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<em>Gwinn Ulm Porter </em>was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, on 10 July 1911, the son of Chief Justice and Mrs. James W. Porter of the state of Idaho. He graduated from Twin Falls High School in 1929 and immediately thereafter entered the Military Academy. He was assigned to “I” Company and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry upon graduation in 1933. This is what his classmates said about him in the 1933 <em>HOWITZER:</em></div>
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“It has been said that a man without enemies is unworthy of a friend. With Gwinn it should be said that a diplomat is never without friends. Few are more worthy of friendship than he, for the strength of his personality and diplomacy lies not in the intellect but in the heart. Nor has he won his friends through success on the athletic field or in the classroom.</div>
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“He wears no stripes, no stars, no letters, yet it is a lack of interest rather than a lack of ability. Gwinn is content to let others seek the laurels in those activities while he devotes his energies to more interesting pursuits, and succeeds surpassingly well in them. And when the wearers of the laurel are but dimly discernible through the mist of time, Gus’ slow smile and the quiet manner which qualifies him as a gentleman will stand clearly in our memory.”</div>
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Fort Missoula, Montana, was Gwinn’s first Infantry post. After a three-year tour he was ordered to the 33d Infantry at Fort Clayton, Panama Canal Zone. At the end of his two-year tour in Panama he transferred to the Coast Artillery branch of the service and was ordered to Fort Monroe, Virginia, to attend the Coast Artillerv School. From there he was ordered to Fort Scott, San Francisco, California in 1940, and then to Camp Haan, California, in January 1941. The following November he was ordered to Fort Mills, Philippine Islands. He was on the last transport ship to leave the States for the Philippines before war with Japan struck in December 1941. In May of 1942 he was taken prisoner on Corregidor and was interned in prison camps in the Philippines and Japan for four years. He was one of four survivors out of twenty-two from his West Point Class of 1933. A close friend who was a prisoner with Porter had this to say about him, “During the harsh and bitter days in the Japanese prisoner of war camps where so many compromised their behavior, he was a beacon of courage and model of self-discipline for all to follow. To me he exemplified the spirit of West Point.”</div>
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After his return to regular duty he entered the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1946 and graduated in 1947. He was then ordered to the Guided Missile School at Fort Bliss. Texas, and in 1948 was ordered to the G3 Section of the Office Chief of Army Field Forces at Fort Monroe, Virginia. His next assignment was the Army, Navy and Air Force Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia. After another assignment back to Fort Monroe, he was sent to Fort Bliss and from there to Germany and Trieste in the European Theater. Fort Baker, San Francisco, California, was his next assignment, and from there he was ordered back to the Guided Missile Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he retired in 1959.</div>
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After retirement, he taught physics in Twin Falls High School for several years.</div>
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Gwinn married Mimi Catherine Coleman of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1933. The marriage ended in divorce in 1954.</div>
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He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Alworth Porter of Nogales, Arizona; two daughters by his former marriage, Vada Jean Ward of Denver, Colorado, and Patricia Anne Michael of Woodbridge, Virginia; a stepdaughter, Judith House of Flagstaff, Arizona; three other step-children, and four grandchildren.</div>