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I would single out <em>William Henry Sterling Wright,</em> Sterling to his many friends, as having been my best friend. He was born in Minnesota to William Henry Wright and Grace Keeler Wright. When seeing him off to his Plebe year, Sterling’s fa­ther, who had never served in the military, said “son, every man thinks a little bit less of himself for never having been a soldier.” This perceptive and appropriate remark had a last­ing effect on his son.</p>
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He won appointment to West Point through competitive examination as a member of the New Jersey National Guard. Graduating in 1930, he and I were assigned to the 7th Cavalry Regiment (Gary Owen!) at Ft. Bliss, TX. Life at Bliss in a small, un­der-strength regiment (with, as a matter of interest, not a single gasoline engine in it) was not altogether inspiring from a profes­sional standpoint, but in most respects it was great fun by reason of our daily association with the horse. Most of us preferred polo, but Sterling, being left-handed, leaned towards jump riding, which became a permanent ad­diction for him and at which he became a world class Olympic equestrian.</p>
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We who lived through it look back on that poverty-stricken and culturally barren period with much nostalgic pleasure. We made our own fun, however broke at the time, and, of course, Juarez was a great place to go for additional diversion—which some­times became pretty adventurous. But horses and horse sports were the center and delight of our lives as young Cavalry lieutenants.</p>
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Sterling was a fine looking man with a great sense of humor, cheery and highly in­telligent. He had a trim, erect frame that en­hanced any uniform he wore. In 1936, while attending the Regular Officers Course at the Cavalry School at Riley, he met, courted and married Matilda Basinger of Kansas City, MO, a perennially cheerful, cultured and beautiful young lady who graced and gladdened his life. Tilly and Sterling made a magnificent couple, to the permanent credit of the military service.</p>
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During 1940–42 he served as a tactical officer at West Point. Then he was selected to be aide-de-camp to the Secretary of War, the Honorable Henry L. Stimson. This position served to broaden the young officer’s per­spective of modern coalition warfare at the uppermost level. He met and listened to the views of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, Foreign Minister Anthony Eden, Field Marshalls Montgomery and Alexander, Generals Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and DeGaulle, to name the most prominent.</p>
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In Early 1944, Sterling was attached to GEN Bradley’s staff to serve as Mr. Stimson’s personal observer of the cross channel “Overlord” operation. Not choos­ing to watch the invasion from the deck of some ship, he landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day afternoon and followed and re­ported to Mr. Stimson on combat opera­tions at all echelons, including an Infantry company, in those most perilous early weeks in Normandy. Generals Bradley and Eisenhower looked upon this reporting with a somewhat jaundiced eye, but after sizing up the young colonel, decided it was okay.</p>
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In a couple of months he was assigned as provost marshal of First Army after GEN Hodges fired the military police officer pre­viously holding the position. It was a com­plex job of organizing a network of critical supply routes and processing thousands of German POW’s. After V-E Day, he was re­deployed to the Philippines as a member of the planning staff for the invasion of Japan, which of course, thanks to the Bomb, did not come about.</p>
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In 1948, COL Wright went to Korea as chief of staff, Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG). He was chief of KMAG in June 1950 when the North Korean army made its overwhelming invasion of South Korea. As the senior United States advisor to the badly outnumbered ROK army, he did all he could to turn a rout into a semi-orderly retreat which, after an inspirational visit by GEN MacArthur, he did.</p>
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During the 1950s and 1960s, Sterling attended the various army schools, served in several positions on the Department of the Army staff, commanded a brigade in the 2nd Armored Division, served in EUCOM, Paris, France, then the Joint Staff, then back to Hood as commanding general, 2nd Armored Division. He received his third star in March 1963, served for two years as chief, Office of Reserve Components, DA, and re­tired in 1965.</p>
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Tilly and Sterling lived in Arlington, VA, for the first five years of retirement where he served as president ofthe West Point Society of DC, president of the U.S. Armor Association and numerous other civic and church works. In 1970 they moved to the northern neck of Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay into a house fittingly christened “Fiddler’s Green.” There Sterling pursued his new favorite hobby, sail­ing, and in due course became commodore of the Rappahannock River Yacht Club. In a community occupied in strength with Naval Academy graduates, Sterling managed to win so many sailing races that for a time he was barred from formal competition and persuaded instead to give sailing lessons to the less adept retired navy admirals and cap­tains. This, of course, is no more than should be expected from a horse cavalryman.</p>
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Sterling’s beloved wife Tilly died in 1992. Their three sons, Bill, Walter and Sam, had successful careers in the Foreign Service, the Army and social work, respectively. Sterling later married Gibson “Gibby” Eppler, an at­tractive friend of long standing. They moved to a nearby retirement community and lived happily there until his death in January 2009 at age 101. He is buried in Grace Episcopal Churchyard in Kilmarnock, VA, beside Tilly.</p>
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Sterling Wright was a true and distin­guished son of West Point, an enduring cred­it to his family, the Army, and his country. All who know him are better off for having had his friendship.</p>
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<em>—Hamilton H. Howze, ’30</em></p>