On the burial of Colonel Roy Bowlin, Jr. Class of 1944, with his father Colonel Roy Bowlin, Sr. Class of 1917, at the United States Military Academy as told to me by his son-in-law, Tom Fiedler after I sent him a copy of Douglas MacArthur’s 1962 farewell speech at West Point

May 8, 2012
RE: On the burial of Colonel Roy Bowlin, Jr. Class of 1944, with his father Colonel Roy Bowlin, Sr. Class of 1917, at the United States Military Academy as told to me by his son-in-law, Tom Fiedler after I sent him a copy of Douglas MacArthur’s 1962 farewell speech at West Point
Dear Tom,
3 generations of Smiths - Grandfather, son, and grandson – would travel each year to West Point to watch Army play football.

A spell binding surprise was Macarthur’s speech – the speech – being broadcast continuously in front of the library.

The voice, the words, the diction, the pauses, the bridges, the rising tempo – I have not heard its like since.

“When Pericles spoke people said how well he speaks.
When Demosthenes spoke people said ‘Let us march’.”

1961, 1962, 1964. Years with great speeches.

The first and the last were calls to action.

MacArthur’s was a celebration of and a reminder to the young men present of the permanent things. The first thing was that they were part of something greater than themselves. Their chosen profession – no one gets drafted to West Point – may require them to take the soldier’s chance. From Homer to Kipling we stand in awe of the choices they take.

I saw “Top Gun” when it came out in the ‘80s. I got a copy of “The Bridges of Toko-Ri” for comparison’s sake. Better story, better action, much better looking lady – game, set, and match to the 1950s.

“Why us, Sergeant? Why us?” asks the young recruit of the company Colour Sergeant at Rorke’s Drift in the movie “Zulu”. “Because we’re here, boy. Because we’re here.”

At the end of “The Bridges of Toko-Ri” the Admiral asks “Where do we find such men”?

The Army promised my Uncle John that he would be home for Christmas, 1941. He got back to Jersey City in 1946. Everywhere MacArthur went he went with him. The first time he fired back at the Japanese his rifle was 39 years old. He was wounded at Leyte Gulf. He had a ticket on the Tokyo Express with an ETA in November, 1945. He was buried with his mates, the men with whom he had served, in 2001.

Your wife’s father will lie like a hero surrounded by other heroes. I risk one toe over the line of maudlin but a case could be made for his father saying, “I’ve been waiting for you”. Achilles, Caesar, Martell, Cervantes, Nelson, Sherman, Patton, and now the two Colonel Bowlins join the long line of warriors whose job was not the making of wars but the fighting of them.

It’s time to start putting together my May 25th note to Corporal Leonard Putnam. He was a 42 year old piano salesman whose name was added to the butcher’s bill “in the Pacific region”. He died on Okinawa about 10 weeks short of Hiroshima. He is buried in the Punch Bowl in Hawaii surrounded by fellow heroes. He and Aunt Millie had no children. Amy, his niece, won’t be here this year. Nobody else knows about him. My job is simple.

“Where do we find such men”?

Praise God we never have to need them and not have them.




KS