Notable Cadets

“Walt” Layer entered PMC in 1928 after attending Pennsylvania Military Preparatory School. As a cadet he was admired by all and earned the confidence of General Charles E. Hyatt. Academically he was a serious student and earned a degree in Civil Engineering. Athletically he was talented and captained the football, baseball and boxing teams. He also won a letter in basketball. George Hansell, former PMC Athletic Director said “No man ever had a greater love for the college and its athletic program than Walt.”

After graduation he taught mathematics at PMC for two years. He resigned his commission in the Army Reserve in 1941 and accepted a commission in the Marine Corps Reserve. During World War II, he served in both the European and Asiatic theatres. After the war he served in the state legislature and as a councilman for the borough of Ridley Park. In 1950, Layer was recalled to active duty and commanded the 1st Marine Regiment in Korea. In 1953 he was integrated into the regular Marine Corps. His next assignments were as Provost Marshal of the Navy Department and commanding officer of the Marine Corps Barracks, Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In 1965 Layer was awarded the Outstanding Alumnus Award that was presented posthumously. The citation read in part: “The purpose of the award is to honor a graduate who has … brought recognition and distinction to his Alma Mater and himself.” Cadets formed an honor guard for Colonel Layer’s funeral before his burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

Sylvanus Morley may best be known for his Excavations at Chichen Itza, the discovery of the Temple of the Warriors and his study of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. He also is known as Agent No. 53 for his work as a spy for the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) during World War I.

Colonel Benjamin F. Morley, was a professor of chemistry, mathematics and tactics at PMC Although the family had moved to Colorado, the Colonel encouraged his son to study engineering. Morley enrolled at PMC and graduated at the top of his class, receiving a degree in Civil Engineering. He then promptly enrolled at Harvard and began his study of archaeology, his life long passion.

After several years at the Museum-affiliated School of American Archaeology in Santa Fe, Morley was appointed Research Associate for the Carnegie Institute. This permitted him to lead a series of expeditions to Central America.

In March 1917, Morley approached ONI and suggested that specialists, including himself, in Mexico and Central America were willing to become intelligence agents using their professional activities as cover. In April, with only basic instructions from ONI and no training, he was sent to Guatemala City. His mission for ONI was to search for secret German submarine bases; and, build an intelligence network in Central America while conducting an “archeological reconnaissance” for the Carnegie Institute. For the next 2 years, he traveled more than 2,000 miles along the coastline of Latin America. As he traveled through Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, he recruited an extensive network of agents who kept watch on the activities of German nationals.

Morley’s career as a spy ended in 1919. During that time he proved to be a remarkable gatherer of intelligence. Once it became clear that there were no German submarine bases, he provided useful economic and political intelligence.

Rich Mulhern arrived at PMC from Long Island, but was born in Brooklyn. His classmates described him as a great friend with a tough demeanor and a sense of humor. When he arrived at PMC in the fall of 1967 he was assigned to Echo Company. He became a Corporal, Cadet Sergeant and Cadet Captain. He was also a member of the Battery Robinett and the Ranger Platoon. After graduation he pursued a career in the Army. He served in Germany, the U.S. Embassy in Jordan, and in various positions in the Pentagon.

In 1991 Operation Provide Comfort, which provided humanitarian aid to over one million Kurdish Refugees in northern Iraq, was begun. For the next 1,000 days, the Air Force flew over the area and airdropped food, clothing, tents, blankets, medicine). To further stop Saddam from killing the Kurds, a northern No-Fly Zone was placed north of the 36th parallel. Any Iraqi aircraft would be shot down in the No-Fly Zone. The No-Fly Zone was patrolled and kept “clean” by the USAF with fighters (F-15s) being supported by command and control aircraft (AWACS).

In April 1994 two Blackhawk helicopters, carrying Colonel Jerry Thompson and his replacement, Colonel Richard Mulhern, 71, the incoming Commander of the No-Fly Zone, along with 24 others, the group took off from Turkey for an orientation tour of the area. Despite being granted permission to enter the No-Fly Zone, the two helicopters were mistakenly identified as Soviet style helicopters used by the Iraqi army by two Air Force jets patrolling the area with a C5-A providing air traffic control. From a distance of 4 nautical miles, both Air Force jets fired on the helicopters. Both Black Hawk helicopters were instantly destroyed. All twenty-six people on board perished.

