Remembering Andover’s WWII Veterans According to the Department of Defense, Memorial Day is when Americans remember those who gave their lives for our country, while Veterans Day honors “those who have served the country in war or peace.” For the past four years, Andover has been commemorating the 75th Anniversary of World War II and the service that Andover graduates—men and women, civilian and military—provided for the war effort. More than 3,500 alumni served in uniform, along with countless others in the civilian world, a few even before the United States entered the war. Some 142 alumni died in service to their country. The Blue Guidon continues the Academy’s salute to these heroes. For Veterans Day 2019, we recall the late 1944 service of three graduates—all now deceased—who represent the diverse contributions made to war efforts in the Pacific and European theaters and provided civilian leadership from Washington, D.C. Richard Hetherington O’Kane, Class of 1930 In the Far East, Navy submarine commander Richard O’Kane had survived four war patrols against Japanese shipping and—in September 1944, in command of the USS Tang—was sent on his fifth and most dangerous mission. Cmdr. O’Kane’s mission was to intercept Japanese supplies and reinforcements being sent to resist an American invasion of the Philippines. The result was one of the most successful patrols in U.S. Navy history. Departing in late September, the USS Tang had successfully destroyed three Japanese transports, but on the night of October 23rd, O’Kane and his patrols sank five transports in one Japanese convoy (and another five the following night). The patrols found a second convoy near Turnabout Island off the China coast, destroying, in succession, three more transports and two destroyers, which
were targeted and sunk by Tang torpedoes. A sixth ship, a destroyer, headed directly for the Tang and, as the Tang attempted to defend herself, the destroyer’s last torpedo circled back and struck the submarine’s port side, sinking the Tang immediately. On impact, O’Kane and eight others were thrown from the bridge into the water. Four survived, and they were soon joined by five others—the balance of the 80-man crew was lost. The nine survivors were soon captured, only to spend the rest of the war in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. On repatriation after the war, O’Kane received the Medal of Honor. The Naval History and Heritage Command records that “O’Kane has been called the Submarine Force’s most outstanding officer,” and the USS Tang’s record of sinking 31 ships and more than 227,000 tons of enemy shipping remains “unexcelled among American submarines.” Gordon Gilmore Bensley, Class of 1943 Not every Andover graduate was an officer and, 76 years after his graduation, it may surprise some to learn that a favorite faculty member, art teacher Gordon Bensley, was an Army sergeant and a combat infantryman in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 and January 1945. Bensley was a “runner” for the company commander. In fact, in the battle against the last futile Nazi effort to derail the Allied invasion, Sgt. Bensley’s heroism maintaining communications between his company’s platoons was credited with enabling the company commander to maintain the combat unity of his company. In particular, on January 13 in Belgium, his company was advancing across an open area and receiving heavy enemy mortar and artillery fire. “Despite the heavy enemy fire, Bensley volunteered to cross the 300 yards of open space” to successfully reunite two platoons that
had been separated from their command by sniper fire. So reads the citation of the Silver Star he received for his actions. James Phinney Baxter, Class of 1910 The support of Andover graduates was not limited to the uniformed services. Civilian academics and scientists—notable among them, James Phinney Baxter—made important contributions to the war effort. Dr. Baxter was an Academy trustee and—from 1937 to 1961—the president of Williams College. An opponent of the American Neutrality Act, he was called to Washington in the summer of 1941 to serve as director of research and analysis for the nascent “Coordinator of Information,” the predecessor organization of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). By July 1942, he was deputy to the OSS director, Col. William Donovan, and soon became historian of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Later he chaired the Board of Advisors to the Historical Division of the War Department Special Staff and the newly established National Defense University. He also played a critical role in the establishment of the Manhattan Project, which was moving aggressively to develop the first atomic bomb in the latter stages of 1944 and early 1945. His 1946 book, Scientists Against Time, documented the pressures faced by Allied scientists determined to stay ahead of the Axis scientists in the battle for superiority in new weaponry designed to fight the war. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for 1947 and, to this day, remains a classic in scientific literature. To take responsibility for the implications of this new area of scientific research, he became a board member of the World Peace Foundation. —Jim Longley ’70
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in downtown Boston and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. Ninety days later I began my two years of active duty at Parris Island, South Carolina. Up until that time, I believe I was the only Andover graduate to have “U.S. Marines” listed as the “college” in his Pot Pourri entry. My decision to join the military had a bittersweet ending. I served with an infantry company in Vietnam for a year,
enduring a horrific battle in which 40 boys were killed and another 100 were wounded. I applied to college from a foxhole on the DMZ and was accepted, four months later, while at the Con Thien firebase. The following September, I became the first Vietnam veteran to matriculate to Harvard University.
