<p><em>John Wayne Bohuslar</em> was born October 11, 1943 in Bay City, Matagorda County, TX. His parents were Emil Joe Bohuslar and Gladys Ione Reynolds. John did most of his growing up in and around the Huntsville, TX area. He became a superior all-around student, loved math and was an avid reader. In high school, he ran track, managed the football team, was on the Student Council, and excelled at judo. He also worked at a local movie theater, which afforded him the funds to buy his first car, a much-loved but rusted-out old Chevy, with essentially no floorboards.<br />At the Academy, John’s buddies affectionately called him “Little Bo,” because of his short stature and his incongruously oversized will to succeed. John was always a striver, you see. He continued learning judo, worked on the Pointer staff, and somehow survived being a double-century man. He was commissioned initially in the Air Defense Artillery branch, then later transferred to Military Intelligence.<br />John married Martha Marie Taylor on Christmas Eve 1966 at the Baptist Temple in Brooklyn NY, during a break in Ranger School. To this union were born Emily Denise Bohuslar (1969) and Lisa Marie Bohuslar (1973), the lights of his life. <br />After Airborne and Ranger courses at Fort Benning, GA and the ADA Officer Basic Course at Fort Bliss, TX, John was assigned in 1967 to 2/61th Artillery, where he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Commanding General of 9th Corps in the Ryuku Islands/Okinawa. From Okinawa, he graduated from the Army Security Agency School at Fort Devens MA, followed by an assignment in 1970 to the Republic of Vietnam with the 335th Radio Research Company, where he earned three Bronze Stars. His wartime experiences were exemplary. Dai Wai (Captain) Bo was a hands-on leader. While building up an ARVN advisory detachment, he also helped establish a Vietnamese orphanage. He always kept the best interests of his troops at the forefront and they admired him as a leader for that.<br />In 1971 he returned Stateside and was an instructor at the Electronic Warfare School at Fort Devens, then graduated from the Intelligence School Advanced Course at Fort Huachuca, AZ. In 1973, John went to Germany to initially command E Company, USASA Field Station Augsburg, and then later became chief of the Control Branch with that parent unit. While in Germany, John acquired a Master of Arts degree from the University of Southern California, and he developed a love of the sport of volksmarching. One weekend he and a friend hiked in three separate marches; one was 30 km, the second one was 50 km, and the third was 100 km long, over 112 miles of hiking in one weekend. He was also a dynamite pinochle player. <br />John’s Texas background showed up in his speech patterns from time to time. When folks inquired how he was doing, he would invariably reply, “Oh, fair to partly cloudy,” or, when he got into a tight or overly complicated fix with something, he would remark, “Is this a goat rope or what?”<br />After Germany, the Pentagon came calling, and John then spent a tour working in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force (1976-78). He had just bought a wardrobe of new uniforms before that, and even though wearing civvies most of the time at the Pentagon, he insisted on wearing his uniform at least once a week there. After a year at the Armed Forces Staff College, he returned to the Pentagon for a tour (1979-82) with the Operational Test and Evaluation Agency. He then was assigned (1982-85) just down the road as a faculty member at the Defense Systems Management College at Fort Belvoir, VA. John finished out his career back at the Pentagon, working this time with the Army Space Program Office. He retired in 1987 and moved to San Diego, CA to work with General Dynamic Systems as a program manager. He re-married to Veronica Kops in 1987 and spent of the rest of his days in the San Diego area. Even as a civilian, though, John would still be the first to arrive for work, and the last one to leave. Whatever he did, he did with dedication and professionalism.<br />John liked certainty in all things. When daughter Lisa went off to college and had to choose courses, John programmed out all four-years’ worth of course selections for her in advance, so she would be certain to graduate in four years with all requirements completed. He liked to leave nothing to chance. She graduated in three-and-a-half years.<br />John died in 2000, at age 56, from lung cancer and other complications, a latent victim of the defoliant Agent Orange, which was used so cavalierly in the Vietnam war zone. <br />We remember John for his Texas-bred straightforward and honest approach to absolutely every issue and situation. We remember John for being a strong family man with high standards, standards he instilled in his daughters. We remember John as being a soldier’s soldier. He was a consummate leader. Those of us privileged to work with him and around him, were always advised initially by others to “get like him,” meaning he was the finest role model of a soldier you could find anywhere and one could do no better than to emulate this man and this leader.<br />John’s favorite farewell expression was “So long, friend.” So, we simply say, “Happy Trails, Brother John,” and “So Long, Old Friend.” You are missed.<br /><em>— Don Nelsen ’71, friend, and Emily Bohuslar, daughter</em></p>