TMI Distinguished Alumni

List of 37 items.

• 1897 (bio) – General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, US Army

  Soldier, statesman, and one of the most controversial figures in American history

  • One of only nine officers to ever hold Five-Star Rank
  • Commander of Allied Forces Southwest Pacific in World War II
  • Commander U.N. Forces in the Korean War
  • Accepted Surrender of Japan
  • A member of the only father-son pair to be awarded the Medal of Honor
  • Revered in Japan for molding the country into a modern democratic, economic giant
  • Revered in Korea as a military leader and savior of the country
  • Youngest Chief of Staff of the Army in history
  • Father of Modern West Point
  • Holder of three Distinguish Service Crosses and seven Silver Stars for valor
  • Most controversial general in American history, having clashed with three Presidents over policy

  
  Douglas MacArthur was one of TMI's 49 original cadets and attended TMI from 1893 - 1897.

  

  After graduation from TMI and West Point, Douglas MacArthur went to the violence-torn Philippines in the days after the conclusion of the Philippine Insurrection. Traveling the Far East, he became familiar with the Japanese military and culture. In 1914, he was recommended for the Medal of Honor for bravery while performing reconnaissance behind Mexican lines during the United States’ expedition in Vera Cruz, Mexico. During World War I, MacArthur served with the 42nd Division and was credited with naming in the “Rainbow” Division because the division recruited its members nationwide. Serving as the division chief of staff and as a brigade commander, he led from the front. He led initial patrols into German lines and went “over the top” as first man out of the trenches attacking into “no man’s land.” MacArthur was awarded numerous U.S. and foreign awards for valor and was wounded twice.
  
  

  After the war, MacArthur became the Superintendent of West Point and came to be known as the Father of Modern West Point. There he initiated summer training at military installations, modernized the curriculum, started intramural sports, and curtailed hazing. In 1928, he led the U.S. Olympic Team to Amsterdam. In 1930, President Herbert Hoover appointed MacArthur as the youngest Chief of Staff of the Army in history. It was under the Hoover Administration the General MacArthur started to become controversial. When thousands of veterans protested conditions during the Great Depression by camping in Washington, D.C., President Hoover ordered regular army troops to evict them. General MacArthur took personal responsibility for the mission. Afterwards, some credited MacArthur with saving the country from communist agitators among the protesters while others vilified him for exceeding his authority and for dealing harshly with needy veterans.
  
  

  Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept MacArthur as the Chief of Staff of the Army, these two would also clash. The President intended to cut the military budget. MacArthur went to the White House threatening to resign and take his case to the people because he believed the cuts would result in a loss in the next war. FDR relented, and the military budget was not cut. FDR called MacArthur “the conscience of America” and America’s “best general and worst politician.” Upon retirement from the Army, MacArthur was named military adviser to the Philippines as the threat of Japanese militarism loomed ominously in Asia. The Philippine Commonwealth named him as Field Marshal.
  
  

  Six months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR recalled MacArthur to active duty to command the Philippine and United States’ forces. Despite improvements in training and equipment, the Philippine Army and United States’ small force was no match for the Japanese. General MacArthur led a valiant but hopeless defense of the Philippines against Japanese forces. Falling back to Bataan Peninsula nd Corregidor Island, General MacArthur begged for reinforcements, but none were sent. As the Philippine and United States’ forces—short on ammunition and disease-ridden—came close to being overwhelmed, MacArthur was ordered to leave the Philippines and lead the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific. Departing by a PT boat he proceeded to Australia (PT boat flag in TMI library).
  
  

  From there, General MacArthur’s strategy centered on island hopping and bypassing Japanese strongholds en route back to liberation of the Philippines. His words, “I shall return,” became a battle cry of allied forces. General MacArthur’s strategy was in sharp contrast to that of the Central Pacific where frontal assaults against heavily defended strongholds cost heavy Marine Corps’ casualties. Many credit General MacArthur’s strategy with saving thousands of allied lives. In 1945, MacArthur returned to the Philippines and marched into Manila.
  
  

  On September 2, 1945, General MacArthur assumed powers as Supreme Commander Allied Forces and accepted the Japanese surrender on the USS MISSOURI. He personally oversaw the rebuilding of Japan. A new constitution, land reforms, freedom of the press, trade unions, and women’s right to vote were radical introductions to the Japanese culture. His impact on peace in Asia, especially the refocusing of Japan from samurai to entrepreneur, is felt today and will be felt for the foreseeable future.
  
  

  In 1950, with the invasion of South Korea by the communist North, General MacArthur again took command, this time of all United Nations forces. His landings at Inchon behind enemy lines are considered a brilliant military maneuver that saved an allied force on the brink of defeat in the defense of the Pusan Perimeter. Under his leadership, UN forces drove North Korean troops back to the Chinese border along the Yalu River. At that time, China entered the war by launching a massive counterattack caught the UN forces that catching UN forces by surprise.
  
  

  General MacArthur wanted to blockade China, bomb enemy supply lines in China, and use Chinese nationalist troops in the war. Disagreements over strategy led to a sharp division between MacArthur and President Truman. Ultimately, President Truman relieved MacArthur of his command. Despite the setback, General MacArthur was given a hero’s welcome throughout the United States. In a farewell speech to Congress, MacArthur made the now famous observation that, “old soldiers never die—they just fade away.”

  
  Earliest Years in Uniform

  Before Douglas MacArthur attended West Point he was one of the original 49 cadets enrolled at West Texas Military Academy (WTMA) during its first year, 1893-1894. WTMA has since become Texas Military Institute which still carries on its traditions in San Antonio, Texas. The schools first Headmaster, Rev. Allen Burleson, said MacArthur was the, "Brightest student he had ever known," not withstanding the thousands he had over his lifetime. Douglas was said to be a wizard at mathematics, knew history "up-side-down," and talked about famous men "As if they were his friends." He was a sponge for knowledge with a photographic memory. His grade point average as a freshman was 96.3, as a sophomore 95.15, as a junior 96.3, and as a senior 97.33. In mathematics, his last two years, he earned a 97.65% and 99.07%. As a junior and senior he was awarded medals for both the highest scholarship and military achievement. Years later, General MacArthur would write that TMI gave him "A desire to know, a seeking for reason why, a search for the truth." TMI prepared him well for the academic challenges of West Point. He achieved a record 93.33 % on the West Point exam (the next highest score 77.9%). At West Point, his grade point average was 98.14 and in several courses he was the only cadet ever to score a perfect 100%.
  
  

  Douglas was not only a scholar, he was also selected as First Sergeant of A Company his senior year at TMI, a position of significant responsibility in the small cadet corps. His classmates credit TMI with his decision to become a soldier. Again, TMI prepared him well. According to a West Point classmate, "He entered West Point and instead of being a confused plebe, he was in many ways a veteran soldier." MacArthur went on to command the Corps at West Point. At TMI, he became a servant leader. He led by example and cared for those he led and his leaders. TMI's reputation for collegiate scholarship was started in part because of this concern for others. In the spring of 1896, Cadet MacArthur was taking exams seated behind Cadet Charles Quinn '96, the Battalion Adjutant. Quinn's exam results would determine if he would continue on to college. The questions toward the end of the exam became more difficult, Quinn became discouraged, placed his exam in the trash, and left. MacArthur, seeing this, pulled the test out and put it on the teacher's desk. Days later, results were announced and Quinn had passed. Cadet Quinn went on to Purdue, graduated with honors at the head of his class and became the first TMI alumnus to receive a college diploma.
  