Jack McLean is the author of Loon: A Marine Story, a national bestselling memoir about his service in the Marine Corps. He is currently completing the sequel, Home: A Veteran Story.
The Blue Guidon The Newsletter of Andover and the Military
Fall 2019
Col. Douglas Creedon ’79
Caring for His Community and Serving Our Nation for Nearly 30 Years Having never seen the Andover campus before arriving, Douglas Creedon attended Phillips Academy thanks to a local newspaper scholarship. Decades later, reflecting on his life of service, Creedon sees strong ties to both family values and the non sibi Andover way. As a college student in 1981, Creedon enlisted in the Army Reserve, which eventually would help with tuition. In addition, his experience as an army medic would become valuable to him as a young man considering medical school. Some of his most memorable experiences include providing medical care during Annual Training in Honduras and researching how to optimize soldier performance during extended periods in MOPP gear (full chemical protective attire). By 1993, after 12 years, Creedon believed he was done with the military. He had a young family and was enrolling in a post-PhD program abroad. But in 2001, Creedon, a resident physician specializing in OB/ GYN, was pulled back into uniform by 9/11. The Army’s rapid expansion included open billets for doctors; Creedon was commissioned as a captain. In the years since, he has been mobilized three times, including a 2014 deployment to Kuwait. Today Col. Creedon serves as executive officer
of the 452nd Combat Support Hospital. This unit is deployable worldwide and—in 72 hours— can establish a fully functioning hospital housing 40 patients and two operating rooms. Considering the changes in military medicine since his days as a medic, Creedon has seen significant progress in critical care medicine. “The nature of the military,” says Creedon, “means that service members are often the earliest patients to receive innovative treatments. The
Col. Douglas Creedon in Kuwait, 2014
mother of invention has been the necessity to quickly stabilize wounded members requiring long travel to definitive care.” Many such military developments then make their way to civilian care. On the day of our conversation, Creedon had just attended the welcome home of one of his subordinate units, which had spent a year in Afghanistan providing urgent care to Special Operations personnel. His commitment to his fellow soldiers was evident as he reflected that even though America’s role in Afghanistan has disappeared from the public discourse, these forces were very much in harm’s way. Creedon recounted that one of the most rewarding elements of being a medical professional in the military is the opportunity to care for men and women who keep us safe. To Creedon, the Army feels like a big family. Creedon’s nearly 30-year career is a testament to an upbringing that emphasized service to others. As Andover’s senior graduate in uniform, he insists that he gets more out of these service experiences than he gives. Indicative of his humility, Creedon is appreciative of how the non sibi ideal changed his life: “Andover set me on this course.” —Lt. Cmdr. Livy Coe ’04, USN
AATM Change of Command
Semper Fidelis
The fall of 2013 seems like yesterday. Andover and the Military (AATM) was just over two years old. Born of an amazing idea shared between Seth Moulton ’97 and Tom Beaton ’73 to establish an organization within the Alumni Council to honor Andover’s two centuries of continuing military service to our nation, the seed was suddenly a sapling. Seth was serving as the first AATM chair and I was editor of The Blue Guidon. That fall, Seth and Tom called me and asked if I would be the cochair with Seth, who, I learned, was about to launch his first Congressional campaign. With a Congressional win and exponential increases in Seth’s daily duties, I became the AATM chair. I am happy to report that, during the five years that followed, AATM has grown considerably due to Andover’s “I enjoyed Summer Session very much and everlasting commitment to its military graduates, the would not have been able to attend without involvement of our amazing veterans, our dedicated AATM the Kristensen Scholarship. Thank you! committee—many of whom are on active duty or veterans I am grateful for everything our military themselves—and our incredible donors, who have since tripled personnel and veterans have done for me the size of our AATM endowment. This endowment and other and this country.” annual donations allow AATM and Andover to actively honor our military graduates and send children of American veterans, —London, 2019 Kristensen Scholar debt free, to Andover’s Summer Session as Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen ’91 Scholars (there were three Kristensen Scholars this past summer). It’s been an incredible honor for me to play a very small part in this amazing story. I am excited to turn over the AATM helm to our new chair, retired Capt. Jim Donnelly ’82, U.S. Navy aviator. I know that with Jim’s exceptional leadership and AATM’s strong partnership with Andover, this solid elm will strengthen further and extend its loving reach, encompassing more graduates and more children each year. Non sibi.
