<p>
Beast Barracks was almost a week underway that hot, sultry summer of 1940 when, to the horror of the plebes in 5th Company, a lone, smiling candidate reported in late. Each of us knew that the latecomer, New Cadet <em>Stanley M. Staszak</em>, would catch particular hell as the Beast Detail ensured that he missed none of the precious training already imparted to the rest of us. It was a fate not to be wished upon anyone, but we could do nothing to alleviate Stan’s impending crisis except to extend an unseen hand. The Beast Detail performed as expected, but New Cadet Staszak proved indomitable and resilient, hallmark characteristics that would distinguish him both as a cadet and as an officer.</p>
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We soon learned that the late arrival was a Regular Army appointee from the 33rd Infantry in Panama and had not been notified of his appointment until after the start of Beast Barracks. This delay, coupled with the problem of traveling from what was then a far-off post, placed Stan in his unenviable position.</p>
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Stanley grew up in the farming community around Chatham, New Jersey. His high school classmates recall that although personal circumstances required him to work alongside his father in the dairy business during most of his out-of-school time, he was an exceptionally good student with a keen sense of humor and a knack for making solid, enduring friendships. These same attributes remained with him as a cadet. Attendance at Citizens Military Training Camp stimulated Stan’s boyhood interest in the Army, and soon after graduation from Chatham High School he enlisted with the intention of winning his way to West Point, a goal he easily achieved.</p>
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Stan’s enthusiasm for life and his fierce determination to succeed, almost to the point of stubbornness, balanced by his natural wit and a perpetually cheerful disposition, made easy work of academics and training for him at West Point. He thoroughly enjoyed cadet life, but he looked forward to his future career as an officer. Stan found time to manage the Army soccer team, for which he earned a manager’s letter. He was proud of his enlisted service, and absorbed the tactical training as only an “old soldier” could. Stan was especially impressed by the power and mobility of Armor and that became his chosen branch at graduation.</p>
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Following branch training Stanley was assigned to the reconnaissance squadron of the 16th Armored Division. He was disappointed that the 16th entered combat very late in the war in Europe compared to the other armored divisions, but he did get the taste of armored combat that he had so eagerly sought.</p>
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At the close of hostilities Stan remained in Germany as an intelligence officer in the 1st Infantry Division, where he developed a new interest in intelligence operations that was to influence his later career. Upon returning stateside, Stan became a Regular Army instructor to the 50th Reconnaissance Squadron of the New Jersey National Guard, during which period he met his soon-to-be wife, Eileen Curran. After completing the Advanced Armored Officers Course at Fort Knox, he was selected for attaché duty, another assignment he coveted. After intensive language and intelligence training, he and Eileen moved to Yugoslavia to join the embassy staff as assistant Army attaché.</p>
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At the conclusion of his attaché tour, Stan went to Fort Hood for additional troop duty. This assignment was quickly followed by his selection as a member of the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group in Vietnam, with station at the Vietnamese National Military Academy. The VNMA group had the overwhelming mission of modeling the Vietnamese Academy along the lines of the United States Military Academy. Eileen and their two small children, Christopher and Stephanie, soon joined Stan, and the family settled down to the work that lay ahead.</p>
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Because of their small number and remote location, the VNMA advisory officers and their families became a closely knit group. It was therefore a devastating shock to everyone in the group and to their Vietnamese counterparts when Stanley died unexpectedly in his sleep on 4 April 1959, apparently from a cerebral hemorrhage. Very sadly, a dedicated soldier had come to rest before fulfilling his career.</p>
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Stan’s body was returned to West Point for burial. Services were held at the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity and at the grave site, attended by his many classmates stationed at West Point at that time. The sadness of his sudden passing was recalled when Eileen followed him in death on 30 April 1972. She, too, is interred in the Post Cemetery.</p>
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Stanley Marcell Staszak lies in the earth of the Nation and the institution that he loved so well; let it be said that no man tried harder in life to do his best.</p>
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<em>NEP/JVC/HLH</em></p>