The Great Raid of 1949

Chatham Hall in 1905 (photo courtesy of Chatham Hall)

I believe it was on a warm evening on a Wednesday night. Only certain cadets got town leave on Wednesday: Barrack's Commanders, Buglers, etc. I was one of these so was not present for the Great Raid itself.

Word spread among those not granted Town Leave that a raid on Chatham Hall was in the making. Coverals were the Uniform of the Day. About 50 to 100 cadets went to Chatham Hall through the woods led by Leon Story.

Now in those days the girls at Chatham Hall were almost kept as prisoners there. We almost never saw any sign of them. No cross school socializing was permitted.

When the cadets arrived, they entered the buildings and much screaming and excitement ensued. One cadet left his hat on a fire escape. Unfortunately, his name was in the hat. I believe that was James Tingler, who later in the escape phase of the raid was blinded by the headlights of Major Kinzer's '48 Chrysler and ran into a tree on the way down the hill. Broke his arm.

After chasing everyone off, Kinzer returned to the school and set up guards at all the entrances. Anyone in coveralls went on report. There was a wholesale reshuffle in the Officer Corps after this and many NCO's became clean sleeved again.

The Bull Ring in those days was in front of the main building and had a long line out there for quite a while.

Leon Rue
leonrue@adelphia.net
Band Company '49

Class reunions

Class of 1949 Pass in Review, 50th Reunion (photo courtesy of Leon Rue)

It is important to note the difference between Homecoming and a Class Reunion. Homecoming is what occurs on Hargrave's campus (and the golf course) each year, and it is for any and all alums. Your Class Reunion is just for the members of your class, and it can occur solely on campus, or both on and off campus (If you want to do more than simply meet on campus, then the "more" has to occur off-campus—usually in Danville).

Hargrave doesn't do much to put together Homecoming, and they do even less to insure a successful class reunion. I'm not complaining about Homecoming, just that it certainly isn't a gala event set up to really make someone want to come. I also don't have suggestions to make it better.

With regard to Homecoming, the best things Hargrave did in recent years were to eliminate the Saturday night thing at the country club, and replace it with the cocktail party at a hotel. Attendance had become abysmal at the country club because few people wanted to (1) put on a coat & tie; (2) pay for an overpriced, lousy meal; and (3) be trapped in a room listening to speeches. The cocktail party has much better attendance, and is a much better venue for the guys to meet and chat. We owe a great deal to Clay, as he was the one who eliminated the country club thing, and replaced it with the cocktail party.

As for whether or not a Class Reunion is successful, that's not up to Hargrave; it's strictly up to the Reunion Chairperson, and how much work he/she/they put into it. Hargrave likes to present the job as "easy". All they want you to do is have your signature go out on cards reminding your classmates that this is their reunion year.

Hargrave will give you mailing labels and even pay the postage. However, look at the dismal results that have produced over the years. How many times have you looked at the post-Homecoming issue of the Guidon, and seen pictures of a reunion class with only two
guys, or three guys, or less than ten guys. That ought to let you know how successful a class reunion will be when you use the "not-a-lot-of-legwork", "just mail out a card" Hargrave method.

In the first 39 years after I was graduated from Hargrave, my class had only one successful reunion, and it was semi-successful at that. The only reason we had a "fair" turnout is because one of my classmates sent out a "the class of 1963 challenges the class of 1964 to a baseball game" announcement. Still, we had to "borrow" from other classes to make up the two-team roster. Other than that, we had only used the "post card" plan, and I think the best turnout
under that strategy was maybe eight guys.

For our 40th Reunion, some of us finally got off our asses. Two other classmates and I formed a three-man Reunion Committee... and we worked our asses off. First, we used our 1963 Cadence to put together a real list of our class. Hargrave's list was missing some guys, and had the names of others who were never members of our class. Hargrave didn't have addresses for a lot of our classmates, and had "no longer good" ones for others. Second, we used lots of different (time consuming) ways to put together the most accurate address list we could... and discovered some dead bodies along the way. Third, we had numerous mailings to classmates: First to find out how much interest there was in doing something; second to find out what that something was—party, dinner, dance, panty raid on Chatham Hall, etc. Then we put together the meeting spaces and other stuff necessary to do what they guys wanted to do.

We kept mailing flyer to create a "buzz". We ended up with about 40-50 guys attending... not bad for people who, in some cases, hadn't been back in 40 years. And we had a blast.