  

  Douglas MacArthur was also an athlete. He captained the tennis team and in baseball, played shortstop. On the football team he was the team captain and quarterback. TMI played one team with a particularly nasty reputation for dirty tricks on the field. Douglas asked the opposing team how they would like to play, by the rules as gentlemen, or otherwise TMI was ready to give as tough as they got. The opposing team played the cleanest game ever and lost. Douglas always showed a fighting spirit for everything, whether it was in the classroom, on the drill or athletic fields.
  
  

  According to his classmates, Douglas was a "regular fellow" and was liked by every member of his class and teammates. He attended the school dances and girls counted him a "prize," but in other ways he was different. He knew how to be at ease when the rest of the students were self-conscious. Despite his military assignments, Douglas returned to TMI three times after graduation. He visited as a lieutenant in 1911, as the youngest Chief of Staff of the Army in 1939, and finally as retiring General of the Army in 1951. General Douglas MacArthur said upon his visit in 1951, "This is where I started, and I thank a merciful God that I am able to come back to the school again."
  
  

  To date, TMI has produced since MacArthur’s graduation thirteen other general officers, two congressmen, two bishops, two university presidents as well as five Distinguished Serve Cross recipients. The general’s statue stands to the right side of the formation area of the Cadet Corps where he symbolically watches over the Corps. Cadet are required to salute the statue daily.

• 1900 (bio) – Julian Onderdonk, Father of Texas Painting

  "FATHER OF TEXAS PAINTING"

  R. Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922), Class of 1900, considered the “Father of Texas Painting,” has had three of his paintings hung in the White House. The paintings are titled “Chili Queens at the Alamo", "Cactus Flowers," and "Near San Antonio." Onderdonk has painted over 400 pieces. Prior to the White House recognition, his paintings have been priced between $14,000 and $20,000. Likely in the near future, their value will increase further.
  
  

  Onderdonk attended TMI for two years, 1888-1900. According to the Witte Museum, "In the Texas art market, Julian Onderdonk, is probably the most desirable painter to collect." Onderdonk was the art editor of The Bugle Notes, which was one of the predecessors to our TMI Today. His first published work was the cover of that publication. While at TMI he was a cadet in A Company and the right tackle on the football team.
  
  

  After graduation he left San Antonio and studied art in New York City. Onderdonk returned to San Antonio in 1909 and made his mark on the art world addressing Texas subjects. A collection of his works has been displayed at Harry Halff Fine Arts in San Antonio.
  
  

• 1906 – Rev. Frank A. Juhan, Bishop/Football Hall of Fame

• 1910 (bio) – Milton H. West, Congressman

  In service of the law

  Milton Horace West spent his entire adult life in the service of the law – as a Texas Ranger, lawyer, state legislator and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
  
  West, who represented the Brownsville area’s Texas 15th Congressional District, was preceded in office by a man who was elected vice president of the United States and was succeeded by one who became a U.S. Senator and Secretary of the Treasury.
  
  West is one of three members of the U.S. Congress among TMI alumni; the other two are Maury Maverick Jr. ’38 and Lamar Smith ’65.

  Born June 30, 1888, on a farm near Gonzales, Texas, he was one of the six children of Milton Crockett and Pauline Cocke West. He attended the Gonzales public schools until the fall of 1908, when he started the first of his two years at West Texas Military Academy (later TMI Episcopal). At West Texas, he was first corporal of his cadet company and a member of its crack rifle team. He also was a pitcher on the school’s baseball team (second from left, middle row, image above).
  
  

  After graduating in 1910, West was offered a commission in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but chose instead to serve two years in the Texas Rangers under Capt. J.M. Fox, whose Company C. was stationed in Brownsville. He next studied law with Judge James A. King and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1915. West first practiced in his home town of Floresville, where he married Temple Worley in 1916. The following year, the young couple moved to Brownsville, where West furthered his career working first for James B. “Jim” Wells and then for H.L. Yates, both colorful politicos of the border region.
  
  

  In 1922, West became a partner in the Brownsville firm of Canales, Davenport and West, the position from which he moved into the pursuit of elective office. He served as district attorney for an area comprising Cameron and Nueces counties and went on to serve two terms representing Brownsville and Cameron County in the state legislature, advocating successfully for funding to make Brownsville a deep-water port.
  
  

  When John Nance Garner, the “sage of Uvalde,” resigned his House seat to become President Franklin Roosevelt’s first vice president after the 1932 election, West won a special election to succeed him.
  
  

  In Congress, West worked for ratification of the 1945 water rights treaty between the United States and Mexico and served on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee from 1939 onward. A Democrat, he was known for crossing party lines to vote as he thought best for his district.
  
  

  Because of a serious illness, West was not a candidate for re-election when he died at age 60, Oct. 28, 1948, in Washington D.C. His Congressional seat was won by McAllen attorney Lloyd M. Bentsen, then age 27 and one of the youngest men ever to serve in the House. Bentsen would go on to serve 20 years in the U.S. Senate, eventually chairing the Senate Finance Committee, and was chosen Secretary of the Treasury by President William Jefferson Clinton in his first administration.
  
  

  West, who was survived by his widow and their only child, Milton H. West Jr., is buried in Brownsville’s Buena Vista Cemetery.
  
  

  Sources: Congressional Biographical Directory, Handbook of Texas, Brownsville Herald, Oct. 31, 1948; San Antonio Express, Oct. 29, 1948.

• 1911 (bio) – LTG John B. Coulter, US Army

  From West Texas Military Academy to "Coulter's Dogs"

  Lt. Gen. John B. Coulter was born in San Antonio on April 27, 1891. As a cadet at West Texas Military Academy, he commanded Company B and played fullback on the football team. He was an outstanding scholar honored at graduation as class salutatorian and recipient of the Declamation Medal.
  
  Along with eight classmates, he was commissioned straight from West Texas into the Army. Coulter’s call to service came in the middle of his post-graduate year, and he was commissioned a second lieutenant of cavalry Nov. 30, 1912.
  
  

  Lt. Coulter initially was assigned to the 14th Cavalry with Mexican Border duty near Brownsville, Texas. At this time, he first saw combat June 15, 1916 he fought with M Troop against 100 raiders from Pancho Villa’s army at Ygnacio, 40 miles south of Laredo. In this surprise attack, four U.S. troopers were lost, six raiders were killed and eight captured.
  
  

  After this, 1st Lt. Coulter was appointed adjutant of Fort McIntosh near Laredo, then became aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. William A. Mann, 2nd Brigade commander. As the National Guard mobilized for the Mexican Border crisis, Coulter was moved to Camp Wilson in San Antonio. With the onset of World War I, Capt. Coulter performed similar duty with mobilization as an instructor in support of the District of Columbia National Guard until August 1917. When Mann took command of the famous 42nd “Rainbow” Division, he recalled Coulter to serve again as his aide-de-camp.

  Between October 1917 and January 1918, he served with that division in France, alongside Gen. Douglas McArthur, TMI Class of 1897. Maj. Coulter returned to the United States for five months as aide to Mann, by then Commander of the Eastern Department. Coulter next became adjutant of the 154th Brigade at Camp Meade, Md., until he took command of an African American unit, the 2nd Battalion, 808th Pioneer Infantry. He returned to France and commanded that unit in combat during the St. Mihiel Offensive.

  After the war, Coulter had duty in the Personnel Branch of the War Department. He then returned to his old regiment as the commander of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry, this time in Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In 1922, he returned to Washington DC, and became the Chief of Materiel for the Chief of Cavalry and later served as the latter’s executive officer.

  Coulter returned to Texas for five years starting in 1927. At Fort Bliss, he commanded a squadron of the 8th Cavalry and became the Assistant Plans and Training Officer for the 1st Cavalry Division. He was then called back to Washington and served in the Military Intelligence Division as Chief for Latin America and then as Chief for Military Attaché and Foreign Liaison.

