Thomas B. De Ramus

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Jose A. "Andy" Chacon on August 6, 2009:

Thomas Barnett DeRamus, Jr. Born February 5, 1929 -- Died August 4, 2009 Thomas Barnett DeRamus, Jr. was born in Montgomery, Alabama on 5 February 1929 and grew up in Verbena, population 300 souls, then and now. He graduated from Marion Military Institute in 1946 and was appointed to West Point from the 5th Congressional District in 1947. While at West Point he was Left End for the Goat Football team and boxed on A-1�s intramural team, both without great success. He generally dragged pro, thanks to handsome roommates Nort Parks, Howie Wiles, and Dick Allen. During Cow Year summer trip to MacDill Field, he met Betsy Lanier at the Tampa Yacht Club dance. They were married in 1951. After graduation, Barnett went to Benning, thence to Korea in February 1952. He served in the 32nd Infantry Regiment as a platoon leader and company XO, alongside classmate Hank Otten. During his career, Barnett had the good fortune of being a company commander three times: in the 504th Abn Inf Regiment, in the 44th Tank Battalion, and in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He had transferred to Armor in 1955. Barnett had numerous overseas assignments: Korea, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, and North Africa. He commanded the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 3rd Brigade, 4th and 1st Armored Divisions. In the latter assignment, he was with classmates John Byers and Bill DePew. He also had two years in Special Warfare. Barnett�s staff assignments included tours with the German Defense Ministry on the Joint Main Battle Tank (now our M-1), with the Vietnamese JGS, with NATO LANDSOUTH in Italy, and as chief of the military liaison group in Tunisia for two and a half years. While in Tunisia, Barnett had the honor of escorting the late General John Waters, Class of �31, our tac and WP commandant, over the Faid and Kasserine battlefields where General; Waters had fought in 1942-43.Returning to the US, Barnett�s last assignment was Fort Knox, whence he retired. After retirement, Barnett and Betsy returned to Tuscaloosa, where, having never forgotten the joys of MT&G, he briefly became a land surveyor without logarithm books, thanks to the modern world of computers. He then began teaching French and Italian at the University of Alabama while working on his Masters and PhD degrees. He studied French poetry at the Université de Clermont-Ferrand and published his doctoral dissertation on four novels of the French author-pilot, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Barnett later taught seven years at Birmingham-Southern College as Assistant Professor of French literature and Italian. Retiring from academia, Barnett bought a Piper Warrior and learned to fly the friendly skies of Alabama and beyond. Thanks to the wonders of GPS and Loran, he and Betsy flew as far south as Key West, east to St. Simon�s Island to see Pete and Pat Clay, and north to the Carolina beaches. They have multiple Brats from DC to Alabama and an ever-increasing flock of small, navigating grand-Brats.

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