When World War I broke out, Edmund “Ned” Cook, ex-cadet, Class of 1906, felt it was his patriotic duty to fight for the Allies. He traveled to England and enlisted. He became a member of the 4th Battalion of the British Grenadier Guards, the oldest and most famed infantry regiment in England.

The regiment was in France and a major part of the Allies offensive in 1917. Ordered to attack just before dawn on August 10, Cook went “over the top” dodging from shell hole to shell hole. German machine guns fired an unrelenting barrage on them on the Grenadiers. “Ned” Cook was struck and went down, wounded in the abdomen and legs. Refusing care during the attack, Cook told his comrades to “carry on, you fellows.”

Stretcher-bearers following the attack picked up the injured man who had refused the aid of his brother Grenadiers. They carried him to the rear where he died a few days later at Casualty Clearing Station Number 62.

“Ned” Cook was the first PMC casualty of the war. Sometime later, his wife wrote to Colonel Hyatt that Cook was an honor to PMC’s “teachings and guidance and you may be proud of your good soldier.”

In 1861, Henry Clay Robinett, like others before him, Robinett distinguished himself by the defense of “Battery Robinett,” a Union artillery battery, during the Battle of Corinth in Mississippi. Unlike many who returned to civilian life after the Civil War, Robinett pursued a career in the regular Army. That career, however, was marred by ever increasingly erratic behavior that ended in his suicide just three years after the war while still on active duty – the result of complex psychological problems that still manifest themselves in our military today.

The PMC “Battery Robinett,” was named in Robinett’s honor. During each football game, the Battery fires its cannon.

 

After graduating PMC, Richard O’Malley, ’38, entered the Graduate School of Business at Harvard. The approaching war, however, changed his plans and he entered the military in 1940. He became the commander of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, one of the oldest and most decorated regiments in the Army, and deployed to England with the 4th Infantry Division.

On D-Day, he saw his first action of the war when the 12th Regiment spearheaded the invasion of the Cherbourg Peninsula. The 12th Infantry landed south of the beaches Uncle Red and Tara Green. Despite being widely dispersed, the Regiment was quickly reassembled, organized and advanced inland. As the 2nd Battalion moved inland, it became engaged in a fierce firefight at Neuville-au-Plain. When the Battalion commander became a casualty, O’Malley assumed command and proceeded to the front lines. There he could be heard calling “Up and at “em, 2nd Battalion, follow me!” The next objective of the 2nd Battalion was 2 enemy pillboxes near two stone quarries. O’Malley lead a fierce attack and in conjunction tanks, overcame the enemy. After the capture of the port of Cherbourg on June 26, the 12t Infantry was repositioned to the Sainteny front.

O’Malley’s then became engaged in fierce fighting against Götz von Berlichingen Division’s SS grenadiers, supported by the parachutists of the 6th Regiment. These elite enemy forces were entrenched in the hedgerows of the Normandy countryside. Although wounded twice, Major O’Malley continued to lead the battalion from a frontline position. Only hours before the Battalion was to be relieved on July 16, an enemy sniper shot and killed O’Malley. As the men of the 2nd Battalion learned of his death, they were stunned.

Richard O’Malley was a “ruggedly handsome man with a voice that could crack timber,” whose manner was brisk, decisive and authoritative. His fearless leadership and concern for his troops endeared him to his men who called him “The Iron Major.”” When Major General Raymond Barton, Commander of the 4th Infantry Division, learned of the loss of Major O’Malley he was so moved that he ordered the mass firing of three volleys of the 4th Infantry Division artillery and mortars into enemy lines. This was the only time in World War II that this honor was given by the 4th Infantry Division and the only time to this day.”

In 1945, Major O’Malley was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. The citation accompanying the awarded stated:

“After relieving the battalion of another unit, Major O’Malley attacked with his battalion and succeeded in advancing in the face of fierce enemy resistance. Throughout this period, Major O’Malley, although handicapped by a stiff leg resulting from a previous wound, was continuously up forward, directing the attack.

