William Childs Westmoreland

West Point, 1936

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Jack Chase on July 23, 2005:

General Westmoreland used to say that he considered the Class of 1963 as 'his class' because his tenure as Supe corresponded with our days as cadets. Earlier this week, I glanced at the tube he handed me on June 5, 1963 which contained my diploma. With the number '374' standing out in big block font on the bottom of the container, there was certainly no special reason he should remember me. Fast forward six years. I have just returned from my first tour of duty in Vietnam and am teaching ROTC at the Ohio State University. I have submitted my resignation, having become disillusioned with the trend toward careerism in the army. General Westmoreland is now the commander of MACV and responsible for an incredibly complex mission involving the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. He pays a quickly-scheduled visit to OSU. As he walks through our offices, he glances at my name tag and muses, "hmm... Chase. Chase." Then those steely eyes brighten a bit as he looks into mine and says, "You're in the Class of '63, aren't you?" He did remember me. From that moment on, I would have followed him into hell itself. I withdrew my resignation. Fast forward once again to the early 1980's. The war is over. I am starting my new career as a full-time sculptor. General Westmoreland is retired and deeply involved in battling the media to clear his name and the honor of U.S. fighting forces as a result of the infamous Mike Wallace story on body counts. Our paths cross again in Louisville, Kentucky at a black-tie dinner commemorating the new Kentucky Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Westmoreland is the guest speaker. Now, this was a big deal in Loisville. Directly beside me one of the national network news affiliates had set up TV cameras to air the event. The cameras were running as the master of ceremonies, an Air Force brigadier general, read his prepared introductory remarks about General Westmoreland. I noticed the news crew next to me was closely following the text, which had been furnished to them earlier. The theme of the intro was that of Westmoreland as a tenacious fighter; and the MC cited examples of his actions in WWII, through Korea and then Vietnam. The punch line of the remarks was, "And General, even though you are now retired, we're pleased that you're continuing to be a fighter...against CBS." The banquet hall errupted in laughter and wild applause. The remark clearly touched a common chord in all who were present. But I noticed that just as the MC started that final punch line, the TV crew shut down their cameras. The remark never made the news. Later, as we were retiring to our rooms upstairs after the banquet, I happened to get onto the same elevator with General Westmoreland and his wife. I remarked about the TV camera incident, and said how it seemed to be an ironic continuation of the type of irresponsible selective reporting we had seen in Vietnam and in the Mike Wallace interviews. I went on to say how badly many of us felt that we didn't finish the job in Vietnam and left South Vietnam in the lurch. Then General Westmoreland recounted an event I shall never forget: He said, "Jack, a couple of months ago, I was the keynote speaker at an ASEAN conference in Singapore. My remarks were similar to the sentiments which you just expressed. After my talk, the ambassador from Malaysia came over to me and said, "General, don't ever be be ashamed or apologetic about letting us down. You didn't. What you did was give us (the other Southeast Asian countries) ten more years to prepare." " No dominoes ever fell, but by the time I had reached the fifth floor, they all clicked into place. The evening had been a confirmation and a catharsis. A confirmation of the way the Vietnam story was sold to the public. A catharsis that told me sometimes it is right to fight the impossible fight to right the unrightable wrong. General Westmoreland changed my life. Over the years he reaffirmed a sense of worthiness in myself and in thousands of others. He fought to the end to clear the honor of all of us. Honor that we -- and especially he -- never really lost. He was a modern day Don Quixote whose standards never wavered. The best of America. The epitome of West Point. May he find that impossible dream. Jack Chase I-2 Class of 1963

admin