American Valor Quarterly Issue 3 - Summer 2008 | Page 19

General Goodpaster was still serving as Superintendent when,
on 20 January 1981, Iran released 52 American diplomats and
military personnel who had been held hostage for 444 days. When
they returned to the United States, these people and their families
were taken to a place where they could have some quiet time
together before having to deal with the press and the public. The
place chosen was West Point. Goodpaster greeted the former
hostages and their families with these reassuring words: “You
have been delivered from evil, and you are now safe at a place of
great strength and beauty.” One can only imagine the impact of
that simple statement, so typical of the man who delivered it.
Abrams
General Goodpaster’s career was, at a most important juncture,
linked with that of Creighton W. Abrams. During the first year
General Abrams commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam, General
Goodpaster was his deputy. As those familiar with my work
know, I have long been interested in the professional values
exemplified by General Abrams. That interest began in the early
1970s, when I commanded a tank battalion in Germany that was
descended from the 37th Tank Battalion then-Lieutenant Colonel
Abrams had commanded during World War II. The Army we
had in Europe in the 1970s was in desperate straits, having been
adversely affected in almost every realm by the ongoing war in
Vietnam. There was not enough money, not enough spare parts,
not enough gasoline or ammunition, and especially not enough
experienced leadership at the crucial lower levels — captains and
lieutenants and sergeants.
In an effort to motivate the soldiers in my battalion, I tried to
learn more about the history of the outfit in World War II. I read
everything I could find, even made a trip to Bastogne. Then I
wrote a short history and had that mimeographed, gave little
talks throughout the battalion, and so on. In retrospect I don’t
think I much influenced the troops, who were basically just passing
through. Our battalion, like many others of that day, was turning
over about a quarter of its strength every 90 days. But in the
process of all this I influenced myself a good deal, so much so
that later I decided to tell the Abrams story for a wider audience.
That eventually became a book entitled Thunderbolt: General
Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times.
I went into that project viewing Abrams as an exemplar of the
kinds of values soldiers ought to admire and emulate. Had the
research revealed otherwise, I would of course have been quite
disappointed. Fortunately, the more I learned about General
Abrams the clearer it was that he was exactly as he seemed to be.

Abrams led from the front, standing in the turret of his Sherman
tank, which was named “Thunderbolt.” Said a tank driver from

the battalion, “I can recall during our tank battles Abe was right
alongside of our tank giving orders to my tank commander and
having a ball shooting tanks like the rest of the boys. He would
mix in wherever the toughest battle was.” And, he added, “It
made us feel more like fighting harder when you could see a
great man like Abe right alongside of you.”
Officers in higher headquarters said that in the morning they would
tune their radios to Abrams’ frequency, just to be entertained by
his hard-driving leadership. “In a combat situation Abrams turned
out to be a fairly impatient man,” observed one officer. That was
an accurate assessment, and the results were nothing short of
spectacular. The 37th Tank Battalion was often the lead element
of Patton’s Third Army in its drive across France. It was the first
to cross the Moselle River; it was the outfit that punched through
to Bastogne, on the day after Christmas of 1944, to relieve the
encircled 101st Airborne Division; and it was the first element of
Third Army to reach the Rhine. Wrote his division commander,
“The brilliant combat record of Lieutenant. Colonel Creighton
Abrams constitutes one of the sagas of this war.”
Along the way Abrams was awarded two Distinguished Service
Crosses, two Silver Stars, and a battlefield promotion to colonel.
What is most remarkable to me about this aggressive battle leader
is how he was regarded by the men under his command. A radio
operator from the battalion would later write to Abrams that he
had never forgotten his “strong sense of values” and his “magnetic
feeling of leadership.” As a result, he said, “I still respect you as a
soldier and love you as a fine human being. I teach children to
grow up to be like General Abe.” Wrote his maintenance sergeant:
“I have fond memories of the kind of man Abrams was. He
never made things more difficult and unhappy than they were, as
did some of the officers of far less rank.”

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Summer 2008 - 19

United States Military Academy

The motto of the 37th Tank Battalion, led by Abrams throughout
World War II, was “Courage Conquers,” and if ever there was a
motto exactly right for the outfit bearing it, this was the one.

Lt. General Goodpaster as Superintendent of West Point. General
Goodpaster came out of retirement following the notorious cheating
scandal of 1976 to restore a sense of honor to the academy. When he
retired from the academy in 1981, Goodpaster’s rank was immediately
returned to the four stars of a full general.