Institute Report. October 31, 1986

              THE INSTITUTE REPORT
Vo!umeXIV October 31, 1986 Number 3
An occasional publication of the Public Information Office, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia 24450. Tel. (703) 463·6207.
Sports Hall of Fame to Induct Six
Six outstanding athletes from the past will be inducted into the VMI Sports Hall ofFame on Saturday, Nov. 1. Thesix men, who will join 179 presen t members, will be introduced at halftime ofthe VM1­Central Florida football gameand formally recognized at the annual Hall of Fame banquet that evening in Cameron Hall.
The new Hall of Fame members include two whose names are being entered posthumously: Oliver 1. "Red" Williford, III, class of 1951, in baseball, and William L. F. Brehany, class of 1952, football. Williford, regimental commander and Cincinnati Medalist in his class, was twice named to All Southern Conference baseball honors. He died in 1985 after a career in the United States Army and with the Department of Defense. Brehany, an Air Force pilot who died in a 1960automobile accident, was an All State, All Conference, All South, and honorable mention All America quarterback.
Other inductees include Donald R. Thylor, an Exxon Corporation area manager in Kingwood Tex., who was a three-time Southern Con­ference wrestling champion in theclass of 1968; Dr. Mac A. Bowman, an Augusta, Ga., cardiologist from theclass of 1973, who set a career rushing record for VMI in football while winning All State and All Conference honors; Capt. Ronald J. Norman, USAF, class of 1975, football player of the year in Virginia on the 1974 Southern Con­ference championship team; and Ronnie L. Moore, a Newport News Shipbuilding Company engineer from the class of 1976, who was a two-time first-team All Southern Conference football player and still holds all four career records in the punt and kickoff return categories.
VMI Joins Water Resources Council
VMI has recently become a member ofthe Universities Council on Water Resources, Inc., a voluntary organization ofmore than 100 colleges and universities with active educational and research pro­grams in the field ofwater resources. The organization was established in 1964 to facilitate the exchange of information between member schools and to promote research, graduate study, public service, and employment opportunities dealing with water resources within engineering, agricultural, and economic professional sectors.
Col. Donald K. Jamison and Lt. Col. James R. Groves, members ofthe civil engineering department faculty, have been designated as VMI's delegates to the Council, which meets on an annual basis. Lt. Col. Groves attended the 1986 meeting in August at Flagstaff, Ariz.
HOME FROM YORKTOWN -VMI's 18th century French six-pounders, which have been on loan to the Yorktown Victory Center since 1976, came home last week and were eased into place beside companion French pieces overlooking Memorial Garden. The two guns played an important role in the American Revolution and were part of the display program featured at Yorktown during the national bicentennial period.
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Founders Day 1986
James H. Webb, Jr.
VMI will observe its 147th birthday anniversary on Thesday, Nov. 11, With a Founders Day convocation address by writer-lecturer James
H. Webb, Jr., who has served as first Assistant Secretary ofDefense for Reserve Affairs since 1984. The formal assembly offaculty, staff, and Corps ofCadets will be at 11 a.m. in Cameron Hall and will follow a review parade in honor ofthe speaker at 9:30 a.m. Both events are open to the public.
Mr. Webb, author offour books and a 1983 recipient ofan Emmy Award from the National Academy ofTelevision and Sciences, is a native of St. Joseph, Mo., and a 1968 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he was recognized for outstanding leadership. Commissioned in the Marine Corps at graduation, he served in Vietnam as a rifle platoon and company commander with the 1st Bat­talion, 5th Marine Regiment, earning the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, and two Bronze Star Medals for valor, all in addition to two Purple Hearts. With Vietnam behind him. he earned the 1.0. degree in 1975 at Georgetown Law Center, where he was also recognized for excellence in legal writing.
