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Few can claim to be more “Old Army” than Budge Bingham. His great-grandfather, Judson David Bingham, graduated in the class of 1854, retiring with the rank of brevet brigadier general. His grandfather, Gonzalez S. Bingham, received a direct commission in 1883, retiring in 1920. Although not an Academy graduate himself, he first proposed adopting an Army mule as the cadet mascot and provided the white mule that made its first appearance at Franklin Field during an Army-Navy game. Budge’s father, Sidney Vincent Bingham, graduated in the Class of 1912, and it was in the Southwest, where much of the Cavalry was on duty, that Budge was born on 4 May 1915.<br />
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Growing up on such posts as Fort Riley, Fort Meade and West Point (his father served there twice as an instructor), Budge found little attraction outside of life in the Army. His oldest friend and classmate remembers Budge’s arrival in Washington fresh from Sturgis, South Dakota, High School: Army brats were conveyed from Fort Meade into town in a mule-drawn ambulance. Budge’s life changed abruptly when he left South Dakota for the sophisticated life in Washington and Western High Schools. Like most Army brats of his generation, Budge was headed for West Point from early boyhood. There were a few bumps along the way, but he graduated, after an abortive start with the class of 1937, in 1940. As his entry in the 1940 Howitzer states: “Steady academic pursuance was not his chief pastime, but experience made him wary.” Popular and as ready for fun as the next man, he was a bit more mature, a shade tougher, than most of us. Like his mother, whom he resembled in many ways, he had undisguised scom for sham or hypocrisy. These qualities would mark his battlefield performance a few years later. As one roommate put it: “I arrived at Beast Barracks a cocky, eager, unsophisticated 18-year-old. Several minutes with the Beast Detail took care of the cocky characteristic. But during the next four years, Budge took me in hand. He knew everyone; his easy familiarity appealed to all; he could have had any roommate he wanted. Since graduation, our paths in the Army did not frequently cross, nor has it been possible to see each other often in retirement, but I love that man and could never repay him adequately for all that I owe him.” Budge chose Infantry-Air Corps at graduation, and, after a brief shot at pilot training, he joined the 2nd Division at Fort Sam Houston. Soon after graduation Budge met Rosemary Chapman in Dallas. Their courtship continued after he moved to San Antonio, and they were married in Dallas on 6 April 1941. It was a lifelong commitment, one that took them literally around the world. Their marriage produced three daughters of whom Budge was justifiably proud: Judith, Janis and Patricia.</p>
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After a year with the 4th Armored Division, Budge joined the G3 Section of ETOUSA, England in April 1943 and soon thereafter was sent as an observer with the 3rd Division during the invasion and campaign in Sicily, June-August 1932. A month later he received orders that would prove crucial to his subsequent career. In September 1943, he joined the 29th Division in England, and, several months later, assumed command of a battalion in the 116th Infantry, the unit he would lead into Normandy on D-Day. The 29th “Let’s Go” Division earned an enviable reputation in the European Theater as an assault division, and Budge’s contribution to this reputation was highly significant, for his heroic leadership earned him the Distinguished Service Cross. Wounded in August and hospitalized five weeks, he returned to the Division and assumed command of the 116th in December, leading his regiment until the Division was deactivated in December 1945. There is general agreement among his Army classmates that Budge’s World War II accomplishments earned him the reputation as the war hero of the Class of 1940.</p>
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After the war, Budge’s various assignments brought him to Army Field Forces, the Pentagon, National War College, the CIA, Hawaii, Fort Polk, Korea, Fort Bragg and Vietnam (two tours). Rosemary and Budge had learned to ski at Pine Camp in 1942; thus they chose Aspen as their favorite resort and bought a home there long before retirement. So when Budge retired in 1970, Aspen was the obvious choice from which he could launch his second career.</p>
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For a short period, Budge served as general manager of the Snowmass Resort. Before very long he left his employment and devoted himself full-time to community service and his own fitness program, doubly important after surgery for a quintuple bypass. For a time known locally as the Transportation Czar, he became involved in planning for a city transportation system—designing routes, lobbying the City Council, searching for vehicles. His success attracted the attention of the Aspen Camp School for the Deaf, in particular the organization of its annual picnic; he served as secretary and on its Board of Directors for many years. However, his greatest contribution to the Aspen community was his involvement with caring for senior citizens. In 1972 he started Aspen Retired Senior Volunteer Program. He became chairman for the Colorado Board of Nursing Home examiners, served as Colorado’s representative to the White House Conference on Aging, president of the board of directors of the Pitkin County Community Health Services, and was appointed by the governor to be commissioner-at-large on aging for the state. At his memorial service, a number of the elderly citizens spoke about the innumerable occasions on which he advised them on filling out forms, preparing tax returns, submitting insurance claims and estate planning.</p>
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Budge will be missed by many; his classmates and Army friends, those who knew him as a regimental commander in World War II, the four<br />
special ladies in his life: Rosemary, Judith, Janis, and Patricia, and countless senior citizens of the Aspen area who will miss him as sorely as any.</p>