Posted by LYNDOL COOK on November 24, 2008:

JAMES ROLAND CAYWOOD MEMORIAL MASS January 30, 2008 Remarks by Lyndol L Cook (Classmate & Friend) HI! I'M LYNDOL COOK AND I'M HONORED TO BE HERE TODAY TO REPRESENT THE CLASS OF 1963, UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE OUR OTHER CLASSMATES HERE TODAY (ROB VANNEMAN FROM SAN FRANCISCO & CHUM ROBERT FROM VIRGINIA). CHUM WAS JIM'S WEST POINT ROOMMATE FOR THREE YEARS. JIM WAS OUR CLASSMATE, COMRADE IN ARMS, AND FRIEND FOR ALMOST FIFTY YEARS. FOR ME PERSONALLY, WE SHARED THE SAME CADET COMPANY WITH 19 OTHER CLASSMATES (INCLUDING CHUM) FOR THREE OF OUR FIRST FOUR YEARS AT WEST POINT. IF I HAD TO THINK OF ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE JAMES ROLAND CAYWOOD, IT WOULD BE "CHARACTER". WORDS LIKE DRIVEN, RESPONSIBLE, RELIABLE, CARING, COMPETITIVE, HUMBLE, AND INTEGRITY WOULD BEST EXEMPLIFY JIM'S "CHARACTER". HE WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED LEADER AT WEST POINT, AS A COMMISSIONED OFFICER, AND AS A BUSINESSMAN. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE WAS A COMPASSIONATE FAMILY MAN AND FRIEND TO MANY. ALL OF THIS WAS WRAPPED INTO A MODEST AND WONDERFUL PERSONALITY. HE HAD "CHARACTER". THE ORIGIN OF JIM'S CHARACTER CAN BE FOUND IN THE TOUGH ROAD HE CHOSE FOR HIMSELF IN ALMOST EVERY ASPECT OF HIS LIFE. AS FOUND IN THE CADET PRAYER, JIM "ALWAYS CHOSE THE HARDER RIGHT INSTEAD OF THE EASIER WRONG." ON 7 JULY 1959, JIM CAYWOOD WAS ONE OF 837 NEW CADETS WHO REPORTED TO THE "MAN IN THE RED SASH" IN THE EAST SALLY PORT, CENTRAL BARRACKS, WEST POINT, NEW YORK. AT THAT INSTANT, A NEW WAY OF LIFE HAD BEGUN AND NOTHING WOULD EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. STANDING ALONG SIDE OF JIM ON THAT FIRST DAY WAS AN OUTSTANDING GROUP OF YOUNG MEN. IN HIGH SCHOOL MOST HAD SCHOLASTIC HONORS, WERE ATHLETIC LETTERMAN, TEAM CAPTAINS, CLASS OFFICERS, AND EAGLE SCOUTS. MANY HAD ALREADY BEEN TO COLLEGE FOR ONE OR TWO YEARS. SOME HAD PRIOR MILITARY SERVICE. IT TOOK NO GENIUS TO KNOW THAT THE COMPETITION OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS AMONGST THIS GROUP WOULD BE INTENSE. BY LATE THAT FIRST AFTERNOON, NOW "NEW CADET" CAYWOOD WAS IN FULL UNIFORM, WITH A NEW HAIRCUT (OR LACK THEREOF), AND MARCHED TO TROPHY POINT WITH OUR CLASS WHERE HE WAS SWORN INTO THE UNITED STATES CORPS OF CADETS. DURING THAT FIRST DAY, HE WAS ALSO TAUGHT THE FOUR ALLOWED RESPONSES TO UPPERCLASSMEN AND TACTICAL OFFICERS. "YES, SIR"; "NO, SIR"; "SIR, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND"; AND THE MOST USED "NO EXCUSE SIR". FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS AND THE MILITARY CAREER TO FOLLOW, HAVING TO ACCEPT FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS (OR INACTIONS) WOULD NEVER BE IN DOUBT AGAIN. TO GET TO THIS STAGE, JIM WAS SELECTED FROM TWELVE OTHER APPLICANTS WHO MADE THE CUT TO BE "CONSIDERED" FOR ENTRY. IN 1959, WEST POINT WAS RANKED "NUMBER ONE IN THE COUNTRY" AS THE TOUGHEST COLLEGE ADMISSION PER APPLICANT. EARL "RED" BLAIK, THE ARMY FOOTBALL COACH, AND ERIC TIPTON, THE ARMY BASEBALL COACH HAD BOTH PERSONALLY RECRUITED JIM TO CONSIDER WEST POINT BUT, LIKE ANY OTHER APPLICANT, HE STILL HAD TO SECURE AN APPOINTMENT AND PASS ALL OF THE ENTRANCE EXAMS (SATs, MEDICAL, AND PHYSICAL). TO JOIN THIS GROUP, JIM HAD BEEN AN OUTSTANDING HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE, STUDENT AND LEADER. HE MUST HAVE ALSO HAD TREMENDOUS SUPPORT AND PRIDE FROM HIS FAMILY TO PREPARE HIM FOR HIS NEXT UNDERTAKING AT WEST