Author of four books, the first written while still a law student, Webb has been twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His books include Micronesia and U.S. Pacific Strategy; Fields ojFire, a novel about ground combat in Vietnam. published in 1978; A Sense oj Honor, a story of Naval Academy life, published in 1981; and A Country Such as This. published in 1983. He served in 1979 as a visiting writer at the Naval Academy, where he alsoa taught litemture, and his military writing over the years has covered service roles and missions, the dmft, stmtegy and tactics, manpower, and US.-Japanese defense obligations. He has also conducted a special twelve-week study for the Governor of Guam on US. stmtegy in the Pacific and its effect on land issues in the Mariana Islands.
Former Minority Counsel for the House Veterans' Affairs Com­mittee, Mr. Webb's work has included direct liaison with many depart­ments ofnational government, including the DepartmentofDefense, Veterans Administration, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Labor. He has lectured on leadership at numerous schools and colleges and is frequently interviewed on topics ofmilitary manpower and veterans issues. His awards include the Vietnam Veterans Civic Council's Outstanding Veteran Award, 1976; the 1979 American Legion National Commander's Public Relations Award; and a 1983 Emmy for his coverage ofthe US. Marines in Beirut for the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour on public television.
VMI classes will be suspended on Founders Day. Page 2, The Instilule Report, October 31,1986
VMl carpenter foreman Edsel Coleman (right) and helper John Camper unload materials as work begins on new landscaping in Memorial Garden.
New Landscaping for Memorial Garden
VMI and the Garden Club of Virginia have an association that goes back some 60 years, and this fall that association is being renewed as VMI implements a new landscaping plan in Memorial Garden in front of Cocke Hall.
The new design for Memorial Garden has been donated to VMI by the Garden Club ofVirginia, which commissioned the noted land­scape architect R. J. Favretti to create an appropriate plan ofplantings. The Favretti design will involve more than 250 plants, shrubs, and flower beds that will provide a variety ofcolor throughout the seasons. In addition, the areas at the east and west ends will be im proved to pro­vide more attractive settings, including a new running bond brick walk around the Statue of Youth and resetting ofthe sundial and benches at the other end. The new landscaping will not alter, however, the basic design of Memorial Garden, which was developed in 1927 by New York landscape authority Ferruccio Vitale, who was a Presidential appointee to the National Commission of Fine Arts.
The work in Memorial Garden is another phase of the over-all landscaping plan initiated and announced by the superintendent last April. The two-year project involves all areas of the VMI post. Mrs.
B. McCluer Gilliam, whose husband is a retired VMI history pro­fessor, is a member ofthe restoration committee ofthe Garden Club ofVirginia and headed the campaign for refurbishing the area. She is a member of Lexington's Blue Ridge Garden Club.
Memorial Garden, dedicated at Finals in 1928, was the gift ofMrs. William H. Cocke, wife of VMI's fourth superintendent, for whom Cocke Hall is named. She planned and financed the area as a memorial to VMI alumni who died in World War I, and in 1929, the Garden Club ofVirginia presented her its highest award, the Massie Medal, in recognition of the gift she had made to VMI.
New Faces at Crozet Hall
One comes from South America via Texas. The other wears the tall white hat (he calls it a toque) ofan executive chef. Both are newcomers to the staff of ARA Food Services director John Hattersley.
Ms. Pia Lizarraga, new mess hall catering manager, is a native of Lima, Peru, who studied agricultural engineering in South America before joining ARA in 1982while a student at the University ofDallas. When she isn't busy planning the numerous special dinners served at VMI, she helps in all areas ofmess hall management and service. A lifelong horsewoman trained in the English style, Pia -who likes to be called by her given name -succeeds Mrs. Jennifer Marston.
Executive chef Steve Kieffer, from Milwaukee, ensures the quality ofmess hall meals and, as garde-manger, lends his personal touch to special event buffets and parties. A former night chef at the Hotel Roanoke, he is a member of the Roanoke Valley Chefs Association and the American Culinary Association.
For both, VMI represents a novel experience: a first venture for Kieffer in large meal volume; mountains for Pia, who welcomes the reminders ofSouth America and Europe, where she has also lived. To work with ARA, they say, is to work as a family, and in this assignment, to be full partners in the community of VMI.
