David Lee Sackett

West Point, 1968

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by kr on January 22, 2022:

The below remembrance for 1LT David L. Sackett cut & pasted from the 31 May 2021 Special Memorial Day Army Rugby Newsletter * X * X * The Story of a Fallen Brother - Remembering David Sackett '68 David Sackett was a special childhood friend and neighbor who was one year younger than I and who subsequently followed me to West Point. My name is Randy Pais, Class of 1967, and I am deeply honored to write a brief accounting about David. This task has been very difficult for me as he was not only a childhood friend and next-door neighbor in those early years growing up in Keystone, West Virginia after World War II, but a person who I influenced to pursue West Point. At the time, from McDowell County, there was only one person who had gone to West Point before I entered in 1963. The following year David and Don Smith from Welch High School became the third and fourth. McDowell County is in the Heart of Appalachia and due to its poverty, it became the first county in the US to have food stamps in 1964. In the late 1940s / early 1950s Keystone, West Virginia in McDowell County was a wonderful, prosperous, town deeply dependent upon coal mining with a diverse population and many Veterans who honorably served in the war. These men from the Greatest Generation had a profound effect on our upbringing and sense of patriotism. In 1950, David's family and mine were next door neighbors in a section of Keystone known as Dead Man's cut. Our families were remarkably close. David and I were only separated in age by a year so we did many things together, such as playing on the same little league baseball team and junior high school sports teams. During those formative years in Keystone, we played baseball and basketball during the summers at the Keystone Playground, which was developed and operated by the Keystone Rotary Club. We were also in the same Scout Troop. Troop 60 enabled us to make several expeditions that would have a great effect on us. We went to Camp Thomas E. Lightfoot located in central West Virginia, Claytor Lake in Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C. and the Gettysburg battlefield. A constant presence throughout was Mr. Fred Robertson, a Marine Veteran of Guadalcanal, our baseball coach, and a Scout leader. Mr. Robertson was the person responsible for directing our activities and served as an amazing role model for us. I am sure if David were here, he would agree with me that we were truly blessed by his presence and most appreciative for the role he provided for our early development. He taught us the importance of perseverance, hard work and teamwork that later would prove critical to survival at West Point years later. (continues as Part 2)

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