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<p><em>Fletcher Hughes “Bud” Griffis Jr.</em> was born to Fletcher Hughes and Eva Griffis. He grew up moving around central Florida and settled in Deland for high school. In Deland he met a football fan by the name of Colonel Roy Foster, West Point Class of 1915. Colonel Foster decided that Bud should go to West Point. Initially, Bud got a nomination to the Air Force Academy. Days before he was to report to Colorado Springs, CO, he received a principal appointment to West Point. He chose West Point. After all, it was closer to Horseshoe Lake, where his future bride, Nancy, spent her summers.</p>
<p>Like most, Bud had no idea what he was getting into when he was sworn in on the Plain in early July 1956. He recalled being tired, hungry, and scared. Colonel “Red” Blaik and Doc Blanchard ordered Bud onto the Plebe Football Team after Beast. Bud had a great plebe year. After an injury yearling year, his football days were over. Most of the rest of Bud’s cadet life consisted of sleeplessness and boredom. </p>
<p>He was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in June 1960. After graduation, he and Nancy were married in Florida and reported shortly thereafter to Fort Benning, GA.</p>
<p>Completing Airborne and Ranger schools, Bud was assigned to the 307th Combat Engineer Battalion (Airborne) in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC. Griff was born there. There was the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as nuclear demolitions and technical proficiency inspections.</p>
<p>Nancy went to Florida while Bud spent a year with the 11th Engineer Battalion in Korea. He spent the year as a company commander, still learning to be a soldier. He built some good projects, got his black belt in judo, and stayed homesick.</p>
<p>After the advanced course, Nancy, Griff, and Bud went to Stillwater, OK to get a master’s degree in civil engineering and mathematics. Nancy studied psychology while Bud decided to get a Ph.D. instead of two master’s degrees. He finished everything but the dissertation and moved back across the country to West Point. Teaching mathematics was not a good job for an Army officer but did a lot for his math skills (much to his kids’ dismay). Greg was born there. What a blast now with two boys! </p>
<p>Nancy, Griff, and Greg went to Florida as Bud went to Vietnam. He spent the first half as chief of the highway program and spent a lot of time all over the country. Finally. Major General Parker sent Bud to the Delta to be S-3 of 36th Engineer Battalion to construct QL4 from My Thuan to Ba Cang.</p>
<p>He returned to attend the Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth, KS. After spending a year in that sandbox, he went back to graduate school to finish his dissertation and pick up another master’s degree. Nancy completed her B.S. degree with Bud typing her papers. That tour was followed by an assignment to the Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, MS. There Bud became program manager for the Dredged Material Research Program, the hardest job he had in the Army, while Nancy received her J.D. from Mississippi College.</p>
<p>Vicksburg was followed by a tour in Karlsruhe FRG commanding the 79th Engineer Battalion for two years. This was a great assignment, in which he learned a lot from his soldiers and officers. He accepted orders to the U.S. Army War College to leave Germany early and see Griff sworn into the Class of 1983 at West Point. </p>
<p>Bud’s plans after Carlisle did not involve any overseas travel. However, the chief of engineers had other ideas and asked Nancy, Greg, and Bud to go to Israel for two years to help build the Camp David Airbases. They did that, completing the bases 10 months ahead of schedule and under budget. The chief then asked Bud and Nancy to go to New York and command the New York Engineer District. The New York District was a great assignment. As that assignment grew to a close, the chief asked Bud to go to Vicksburg and command the Waterways Experiment Station. He was excited to do it; however, Nancy suggested he come back to New York and see her sometime. So, they retired in New York.</p>
<p>In New York, while still commanding the District, Bud taught civil engineering at Columbia University. Upon retirement in 1986, the family moved to the Upper West Side, and he joined the Columbia faculty. His transition to civilian life took about 15 minutes. It was here they made their home until 2021. He was a tenured professor and taught civil engineering and construction until he retired from Columbia in 1999. With his two partners, Joe Robbins and Mike Pope, Bud also formed the engineering firm of Robbins, Pope and Griffis, P.C. (RPG) in 1989. RPG was involved in several major projects in New York over the years. In January 2000, Bud joined the faculty of Polytechnic University and started undergraduate and graduate programs in construction management and construction engineering. He even took the role of dean at one point. Bud stayed with Poly until he retired (again) in December 2020. </p>
<p>Bud was the epitome of the soldier-scholar-athlete: football player, O-6 USA (Retired), Ph.D. and two M.S. degrees. Bud (and Nancy) are both interred at West Point, and they are dearly missed by family and friends.</p>
<p><em>— Family</em></p>
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