VMI and the U.S. Marine Corps
When birthday candles are lit next month for VMI and the United States Marine Corps, the glow will be as dazzling as their proud and separate histories. On the VMI cake, 147 candles. For the Leathernecks, 211. Their birthday anniversaries come only a day apart, just one more link in a chain of similarities between the two.
Created by the Continental Congress on Nov. 10, 1775, the Marines got their nickname from the high leather collars formerly worn as a part of their uniform -a constant reminder of the "chin up" carriage stressed by the Corps from its beginning. Those who have worn VMI gray know the feeling.
There is a bond ofsize between the Institute and the Marine Corps, for both are relatively small, VMI as it compares with the universities of the nation, and the Marine Corps as it compares with the larger defense forces ofthe Army, Air Force, and its parent, the United States Navy. Small size requires each to excel or each would be in danger of losing its identity -a "Few Good Men," as the posters proclaim.
The parallel has its strongest link in the indomitable esprit de corps found within each organization. Members ofsmall organizations tend to be drawn closer together and perhaps more easily develop the high sense of fraternity and spirit that links VMI and the Marine Corps. Both are also creatures of proud tradition, and no tradition is stronger than that ofservice to country. Ithas been shared by VMI and Marines for more than a century, and eaCh has been strengthened by pride in its men and their deeds. There is, additionally, a parallel in programs, for each believes in matchless conditioning and training within an atmosphere of ironclad but intelligent discipline.
The most direct link, however, is one personified in the long line of individuals whose careers have touched both institutions. It has been an exchange ofexceptional leadership, for from the VMI Corps of Cadets have come a legion of officers who have served with distinction in the Marine Corps. 'lWenty-three have risen to the rank ofgeneral officer. Leadership by VMI graduates in the Marine Corps reached a high point in the mid-1950s when command of the Corps changed hands from one Institute graduate to another. Gen. Lemuel
C. Shepherd, '17, decorated hero ofthree wars, served as Marine com­mandant from 1952 to 1956. He was succeeded by Gen. Randolph M. Pate, '21, whose service career had been distinguished for his planning and staff work so essential to success on the battle fronts.
In turn, the Marines have sent two general officers to serve as superintendentsofVMI. Lt. Gen. John A. Lejeune, a legendary fJgure in Marine Corps history, became VMI's fifth superintendent after two terms as Marine Corps commandant. His leadership from 1929 to 1937 brought new spirit and prestige to the Institute at a difficult period in the nation's history. In 1960, VMI welcomed its ninth superintendent, Brig. Gen., later Lt. Gen., George R. E. Shell, '31, who returned to the Institute after a distinguished 29-year career in the Marine Corps. He served for 11 years, retiring in 1971 after a period of unprecedented growth in all areas of VMI life.
Two ofVMl's six recipients ofthe Congressional Medal of Honor were Marines: Clarence E. Sutton, class of 1890, who was cited for heroism during the Boxer Rebellion in Chinain 1900, and Maj. Gen. William P. Upshur, a 1902 VMI graduate who, as a young Marine captain, demonstrated his gallantry in action in the Haitian campaign in 1915. Before establishment ofthe Naval ROTC program at VMI, cadets seeking Marine Corps commissions did so through enrollment in the USMC Platoon Leaders Class, and seven times in those years a VMI cadet was winner of the Commandant's Trophy recognizing the top cadet in the nation in the junior and senior PLC course.
And then there was Lt. Gen. Lewis B. Puller, '21 whose five Navy Crosses set a record even for Marines. As with the much-loved "Ches­ty," when a situation is well in hand, you know that "The Marines have landed." So it is in the language of VMI when you know with confidence that "The Institute will be heard from today."
Today at VMI, approximately six percent ofthe Corps ofCadets is enrolled in the Marine option ofthe Naval ROTC program. The pro­gram, established at VMI in 1974, continues the long-standing tradition of mutual respect between the Institute and the United States Marine Corps. Notes
*
Air travelers reading the September issue of the magazine USAir were treated to a feature article on Virginia's wealth of battlefields, museums, and other Civil War sites of interest to visitors. Prominently named among the state's attractions are the VMI post and the New Market Battlefield Park.