So yes, you can be a "do-almost-nothing" Class Reunion chairperson, as Hargrave suggests, but you'll probably get "almost nothing" results. Or you can commit to doing it right—which means lots of work, but is the only chance you'll have of a truly successful class reunion.

One other secret I'll pass on. This may surprise you, but not every alum of Hargrave loved the place! I stressed from the beginning that Reunion was about classmates getting together to "catch up". That Homecoming was about seeing the school and getting hit up for donations. That if you didn't want to go to Chatham, you didn't have to; you could stay in Danville and party hardy. A lot of my classmates came to the Reunion because I had explained it that way.

One really needs 18-24 months to plan a reunion, because of the time involved in putting together an accurate mailing list, and making reservations for meeting rooms, etc. It is 10 months until Homecoming 2007, so you'd better start now if you're planning a 2007
reunion. We began 8 months before Homecoming; we could have accomplished a helluva lot more if we'd had 12 months.

One last thing: There are some in my class who presume I'll put myself through this again for our 45th or 50th Reunion. They would be the ones who are still drunk from our 40th!

Marc Axel
marc.axel@verizon.net
Class of '63

Maj. Gen. Caldwell on the killing of al-Zarqawi

Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell speaks to reporters from Baghdad

Army general: Al-Zarqawi alive when U.S. troops arrived
June 9, 2006

(CNN) -- U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spoke with reporters at the Pentagon on Friday via a video link from Baghdad, Iraq. Here is a partial transcript.

CALDWELL: I'm glad to be here today to help clarify and further elaborate on anything that's gone on in the last 48 hours here in Iraq.

As we stated the other day, it's very, very important for everybody to understand, the elimination of Zarqawi is not going to stop the violence here in Iraq. I mean, clearly, as General Casey stated -- and he's correct -- it is an important step forward; it's a big one. But at the same time, we still have some tough times ahead of us.

The Iraqi people are going to assume a great responsibility here. The prime minister himself has stated, those who elected and put them into power are the same ones now that have to rid Iraq of the violence -- of the violence like Zarqawi.

And so, the people have a big part to play, but there's a government in place, duly elected. We've appointed the minister of defense, interior and national security. The prime minister now has a full cabinet. He's got a plan for Baghdad he's announced, a Baghdad security plan. And we're actually very optimistic as we move forward here, having set a lot of conditions that give them that opportunity to take greater control of their country with us working in support of them.

QUESTION: ... Could you give us a definitive word on how many people were killed in the airstrike and also give us the rationale for choosing to take Zarqawi out, kill him outright, rather than try to capture him and exploit the intelligence value -- capture him alive?

CALDWELL: OK. ... I just flew back in here about two hours ago from a location where I was getting some of the debriefing material to look at so I can better answer ... questions.

What I would tell you is I have not sat and talked to them and asked them exactly why the decision was made to attempt to take him utilizing an airstrike. I have to go back and ask that question. But clearly that was the decision that was made by the commander on the ground.

I would assume if we would had gone in there and tried to have captured him, that would have taken some kind of overwhelming force at that point in time, and that perhaps they didn't have it read.

But we'll have to check on that.

QUESTION: And the first question, General, how many people were killed in the attack? And who was the commander on the ground that you referred to?

CALDWELL: The attack casualties, I was asking again about today to help clarify that. I was told that they're still giving me the final confirmation.

As with any operation that ever occurs, first reports are never 100 percent correct, and we do continue to follow up to make sure we have established exactly what the facts were on the ground.

I do know from what they told me this afternoon that there were six people that were killed in that airstrike: three males, three females.

Different than what I read in the report yesterday, and so I had asked them to go back and double-check it one more time so that we can be definitively sure exactly what it was. But the report that they were reading today and the back brief with me was three males and three females.

QUESTION: Also can you give us the definitive word now: Do you have any information that Zarqawi initially survived the airstrike, that he was alive at any point in the hands of either Iraqi or U.S. forces? And can you tell us if one of the women was identified as one of Zarqawi's wives, or someone related to him?

CALDWELL: What I can tell you, again, from the debriefs this morning, which gave us greater clarity than what we had before, is Zarqawi, in fact, did survive the airstrike. The report specifically states that nobody else did survive, though, from what they know.

The first people on the scene were the Iraqi police. They had found him and put him into some kind of gurney/stretcher kind of thing, and then American coalition forces arrived immediately thereafter on-site. They immediately went to the person in the stretcher, were able to start identifying by some distinguishing marks on his body. They had some kind of visual facial recognition.

