary in the Corps. Mitch was no stranger to a practical joke but brought his best to Company L-1 as a Firstie. No one could tell this story like Mitch, but the ingredients of the stunt were a trash can, a roll of toilet paper, soaked in water and liberally sprinkled with talcum powder, and a cherry bomb which was set off in a classmate?s room immediately before Saturday Morning Inspection. As Mitch put it, pieces of toilet paper were glued to the walls and the talcum powder was still in the air when the tac and the CQ hit the door.
For Mitch, it was the Infantry and only the Infantry. His first assignment after Airborne and Ranger School in 1965 was the 101st Airborne at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. It was a great source of pride to him that he was able to take his platoon to West Point during the Summer of 1966 to help train the yearlings at Camp Buckner. From Ft. Campbell, Mitch went to the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam where he served as a company commander and aide to General Bernard Rogers. Later he served with the Special Operations Group under Colonel Singlaub. He spent a total of 29 months in Vietnam and there won two silver stars, two bronze stars with ?V?, 15 air medals and 2 purple hearts. Upon completion of his tour in Vietnam, Mitch was assigned to the Embassy in Hong Kong where he met and married the love of his life, Sakina. They returned to Ft. Benning, Georgia where Mitch was assigned to the Ranger School.
While at Ft. Benning, Mitch put into action a plan to transfer to the Air Force. As he put it then, ?I can put a bigger hurt on the Cong with an F16 than with an M16.?
When Mitch?s request for a transfer to the Air Force was denied, he put on his civilian clothes, went out to Columbus, and took and passed the qualifying test for flight school. He then resigned his Army commission and immediately was sworn in as an Air Force Officer and assigned to flight training. Mitch lived the words of his fellow Tennessean, Davy Crockett; he made sure he was right and then he went ahead, albeit sometimes using unconventional means to get to where he needed to be.
Mitch was an outstanding Air Force Officer and pilot. He served in many places with some of the more interesting being four different bases in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Turkey.
While stationed at Bitburg, Germany, Mitch and Sakina?s daughter, Leslie was born on January 20, 1974. Over the years the father daughter relationship between Leslie and Mitch flourished in a special way that you had only to see them together or hear Mitch talk about her to recognize.
Mitch retired from active duty in the Air Force on May 31, 1993. He worked in securities marketing for a few years but decided that was not for him. Mitch found a new career, again in an unconventional manner. Mitch had tremendous mechanical aptitude and had completely torn down and rebuilt a 1964 Corvette. He had developed a strong interest in Harley Davidson Motorcycles and liked to ride as often as he could. While ?between jobs? he happened to be at the local Harley Davidson dealership buying a part when he overheard the owner of the dealership tell a disappointed customer that his shop would be unable to fix the man?s motorcycle in time for use during the coming weekend. Mitch walked out of the dealership with the man and told him he would take a look at the gentleman?s Harley which was on the back of the customer?s pick-up truck. Mitch got his tools and proceeded to repair the Harley right there in the dealership parking lot. As he was doing this, he was confronted by the angry owner of the dealership who accused him of stealing business to which Mitch responded by reminding him that he had turned the customer away. The dealer, recognizing Mitch?s candor and, more importantly his skill at repairing the Harley, promptly offered him a job. In very short order, he was the manager for the custom accessories division of the dealership. During this time he developed many friendships with bikers, who, until the time of his death, had absolutely no idea of his background.
In September of 1996, Mitch started to ?feel poorly?. He sought medical assistance and was told that he had arthritis or the flu. It was not until the Spring of 1997 that, after exploratory surgery, he was diagnosed with a rare form of small cell cancer which was determined to be untreatable.
Although in tremendous pain, Mitch lived out his time on this earth with the same steadfast but quiet courage that characterized his entire lifetime.
In addition to his family and close friends, Mitch?s funeral was attended by a contingent of 75 bikers who escorted him via a column of Harleys from Manassas, Virginia to Arlington National Cemetery where they rendered their final salute.
The 54 years which he spent on this earth were used to their fullest by William B. Mitchell. From a professional standpoint, he lived life in an unconventional manner but he got where he needed to go for the benefit of his Country, his family and his friends. BE THOU AT PEACE.






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