*
Lt. Col. Michael J. Tierney, associate professor of mathematics, has recently completed a two-summer program sponsored by the Institute for Retraining in Computer Science at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. The program consisted ofeight courses covering such topics as data structures, computer architecture, compilers, and operating systems. In addition, he worked on developing a software package that would differentiate a function of a single variable and simplify the result.
*
Maj. Kenneth E. Koons, assistant professor of history, presented a paper at the Ohio Valley History Conference held at Murray State University in Kentucky. The paper was entitled "Pursuit and Conduct of Argicultural Enterprise in an Agrarian Locale of the Mid-Atlantic, 1950-80: Evidence from South Central Pennsylvania."
*Col. Henry D. Schreiber, professor ofchemistry and director of the Center for Glass Chemistry, is the author of "Redox Processes in Glass-Forming Melts," which was carried simultaneously in recent issues ofthe Journal ofNon-Crystalline Solids and The Physics and Chemistry ofGlass and Glass Making. The article reviews crucial chemistry in the manufacture and refinement of glass. With Dr. Samuel J. Kozak, professor ofgeology at Washington and Lee, he is co-author ofa second paper, "Redox Equilibria and Kinetics of Iron in a Borosilicate Glass-Forming Melt," also carried in both journals. The two professors were joined in their research by Cadets Robert C. Merkel, '87, and Phillip W. Jones, '88, and W&L graduate G. Bryan Balazs, now a graduate student at California Institute ofTechnology. Their paper, based on research sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation, offers technical details in the use of glass to immobilize high-level nuclear waste.
*
Maj. Terry L. Davidson, assistant professor of psychology, is co­author of an article that has been accepted for publication by the journal Psychopharmacology. The article is entitled "Long Term Effects of Yohimbine on Behavj(~ral Sensitivity to a Stressor." Yohimbine is a stress-inducing drug. Davidson, who joined the VMI faculty this year, earned a Ph.D. degree at Purdue University and before coming to VMI was a post-doctoral Fellow in behavioral neuroscience at the Institute ofNeurological Sciences at the Univer­sity of Pennsylvania.
*
VMI's regimental band and herald trumpets were participants in the City of Lynchburg's recent bicentennial celebration. The band, followed by Governor Gerald L. Baliles, led the afternoon parade, and the herald trumpets played fanfares to open the formal ceremonies. The fanfares were especially written for the occasion by band director Lt. Col. George L. Gansz.
*
Lt. Col. A. Cash Koeniger, associate professor of history, has published in the October issue of Virginia Magazine ofHistory and Biography a review of a new book, Claude A. Swanson of Virginia: A Political Biography, by Henry C. Ferrell, Jr. In the same magazine issue, Col. Koeniger's studies ofSenator Carter Glass receive favorable commentary in a separate article on Virginia's New Deal Governor James H. Price. That article is by John Syrett, professor ofhistory at Canada's Trent University.
*
Cmdr. Ronald A. Erchul, associate professor ofcivil engineering, has received a $35,723 research grant from the Waterways Experiment Station of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He will study the use ofspontaneous potential measurements to detect subterraneous flow rates of groundwater in karst topography.
The Institute Report, October 31,1986, Page 3
Lyle on German Marshall Fund Committee
Royster Lyle, Jr., consultant at the George C. Marshall Research Library, has been named to the German Marshall Fund's new advisory committee for the 40th anniversary observance of the Marshall Plan. The German Marshall Fund, an independent foundation based in Washington, D.C., supports and carries out activities that promote better understanding between the U.S. and West Germany.
General of the Army George C. Marshall outlined his ideas for massive foreign aid to war-torn Europe in a speech at Harvard Univer­sity in June 1947. His plan for European recovery, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, has been known since as the Marshall Plan. Projects planned by the German Marshall Fund for the 40th anniversary include a Marshall Plan television documentary, exhibits that will be made available to museums and universities nationwide, and a special conference in Berlin in June 1987.
