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<em>Robert Dudley Wiegand</em> was a leader of men, a follower of Christ. He was born the first child of Dudley Wiegand ’29 in Washington, DC. Bob and his younger sister spent their childhood as typical "Army brats," traveling with their parents from one assignment to another. Bob was one of the fortunate individuals who grew up in the Army and knew exacdy what he wanted to do with his life.</p>
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Upon high school graduation from Valley Forge Military Academy in 1949, Bob attended Purdue University for two years where he was in the ROTC. While at Purdue, he continued to seek a Congressional appointment to West Point. His persistence paid off and the Army gained a great leader for the next 39 years.</p>
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Upon entering West Point, he was assigned to Company G-1. In his First Class year, he served as the training officer for the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment. As a cadet Bob’s hallmark qualities—ntegrity, gentle strength, and an ability to be successful—began to emerge. He was active in the Ring and Honor Committees for four years and always felt that his greatest achievement as a cadet was serving as the chairman of the Honor Committee. He also earned Numerals and Monograms while participating with the boxing and soccer teams.</p>
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Upon graduation, Bob was commissioned in the Infantry and joined the 3rd Infantry Division. Within a year he was married to Jill Mudgett, another "Army brat." Their first son, Scott, was born just before the unit rotated to Aschaffenburg, Germany. After three years in the 7th Infantry and a transition from light to mechanize, he returned to the States to attend the Armor Advanced Course at Ft. Knox, KY. There his second son, Ron, joined the family.</p>
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After insuring that the Armor community understood the combined arms team concept, off he went to serve a long tour as an assistant professor of military studies at the Citadel in Charleston, SC. While, there, the family was blessed with a daughter, Sharon. Bob also was instrumental in modeling its Honor Code after West Point’s and served as faculty advisor to the Summerall Guards.</p>
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Upon leaving the Citadel, Bob began a series of six consecutive tours. First, he was a student at CGSC at Ft. Leavenworth, then served the first of two tours in VietNam, and separated by a year in India as a student at the Indian Defense Staff College. In VietNam, he was the senior advisor to a Vietnamese Regiment; and then in 1969, when he returned to VietNam, was the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Above all other jobs, he loved command duty! While in VietNam, he received the Silver Star (valor), Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (valor) with leaf clusters, ten Air Medals, and the CIB in addition to Republic of VietNam awards for valor and the Meritorious Service. Following his second tour in VietNam, he was assigned to the Enlisted Personnel Directorate in Washington; and later attended the War College, where he earned a master’s degree in political science.</p>
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Following the War College, the family settled down for a long tour at Ft. Leavenworth, where Bob was an instructor and the chief of strategic studies in the Department of Strategy, CGSC. In 1976, Bob was selected for brigade command and soon found himself with the 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) during our nation’s exciting bicentennial year. Despite going through three uniforms a day, he regarded that tour as one of the most rewarding. There, he also dedicated his life to Christ, thus his family and the Army received the blessings of his godly leadership.</p>
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From there, Bob and Jill returned to where their love had first bloomed. Bob became the chief of staff, First Army, at Ft. Meade and the Wiegand family became complete when their son, Ron, brought home a young man in crisis, Larry, who they adopted as their own.</p>
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Bob’s promotion to general led his family to a fifth overseas assignment as the defense attache to Brazil. There he was awarded the Brazilian Defense Superior Service Medal for his leadership and diplomatic skills. Once stateside, he became the deputy commanding general at Ft. Jackson for one year before being assigned to the Pentagon as the ADCSLOG for Security Assistance.</p>
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In 1983, 28 years after receiving his Airborne wings, he was privileged to serve as the commanding general of the JFK Special Warfare Center. He loved the mission, jumping again, and the war-fighting spirit. His next assignment took him overseas, again, as the chief of OMC at the embassy in Cairo, Egypt. The American ambassador spoke highly of Bob’s professionalism during that extremely critical time. "During the Egypt Air hijacking, I placed a heavy responsibility on his shoulders...and he and his men accomplished their task in superb fashion." His final military assignment was as the deputy commander in chief and chief of staff, Forces Command. The Forces Command commander personally selected Bob because he wanted someone who would always do the right thing. Bob always accepted every assignment as a new challenge, never sought special consideration, and never had an assignment he did not enjoy.</p>
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Our highly decorated major general retired in June 1990 after serving his country faithfully for 35 years. General Dynamics employed Bob as the director of international business development in the Middle East. Following completion of a major tank sale, he served as manager for the Kuwait tank program until his untimely death. A sudden massive heart attack took him from all who loved him and had the pleasure of serving with him.</p>
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Family, friends, surrogate children, and soldiers came from around the world to honor their hero at Arlington National Cemetery. Although he had an outstanding military career, only those who knew him can provide "the rest of the story." At Bob’s funeral MG Jerry Curry delivered an account of a life well lived. "He did what was right, as God gave him to see the right, for his God, for his nation, and for his family. He was...an inspiration and example of how life should be lived, and how real Americans should conduct themselves and their affairs. Let me humbly suggest that the life he lived is as close to perfection as any on this earth is likely to get."</p>
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Those of us who knew Bob Wiegand have been richly blessed. He truly was an outstanding husband, father, grandfather, soldier, friend, and servant of God. He made significant contributions to his country at a very high level during his lifetime, and he was loved, admired, and respected. No other graduate has lived "Duty, Honor, Country" more than Robert Dudley Wiegand. Well done, Bob. Be thou at peace.</p>
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<em>Classmates John Giddings, Roy Dunaway, and the Wiegand family</em></p>