  In 1938, Lt. Col. Coulter returned to troops as executive officer of the 4th Cavalry Regiment and in December 1940, assumed command of the regiment at Fort Meade, South Dakota and was promoted to colonel. After promotion to brigadier general, he took command of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade in Phoenix, Ariz., a few days prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That crisis saw his brigade patrolling the border for the next few months, and Coulter was given additional responsibility as Commander of Southern Land Frontier Sector of the Western Defense Command.

  In April 1942, he took command of the 2nd Cavalry Division and as that unit was disbanded joined the 85th Infantry Division as the Assistant Division Commander in July 1942. He took command of the division in February, was promoted to major general and led them first through the Louisiana Maneuvers, then desert warfare training in California and finally deployment to North Africa. He was one of only a few division commanders who were not West Point graduates during World War II.

  After almost two months of amphibious training the division was committed to combat April 10, 1944, facing the strong German defenses of the Gustav Line in Italy. The division would spend 260 days in combat and fight through both the Gustav and the Gothic Lines during the Rome-Arno, North Apennines and Po Valley campaigns. Reflective of the brutal nature of the Italian campaign suffer 7,268 casualties to include 1,717 killed in action. Known as the “Custer Division” for its “CD” styled patch, the division’s soldiers were nicknamed “Coulter’s Dogs.”

  
  After the war

  After World War II, Maj. Gen. John Coulter returned to the United States first as Commander, Infantry Replacement Center at Fort McClellan, Ala., and then as Deputy Commander, Fourth Army at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. By 1948 he went overseas again as Division Commander of the 7th Infantry Division in Japan. This was followed by his appointment as Deputy Commander of U.S. Army Forces in Korea and then Commanding General of I Corps in Japan. After a little over two years in the Far East, he returned to the United States as Deputy Commander General of the Fifth Army in Chicago.
  
  

  Shortly after the Korean War began, Coulter took command of I Corps at Fort Bragg and deployed them to combat. Two weeks after arrival he was sent to shore up the Korean Army on the east coast of the Pusan Perimeter. There he was praised for his tough leadership in motivating the Koreans to fight with minimal U.S. reinforcements and was awarded the Silver Star.

  In September 1950, he took command of IX Corps. In the offensive north, the Corps commanded the 2nd Infantry, 25th Infantry Divisions and the Turkish Brigade. Unfortunately the Corps received the brunt of the surprise Chinese entrée into the war, and Coulter led a fighting withdrawal.

  In February 1951, he was promoted to lieutenant general and became Deputy Commander of the Eighth Army, responsible for liaison with South Korean President Syngman Rhee. In 1952, Coulter returned to the United States and retired from active duty.

  His involvement with the Republic of Korea did not end. He next became the Director of the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency. Under his leadership, with $148.5 million contributed by 39 countries, improvements were made to roads, industry, schools, housing and agriculture. He was pulled for a time in 1956 by the United Nations to serve as an adviser to the Secretary General during the 1956 Middle East crisis. Coulter also led the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency until it stood down in 1958. During the 1960s he was resident of the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation (the equivalent of Radio Free Europe). Prior to his death he was active in TMI Alumni affairs.

  In recognition for his efforts for Korea a statue was dedicated with his likeliness by President Syngman Rhee on 16 October 1959. The statue originally stood in the Itaewon District of Seoul; rededicated in 1977, it now stands outside the Children’s Grand Park near the Sheridan Walker Hotel in Sung-Dong District of Seoul.

  Coulter died in 1983 in Washington D.C. He was a graduate of Cavalry School, a distinguished graduate of the Command and General Staff College, the French Command and General Staff College, the Army War College and the Naval War College. His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters.

  Foreign governments awarded him the Belgian Order of Leopold II, the Ecuadorian Estrella de Aldon Calderon Second Class, Mexican Military Merit, Insignia of Grand Officer Order del Sol of Peru, Cuban Order of Military Merit with white insignia first class, Italian Order of Saints Maurice & Lazarus in grade of commander, and the French Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre with palm.

• 1911 – BG Allen Driscoll Rooke, US Army

• 1912 (bio) – BG Arthur Bee McDaniel, US Air Force

  TMI has discovered the eleventh alumni who has risen to the grade of general in our armed forces. Arthur McDaniel '12 attended West Texas Military Academy where he was a cadet officer.
  
  

  He played on the football team and broke his collarbone his senior year. After graduating from the University of Austin in 1917 with a Bachelor of Law, he was commissioned as an Infantry Officer and served during World War I on the Mexican Border, in France, and in Germany. He went on to join the fledgling Air Service and became a pilot of great prominence.
  
  

  In 1926, he flew the "San Antonio," one of the five planes in the historic Pan American Goodwill Flight. This flight delivered messages of goodwill from President Hoover and was a test to explore the possibilities of aerial service in Latin American. After two of the participating ten airman died, Arthur was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
  
  

  He went on to positions of significant responsibility in the Army Air Corps. In 1943, while commanding the III Reconnaissance Command, he died of a heart attack and was buried with full military honors in Alabama.

• 1912 – Rafaelo Diaz, Metropolitan Opera Star

• 1914 (bio) – Edgar Tobin, World War I Ace

  Edgar G. Tobin, Class of 1914, was the first Texan to become and "Ace" and very likely the youngest Major in France at twenty-two. He flew with the 103rd Aero Squadron, which formed around the Lafayette Escadrille. He is credited with shooting down six confirmed and two unconfirmed enemy aircraft. "While leading a patrol of three aircraft, he attacked an enemy formation of six single seater aircraft. He destroyed two himself and forced a third down." For his action he received the nation's second highest award for valor, The Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.
  
  

  After the war, he founded "TOBIN INTERNATIONAL," which for over 75 years was a leader in map services and had the largest map collection in the world, second only to National Geographic. His company employed 275 in Texas, Denver and Russia and generated $30 million in revenue. Today, geologists and landsmen use the word "Tobin" as a generic term for maps. Edgar Tobin began map work and largely left flying after a 1928 plane crash. He died in 1954.

• 1919 (bio) – BG John Harry Stadler, US Army

  From West Texas Military Academy to the military

  John Harry Stadler was born Feb. 10, 1903 in Brackettville, Texas, the son of Judge and Mrs. John H. Stadler Jr. His early life’s ambition was influenced by the cavalry of nearby Fort Clark. He attended West Texas Military Academy (WTMA, later TMI) from 1917 until his graduation in 1919. At WTMA, he played left field on the baseball team and helped win an Academic League championship. He was a member of Company A and became Battalion Ordnance Sergeant his senior year. The yearbook’s class prophecy for graduating seniors predicted that Harry would become mayor of “his old home town of Del Rio,” but his desire was to remain in uniform.
  
  

  After high school, he spent a year at Marion Military Institute, a military junior college in Marion, Ala. In 1920, he entered the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) where he was described as a “quiet-thinking, ambitious, truly American young man.” After being commissioned in the cavalry, he returned to Texas and served almost six years at Fort Clark with the 5th Cavalry Regiment. There he married Mary Hereford of Dallas. In Texas tradition, he was a good horseman and tried out for the All Army Polo Team.
  
  

  In 1930 he was assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas, and attended the Troop Officers Course and Advanced Equitation Course at the Cavalry School. He was next assigned to Quantico, Va., where he served as Army Liaison Officer to the Marine Corps and graduated from the Marine Corps School – training he would later put to use in World War II amphibious operations.
  
  

  Stadler next was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meyer, Va., outside Washington D.C., where he commanded E Troop. In 1938, he became aide-de-camp for Brig. Gen. George Grunert, commander of the 23rd Brigade, Philippine Division, at Fort William McKinley in the Philippines. When Grunert was transferred to command the 5th Infantry Brigade at Vancouver, Wash., Capt. Stadler went with him. He later returned to the Philippine Department as Assistant Operations Officer.