According to the person on the ground, Zarqawi attempted to, sort of, turn away off the stretcher. Everybody resecured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he'd received from this airstrike.

As far as anybody else, again, the report says nobody else survived.

QUESTION: To clarify then, you can confirm that U.S. troops themselves saw and can confirm to you that Zarqawi was alive; that is confirmed by U.S. troops on the ground.

And his attempt to turn away, would you describe that as an attempt, even in the state he was in, to escape at that point? Why did you -- was he strong enough for anyone to have to resecure him?

CALDWELL: Again, I'm reading the report; I did not talk specifically to any uniformed person.

But according to the report, we did, in fact, see him alive. There was some kind of movement he had on the stretcher. And he died shortly thereafter.

But, yes, it was confirmed by other than the Iraqi police that he was alive initially.

QUESTION: Did anyone render medical assistance to him? Did U.S. troops try to render medical assistance?

CALDWELL: Again, as I was reading the report, they went into the process to provide medical care to him.

QUESTION: How ... many minutes was Zarqawi alive after the bombing and before he eventually expired? And had he been shot?

CALDWELL: When I was there today it became apparent that this kind of question would be asked. We're trying to put that exact minutes together from the time that we saw the Iraqi police arrive on site to when the first coalition forces arrived on site and when they were able to report that they thought he had died there. And we'll provide that -- we can put that together. We just don't have it at the moment.

QUESTION: Sir, had he been shot?

CALDWELL: There was nothing that I saw in the report, but I'll go back and specifically ask that. But, no, was there nothing in the report that said he had received any wounds from some kind of weapons system like that.

QUESTION: Will there be an autopsy performed, number one?

And number two, was Zarqawi able to speak? Did he say anything either to the Iraqi police or the American soldiers?

CALDWELL: If he said something to the Iraqi police I'm not aware of it.

According to the reports by the coalition forces that arrived on-site, he mumbled a little something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short.

QUESTION: Will an autopsy be performed?

CALDWELL: They, in fact, have done some analysis of his body. I'll have to make sure I have the proper definition of what was done with Zarqawi's body, but I know they have done some kind of analysis. And I'll get that for you.

QUESTION: Two quick questions. How can you be sure that Zarqawi died as a result of the wounds he received from the explosion without a formal autopsy?

And secondly, when you were cleaning him up did you have to Photoshop his face or anything to make him more recognizable for the picture?

CALDWELL: To take your second question first, yes, his face was very, very bloodied. And we made a conscious decision that if we were going to take photographs of him and make them available publicly like we did in the press conference that we were going clean him up.

Despite the fact that this person actually had no regard for human life, we were not going to treat him in the same manner. And so, they did clean his face up for the shots that were shown publicly.

As far as the autopsy goes, I know that there was, quote, "an autopsy" done, but I'll go back and make sure it was performed by the certified kind of person that we're supposed to have so we can call it an autopsy and make sure I'm exactly correct before I tell you that.

QUESTION: Did you have to digitally enhance the photos at all to clean him up to show him to the world?

CALDWELL: No. The photographs there are the straight photographs. We did no digital enhancement from this end.

QUESTION: What's going to happen to Zarqawi's body after the autopsy? Does it get returned to Jordan to his family? And do you have anything on the identity of the others killed in the strike? Was it six victims total, including Zarqawi, or was it seven?

CALDWELL: Right now we are in consultation with the government of Iraq as far as the disposition of Zarqawi's body. I know that dialogue has been going on since after -- shortly after the strike and he was brought under coalition forces' control.

So that's still being deliberated. They may have made a decision late here this afternoon. They had not as of noon today.

As far as the identification of the other personnel goes, I know they're still working it. The only two that have been positively identified at this point, of course, is Zarqawi and al-Rahman. And, again, those we were able to do through fingerprint identification. DNA results have still not come back as of noon today, and we're waiting for those results, though, too.

The other four, they are trying to attempt to identify. But as of noon today, again, we had not.

QUESTION: The report yesterday that a child was killed in that, are you saying that that's not the case right now?

CALDWELL: I'm saying I'm not certain at the moment. Because the initial report that I was provided in fact said there was a child, and then when I went through the after-action review today -- again, as with any military operation, you get the first reports in. They're fairly accurate, but they're never complete. And then you give follow-on work to establish exactly what the factual facts are.

And the report today says it was six people, three males and three females; no children.

