<p>FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS of his father, Class of '09 and brother Frank S., Jr. '32, Bob took the tough road to secure an appointment by enlisting in the Robert Besson Army and attending the West Point Prep School. His ties to the Academy were further strengthened by the fact that his maternal grandfather was Herman Koehler, the first Master of the Sword at the Military Academy. As he approached maturity, his stepmother, Jean Sharp Besson, who reared him from age 3, fostered his ambition and instilled in him the devotion to the cadet code that would carry him through life. At the Academy, Bob won many friends with his warm-heartedness, his keen sense of humor and his refusal to let the system get him down. His attitudes were reflected in the comments in the '37 Howitzer: " ... he decided to govern his mode of living by that age-old proverb: 'Never do today what you can do tomorrow."' Immediately after graduation Bob married his OAO, Eddie Dingman of Mount Vernon, New York. Their first station was Fort Benning, Georgia, where Bob was assigned as a platoon leader in the 29th Infantry--a coveted position for new graduates. His next assignment, also a sought after one, was with the 57th Infantry (PS) at Fort William McKinley, Philippines. Life on this beautiful Army post on the outskirts of Manila was pleasant for the young couple and their newborn son, Robert Shepard. Duty with the professionally proud and skilled Philippine Scouts was challenging and rewarding for Bob. But the threat of war with Japan led to the evacuation of Eddie and Shep in the spring of 1941 and Bob's assignment as advisor to the commander of a newly-inducted Philippine army infantry battalion. When the war came, his battalion was among the first troops to try to stop the enemy forces that landed in Lingayen Gulf. Bob worked furiously to inspire his men, frequently exposing himself to enemy fire. For his extraordinary courage and leadership he was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross. He was credited with "inspiring his men to resist successfully a frontal attack by a large enemy force throughout the day." His luck ran out. While inspecting his outposts that night, Bob was ambushed by Japanese infiltrators, knocked out by a Japanese butt stroke and thrown, bound, into a ditch from which he despairingly watched a platoon of American tanks rumble past a few yards away. Bob and another officer were held alone in several spots before being moved in late July 1942 to the major camp for American POWs at Cabantuan. He was fortunate in being shipped to Japan in November, thus avoiding the tragic fate of so many of his classmates and other graduates who died or were killed in December 1944 and January 1945 enroute to Japan. He spent the remainder of the war in two of the least inhumane camps. Throughout his incarceration, Bob was known for his caring and unselfishness with his fellow sufferers.</p><p>Following his return to his family in October 1945, he had recuperation leave and orientation courses to bring him up-to-date on the Army. He was selected for the Command and General Staff College in the fall of 1946. Daughter Karen was born in January 1947. Three years as an instructor at the Infantry School followed. Troop duty in the 3rd Infantry Division as a battalion commander in the 7th Infantry led to Bob's return to the Far East and combat in Korea in 1950-51. Although the Department of the Army's policy on former Japanese prisoners of war was that no one would be sent overseas without their concurrence, Bob was the last person to have evaded responsibility. Again, his war was short as he was wounded in the leg as he checked his front lines. Despite his protestations he was evacuated, but not before earning a Silver Star to accompany the Distinguished Service Cross he won in the Philippines almost a decade before. Four years as an instructor in Military Psychology and Leadership at USMA was his reward. To this was added the birth of his second son, Jay, in September 1952. Ordered to Headquarters, USAEUR, at Heidelberg, Germany in 1955, Bob was soon plunged into a third and different war. Not long after his arrival, the Cold War was escalated to the brink by the Poznan Crisis and the Hungarian Revolution. As a branch chief of the Plans Division, G-3, Bob was right in the center of the tension. Later he was put in charge of the German Training Assistance Group. After a long-overdue promotion to colonel, he was given command of the 15th Infantry Battle Group at Bamberg. With it he rotated to Fort Benning, where he supervised the redesignation of his organization as the Second Battle Group, 9th Infantry. In 1959 Bob became a student at the Army War College.</p><p>Upon his graduation the Pentagon snared him for the first time. His broad experience in both the Far East and Europe was applied to his job in DSOPS during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the escalating war in Vietnam. This time Bob was lucky and was sent back to Europe instead of the Far East. His appointment as the commander, Seine Area (later Paris Post) was a well-deserved reward for the long years of work in combat and high level staff positions. But it was a position that required diligence and diplomacy, as General DeGaulle was anxious to get the American Army out of France. Bob's skillful handling of this delicate task won him not only plaudits from his supervisors but also from the French High Command, who honored him with the Silver Medal of Paris. The Bessons' last year in the Army was spent in Karlsruhe. Bob retired after 30 years of service with full physical disability. He and Eddie settled in the Washington area, where they had many, old friends. As a classmate remembered, "He was a down-to-earth, even-tempered, imperturbable soldier's soldier." His death came peacefully. He is survived by his wife, Eddie; his daughter Karen Taylor; his son Jay; and his sister Jean Besson Adams.</p>