Posted on 02/15/2008 6:00:46 AM PST by jdm
BREWSTER, Mass. -- The man who had been the oldest living graduate of the United States Military Academy has died.
Retired Col. Benjamin Whitehouse died at the age of 105 Wednesday at a Brewster nursing home. He suffered a stroke last month.
The West Point Association of Graduates says Whitehouse graduated in 1927 and left military service in 1929. He worked in the automative industry before re-enlisting the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Whitehouse served in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany, earning two Bronze Stars, before retiring from military service in 1957.
He's survived by two children, 14 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Daughter Trudy Keefe Panni told the Cape Cod Times that her father was very proud of his status as the oldest West Point grad.
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Information from: Cape Cod Times, http://www.capecodonline.com
I couldn’t find a photo of him online, unfortunately. RIP.
COL Whitehouse:
“May it be said:
“WELL DONE!
“Be Thou at peace.”
-from the West Point Alma Mater
Note that if he was 105, then he was something like 24 when he graduated West Point. Prior elisted? Did he have some college & transfer in? Wonder what the story was?
It would not have been unusual for a kid to go to one college for a couple of years before getting the appointment to the Point. Doesnt happen much these days.
One of my classmates did his freshmen year with me at Norwich, and then left for the Coast Guard Academy. He had to go through his freshmen year all over again.
Going through two freshmen years at any military school—public or private—would really suck.
I think Patton did a year at VMI and then went to the Point-but I am not 100% sure.
Saw the other day that there’s now just one American WWI vet still alive. He’s something like 107 or 108.
McCain was against it before he was for it.
Oopps!
This does not mean that you are war mongers.
On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.
But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.
Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.
Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps.
I bid you farewell.
General Douglas MacArthur
Yeah, it used to be quite common for officers to have done a year at VMI, Norwich, The Citadel, etc. before going to West Point. I think this was the period when admission was by competitive examination? The curious thing is that the Colonel must have done way more than a year (more like 3) somewhere. He was too young by my calculations to have served in WW1 (unless he lied about his age), however he could have enlisted just after the War.
You’re correct about Patton, incidentally. I believe Patton’s grandfather, and possibly his father, graduated from VMI. That’s the connection.
Hail, Alma Mater dear,
To us be ever near,
Help us thy motto bear
Through all the years.
Let duty be well performed,
Honor be e’er untarned,
Country be ever armed,
West Point, by thee.
Guide us, thy sons, aright,
Teach us by day, by night,
To keep thine honor bright,
For thee to fight.
When we depart from thee,
Serving on land or sea,
May we still loyal be,
West Point, to thee.
And when our work is done,
Our course on earth is run,
May it be said, ‘Well Done;
Be Thou At Peace.’
E’er may that line of gray
Increase from day to day,
Live, serve, and die, we pray,
West Point, for thee.
Thank you for that, friend.
Class of 70 here; yours?
‘91....although i have to admit i cheated...had to look it up after getting stuck about 1/2way thru
Not sure about that, but my Great-grandfather fought under Patton's grand-father, a Confederate General in the Civil War.
Whitehouse entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1923 through the Virginia National Guard, unlike most cadets, who are appointed by recommendation from a congressman or senator. He had earned two Bronze Stars for serving in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany.
He also earned a Purple Heart for being wounded in Italy, while driving his Jeep, by a German fighter pilot, but declined it, saying that he was not actually in a combat situation. A true Officer and Gentleman.
Patton was at VMI before going to US Army Vo-Tech.
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