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A bubbling, highly infectious laugh character­ized <em>Robert Rogers Wessels’ </em>optimistic and friendly attitude toward life. Born to career Infantry officer T.F. and Mildred Thatcher Wessels at Ft. McPherson, GA, Bob graduated from Bloomington High School in Indiana, and attended Sewanee Military Academy in Tennessee and Millard’s Preparatory School in Washington, DC. In 1941, he won an ap­pointment to West Point from Congressman Gerald W. Landis of Indiana.</p>
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On 1 Jul 1941, New Cadet Wessels re­ported with the Class of 1945, which soon be­came the Class of 1944. A classmate wrote in the <em>Howitzer.</em> “On the soccer field, on the rifle range, at the Boodlers...whenever we heard that choking, coughing laugh we knew it was ‘Weasel.’ Always laughing, doubting molecu­lar theories, and talking of his amours, he has been one of the finest wives possible, except in one particular—he’s absolutely tone-deaf. The Infantry produced him and the Infantry is claiming him.” An active cadet, Bob, for all three years, was on the soccer team, rifle team, and participated in the 100th Night Show and the Hop Committee. First Class year, he was a cadet lieutenant and battalion adjutant.</p>
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Commissioned 6 Jun 1944 (the “D-Day Class”) into the Infantry, Bob took a short Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft. Benning, GA, before joining the newly filling 106th Infantry Division as a platoon leader and shipping overseas to Europe. Arriving on 26 Nov 1944, the untested 106th was sent, on 11 December, to relieve the 2d Division in the Belgium Ardennes, a quiet sector of the front lines. The Battle of the Bulge started 16 December, however, rolling right through the 106th. Bob’s platoon was on the left flank, miles from the nearest U.S. unit. Bob main­tained later that he was the first American sol­dier to cross the Rhine River (escorted by Field Marshal von Rundstedt, of course).</p>
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Bob was a POW in Poland and, as the war was winding down, in Potsdam, Germany. According to the class book <em>Whom Shall We Send?,</em> “when the Russian advance scattered the guards, Bob stole a bicycle and headed West. Rump-sprung and half starved, he finally reached Rheims, France, the day be­fore the Germans signed their unconditional surrender.” Returning to the States, Bob got busy in the post-war Army. He later wrote, “my tour with the 106th after graduation was shorter than the one with von Rundstedt in ’44–45. Since the first course at Benning didn’t take, they gave me another one af­ter VE and VJ days and sent me to Puerto Rico. There I met and married Jerry (Army Nurse Mary Jane Leuthke) and transferred to the Engineers. Feeling a little shaky with a goat in their midst, the Chief of Engineers immediately sent me to Cornell University, where son Bill was born, and then on to the Louisville District.”</p>
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In 1951, after the Engineer advanced course at Ft. Belvoir, VA, Bob was an instruc­tor in the Department of Military Art and Engineering at West Point, where daughter Kirtley was born. In 1954, he went to Korea as the executive officer of the Second Engineer Group. Back Stateside, he was S-3 of the 24th Engineer Battalion, 4th Armored Division, before going to Washington, DC, for three years as an assignment officer in the Office of the Chief of Engineers and in the Adjutant Generals Office in the Pentagon.</p>
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In 1960, Bob was assigned as a research and development officer in Frankfurt, Germany. He then commanded the 553rd Engineer Battalion (Construction) in Orleans, France, spending a third year as head of the Plans Section, G-4 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Communications Zone Europe. Graduating from the Army War College in 1964, he be­came deputy district engineer in Mobile, AL (1964–66), then district engineer in Louisville, KY (1966–69). In 1969, he was I Corps en­gineer and commander of the 36th Engineer Group in Korea. Finally, Bob served as deputy division engineer in Huntsville, AL, working closely with NASA. Retiring in 1973, Bob was hired as a construction director for the same office.</p>
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In our <em>30-Year Book,</em> Bob wrote: “The opportunity to participate in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s shut­tle construction program resulted in our early retirement in July ’73. In 1976, the construc­tion program I was hired to manage was com­pleted, and I resigned from NASA in August to play more golf and to start a small consult­ing firm to do nothing more than keep me off the street.” By this time, Bob’s son Bill ’70 had retired due to injuries in Germany, and, after earning an MBA, was working in and out of Birmingham, and daughter Kirtley was a reg­istered nurse. Bob continued, “Huntsville is a great place to work and to play, and Jerry and I are enjoying all the good things that northern Alabama has to offer.” Later he wrote, “bore­dom and a tendency toward three-putting led me into a triumvirate that established Wescope Corporation—Consultants in Engineering and Business—here in Huntsville. Have been enjoying that ever since.”</p>
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In later years, partial paralysis confined Bob to a wheelchair. He continued to travel, however, enjoying class reunions and visits with friends, all with great help and care from his Jerry. In 1995, Bob wrote, “my view from a wheel chair continues to be pleasant and expanding. Jerry and I joined the Pollins, Walters, and Mullins for a mini-reunion in late May in Nashville and had a great time...Old age is creeping up on us all. Our son is leaving for his 25th Class Reunion at West Point. Time sure flies.”</p>
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Friendly and optimistic to the end, Bob Wessels died in August 1999. His Jerry died in June 2004. Interred together in Arlington National Cemetery, they are survived by their children Bill and Kirtley, and their grandson Andrew. Their surviving friends and class­mates feel privileged to have known this won­derful couple.</p>
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