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<em>Horace J. Greeley</em> was born at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on February 10th, 1914. He was the youngest of five brothers and a sister. He went to grammar school at Scott Field, Illinois. When he was about nine or ten his father, who was in the Quartermaster Corps, was transferred to Puerto Rico, where Horace went through school to the ninth grade. In Puerto Rico he learned to speak Spanish fluently and also learned to be an expert swimmer and outstanding diver—two things at which he later excelled at West Point. When his father was transferred to the Army Base at Brooklyn, Horace started school at Manual Training High School there, from which he was graduated. Like many boys whose fathers are in the Army, Horace had some difficulty in getting an appointment to West Point and during the long period of uncertainty between examinations and an appointment, he served as a Private in the Coast Artillery for a year and was stationed at Fort Totten, New York.</p>
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While he was at West Point—which was from 1933-37—he was outstanding as a gymnast and swimmer. He was a cheerleader, I think, for three of his four years there, and was head cheerleader during his First Class year. Horace was a cheerleader for the last time in November 1941 in Manila, when he and Colin Kelly led the cheers for the Army during the short-wave broadcast of the Army-Navy game received at the Army-Navy Club in Manila, only a few weeks before war started.</p>
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Horace wasn’t brilliant in his academic studies at West Point, and graduated about the middle of his class. He studied as much as was necessary—more in subjects in which he was interested—and took an active part in athletics. His manner was casual and easy-going, and belied his underlying great determination to succeed at those things which were important to him. Few except his closest friends knew the seriousness of purpose which was the basis for every important step he took, because his casual, easy-going manner hid his earnestness.</p>
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He was determined to go into the Air Corps, although at West Point he failed twice to pass the Air Corps physical examinations before he finally made it. He went to Randolph Field in the fall after his graduation from West Point and was graduated from Kelly Field the following year, a full-fledged pilot. He was sent directly from there to Mitchel Field, Long Island, for his first tour of duty in the Air Corps. He liked his post, and particularly serving with such men as Lauris Norstad, and he did what General Norstad said was “an outstanding job” there.</p>
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We were married June 5th, 1939, two years to the day after we met during his graduation week at West Point. Horace had always wanted to have a tour of duty in South America, and when he learned that there were no immediate vacancies there, he applied for and got orders to the Philippines, which he had also wanted for some time. We arrived there in the latter part of May, 1940 and were stationed at Nichols Field with his good friends and classmates, Jack Caldwell, “Slugger” Pell, both killed during the war: and Dick Fellows and Bill Horrigan. In October of that same year, Horace requested transfer to a bombardment squadron, and was accordingly sent to Clark Field at Fort Stotsenburg.</p>
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In February, 1941, he was chosen by the War Department, upon his commanding officer’s recommendation, to go to Chungking, China, for a six months tour as Assistant Military Attaché for Air. He flew to Chungking February 19th, 1941—alone, since regulations at that time forbade his taking me. During his absence in China I was evacuated to the United States. He returned to Manila in the fall and was assigned to Headquarters, of the Far Eastern Air Force, in which he remained until war began.</p>
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He fought on Bataan as an infantryman, after the planes and equipment were gone, and he received a Silver Star for gallantry when he led a ground attack against Japanese landing parties on Bataan’s west coast, and successfully prevented the enemy from making a landing. He was captured on April 9, 1942 when Bataan fell, and died in January 1945, in a Japanese prison camp, after three years of imprisonment.</p>
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Horace Greeley had great courage of a very deep and permanent kind. His courage extended beyond physical valor and bravery to the depths of his moral fiber and gave him the strength to do and say what he believed was right, often in the face of stubborn opposition. He had tolerance as well—a quality which made him understanding and patient in a great degree. With this rare combination of attributes Horace could be, and was, light-hearted and had an easy facility for wit and humor that made him easy to know and liked by everyone. It was this quality that helped him through the long, tragic days of prison, and helped make life tolerable for the fellow-prisoners with whom he spent so much time.</p>
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His will to live was intense, and he continued to live long after he had been given up by doctors. In prison he survived several illnesses which are usually fatal, and carried on day after day by will power and faith in God. He only died when he was exhausted beyond human endurance to survive any longer the agony and despair of imprisonment.</p>
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Horace Greeley was a rare man, because he had courage, determination, understanding, humor and the faith in God by which he lived. His place can never be taken.</p>
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<em>—J. C. G.</em></p>
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