QUESTION: You mentioned yesterday that there were 17 raids conducting simultaneously in and around Baghdad after Zarqawi was confirmed dead. Can you give us any more information on this treasure trove of documents and information you got? And how many people were detained as a result of those raids?

CALDWELL: We, obviously, did conduct those 17 raids, and then last night we conducted an additional 39 operations across Iraq; some directly related to the information we had received, others have not a direct relationship.

I can show you some pictures from one of the raids. We did get some digital photos back from one site where they went in and they found a cache of things.

QUESTION: How many people you detained as a result of these raids?

CALDWELL: I was going through the figures today. I saw two different numbers. One showed a detention of 25 personnel with one killed. Another one had a different number. But I'll give you that number, that's lower of the two, until I can confirm it: 25 detained, one KIA. That's not a friendly. That's an enemy.

QUESTION: I was unclear whether you said it was six including Zarqawi that was killed, or whether Zarqawi makes seven.

And secondly, was there any plastic surgery used to reconstruct his face, to make it more presentable before yesterday's news conference?

CALDWELL: That number is six, which includes Zarqawi. So it's not seven, but just six total.

There was none that I know of. I'll verify that by going back and asking the question, but I did not see it stated anywhere that, in fact, that had occurred, so I don't think it did. But I'll verify that for you.

QUESTION: General, everybody's asking the question how possibly could he have survived seemingly intact after two 500-pound bombs were dropped on that facility.

Was he outside? Was he thrown clear? Is there any visibility on why he was able to survive those two bombs?

CALDWELL: Well, that's the exact same question I asked today when I sat down with several Air Force officers, to include some that were associated with the whole operation.

And they assured me that there are cases when people, in fact, can survive even an attack like that on a building structure. Obviously, the other five in the building did not, but he did for some reason.

And we do not know -- and I've looked through the report -- as to whether or not it was because he might have been right outside or whatever. We just don't have that granularity.

QUESTION: Two questions: One, the $25 million tip reward, what's the latest thinking on whether anybody will receive that?

CALDWELL: I think what everybody needs to understand is that when the coalition forces put together the information that led to this strike the other day, it was a painstaking effort, very focused over about three weeks. And during that time period there's a lot of information that came in allowing us to build that puzzle that led us to that evening when we were able to ascertain that Zarqawi was in that -- and Rahman were in that building together.

The information we had was never somebody coming forth and saying, "At this time, at this place you will find Zarqawi in this building." That did not occur.

In fact, it was the result of some tremendous work by coalition forces, intelligence agencies, partners in our global war on terrorism that all came together feeding different parts and pieces to allow us to build that puzzle to establish the patterns, the methods, the techniques which allowed us to track and then monitor things, which led us to that building that night to find Zarqawi in there.

Note: Maj. Gen. Caldwell is a 1972 graduate of Hargrave Military Academy.

Hargrave presents diplomas to 88 graduates

photo courtesy of the Chatham Star-Tribune

Hargrave Military Academy conferred diplomas upon 88 graduates Saturday during the 97th commencement exercises.

Hargrave's outgoing chief of staff, Lt. Col. John E. Borley delivered the keynote address.

He is leaving Hargrave after nine years to become headmaster of Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg.

Borley spoke of the challenges graduates will face soon after they exited Owen R. Cheatham Chapel Saturday and began their life after Hargrave.

"Gone tomorrow will be the sound of Reveille. Gone tomorrow will be morning formation, the call to chapel on Sunday, the bells to class on Monday, the call to sports, the call to study hall or non-homework study hall and finally the reverent, but so inspiring call to taps," said Borley.

Their life from now own will be absent of those calls. They will be on their own in their choices and responsibilities.

"After today the voice that breaks the silence must come from within," he added. "Not from your TAC, not from your teacher not from your coach, not from your parents. It must come from within. It must come from you."

He told them to look inside their Hargrave toolbox to find help to meet the challenges they will face.

The Hargrave toolbox has taught them how to deal with hardship, adversity and the silence of no more orders. They take with them lessons in character, leadership, dependability, integrity, enthusiasm, citizenship, decisiveness, endurance, loyalty, structure, courage and spiritual foundation, said Borley.

They also have friendships and memories that will become more and more valuable as the years pass.

Borley wished them well and told them not to be afraid to challenge their future with determination and resolution.

