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Terry Rosser, U.S. Army, Vietnam (A&M Class of ‘61) (Interviewed Aug.23, 2006) Terry Rosser not only served two tours of Vietnam but he also flew himself there. It was 74 hours and 10 stops along the way and that’s just one story he has to tell. Like most Purple Heart winners, he does not think it was that big a deal that he was wounded. What is a big deal to Terry Rosser is family and his Alma Mater Texas A&M, his faith and his friends.
Gen. Thomas Darling, Air Force, Vietnam (A&M Class of ‘54) (Interviewed Sept. 27, 2006) From the summer of 1987 to the summer of 1996, Major General Thomas G Darling served as Commandant of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. But his years of service to our country started long before that, 33 years before to be exact. As a member of the class of 1954 -- two months after graduation he was active-duty Air Force. He learned to fly and fly he did it, more than 7000 hours, 500 of those piloting the giant B-52 on some 46 combat missions in Vietnam.
Gen. Thomas Darling, Air Force, Vietnam (A&M Class of ‘54) (Interviewed Sept. 27, 2006) From the summer of 1987 to the summer of 1996, Major General Thomas G Darling served as Commandant of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. But his years of service to our country started long before that, 33 years before to be exact. As a member of the class of 1954 -- two months after graduation he was active-duty Air Force. He learned to fly and fly he did it, more than 7000 hours, 500 of those piloting the giant B-52 on some 46 combat missions in Vietnam.
Thomas Hatfield, Rudder Author (Interviewed March 4, 2011) It was natural that Thomas Hatfield would write the definitive biography of General Earl Rudder. Afterall, as a student he worked summers at the Texas Land Office when General Rudder was its commissioner and later served in an Army reserve unit that was under Rudder’s command. But that’s not why Thomas Hatfield wrote the book “Rudder: From Leader to Legend”. You see Thomas Hatfield is a life long educator and like General Rudder, was a college president and now is one of the foremost historians on World War II and military history. He is a senior research fellow at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas and is director of its Military History Institute.
Tom Browning, Army Military Police, WW II Interviewed Feb.1, 2006 As important as any military detail of World War II was the Military Police -- providing personal protection for those conducting the war, and from time to time dealing with those soldiers whose behavior might undermine the unity of a mission. Sergeant Tom Browning of Bryan was a member of one of the very first military police battalions of the US Army, as a member of the 503rd and 504th MPs, he was quickly promoted from PFC to Corporal, then to Sergeant then First Sergeant and as a result of his duty, was in December 1944, awarded the Bronze Star Medal for what his Captain called meritorious service in connection with military operations against an enemy of the United States and France. Later, as a member of the 512th military police, Sergeant Browning was attached to General George Patton's 3rd Army.
Ty Newton, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam (Interviewed March 28, 2007) Ty Newton of College Station could have pursued a pro sports career if he hadn’t loved flying more than he loved baseball. He was pretty good at both but flying was in his blood. He was an instructor pilot both before and after his 4 1/2 years of service in Viet Nam, and even pulled duty as then Congressman Lyndon Johnson’s personal pilot in the late 50’s. Ty Newton flew C-130s during Viet Nam... at the time classified missions that included everything from re-supplying the Laotian Army to dropping flares for U.S. Fighters to better see their targets. It was a mission he could not talk about then, but can now.
Tyson Voelkel, U.S. Army, Iraq (A&M Class of ‘96) (Interviewed Oct. 10, 2005) Tyson Voelkel was a proud soldier of the 82nd Airborne, a graduate student at the George Bush School of Public Service, who also taught at West Point in 2007. It was a quick path from Texas A&M Corp of Cadet Commander to Iraq, Company A commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment. He was a paratrooper. His unit attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division, working for a time in the Al Rashid district of Baghdad. He was there for two tours.. Today Tyson Voelkel is the Executive Director of the Texas A&M foundation.
Vic Reid, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam (Interviewed April 13, 2005) June 18th, 1972 , as a member of the 16th Special Ops Squadron of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Thai AFB in Thailand, Col. Vic Reid was flying his 44th Aerial Combat Mission over the A Shau Valley in South Viet Nam. That was also the first Father’s Day he would observe as a Dad. The celebration would have to wait and very nearly did not happen at all. It was the night his AC-130 Gunship’s wing was shot off. The next 18 hours, he’ll never forget.
W.S. Edmonds, U.S. Army, World War II (A&M Class of ‘38) (Interviewed June 8, 2005) World War II was won by men and women all pulling their weight, doing their job, whether was fighting on the front lines or serving in the chow lines. When Bryan’s W.S. Edmonds, A&M class of 1938, enlisted in 1942 (just two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor), he had field artillery in mind. He spent a lot of his time in the Army training ragtag replacements stateside for overseas duty. But when his branch’s orders were changed to postal duty in Louisiana, that was not how W.S. wanted to spend the war. If he was going to stay in the states, he wanted to be where the action was so he got himself transferred to Washington DC, the Pentagon, a part of the Army’s Courier Transport Service. It was mostly top secret and it had to get from one place to another, and W.S. Edmonds was one of the soldiers the Army depended on to get it there. He is a past commander of the American Legion and a member of the VFW.
Walter Cronin Jr., U.S. Army, Korea/Vietnam (Interviewed June 7, 2006) Walter Cronin was 16 years old when he graduated from high school but as you will find out, Colonel Cronin was on the fast track just about all his life, certainly during a distinguished military career that spanned 27 years, It was a career that sent him to service not only in the United States, but to Japan, Korea, Paris, London and Vietnam. He kept up with World War II as a schoolboy, joined the merchant Marines and then the Army in 1946. He was coming into military service just as the fighting was wrapping up in the Pacific. It's an intriguing story of service and we are proud to welcome Colonel Walter J Cronin Jr.