  At the start of World War II, Maj. Stadler was Assistant Personnel Officer (G-1) of the US Army Ground Forces. Receiving promotions to Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, he took command of the 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in March 1943. The regiment had recently given up their horses and converted to infantry for deployment to the Pacific Theater. Bringing the regiment to Australia, they conducted jungle and amphibious training for six months.
  
  

  Stadler commanded the regiment from 1943 to 1945 and first led his troops in combat in the amphibious assault on Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands. In the fighting which followed their amphibious landing in Leyte, Philippine Islands, he was wounded and was awarded the Silver Star with a citation “for gallantry in personally leading his regiment of the First Cavalry Division out of almost impassable mountainous terrain in which they fought for nearly a month…Col. Stadler inspired his regiment to further efforts that resulted in the capture of a key point in the Japanese line of communications, the regiment’s objective.”
  
  

  While the regiment was attacking through the Ormoc Valley, the Headquarters Troop aided by elements of G Troop fought an intense engagement against 75 enemy soldiers of the Japanese 1st Artillery armed with light machine guns and 105mm howitzers. Col. Stadler led the final assault, in which 60 enemy soldiers were killed in close combat, nine members of the U.S. assault forces were lost and 50 were wounded. For their heroism in this engagement, Headquarters Troop was awarded a Presidential Citation.
  
  

  Col. Stadler was given command of the 1st Cavalry Brigade (5th & 12th Cavalry Regiments), 1st Cavalry Division and subsequently promoted to Brigadier General. During February 1945 he participated in the capture of Manila under the leadership of fellow TMI alumnus Douglas MacArthur ’97 and was able to greet many old friends liberated from Japanese imprisonment. Immediately after the war he continued to command his brigade on occupation duty and was appointed provost marshal of Yokohama, Japan.
  
  

  Returning to the United States

  Returning to the United States after 24 months in the Pacific Theater, he served on the Army General Staff in Operations and Training.
  
  

  A graduate of the Command and General Staff College and National War College, Stadler was a recipient of the Legion of Merit, Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal and Combat Infantry Badge. He retired from active duty Jan. 1, 1950, and returned to Texas, where he operated a ranch near Del Rio and lived there and in San Antonio. His management of the farm was very successful despite a stroke in 1959 after which he needed to use a wheelchair.
  
  

  Stadler died at Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, April 20, 1970, and is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, right (Veteran’s Administration photo).
  
  

  Compiled by retired Army Lt. Col. John A. Coulter, former TMI Commandant (2001-2007)

  Sources: 12th Cavalry Regiment Association, http://www.12thcav.us The Howitzer 1924 (West Point yearbook); Service summary, West Point Association of Graduates; San Antonio Express, Feb. 9, 1945; San Antonio Light, Nov. 5. 1945; U.S. Center for Military History, www.history.army.mil.

• 1920 – Ross Youngs, Baseball Hall of Fame

• 1927 – Rev. Robert R. Brown, Bishop

• 1929 – BG W. Ray Weston, Texas National Guard

• 1930 (bio) – GEN Ralph E. Haines, US Army

  Class Valedictorian, Most Representative Cadet and Best Scholar

  General Ralph E. Haines entered Texas Military Institute in 1927. While a cadet at TMI he was a member of the Tennis Team, Drill Team and was on the school newspaper staff. He was the vice president of the junior class, president of the senior class, editor and chief of the yearbook and secretary of the National Honor Society. He served as the Cadet Battalion Publicity and Intelligence Officer (S-2) his senior year and was selected as Class Valedictorian, Most Representative Cadet and Best Scholar.
  
  

  He subsequently attended the US Military Academy at West Point. He graduated with the Class of 1935 and was commissioned in the Cavalry. He served the next five years on horseback first with the 26th Cavalry Regiment, of the Philippine Scouts and later with the 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division in Texas. In 1940 with President Roosevelt’s declaration of a National Emergency, he was transferred to the fledgling Armored Forces as a Tank Company Commander and later a Battalion Commander with the 1st Armored Division. As a battalion commandeer he participated in both the Louisiana and Carolina Maneuvers.
  
  

  With the advent of World War II, General Haines was transferred to the 8th Armored Division as commander of the 8th Armored Cavalry Squadron and later Division Chief of Staff of Plans and Operations. Transfer to the Mediterranean Theater he served as the II Corps Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations during the capture of Rome and during the breach of the German Gothic Line and PO River crossing. In the Spring 1945 he took command of the 350th Infantry Regiment of the 88th Infantry Division in the Trieste area of Italy. After three and a half years of combat and occupation duty in Italy he returned to the United States.
  
  

  Shortly after his return, he started work in a variety of high-level staff positions. He first served in the Office of the Army’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations. Later he was the Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of the Army and was the Military Secretary for Army Policy Council. In 1953 General Haines was one of a select group of officers to form the Combat Development Group where he helped develop future army doctrine, organization and material requirements.

  In 1954 he took command of the Division Trains and later commanded Combat Command “B” of the 2nd Armored Division in Germany. Between 1955 and 1957 he was the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations, US Army Europe and NATO’s Central Army Group.

  Returning to the United States, General Haines became the Chief Plans Division, Plans and Policy (J-5) of the Joint Chief of Staff. In 1960, he became the Assistant Division Commander for the 2nd Armor Division. Taking command of the division he led the 2nd Armor Division during the Cuban Missile Crisis that included the movement from Fort Hood to positions in Florida and Georgia. In 1961, General Haines headed the board, which revamped army wide logistic structure.

  Between 1963 and 1965, General Haines was the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development, Department of the Army. Promoted to Lieutenant General he took command of III Corps and Fort Hood in March 1965. During 1966 he chaired the “Haines Board” which revamped army wide officer schooling system. In 1967 he was awarded his fourth star, promoted to the rank of general and sworn in as Vice Chief of Staff, United States Army. The next year General Haines was named as the Commander in Chief US Army Pacific. This was the height of the Vietnam War and army forces in Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Philippines, Okinawa and Thailand came under his oversight.

  Between 1970 and 1973, General Haines commanded the United States Army Continental Army Command as well as the US Army Readiness Command and US Army Forces Atlantic. His command numbered 650,000 active and reserve army personal and 100,000 civilian employees. After 37 year of active duty General Haines retired on 31 January 1973.

  During his retirement as a Distinguished Eagle Scout he has held key positions with the Alamo Boy Scout Area Council for over twenty years. He is a lifetime member of the Board of Trustees of TMI. A frequent speaker at a variety of business, service clubs and churches, he is a committed Christian who is active at the parish to national level. General Haines is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, Army War College and National War College. His decorations include the Combat Infantry Badge, Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak Leaf clusters, Bronze Star, the Czechoslovakian Medal for Merit, order of the Crown of Italy and Italian War Cross of War for Merit. The Distinguished Reserve Drill Instructor of the Year Award is named in his honor.

  General Haines was married to the former Sally Swift who died in 2003. She was the daughter of a fifth generation army officer. His two sons graduated from West Point to include LTC (ret) William Haines, TMI Class of 1961.

• 1932 (bio) – BG David Lee Hill, Texas Air National Guard

  BG Hill became the fifth TMI alumnus to receive the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), the nation's second highest award for valor. On 25 May, the United States presented Tex this award here in San Antonio.
  
  

  After graduating from Austin College, General Hill was commissioned as a naval aviator in 1938. He left naval service in 1941, prior to the United States’ entry into World War II, and became one of the first pilots of the famous "Flying Tigers" in the service of China as they fought the Japanese. This action was reminiscent of two other TMI Alumni: Major Edgar Tobin '14 and CPT H. Cylde Balsley '10, who joined the French forces prior to the U.S. joining the World War I effort. Both flew for France as members of the famous Lafayette Escadrille. Many say that John Wayne’s starring role in the movie Flying Tigers was based on Tex.
  
