William Childs Westmoreland

West Point, 1936

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Tom Graham on July 20, 2005:

I could not let the passing of GEN Westmoreland go by without relating this story. In June Week 1976, I was a plebe getting ready for Buckner. I went with my classmate to the Thayer Hall Book Store to buy A Soldier Reports for my dad, a retired career Army Warrant Officer. My buddy was buying one too. (He is now a major executive with one of America's leading booksellers.) A Lieutenant Colonel motioned for my buddy and I to get into this classroom. I thought we were in major trouble for something. There in the classroom was GEN Westmoreland in a beautiful civilian suit. He was there in a classroom outside the bookstore signing his book. No one was there. No one. Just GEN Westmoreland and the Lieutenant Colonel escort officer and his briefcase. GEN Westmoreland signed our books and my squad leader notebook or something like that for Buckner. He then proceeded to talk to us. GEN Westmoreland said that LT Calley was an example of how low our Army standards had gotten for officers in Vietnam. He said about how Calley should have never been commissioned and was a misfit if we had kept our standards for Army officers high. GEN Westmoreland wished us well and we were off. The building was totally deserted. I had the distinct impression that the only persons that the GEN had seen that day for autographs for his book were my buddy and I. I don't know if that was true but it felt like that. The recently retired Chief of Staff of the Army being totally ignored. Flash forward a quarter of a century later. I was a Lieutenant Colonel getting ready to retire. GEN Sullivan ("No More Task Force Smiths!"), recently retired Chief of Staff, was at the Fort Leavenworth Bell Hall Bookstore. The line to sign his book, Hope Is Not A Method, was probably at least 100 officers long. Many officers had two or three or more books for him to sign. There were people who wanted to visit with the GEN while he signed the books. GEN Sullivan was in an open collar, khaki pants signing books and shaking hands. It felt completely different than my episode with GEN Westmoreland about 25 years previous. I often wonder if this story says more about GEN Westmoreland v. GEN Sullivan or it if is a snapshot of different officer cultures in our Army. GEN Westmoreland was a great man, whose Army deserved better than what it got in the 60s and 70s. I think both he and his Army didn't realize what they were handed in Vietnam. It was a very professional Army, a great Army but not ready or completely understanding of the war it had in Vietnam. The Army and GEN Westmoreland faced an incredibly difficult chapter in our nation's history, kept their dignity but did not win much of their nation's gratitude. Tom Graham LTC(Ret), class of 79

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