Lyle, who has been associated with the Marshall Library for more than 20 years, has worked on a number of Marshall Plan com­memorative exhibits in this country and abroad. Other members of the GMF advisory committee on the Marshall Plan anniversary include historian Charles Maier of Harvard; author Charles L. Mee of New York City; and Henry Trewhitt, deputy managing editor for international affairs, US. News and World Report.
First gradersfrom Fairfield Elementary School watch in wonder aselectronics technician Gary W. Gearhart demonstrates themarvelsofrobots "Hero" and
<~rmdroid"in VMl'selectrical engineering department. Gearhart, who built from kits five ofthe department's six table-model '~rmdroids, " gave the special lesson in robotics to his son's class during a recent class field trip.
Maj. J. Brett Watterson, USAF, 1971 VMlgraduateandspaceshuttlepayload specialist, chats with hisformerastronomyprofessor, Maj. A. Roland Jones, during an October visit to VMI to participate in the Space Conference. Watterson, who has developed extensive space flight checklists andprocedures for payload operations, conducted a seminar for the physics department during his visit anddiscussed many ofthe sophisticated physics experiments made onspace flights. He hadbeen scheduled to lift offlast March on the first space shuttle to belaunchedfrom Vandenberg AFB in California. The mission was scrubbed afler the Challenger disaster. Jones, who lives in retirement al the Smilh Mountain lAke community ofHuddleston, returned 10 VMI to hear the talk by Watterson, who isaformer president ofthe cadet Astronomy Club.
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\ Page 4, The Instilule Report, October 31, 1986
Calendar of Events: November 1986
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1: Sports Hall of Fame Day
7:30 a.m. Classes start.
8:30 a.m. Board of Visitors meeting. Smith Hall.
11:45 a.m. Parade.
2 p.m. Football, VMI vs. Central Florida. Alumni Memorial Field. with halftime introductions ofnew members of the VMI Sports Hall of Fame.
5:30p.m. Spons Hall of Fame reception and dinner. Cameron Hall. 8 p.m. VMI Theatre production of four one-act plays. Scott Shipp Hall. call 463-6389 for reservations.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3:
7:30 p.m. Planetarium show, "Voyager 2 at Uranus," starts promptly.
TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 4: Election Day
Noon Library Research Progress Report, "Philosophical Sights and Sites." by Col. Allan Carlsson. Preston Library rare book room. bring your lunch. coffee provided.
6:30p.m. CPB movie, "Enemy Mine," second showing 9 p.m., Lejeune.
7:30p.m. Lecture, "The Asian Dimension ofArms Control," by Dr. Hans
H. Indorf, Conquest Visiting Professor of Political Science. Nichols auditorium.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5:
5-7:30 p.m. Marine Corps birthday reception, by invitation. Moody Hall.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6: 8 p.m. VMI Theatre production of four one-act plays, Scott Shipp Hall, call 463-6389 for reservations.
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 1:
10 a.m. Personal computer show, Lejeune Hall.
4 p.m. Retreat parade.
5 p.m. Fall meeting, Friends of Preston Library, talk by museum direc­tor
Keith Gibson, "About the VMl Museum Ellipsis," Preston. 8 p.m. VMI Theatre production of four one-act plays, Scott Shipp Hall. call 463-6389 for reservations.
SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 8:
I p.m. Football, VMI at Georgia Tech.
8 p.m. VMI Theatre productionoffour one-act plays. last night. Scott
Shipp Hall. call 463-6389 for reservations.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9:
9:30 a.m. Marine Corps memorial service during morning chapel service, Jackson Memorial Hall.
MONDAY. NOVEMBER 10:
6:30 p.m. Institute Society reception and dinner, Cameron Hall.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11: Founders Day: Classes suspended.
9:30 a.m. Review parade.