  

  Tex commanded the 2nd Squadron in the Flying Tigers until July 1942. Upon the United States’ entry into the war, Tex became an officer in the Army Air Force and commanded the 23rd Fighter Group in combat. The World War II ace was credited with 18 ½ aerial victories against the Japanese and had more than 20 probable additional victories. He commanded the first air strike on Formosa in 1943.
  
  

  In the closing days of the war, he commanded the first Jet Fighter Group. After leaving active duty, Tex went to Africa and trapped the gorillas used in the movie Mighty Joe Young. He later served with both the Air Force Reserve and Texas Air National Guard. His awards in addition to the DSC include the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross (with two oak leaf clusters), the British Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal (with oak leaf cluster) and decorations from the Chinese Government. His DSC citation reads in part: "On October 25, 1942….he attacked without hesitation superior numbers of enemy aircraft that were rising to intercept United States B-24 bombers. Major Hill forced enemy aircraft to turn from the attack and dive away. With skillful marksmanship, he destroyed one aircraft and severely damaged three others resulting in their probable destruction. Major Hill's leadership, offensive spirit and extraordinary heroism in action…without thought of odds against himself, was an inspiration to all fighter pilots."
  
  

  The four other alumni who are Distinguished Service Cross recipients are General Douglas MacArthur 1897, CPT Tobin Rote '13, LT James Siman '12, and Major Edgar Tobin '14.
  
  

  Tex lives in San Antonio and still flies.

• 1932 – Cresson H. Kearny, Rhodes Scholar

• 1935 (bio) – BG Arthur W. Kellond, US Air Force

  Arthur William Kellond was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1916. He graduated from high school in 1935 at Texas Military Institute, San Antonio, Texas, and in 1949 he received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. He enlisted in the Army Signal Corps June 25, 1935, became a flying cadet June 29, 1936, and received his pilot wings June 9, 1937.
  
  

  After being commissioned in July 1937, Second Lieutenant Kellond's first assignment was to the 34 Attack Squadron, 17 Attack Group, General Headquarters Air Force, at March Field, Calif. He was later transferred to the 38 Reconnaissance Squadron on the same base. In August 1939 he received his Regular Army commission in the Air Corps.
  
  

  In 1940 Lieutenant Kellond was ordered to Panama. While there he rose to the grade of lieutenant colonel in assignments to 6 Bomb Group, 19 Bomb Wing, VI Bomber Command, and Sixth Air Force Headquarters. Upon his return to the United States in 1943, he was assigned to Headquarters Second Air Force and to Headquarters 72 Fighter Wing with duty in Colorado Springs and Wendover, Utah, where he commanded the base. After training the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, he was assigned with them to the Fifth Fighter Command in the Philippines.
  
  

  During the period after World War II he had various assignments in the 72 Fighter Wing in Colorado, followed by an assignment from June 1946 to August 1947 as the senior instructor for the Delaware Air National Guard.
  
  

  In November 1949 following an assignment at UCLA, he reported to duty as deputy wing commander of the 2143 Air Weather Wing, Tokyo, Japan. During this period the Korean War placed heavy demands on his organization and resulted in his spending much time in Korea.
  
  

  Following his return to the United States and graduation from the Air War College in 1953, Colonel Kellond was assigned to the U.S. Air Force Security Service and duty as an intelligence staff officer with the National Security Agency, Washington, D.C., and later at Fort George G. Meade, Md.
  
  

  Colonel Kellond's first association with the 6920 Security Wing was in September 1956, when he became commander of the 6902 Special Communications Group in Japan. In April 1958 he became deputy commander of the 6920 Security Wing and served in that position until his reassignment to a USAFSS billet at Fort George G. Meade, Md., in July 1959. Colonel Kellond returned to the 6920 Security Wing as commander in September 1960 and received his promotion to brigadier general in June 1961.
  
  

  His decorations include the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Air Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Mexican Medal for Military Merit, 2nd class.

• 1937 (bio) – John B. Armstrong, King Ranch Manager

  John Armstrong graduated from TMI as a Cadet First Lieutenant, he was known to his classmates as “J.B.” He never forgot TMI and came back to serve on the Board of Trustees and in 1979 he was recognized by TMI as an Outstanding Alumnus. He was truly a leader of the New West.
  
  

  After graduating from the University of Texas, his accomplishments read like a Who's Who of the cattle industry. He became Chief Executive Officer of the King Ranch. During that period, The King Ranch consisted of 825,000-acres in Texas, 147,000 acres in Brazil and 22,000 acres in Argentina. He also served as Vice President for the American National Cattlemen's Association, Chairman of the Beef Industry Council of National Livestock and Meat, Chairman of the Animal Health Committee, and Chairman of the Kleberg County Republican Party.
  
  

  His awards consisted of: Man of the Year in Service to Texas Agriculture 1979, Golden Spur Award, Headliner Award for the Livestock Publications Council, Cattle Businessman of 1985, International Livestock Hall of Fame, International Stockmen's Hall of Fame, Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association Hall of Fame (former President), the Santa Gertrudis Breeders International Hall of Fame (former President), Heritage Hall of Honor Award, and US Department of Agriculture Animal Health Award.
  
  

  Armstrong was married for 46 years to Henrietta Larkin. They had three sons; Charles M. '66, Thomas T. '72 (deceased), Stewart L. and a daughter Henrietta Julia Jitkoff Partridge. His brother Tobin Armstrong '40 lives in Kingsville.

• 1938 (bio) – Maury Maverick, Lawyer/Journalist

  Liberal lawyer, legislator, and columnist marked him, as a legislative colleague referred to, as "one of the last of the red-hot liberals." At TMI, Maverick was a member of A Company until serving as Battalion Hospital NCO his senior year. He was a prominent member of the Literary Society and likely the school's best debater. He also played varsity football, ran track and was a member of the fencing club. His years at TMI were good ones and he was known as one of the "Three Musketeers" along with Charles Johnson '38 and Charles Grace '39.
  
  

  After serving in the United States Marine Corps in World War II, Maury was elected to the Texas House of Representatives for the period 1950-1956. He was one of a few to stand up against the McCarthy inspired "Red Baiting" and unconstitutional laws. He helped defeat a law that would have imposed the death penalty on convicted communists. He saw himself a defender of unions, African Americans, Mexican Americans and intimidated school teachers and librarians.
  
  

  After leaving the legislature, he pursued a career in law and ran for Senator when Lyndon B. Johnson gave up his seat for the Vice Presidency. Interestingly, his nick name at TMI was the "Senator". It was said that between Maverick and Henry B. Gonzalez they "split the liberal vote" that helped Republican John Tower win the seat. Later, Maverick's law practice centered on civil rights. Among his successful cases were the rulings in 1954 against a law prohibiting professional boxing between whites and blacks; and the ruling against the seizure of "seditious papers" to include works by Karl Marx, Jean Paul Sartre, and Pope John XXIII. While working for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Maverick defended the infamous atheist Madelyn Murray O'Hair (later murdered with her son). O'Hair's comment upon Maverick's arrival at the court house should go down in TMI's history when she of all people said, "Thank God, the ACLU is here!" For his work on 300 pro bono cases, the American Bar Association honored him with the John Minor Wisdom Award.
  
  

  After making a name for himself, Maverick went on to become a strong liberal voice of Texas in his newspaper column. He often championed unpopular positions, even alienating friends. He summed it up, "I don't always agree with myself. Sometimes I don't like what I'm writing but I think there are things that the town and this community need." Maury Maverick was the son of famous liberal mayor, Maury Maverick, Sr, of San Antonio and a descendent of the Maverick Family who originated the term "Maverick” as a term for "nonconformist," based on the wondering cattle holdings.
  