Valedictorian

Thomas Hayes Cooper, who achieved the highest academic average in the senior class with a 4.66 grade-point average, was named valedictorian.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Cooper of Gretna, he has been a student at Hargrave for five years.

Cooper has been on the Dean's List twice and the President's List 26 times.

A cadet officer, he is a member of the National Beta Club, the Spanish National Honor Society and has received the Scholastic Medal each year since the eighth grade for the highest GPA in his class.

While at Hargrave, he was a member of the cross country and varsity baseball teams. He will attend Virginia Tech in the fall.

Salutatorian

Named 2006 salutatorian was Jonathan Arden Marsigli, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Edwardo Marsigli of Rocky Mount, N.C.

He achieved the rank of sergeant and served as a platoon commander in Delta Company. He was a member of the Spanish Club, Beta Club and played varsity soccer.

Jonathan will attend the University of North Carolina at Wilmington to major in pre-law.

Outstanding senior

Cadet Cody Cameron was named "Outstanding Senior" and delivered the cadet speech at graduation.

"Hargrave has brought up the men and women we have become," he said. "I learned to stop achieving goals for approval and learned to achieve them for myself. I will always remember the choice. The choice of waking up and being a part of something great."

He is the son of Gary Cameron of Cheyenne, Wy.

Cameron is in the top 5 percent of his class, has been on the Dean's List or President's list each grading period and is a member of the National Honor Society.

"He possesses outstanding leadership qualities, holding the position of company commander," said Lynn Baker in announcing the award.

"His leadership style has a calm and patient presentation and he does not hesitate to get the job done," she added.

Cameron led Hargrave's Alpha Company during his entire senior year, which is no small feat in a military boarding school environment.

Cameron is an Eagle Scout, played varsity basketball, was varsity soccer captain and selected all conference.

Citizenship Medal

Rachael Lee Jeffcoat was presented the senior "Citizenship Medal."

The Citizenship Medal recipient is determined through interviews of each member of the 2006 senior class and selected by a vote of the school's faculty and staff.

Jeffcoat was determined to be the most deserving senior who displays the characteristics of citizenship.

Rachael was a speaker Thursday night at baccalaureate and told the senior class that each one of them will be faced with different paths as their life unfolds.

"It was not easy," she said. "There were many times that I wanted to give up.

"I told them to understand that each of us are different and we will have to go on the path that life leads us and make decisions based on what is best for us," she said. "We should make sure they are good decisions."

Jeffcoat learned during her time at Hargrave and became one of the Corps highest ranking cadets. She was the Corps of Cadets' battalion adjutant.

"Don't be a follower. Be the leader that Hargrave made you," she said. "Remember to always aim high and never give up your dreams."

While at Hargrave, Jeffcoat was Honor Council chairman and was a member of the varsity volleyball and cross country teams.

She plans to attend Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, Miss.

Rachael is the daughter of Maj. and Mrs. Michael Jeffcoat of Chatham. Maj. Jeffcoat has served as Hargrave's commandant for the past three years.

Lankford Fellowship

The Lankford Fellowship was presented to Jim Tung, science teacher and chairman of the science department.

He will use the Lankford Fellowship to visit and survey college science departments this summer to discover the competencies they seek of incoming students trained in high school science laboratories and technical departments.

He plans to incorporate these suggestions and needs to upgrade the Hargrave science department.

Local graduates

Local graduates were Stephen Boyd, Britton Burkett (honor graduate), Dean Clay, Thomas Cooper (honor graduate), Maria Franchella (honor graduate), Rachel Jeffcoat, Tiffany Martin (honor graduate), Dustin Motley, William Owen, Joshua Price, Matthew Reynolds, Kimberly Setliff (honor graduate), Roxanne Stowe and Julie Wilson.

The graduating class included six Naval Academy post graduates and 100 percent of the class has been accepted by a college or university.

Susan Worley
Chatham Star-Tribune

Hargrave license plates

I am in the process of trying to create a license plate for Virginia vehicles using Hargrave's seal. The process, if approved by Virginia, should take about 9 months. The best I can understand, after completion of approval the first 1,000 plates would cost $15.00 extra and $10.00 extra thereafter. I just received permission from Clay Draud to proceed with the process of establishing a plate for use by alumni, cadets, staff and family. I am wondering how much interest is out there for this. What better way to show our loyalty for a school that has taught us so much. I believe that there is some way to set up revenue sharing, with Hargrave getting part of each plate sold. What do all of you think?

Michael A. Lang
michael.lang@cbn.org
Class of '68