II a.m. Founders Day convocation, address by Hon. J.H. Webb, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Cameron.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14: 2 p.m. Ring presentations, Class of 1988, 1M. Hall, with address by Mr. Thomas G. Slater, Jr., president, VMI Alumni Association.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15: Keydet Club Day Classes suspended.
II:45 a.m. Parade.
12:15 p.m. Red and White basketball scrimmage, Cameron Hall (box
lunches available). 2 p.m. Football, VMI vs. Appalachian State, Alumni Memorial Field.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11:
7:30 p.m. International Studies lecture, "Divided Germany," Dr. David Klein, executive director of the German-American Council, Lejeune Hall.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18: 8 p.m. Violinist Eugene Fedor, presented by the Rockbridge Concert­Theatre Series, Lee Chapel.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19:
Noon Employee service awards luncheon, Moody Hall.
7:30 p.m. Dance Lecture on the Founders ofVMI, "The Initial Corps: An Overview of VM1'5 First Cadets and their Subseq uent Careers," Col. Thomas W. Davis, Jackson Memorial Hall.
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 21:
Opening, Marshall Foundation's second Public Service Leader­ship
Conference, ''America and the Media. ,. ends Saturday. 4 p.m. Retreat parade. 5 p.m. Faculty Club social hour, Moody Hall.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22:
7:30 p.m. Football, VMI at East Tennessee State University.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24:
7:30 p.m. Planetarium show, "Voyager 2 at Uranus," starts promptly.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24:
6:30 p.m. CPB movie, "Prizzi's Honor," second showing 9 p.m.; Lejeune.
WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 26:
Noon Thanksgiving furlough begins for Corps of Cadets.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30:
7:30 p.m. Basketball home opener, VMI vs. Shenandoah, Cameron Hall. IO p.m. Cadets return.
VMI Theatre Presents Wartime Plays
The VMI Theatre is currently presenting four wartime one-act plays chosen for their dramatic diversity and the opportunities they offer cadet actors to play more thlln one role and to create and develop different characters. The production, which had a special presenta­tion during Parents Weekend. opens this weekend and plays again next weekend. Nov. 6-8. Curtain time is 8 p.m. in Scott Shipp Hall.
In the four plays, directed by Mrs. Joellen Bland. the cast and crew work together to transform one basic set into a medical examining room, a cell in a prisoner-of-war camp, a ship's forecastle, and a jungle hideout. The first play, Next, by Terrence McNally, offers a humorous look at the plight of a reluctant over-age draftee who reports for his physical and finds himself at the mercy of a no-nonsense lady sergeant. William Lang's chilling drama Final Play deals with sophisticated brainwashing and the effects ofstress and imprisonment on three American flyers shot down during an unnamed war.
The third play, In The Zone by Eugene O'Neill, is a World War I drama set on board a British tramp steamer at sea in a German sub­marine zone. The ship's cargo is ammunition, and its nervous crew suspects that one oftheir number is a German spy. Botticelli. also by Terrence McNally, is a satirical vignette on American callousness toward the Vietnam War. Two American soldiers play an intellectual guessing game while waiting in ambush for a trapped enemy soldier.
Cadets in the cast and crew include David A. Bland, Steven D. Boyd, Jason M. Dahlquist. Antonio S. Davila, Shawn P. Evans, John
E. Franklin, Stewart E. King, Andrew H. McCaig, David D. McGraw. Garith C. Palme, James J. Stepnowski, MatthewC. Sutton. and Charles M. Taylor, IV. Sallie Ann Bryant. of Glasgow, who has per­formed in several VMI Theatre productions, is also in the cast. Anita Weber and Kathy Koberstein are in charge of costumes and props.
Suspicious seamen confront a crew member suspected ofbeing a German spy in a scenefrom Eugene O'Neill's World War I drama, In The Zone. The play is one offour wartime one-act plays currently being presented by the VMI Theatre. From ltift areCadets John Franklin, AndrewMcCaig, Charles Tay/or, Steven Boyd, and James Stepnowski.