  

  Maverick married the well-known artist Julia Orynski in 1966 and lived in San Antonio's Mahncke Park area. He passed away on January 28, 2003.

• 1943 – BG Willard Hill, US Army

• 1945 (bio) – LTG Robert G. Gard, US Army

  Robert Gard came to TMI as a junior, and so excelled, that he graduated the next year as the Battalion Sergeant Major and the Salutatorian. At TMI, he also played Basketball and was on the Rifle Team.
  
  

  He went on to West Point where among other activities, he was on the varsity golf and boxing teams. According to the West Point yearbook, his favorite activity was teaching Sunday school, which he did all four years. He was commissioned as an artillery officer in 1950. He later would earn a Masters of Public Administration and a PhD in Political Economy &Government, both from Harvard University. His doctoral dissertation received the prestigious university-wide Charles Sumner Prize. In addition, he completed the Army Command & General Staff College and the National War College.
  
  

  Shortly after graduation from West Point, he found himself in combat during the Korean War where he commanded an artillery battery. He would in his career command at every level from battery to division. He commanded an Airborne Field Artillery Battalion in Germany, and at the Brigade level, the 9th Infantry Division Artillery in combat in Vietnam. There he was awarded the Silver Star for personally evacuating wounded soldiers by helicopter, assisting in their aid and recovery while under enemy gun fire. He later became the chief of staff of the 9th Infantry Division which operated in the Mekong Delta, and managed the first turnover of American bases and equipment as part of the "Vietnamization" program.
  
  

  He commanded the 15,000 men of the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, California in the mid 1970s. This was followed by a tour as the personnel manager for the Army as the Commanding General of the military Personnel Center in Washington, D.C. In early 1977, he assumed the position of President of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. until he retired from the Army in 1981. From 1981-1982, he was a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the American University in Paris, followed by five years as the Director of the Johns Hopkins School of the Advanced International Studies center in Bologna, Italy. Between 1987 and 1998, he was the President of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and was named President Emeritus upon retirement.
  
  

  In recent years, he has been active in a number of areas as an International Security Consultant. He gained notoriety during the Clinton Administration as one of the fifteen retired general and flag officers, to include General Norman Schwarzkopf, who signed an open letter to the President urging the banning of antipersonnel landmines. Also, he is a well known critic of the premature deployment of the National Missile Defense System. He is Chairman of the Board of both the Development Engineering Research Institute and the School of Humanitarian Service. He is an active member on the boards of several non-profit organizations to include The Justice Project and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. He has written numerous articles on national security and has been published in the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post.
  
  

  Besides the Silver Star, General Gard holds the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, and Bronze Star. LTG Gard is married to Dr. Janet E. Wall. They have three children: Robert III, Linda, and Susan, and six grandchildren with his first great-grandchild due in January 2005.

• 1945 – Tom C. Frost Jr., Frost Bank Chairman and former Chairman of the TMI Board

• 1946 (bio) – Dan Blocker, TV Star (Bonanza), Stage Actor, Film Producer

  Dan Blocker, best known as the "big" brother Hoss Cartwright on the hit TV series Bonanza, was born in Bowie County in 1928. Right from the very beginning Dan was known as a big child. His birth weight was 14 pounds, the largest baby ever born in Bowie County. It is said that by the time he was 12 years old, he stood over six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds.
  
  

  Upon his arrival at Texas Military Institute in 1943, he was immediately a favorite player on the football team. Dan’s activities at TMI went far beyond playing football. He was President of both his Sophomore and Junior classes, and Vice President of his Senior class. Cadet Sergeant Blocker helped lead both his platoon and his company to the distinction of being the best in the cadet battalion.
  
  

  After graduation from TMI, Dan attended Hardin-Simmons University. It is no surprise that he was an outstanding football player at HSU. Ultimately, Dan received his bachelor’s degree in Speech and Drama from Sul Ross State University. After receiving his degree, Dan turned down several offers to play professional football, and to box professionally. Dan decided to pursue one of his true desires and spent summer acting in Boston's summer stock theater.
  
  

  Dan returned to wear the uniform he proudly served during his time at TMI when he went to war in Korea. Dan was an Infantry First Sergeant with the 45th Infantry Division. He soon found himself in the thick of the fighting. During one 10-hour battle with his unit pinned down by enemy fire, Dan led his troops to repulse several "human wave" attacks. In the midst of the hand-to-hand fighting, Dan is credited with saving the lives of several of his men.
  
  

  His tour of duty completed, Dan retuned to the USA and married his college sweetheart. Soon thereafter, he enrolled again at Sul Ross State. This time he earned his M.A. degree. From here, Dan began pursuing another of his true desires…teaching. He taught English in Sonora, Texas, and later in Carlsbad, New Mexico. His love of teaching, lead Dan to move to California and enroll at UCLA to begin work on his doctorate. While at UCLA, Dan's life took another dramatic turn.
  
  

  Dan was cast in the role of the middle brother, Hoss Cartwright, on the soon to be hit television series Bonanza. Dan starred in this series from 1965 to 1972. Bonanza is still considered to be one of the most successful TV series ever. After a very lucrative but relatively short career in television, he opened a steak restaurant chain named after his favorite TV show…Bonanza.
  
  

  Sadly, Dan died in 1972 from complications after a gall bladder operation. Dan was survived by his wife Dolphia, his twin daughters Debra and Danna, and two sons, David and Dirk.
  
  

  Dan was never comfortable with the spotlight brought about by his acting fame. This gentle 6 foot 4 inch, 300 pound giant was much more at home and comfortable with his life in O'Donnell, Texas, spending time with friends and family. His classmates of 1946 have fond memories of Dan as a kind and fun loving person, without guile or the need to be in the limelight.

• 1947 (bio) – MG Miles Cutler Durfey, US Air Force

  General Durfey '47 has been said to be a "Top Gun" in a number of occupations. His start in uniform was at TMI, where he developed a taste for athletics, the military, and attaining a scholarship that would lead him to achievement in three areas: pilot, attorney, and athlete. At TMI, he was known as “Yankee” or “Bud.” He played varsity football and was platoon sergeant to the best platoon in the battalion.
  
  

  In 1961, he began a military career that would lead him from enlisted Airman to become Chief of Staff of the Ohio Air National Guard. In thirty years in blue, he has flown the T-33, F-84, F-100 and A-7 aircraft. His service during the Cold War saw him fly close to Soviet air space near the Russian-occupied Kuril Islands, north of Japan, and active duty during the Berlin Crisis. He was a recipient of many military awards, and perhaps his greatest compliment was from the U.S. Navy regarding his flight on exercises in Hawaii. As a colonel flying an A-7, he scored the first direct bomb hit in eight years on a small 18-foot target vessel, sinking the Navy's "unsinkable craft" using a 25-pound practice bomb.
  
  

  While serving in the Air National Guard, General Miles graduated from Ohio State in Industrial Engineering and worked for Bell Labs and several other corporations. He later returned to Ohio State law school and graduated with a Juris Doctor Degree. He served with the Ohio Court of Appeals, the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, and as Senior Attorney with the State Department of Natural Resources and on the Tenth District Court of Appeals. As the chief administrator of the Court of Claims he later gained statewide notoriety for the "get tough" program in backlog reduction and was presented the Columbus Bar Association Award for Public Service.
  