By Jack McLean ’66
—Charlie Dean ’79, P’10
From the Editor Our new AATM chair, Jim Donnelly ’82, happens to be my classmate. We first met as juniors, and our immediate friendship has remained rock solid to this day. It was Jim who advised me ages ago about what job I ought to pursue when I joined the Navy— and off to NavSpecWar I happily went. Welcome aboard as our new leader, Jim! As we conducted our change of command via conference call, it was outgoing chair Charlie Dean ’79 who enthusiastically detailed the wonderful success of our Kristensen Scholars program at Andover’s Summer Session (see Charlie’s parting letter, above). “Good work takes money,” says Vietnam Marine veteran Don Way ’63, and I share these words with you because, in true Devil-Dog fashion, it cuts to the crux of how we non sibi our way to help talented and deserving children of either active duty or military veterans attend our great Academy. Everything you do to support the “good work” of AATM comes full circle in the true spirit of non sibi. I remind you to remain engaged and alert while you’re “on watch” for AATM so as to continue our success.
ALUMNI CURRENTLY ON ACTIVE DUTY Joseph Kacergis ’19
Jarreau Jones ’00
Jack O’Neil ’19
Matthew Sullivan ’00
Nicholas Isenhower ’18
Hunter Washburn ’00
Joseph Simourian ’18
Grancis Santana ’99
Annette Bell ’16
Ali Ghaffari ’98
Benjamin Bolduc ’16
Luis Gonzalez ’97
AnnaMaria Dear ’16
Michelle Kalas ’97
Anirudh Murali ’16
Jesse Ehrenfeld ’96
Nicholas Forti ’15
Rush Taylor ’96
Thomas Mullen ’14
Kenny Weiner ’96
Alexandra Bell ’13
Randy Allen ’95
Taylor Perkins ’12
Rebecca Calder ‘94
Christopher Kent ’11
Matthew Macarah ’93
Adrian Lehnen ’10
Ryan Shann ’93
Ansley White ’10
Craig Der Ananian ’91
Jake Bean ’08
Kenneth Jambor ’91
Hanson Causbie ’08
Eric Hawn ’89
Jess Choi ’08
Rob Patrick ’88
Eamon Hegarty ’08
Graeme Henderson ’83, P’14
Walker Washburn ’08 Lauren Johnson ’07 Helal Syed ’07 Jenn Bales ’04 Steve Draheim ’04 Nick Ksiazek ’03 Cat Reppert ’02 Eric Chase ’01 Gil Barndollar ’00
Robert M. Tuller Jr. ’82, P’22, ’23
THE BLUE GUIDON
The Newsletter of Andover and the Military Vol. 8, No. 1 Published biannually by the Office of Academy Resources, Phillips Academy
EDITOR
Robert Tuller ’82, P’22, ’23
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
George Rider ’51, P’86, GP’22
HISTORIAN
David Chase, Faculty Emeritus
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE James Donnelly ’82, Chair Christine Balling ’86 Tom Beaton ’73 Livy Coe ’04 Laurie Coffey ’95 Karl Novick ’07
Robert Patrick ’88 George Rider ’51, P’86, GP’22 Robert Tuller ’82, P’22, ’23 Don Way ’63 Kenny Weiner ’96
Douglas Creedon ’79
Connor Flynn ’06
Matt Fram ’04
Fair winds and following seas,
Kazimierz Kotlow ’83
This list, based on data we receive from alumni, may be incomplete. If you know of someone who should be added, please email Jenny Savino at jsavino@andover.edu.
