Return to Pointer View home page May 21, 2004

The magnificent seven:

AOG names this year's distinguished grads 

Compiled by Irene Brown
Editor

The Association of Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy will honor seven of its members as “distinguished grads” Tuesday during the alumni exercise and review ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m. in the Central Post Area.

First awarded in 1992, the AOG selection committee picks the awardees from nominations filed by presidents of West Point societies and classes. Their final determinations are based on several factors including service to the nation and support for the academy. The committee selected the following alumni as this year’s distinguished graduates:

John Autrey Feagin, Jr. – Feagin graduated in 1955 as an airborne artillery lieutenant who became the first active duty Army officer to attend medical school. In 1966, Feagin was assigned to the 85th Evacuation Hospital, Qui Nhon, Vietnam, as chief of orthopedics. While there, he set up a medical civil action program by adopting a nearby leprosarium where his team provided care and lifesaving surgeries to the small, isolated community. A year later, Feagin began a four-year tour at Keller Army Community Hospital here. In 1972, he founded the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.

David Ralph Hughes -- Hughes followed his USMA graduation in 1950 with duty as an infantry lieutenant fighting in South Korea. The Army then sent him back to West Point, where he taught in the Department of English. After a brief tour of duty at the Pentagon, Hughes left for Vietnam where, as an infantry battalion commander, he earned many medals, including the Purple Heart.

William A. Knowlton -- Knowlton graduated in January 1943 with a commission in the cavalry. During World War II he served with the 7th Armored  Division where his command of a reconnaissance troop earned him a Silver Star. He spent two years in Vietnam earning many honors including two Silver Stars and a Distinguished Service Medal. He followed that up with service as Secretary of the Army General Staff and, in 1970, became the 49th USMA superintendent.

Denis F. Mullane -- After graduating West Point in 1952, Mullane served four years of duty as an engineer here and in Germany. He resigned his commission in 1956 and joined the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company as an insurance agent. He eventually rose to the position as president and CEO for the firm. Mullane was a member of the Connecticut Hospital Foundation for Public Giving, the Board of Regents of the University of Hartford and a co-chair of the Governor’s Partnership to Protect Connecticut’s Workforce. He founded the West Point Society of Connecticut in 1968 and the West Point Parents’ Club of Connecticut soon after.

Glenn Kay Otis -- Otis began his career as an enlisted soldier in Korea following World War II. He was selected to attend West Point and graduated as a member of the Class of 1953. Otis served as a cavalry squadron commander in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive of 1968. He also directed the XM-1 Tank Task Force that produced the technologically superior Abrams main battle tank. His service includes command of the 1st Armored Division, command of the Training and Doctrine Command and serving as commander in chief of U.S. Army Europe during the cold war.

Ralph Puckett, Jr. -- Puckett graduated West Point in 1949 and deployed to Japan. There he recruited and trained a Ranger company for operations in Korea. In 1950, the Army awarded Puckett the Distinguished Service Cross for leading his troops against hundreds of Chinese even though he was severely wounded. Puckett commanded the Mountain Ranger Division and was the first Ranger adviser to Columbia, where he set up the Colombian Ranger School. In 1967, he commanded the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry (Airborne) of the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.  He was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross for heroic leadership in August 1967. With his Distinguished Service Crosses, two Silver Stars and five Purple Heart Medals, Puckett received the Cross of Gallantry with Palm from the Republic of Vietnam and the Order of Military Merit from the Republic of Colombia. He has earned parachute badges from four nations and is one of the few Army members inducted into the Air Force Staff College’s Gathering of Eagles. Puckett is also a member of the Ranger Hall of Fame.

Robert M. Shoemaker -- After graduating from West Point in 1946, Shoemaker was commissioned in the infantry.  His early assignments include the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division in Germany; the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division and the 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. Shoemaker earned his aviator’s wings in 1960 and was influential in the Army’s creation, design, and testing of tactics for the attack helicopter, air assault and air cavalry.  He commanded the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry and led the battalion through the monumental challenges of its deployment and first months of combat in Vietnam.  He also commanded 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, which, then, was the only air cavalry squadron. After a third tour in Vietnam, Shoemaker served as commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and III Corps. In 1978 he assumed command of FORSCOM. His tactical work for Army Aviation earned him an induction in the Army Aviation Hall of Fame.

Editor’s note: The above article includes info. from the Association of Graduates of USMA.