POINT WHERE HE WOULD ENDURE TWO MONTHS OF "BEAST BARRACKS" FOLLOWED BY THAT DIFFICULT FIRST YEAR AS "A WEST POINT PLEBE". OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS, THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE OF OUR CLASSMATES WOULD FAIL AND LEAVE THE ACADEMY (ALMOST FORTY PERCENT). MOST FAILED ACADEMICALLY. SOME VIOLATED THE CADET HONOR CODE AND WERE EXPELLED. SOME COULD NOT MEET THE PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS AND DEMANDS. SOME DID NOT MEASURE UP TO THE LEADERSHIP AND APTITUDE REQUIREMENTS. MANY FAILED, BUT NOT JIM CAYWOOD!! ALTHOUGH HE STRUGGLED ACADEMICALLY, HE WAS DETERMINED TO SUCCEED AND HE ALWAYS DID. I'M SURE MANY OF YOU KNOW THIS DETERMINATION CARRIED WITH HIM FOR ALL OF HIS LIFE. JIM WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETE ON ARMY TEAMS IN BOTH FOOTBALL (AS A RUNNING BACK) AND BASEBALL (AS A PITCHER AND CENTERFIELDER). SPRING WAS HIS FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR WHEN BOTH THE NEW YORK YANKEES AND NEW YORK METS CAME UP TO WEST POINT TO SCRIMMAGE THE ARMY BASEBALL TEAM. JIM ALWAYS LOVED TO TEST HIS SKILLS AGAINST PLAYERS LIKE MANTLE, MARIS, BERRA, KUBEK AND FORD. ON 5 JUNE 1963, JIM WAS ONE OF 504 CLASSMATES WHO THREW HIS HAT INTO THE AIR AFTER GRADUATION FROM ONE OF THE MOST RIGOROUS FOUR-YEAR ACADEMIC, PHYSICAL, AND LEADERSHIP TESTS EVER ESTABLISHED. "CHARACTER" HAD TAKEN HIM TO THE END. BUT THE CHALLENGE DID NOT END THERE. OF THOSE 504 CLASSMATES WHO GRADUATED AND BECAME SECOND LIEUTENANTS IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY, MARINES AND AIR FORCE, 20 WOULD SOON BE KILLED IN ACTION IN VIETNAM AND FOREVER ENSHRINED ON THE BLACK STONE WALL IN WASHINGTON DC. ANOTHER 50 HAVE DIED SINCE. JIM RECEIVED HIS COMMISSION IN THE FIELD ARTILLERY AND AFTER THE ARTILLERY OFFICER'S COURSE AND THE ARMY PARACHUTE SCHOOL, HE WAS ASSIGNED, AS AN ARTILLERY OFFICER, TO THE 2D ARMORED CAVALRY IN GERMANY. IN 1967, JIM'S LEADERSHIP TRAINING WAS AGAIN TESTED WHEN HE WAS SENT TO VIETNAM AS A YOUNG CAPTAIN AND SERVED AS A COMBAT BATTERY COMMANDER IN A FIELD ARTILLERY UNIT. ONCE AGAIN, JIM EXCELLED WITH HIS LEADERSHIP AND DETERMINATION AND WAS DECORATED WITH BOTH THE BRONZE STAR AND THE AIR MEDAL FOR SERVICE TO HIS COUNTRY. ON LEAVING THE MILITARY, WITH ENTHUSIASM AND SPIRIT, HE STARTED OVER AND BEGAN AN ENTIRELY NEW LIFE AS A CIVILIAN AND BUSINESSMAN. OVER THE YEARS, JIM, AND THOSE WHO JOINED HIM, BUILT A WONDERFUL COMPANY IN WHICH HE HAD TREMENDOUS PRIDE. BUT IN HIS QUIETER MOMENTS, JIM'S GREATEST PLEASURE WAS HIS FAMILY. I COULD ALWAYS TELL WHEN HIS GRANDCHILDREN WERE COMING, OR HAD BEEN WITH HIM, BY THE TWINKLE IN HIS EYE AND THE TONE OF HIS VOICE. THE PLEASURE THEY BROUGHT HIM WAS IMMENSE. AS MANY OF YOU KNOW, JIM'S GRANDSON, JACKSON, JOINED HIM LAST MONDAY. I KNOW THERE MUST BE REJOICING IN HEAVEN TODAY AS THEY ARE TOGETHER ONCE AGAIN. WITH JIM, EVERYTHING HE DID AND EVERYONE HE TOUCHED DURING HIS BRIEF STAY HERE ON EARTH WAS DONE WITH "CHARACTER". WE ARE ALL GOING TO MISS HIM, BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT A LITTLE BIT OF JAMES ROLAND CAYWOOD, WILL BE IN OUR HEARTS EACH AND EVERY DAY UNTIL WE CAN JOIN HIM ONCE MORE. IN THE FINAL STANZA OF THE WEST POINT ALMA MATER ARE THESE WORDS: "AND WHEN OUR WORK IS DONE, OUR COURSE ON EARTH HAS RUN, MAY IT BE SAID, WELL DONE, BE THOU AT PEACE". AND SO TO OUR OLD FRIEND AND COMRADE JIM, FROM THE CLASS OF 1963, WE WANT TO TELL YOU "WELL DONE".

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