I still stand tall when I hear a marching band play “Brave Old Army Team.” The fight song of the United States Military Academy evokes memories of a much earlier time in my life. As a trumpet player in the Phillips Academy band in the early 1960s, I marched from Graves Hall, down Main Street, and up to Brothers’ Field on fall football Saturdays. The highlight of our small parade came when we passed Phelps House. Bandleader Bill Clift would give the order to turn “eyes right” and lead us in playing “Brave Old Army Team.” Headmaster John M. Kemper, a West Point graduate, would stand at attention on the front steps. I arrived at Andover as a junior in the fall of 1961. While challenged academically, I enjoyed playing the trumpet in the marching band. I liked the uniforms (blue blazers and white slacks) and the paramilitary discipline of learning to march in step with several dozen other boys. I also liked playing marches, particularly college fight songs, and always shivered with pride as we entered the football field before a game while playing “The Royal Blue.” Having struggled in class during the week, those fall football Saturdays gave me much-needed structure and made me feel as though I was part of something bigger. I liked the feeling. We also marched down Main Street on May 30th every year to join the entire school community at the Memorial Bell Tower to honor our nation’s war dead. Those Memorial Day parades included several dozen faculty members who were military veterans. Most would be wearing their old uniforms—many were World War II and Korean War veterans. Some were highly decorated, which added solemnity to the occasion. Along our route, we’d play the anthems of each of the four service branches. My favorite was “The Marines’ Hymn.” At the close of the ceremony in my lower year, I was selected to play
Above: The Phillips Academy band marching on a “football Saturday” Left: Jack McLean in Vietnam, spring 1968
“Taps.” It was an unimaginable honor. Those annual Memorial Day ceremonies instilled me with patriotic pride. They also helped me to understand the concept of national service. The faculty members, like most of our fathers, had served our country in the military. As teenagers, we students were part of a continuum that would soon be called upon to serve as well. The school motto, Finis origine pendet, had more to it than mastering a rigorous academic regimen. During our time at Andover, it also instilled in us a sense of purpose to serve the greater good. In the spring of 1966, during my senior year, Andover—like the rest of the country—was on the cusp of enormous social change. The band no longer marched down Main Street on football Saturdays. The Memorial Day ceremony, if held at all, attracted only a smattering of students and faculty. The increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam was taking the
air out of demonstrating public pride in national service and out of recognizing those who had given their lives to create and defend our liberty. It was under this forbidding cloud that I returned home for spring break. Over the four prior years, Andover had continued to wear me down academically. As my classmates applied to colleges and anticipated their post-Andover futures, I decided that I didn’t want to go to college, not yet anyway. After five years at Andover, I wanted to take a break from the grind. Unlike the students of today, however, my options were limited. Since there was a military draft, being of sound mind and body, I would be conscripted. I didn’t want to join the military, and I certainly didn’t want to fight in a war. But I also didn’t want to go to college for the sole purpose of avoiding the draft. My father had served. Respected members of the Andover faculty had served. Many of America’s greatest leaders had served. The achievements of our national heroes, namely Eisenhower, Bradley, Marshall, Patton, and MacArthur, still resonated. There was honor in military service. My parents had instilled this in me and Andover had reinforced it. Non sibi. On the day before I returned to begin spring term, I took an MBTA trolley to the Old Customs House continued on back
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