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FROM WWII POW to USMA CADET - 106th Division


KASTAUFFER
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This is an unusual group that I saved from being split up Ebay and Etsy.

This grouping represents the service of the ONLY USMA Graduate who was a POW prior to graduating from West Point. During WWII he was an enlisted man serving with the "Golden Lions" , the 422nd Infantry , 106th Infantry Division who was captured during the Battle of the Bulge.

This is his obituary from "ASSEMBLY" the West Point Graduates publication:

WILLIAM R. LAMBERT 1949
Cullum No. 16922-1949 | February 20, 2005 | Died in Homosassa, FL
Interred in Fountains Memorial Park, Homosassa Springs, FL

Born at home in Steubenville, OH, William Roth Lambert grew up with his sister Betty and his parents, whom he admired greatly. His father was a successful registered pharmacist, but the Depression wiped out his assets. His mother, a wonderful wife and homemaker, shielded Bill and Betty from the dire financial situation. Not a naturally gifted student, Bill complained about homework but studied hard. At the age of twelve, he heard about West Point, where he could earn a college degree and become a man—all for a $300 deposit. The Military Academy became his goal.

Graduating from high school in June 1942, Bill was an alternate nominee to West Point. He registered at Ohio State and spent the summer laying ties for the Pennsylvania Railroad to pay for books and a year’s tuition. He roomed for $14 per month and waited tables for his meals. Still intent on attending West Point, Bill took the civil service test again but was again designated an alternate.

Bill was subsequently drafted and underwent infantry training at Ft. Benning, GA. At the same time, Congressman Lewis tired of Bill’s taking the civil service examination and awarded Bill a principal appointment. Bill looked forward to completing the war-shortened, three-year program at West Point and marrying his high school sweetheart in June 1947. Bill began preparing for USMA at the prep school at Cornell University until Army medics detected a cardiac arrhythmia. Ironically, this condition led to Bill’s assignment to the 106th Infantry Division in June 1944, 10 months before he would turn 21, the maximum age for a new cadet.

In October 1944, Bill deployed to Europe, serving as platoon runner, 3rd Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion, 422nd Infantry Regiment. On 13 Dec 1944, three days before the Battle of the Bulge, the 106th Infantry Division advanced into the Ardennes Mountains. On 19 December, PFC Lambert was taken prisoner of war, completing one of the shortest combat careers on record and beginning four and one-half hungry months, mostly in Stalag IV B, Muhlberg am Elbe. Now, Bill set his sights on becoming possibly the only West Pointer who had been a prisoner of war before becoming a cadet.

Back in the States, Congressman Lewis nominated Bill again, and Bill entered the Academy in July 1945, incapable of passing the physical fitness test. However, he soon discovered Billy Cavanaugh and the varsity boxing team. Though Bill never mastered boxing, he became very fit, and intramurals became the highlight of his cadet life. He played football, soccer, lacrosse, and tennis. Knowing he would have been cut from Plebe baseball, he waited until Yearling year to try out for junior varsity baseball. Bill spent Yearling spring happily chasing balls for the varsity team. Arnie Galiffa and Frank Hinchion tried to teach Bill how to throw a baseball, something Bill was, inexplicably, unable to do. The lessons did not work, but Bill did not get cut from the team.

From 1936 to 1945, Bill’s main goal had been West Point. Once there, however, he was determined to marry Jeanne Morrow, his high school sweetheart, whom he had met shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Moreover, the Class of ’48 was no longer war-shortened and was re-designated the Class of ’49. Waiting the extra year to marry Jeanne nearly became too much for Bill, and he considered resigning. Fortunately, she convinced him otherwise. She and Bill were married on Graduation Day at 6 p.m., the soonest time he could arrange.

While visiting West Point, GEN Edwards, the Chief of Staff for the brand-new Air Force, told the Class of ’49 there were abundant opportunities in the Air Force for non-rated officers. Consequently, Bill (who was color-blind) decided to select Air Force rather than return to the foxholes. Following graduation, he embarked on a very satisfying career, beginning as a supply inventory control officer—a dashing, self-described “Lee’s Lieutenant” or “Napoleon’s Marshall.”

In June 1961, as an overage captain teaching mathematics at the Air Force Academy, Bill was assigned as the air officer commanding (company tactical officer) of the 22nd Cadet Squadron. He was the first non-rated Air Force officer to serve as an AOC. Bill did much more than play cops and robbers with the cadets, and he became recognized for his innovations. When he left the Academy as a lieutenant colonel in 1966, Bill was assigned to the Pentagon, his other favorite assignment.

Bill had been assigned in Germany, Korea, and Viet Nam. He viewed his last assignment, commanding the Air Force Data Services Center, however, as the very best job available to a non-rated colonel in the Air Force. He retired in 1977 with his eldest son, 1LT David Lambert, USAF, USMA Class of ’74, reading the retirement orders. According to Bill, the Air Force band did not have the right arrangement for “Bubbles was a Cheerleader,” but they did play Bill’s requests for “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” “The Official West Point March,” and “Auld Lang Syne.”

Bill’s whole life was devoted to Jeanne from the moment he met her on her sixteenth birthday. They were separated only when Bill was at Ohio State and West Point and when he was in WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. They were very proud of their children: David William, Peter Douglas, and Kristi Anne, but Bill often wondered whether his children excelled because of or in spite of his eternal lecturing.

At his class’s 50th reunion, Bill dined with his I-1 comrades, deciding that “he really did like those guys,” and remembered, in particular, his roommates John Mione, Court Davis, Bobby Nulsen, Virg Millett, Dave Arnold, and Lou Benzing. Thinking about them and West Point, he concluded, “Maybe those four years were sort of okay after all.”

The most interesting piece is his USMA Cadet robe which he put a number of pieces of his insignia on. The CIB is interesting because the background is USAF blue, since that was his branch of service after he graduated.

He earned one of the Bronze Star medals in WWII and the other in Vietnam.

His WWII POW Stalag IVB dogtag and enlisted dogtag are also part of the group.

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  • 2 years later...

Kurt,

 

I am very glad that you bumped this as I always enjoy your write ups and the story of the Ex-POW to Cadet is no exception. I do want to give you something to think about regarding the bath robe. As I look at the insignia, it occurs to me that this would have been the insignia that he was entitled to wear while he was a cadet. I have seen a couple of other robes that were also adorned with insignia, and I think it might have been something that was done somewhat tongue in cheek as a firstie rather than something done post academy. What I find most interesting is the bullion CIB which is rendered on a very coarse blue/ grey wool which I believe was meant to match the robe rather than being USAF uniform material. I can't imagine an Air Force officer wearing wool of that quality. Thoughts?

 

Thanks for sharing the grouping again.

 

Allan

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