  

  While leading his double life as military pilot and attorney, General Durfey continued as an athlete. He is a well known member of the Columbus Rowing Association. He and three teammates won the 1989 Henley Regatta in St. Catherine's, Ontario. As a Masters Competitor, he has competed against men 35 years his junior. In 1995 he received his third silver medal in the National Masters Rowing Championships. Most recently, he found his “need for speed” attending the Formula Auto Racing School.

  General Durfey is married to the former Eleanor Hopges and has two daughters. He is one of TMI's thirteen alumni to attain the rank of General in our Armed Forces. He is a shining example of what every TMI student should strive to become - A Moral Leader, A Scholar and An Athlete.

• 1947 – Porter Loring, Mortuary Chairman

• 1948 – Henry Catto, Ambassador

• 1949 (bio) – Col. David R. Scott, Astronaut

  Col. David R. Scott attended Texas Military Institute during the 1945-1946 school year. A graduate of San Antonio Academy, he was a freshman cadet in A Company. Scott’s father, Brigadier General Tom Scott had been the Deputy Commander of the San Antonio Air Materiel Area and was reassigned to March Field in California.
  
  

  When the family moved, Scott left TMI and graduated from high school in California, going on to the United States Military Academy (West Point). Graduating there in 1954, he was ranked fifth in a class of 633. He was commissioned into the Air Force and completed pilot training at Webb Air Force Base, Texas, followed by an assignment to the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron in the Netherlands. He arrived at the squadron as it was transitioning between the F-86 Sabre to the F-100 Super Sabre.
  
  

  Next, Scott next attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and completed a Master’s Degree in Engineering in Aeronautics and Astronautics. In October 1963, he was selected for the Astronaut Program. His first space mission was Gemini VIII in 1966, where he and Neil Armstrong accomplished the first successful space docking of two vehicles in space. With skilled piloting, the mission was a success despite a malfunctioning thruster.
  
  

  In 1969, Scott was the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 9’s ten-day flight. He was responsible for the first comprehensive Earth orbital qualification and verification test of the Apollo spacecraft. This was critical for future moon missions and included crew transfer, confirmation of lunar module propulsion and life support, extravehicular activity (EVA), critical lunar-orbit rendezvous simulation and docking. Also during this flight Scott completed a 46-minute EVA outside the lunar module.
  
  

  David Scott is best remembered as the commander of the Apollo 15 mission. In the TV miniseries, “From the Earth to the Moon,” coproduced by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks, Scott is portrayed by actor Brett Cullen. This was the fourth mission on the moon, and Scott spent three days exploring Hadley Rille and the Apennine Mountains in the Mare Imbrium area of the moon.
  
  

  Among his mission’s achievements are the first use of the Lunar Rover, which provided the longest lunar distance ever traversed. The journey also included the first use of a navigation device on the moon’s surface, where Scott logged 18 hours and 35 minutes in extravehicular duties with 170 lbs of material. The mission also placed the largest payload ever into Earth and lunar orbits at the same time, had the first scientific instrument module bay flown on an Apollo spacecraft and launched the first subsatellite in lunar orbit.
  
  

  When he left the Astronaut Corps in 1972, Scott had 546 hours and 54 minutes in space, including 20 hours and 46 minutes of extravehicular activity. That year, he was selected as the Technical Assistant to the Apollo Program Manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
  
  

  In 1975, Scott retired from the Air Force as a colonel with 5,600 flight hours and was appointed director of the Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. He later became president of Scott Science and Technology Inc.

  Scott’s honors and awards include three NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Association's David C. Schilling Trophy, the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale Gold Medal, and the United Nations Peace Medal. He holds an Honorary Doctorate of Astronautical Science from the University of Michigan, where he attended as an undergrad prior to his appointment to West Point. He is also a graduate of the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School and Aerospace Research Pilot School.

  In 2005, Scott served as technical consultant on the IMAX film, “Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon.”

• 1951 (bio) – Dr. Lewis Sorley, Pulitzer Prize Nominee

  Dr. Lewis Sorley, a military historian and biographer, was formerly a soldier and then a civilian official of the Central Intelligence Agency. A member of the Class of 1951 at Texas Military Institute, where he was the cadet battalion commander and captained the tennis team. He also played varsity football. He is a third-generation graduate of the United States Military Academy, earned a Master's Degree from University of Pennsylvania, and holds a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. He has served on the faculty of West Point and is both a graduate and past faculty member of the Army War College and a graduate of the Naval Command and General Staff College.
  
  

  His Army service included leadership of tank and armored cavalry units in Germany, Vietnam and the United States, as well as staff positions in the offices of the Secretary of Defense and the Army Chief of Staff. He has commanded a Cavalry Troop of the 2nd Armored Cavalry at Fort Meade and a Troop of the 6th Armored Cavalry in Fort Knox. Among his assignments in Vietnam was Executive Officer, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor, 25th Infantry Division. He later commanded the 2nd Battalion, 37th Battalion, 37th Armor, 4th Armored Division in Germany.
  
  

  His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit (with two oak leaf clusters), Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal (with two oak leaf clusters) and the Army Commendation Medal. He also holds Parachutist and Pathfinder badges.

  Dr. Sorley is the author of a book on foreign policy entitled "Arms Transfers under Nixon" and two biographies, "Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times" and "Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command." The Johnson biography received the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Book Award.
  
  

  His book "A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam," was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Most recently he has published an edited volume entitled " Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972.
  
  

  Dr. Sorley currently serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Army Historical Foundation and is Executive Director Emeritus of the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States.

• 1951 (bio) – John A. Feagin, Orthopedic Surgeon

  John Feagin was recently awarded The Distinguished Graduate Award from West Point. He began his time in uniform at TMI in 1948. In his junior year as first sergeant, he led his company to win best company. In his senior year he commanded Charlie Company. He was Vice President of the Senior Class and a member of the Honor Council. He played football and basketball. He received the Scholarship Medal and was inducted into the National Honor Society; these honors were just a glimmer of what scholastic heights he would reach in his future.
  
  

  TMI awarded him a nomination as an Honor Military School to West Point where he was a varsity swimmer, President of the 2nd Classmen and rose to be a cadet officer. Commissioned in the Field Artillery in 1955 he was assigned as a young paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. From there he took an unpaid leave of absence and attended medical school at Duke where he graduated in 1961. Years later he would return to Duke Medical School and eventually retire as an Associate Professor Emeritus. He returned to the army after graduating from Duke Medical School and interned at Tripler Army Hospital in Hawaii and then completed his residency at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC. While at Walter Reed he was one of the founding members of the Society of Military Orthopedic Surgeons.
  
  

  Deployed to Vietnam, he was the Chief of Orthopedic Services with the 85th Evacuation Hospital. There he worked to save lives and limbs and develop young doctors, several who would become nationally known educators and surgeons. Years later he wrote the first chapter of the Army's Surgeon General's text on surgery during the Vietnam War. While in Vietnam he established a Medical Civil Action Program in a leprosarium where surgery and care made life a little easier for the small isolated community of lepers. His service to fellow man would continue later in his civilian medical career with work in Operation Blessing with medical missions to Panama and Kazakhstan and a World Medical Mission in Kenya.
  
  

  After service in Vietnam he returned to a very different medical mission at West Point where he provided orthopedic care for the Corps of Cadets, 4,000 strong, and later in his career as commander of Keller Army Hospital at West Point. In addition he served as the team physician for the Army football and basketball teams. He also became the Director, Army Joint Replacement Fellowship Program. His sports medicine positions continued after leaving active duty as Team Physician for the U.S. Olympic Ski Team.
  
  

  While studying at Wrightington, England, under the world's artificial joints specialists, he concluded that the joint replacement challenge was centered in Bioengineering rather than surgery. He would later publish in the American Journal of Sports Medicine an article considered a "Classic" which has been reprinted 20 years later. His book The Crucial Ligaments is considered a must for knee surgeons.
  