“When his battalion was ordered to take up a defensive position, Major O’Malley continued to remain forward in order to adequately co-ordinate defensive fire. Despite the fact that the enemy front lines were less than 100 yards away, and that his own troops were continually under small arms and artillery fire, he visited each company front personally to check positions.”

 

 

 

William John Wolfgram ’43 was born in Wisconsin in 1922. He attended the local Shorewood schools and then graduated from Northwestern Military and Naval Academy (now St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy). He excelled academically and enrolled at Harvard University. Wolfgram left Harvard and enrolled at Pennsylvania Military College as a Cadet during the second semester of the 1941-42 school year, in response to the outbreak of WWII. He continued his studies in engineering and earned a War Diploma in May, 1943. At graduation he received the Alumni Association Medal for maintaining the highest academic average.

After his commissioning as a 2nd Lt., Wolfgram was assigned to Company L of the 87th Infantry Regiment, which was part of the 10th Mountain Division (Alpine), at Camp Hale in Colorado. The Division’s training at the 9,200-foot-high Camp Hale honed the skills of its soldiers to fight and survive under the most brutal mountain conditions. The men of the 87th experienced not only skiing, but snow-shoeing, snow fighting, and trail breaking on a toboggan. In January, 1945, the 87th left Newport News, VA for Italy, aboard the USS West Point. The division entered combat on January 28, 1945 in the North Apennine Mountains of Italy.

By early March, the 87th found itself racing along the German front line located along a ridge known as Mt. Della Vedetta. During an attack, the first platoon of Company L, under the command of Wolfgram, became pinned down by heavy machine gun fire from a farmhouse. Eventually, the platoon overcame the resistance and captured several prisoners. Wolfgram was awarded the Bronze Star “For heroic achievement in action.” The Executive Officer, 1st Lt. Wilbur S. Sheets, and a friend of Wolfgram, described him as a “brilliant unit commander” and that his men had “nothing but admiration for him.”

Company L captured Mt. Croce and on the morning of April 16th was ordered to continue the attack along the 4,000 yard Riva Ridge the morning of April 16th. As the platoon began its assault, it came under heavy fire and continuous mortar barrage. Wolfgram successfully had his men withdraw, only to once again encounter German machine gun fire. Wolfgram was seriously wounded and the platoon was cut down to nineteen men. Wolfgram died shortly thereafter.

Edith and Frank Wolfgram established a living memorial to their son Lt. William J. Wolfgram. He had been a lover of English books and his parents donated his personal collection the William J. Wolfgram English Reference Library or simply the Wolfgram Collection, to the planned Memorial Library erected in 1948. In addition, the center court of the library was dedicated to Wolfgram. The family continued their support and played an active role in building the current library, also named in his memory.

 

“Uncle Herb,” as he was called by many of his classmates at PMC, was a tall, black-haired cadet who had earned the respect and admiration of the Corps during his four years at the college. Academically he was an excellent student and played guard on the football team and captained the baseball team. After graduation he joined the Marine Corps. In November 1943, Lt Colonel Amey, the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marine Regiment, was preparing his troops for the amphibious assault on Tarawa.

Tarawa is located in the Gilbert Islands approximately 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. The island of Betio became the centerpiece of the Japanese fortifications because it was a defensive stronghold. The landings began on November 20 and immediately ran into trouble. After the first three waves of his command, Landing Team 2/2, had departed for the beach, Amey ordered his boat closer to the beach. According to Robert Sherrod, a war correspondent with the 2/2, “Somehow Amey flagged down two amtracs and transferred his group into them … Amey’s tractor was forced to halt about 200 yards from the beach by an obstacle of barbed wire on the reef.” Amey looked over the edge of the vehicle and then led his men over the side into water up to their necks. ‘C’mon gang,’ he shouted, ‘they can’t stop us.’ He took about ten steps – and they were the last he ever took.”

As the sun set on Tarawa, the Second Marine Division occupied a thin strip of land. With courage, sacrifice, and skill, the U. S. Marines had broken Tarawa’s door in, and they were not about to leave.