Posted by XXXXXXXXXXX on April 22, 2008:

Louis Leland Anthis NO. 16704 CLASS OF 1948 KILLED IN ACTION, AUGUST 23, 1950, IN KOREA AGED 25 YEARS EVEN LOU'S closest friends could probably never agree on what his outstanding quality or characteristic was, so actively interested was he in almost every phase of life. To some, his restless energy would seem the most outstanding. On weekends from Ft. Benning, Georgia, it was not too far for him to drive to Texas or Oklahoma in order to visit with friends or be with his family for just a few hours. He often made what seemed to be spur-of-the-moment decisions and then couldn't rest easy until he'd carried out his plan. He could put life into a sterile situation. But yet, I understand that one of his favorite off-duty pursuits at the Point was to get in plenty of "gack-time". To many people, his very good humor was undoubtedly his greatest characteristic. His presence almost always put those people in his company in a better mood. And still it wasn't uncommon for a silly trifle to get on his nerves, and he could start some whopping arguments at home. Some of his friends knew him mainly as a person who was greatly interested in sports, one-time intramural doubles tennis and table-tennis champion at West Point, if I may trust my memory. Facts and figures and names of stars, both major and minor, in the world of sports, were familiar to him, and his accounts of the feats of Army's football team in the Tucker-Blanchard-Davis era would make one think he'd missed his calling as a sports writer. Nonetheless, he had a genuine feeling and love for good music and literature. We frequently used to go into music stores and listen to the latest record-albums of classical music, in order to pass away an hour or so. Lou was a good soldier. He was proud of the fact that, while at the Point, he was in a company which was considered to be a little tougher on the boys than most other companies. The "Howitzer" of 1948 wrote about him that Lou was the greatest admirer of the Schlieffen plan since von Schlieffen. He liked to recount the details of campaigns famous in military history. He was disappointed in not being able to go through paratroop training before leaving for occupation duty in Japan. To him, "Duty, Honor, Country" was full of meaning. But to speak of him as having a military bearing I think would be incorrect, and it was with some surprise that we learned that he wanted to go to West Point and follow the military profession. I'm sure that some of Lou's teachers remember him as the perfect student, but others were often at a loss to know what to do with him. His main academic interest was in the fields of geography and history. One of our favorite boyhood pastimes was to delve through a huge Rand-McNally world atlas, which our father had given Lou for a Christmas present at a very early age, and then try to stump each other with geographical questions. Once in a while I came out on top — usually he did. Of history and geography he gained a truly remarkable knowledge. He was lately looking forward to doing post-graduate study and hoped some day to teach history at West Point. To our parents, Lou was a more than usually considerate son. True, he had a decided aversion to doing duty with a lawnmower and garden hoe — after all, he was human. Fortunately, he had three brothers who usually fufllled this task. But he did yeoman service at the gasoline station, of which our father was then lessee. In the early days of the. war, when labor was becoming scarce, Lou sometimes worked there two shifts a day, from early morning until late at night, to keep the business going. Later, when away from home for long periods, at the Point or in the Army camp after graduation, he was very faithful in his frequent correspondence with home. He often liked to call upon the long-distance telephone, and it was always worth the reversed charges to talk with him for a few minutes. To me, his brother, Lou was all these things — soldier, scholar, sportsman, friend. I can't say that any one of his good qualities stood out above the rest. All together, they added up to a great character. To me, he was alwavs a challenge, and that he will remain. — Ed Anthis

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