  

  During his military career and later in private practice (1979) he founded the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, and later served as its president. He is a founding member of the Society of Military Orthopedic Surgeons and is considered the "Godfather" of the Cleveland Orthopedic Sports Medicine Society, and the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine, where he is a member of its Hall of Fame.

• 1959 (bio) – John Lewis Gaddis

  Historian John Lewis Gaddis has been called “the dean of Cold War historians” for his influential work on the U.S. policy of containment of the Soviet Union. He is the author of books including Strategies of Containment, first published in 1982, We Now Know (1997) and The Cold War (2005) and has won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award for his works of biography and history.
  
  

  Originally from Cotulla, Texas, Gaddis attended TMI as a senior during the 1958-1959 school year and was on the staff of The Panther student newspaper. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in history at the University of Texas and went on to teach at Indiana University Southeast, Ohio University, the Naval War College, Princeton, Yale and Oxford.
  
  

  As a Fulbright Scholar, he has studied in Finland and Poland, and has received a Guggenheim and numerous other fellowships for study at home and abroad. Gaddis has served as president of the Society for Historians of Foreign Relations and founded and directed the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University.
  
  

  In 2005, he received a National Humanities Medal. He is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale, where he was the 2003 Phi Beta Kappa DeVane medalist for undergraduate teaching. 

• 1965 (bio) – Ray M. Keck III, Ph.D., 5th President of Texas A&M International University

  Dr. Ray M. Keck serves as the fifth president of Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), having taken office Sept. 1, 2001.
  
  

  Reared in Cotulla, Texas, he attended TMI for his junior and senior years, making the Honor Roll and qualifying for the National Honor Society. He was a member of the MacArthur Rifles drill team, won honors for Military Proficiency, played in the band and went out for the swim and boxing teams.
  
  

  He earned his bachelor’s degree and doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. He was a Rockefeller Brothers Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School. In addition, he has participated in summer programs at Bryn Mawr College in Madrid and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
  
  

  He originally joined Laredo State University (now TAMIU) in 1979. He worked at the University until 1983 serving as assistant professor of Spanish and assistant to the president. Dr. Keck then held several teaching and administrative positions with secondary schools including St. Anne's Belfield School in Charlottesville, Va.; Potomac School, McLean, Va.; and Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Va.

  He returned in 1994 to TAMIU as associate professor of Spanish and chair of the Department of Language, Literature and Art at the University's College of Arts and Humanities. Before Dr. Keck was appointed university president, he was its provost and vice president for academic affairs.
  
  

  His publications include "Bach's Legacy: A Musical Offering," in American Music Teacher; "Cide Hamete, Melquíades, Alba Trueba: Marco narrativo y tema en Cervantes, García Márquez y Allende" (Cide Hamete, Melquíades, Alba Trueba: Narrative Framework and Theme in Cervantes, García Márquez and Allende) in Crítica Hispánica ; and "Playing for Apollo: the Technical and Aesthetic Legacy of Carl Weinrich" in The Diapason.
  
  

  He was named Mr. South Texas in 2012 by Laredo’s Washington’s Birthday Celebration Association, an annual award presented to a distinguished individual who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the growth and development of Laredo and the South Texas region.
  
  

  Dr. Keck is also an accomplished organist, with a specialty in J.S. Bach. He has performed as a guest artist across the state and nation and on numerous occasions with the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra.

• 1965 (bio) – U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, Congressman

  Congressman Smith came to TMI from San Antonio Academy. At TMI he was an outstanding student and cadet. He was a member of C Company. His leadership helped his company gain the MacArthur Cup his senior year. He was a prominent member of the Student Council, Co-Editor of the Panther Student Newspaper and played varsity tennis. His military recognitions were many including: best drilled company, best company (twice) - MacArthur Cup, and Military Instructor qualification. As a senior, he was selected as "most industrious" and "most courteous" and was awarded the Bausch & Lomb Science Award.
  
  

  After graduation he attended Yale University where he realized he was probably the only student who subscribed to Field and Stream. There he received his degree in American Studies and went on to earn a law degree from Southern Methodist University where he was editor of the school newspaper. After practicing law and managing the family ranch, he went into politics in San Antonio. He is a fifth generation Texan and he and his wife Beth have a son and daughter.
  
  

  Between 1975 and 1985 Congressman Smith served as Republican County Chairman, State Representative and County Commissioner. Since 1987 he has represented the 21st Congressional District, which includes part of San Antonio, most of the Hill Country and part of Austin. The National Journal named him one of the 100 most influential people in Washington. The Business Software Alliance awarded him the Cyber Champion Award for his leadership on high tech issues. Congressman Smith's committee assignments read like the "A List" of today's most critical issues.
  
  He serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property and previously chaired the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Immigration Subcommittee where he was a key player in immigration reform efforts long before September 11. As a member of the Science Committee, he is second in seniority and serves on the Space and Research Subcommittees. From 1998 to 2000 he chaired the House Ethics Committee. His commitment to fairness, honesty and high standards is his trademark.
  
  

  Recent events have placed him in the forefront of national security as a member of the critical Select Committee on Homeland Security. His appointment was based on his years of experience with cybersecurity, border security, and crime issues.
  
  Congressman Smith truly has lived up to TMI's great tradition of leadership. When asked about his experience at TMI, Congressman Smith said, "TMI succeeds as an institution dedicated to learning because its teachers take a personal interest in students and because it offers an environment of respected values."

• 1975 (bio) – LTG Michael Lee Oates, US Army

  United States Army, Director, Joint IED Defeat Organization

  Lieutenant General Mike Oates is from San Antonio, Texas. His wife Barbara is from San Angelo, Texas and they have 3 grown daughters; Katherine, Elizabeth and Margaret. LTG Oates’ previous assignment was as Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and Fort Drum and as Commanding General, Multi-National Division (SOUTH), in Iraq.
  
  

  General Oates was commissioned as an infantry officer following his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1979. His initial duty assignments included service with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas and the 2d Battalion, 187th Infantry (Airborne), Republic of Panama. Subsequent tactical assignments included service with the 3d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and as Commander, 1st Battalion, 32d Infantry, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York. General Oates later commanded 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from 1998 to 2000 and commanded the 10th Mountain Division (Light) from 2007 to 2009.
  
  

  General Oates’ non-tactical assignments include service as an Infantry Assignments Officer; Current Operations Officer in the J3, Joint Staff; Executive Officer to Honorable Tom White, Secretary of the Army; and as Chief of Staff to LTG Keith Kellogg, U.S. Army, Retired, the Chief Operations Officer, Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, Iraq.
  
  

  General Oates holds a masters degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. He is a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College. His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Bronze Star Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Meritorious Service Medal (with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters), and Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters).

• 1978 – Dru Van Steenberg, Nationally-Recognized Historic Preservationist

• 1992 (bio) – John Lombardo, MLB Scout

  John Lombardo is a Major/Minor League Scout with the Boston Red Sox after serving for several years as Director of Minor League Operations for the Texas Rangers.

• 1994 (bio) – Sharie Michels, NYT best-selling author (writes as Sophie Jordan)

  From www.sophiejordan.net:
  "Sophie Jordan grew up in the Texas hill country where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she's also the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Avon historical romances. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she's not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes and Diet cherry Coke preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with true-crime and reality-TV shows. Sophie also writes paranormal romances under the name Sharie Kohler."

• 2007 (bio) – Christine Lamprea, Award-winning cellist

  From www.christinelamprea.com:
  Hailed a "Firebrand" (IncidentLight.com) and noted for her "supreme panache" (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), Colombian-American cellist Christine Lamprea was the first prize winner of the 2013 Sphinx Competition....(read more about Christine Lamprea)